Good day.
I am trying to accomplish something like this https://all3dp.com/2/how-to-3d-print-hollow-objects-simply-explained/

The blue lizard.

I would like to know what is the best way to accomplish this.

Attach is a solid shape I would like to have the triangles wrapped around So I can extrude and booelan diff.
and in the end it should be hollow. (or is there a better way to do this?)

The other question is the same but it should be only happen inside the highlighted yellow shape.(pic attached)

Thank you!

Hi Matadem, for hollowing you'll probably need to model he interior surface of the hollowed piece similar to how you have modeled the exterior.

You can generate some offset surfaces for some areas as a shortcut, to do that use Edit > Separate on your object, then Construct > Offset to make offset surfaces, those will then need to be trimmed with each other.

I'm not understanding about the yellow highlighted area, can you please explain that part a bit more?

For wrapping you can use the Transform > Deform > flow to apply a pattern to a single surface, but it will be difficult to use on your shape here since it's made up of multiple surfaces instead of just one.

- Michael

Hi Matadem, also what do you want the thickness to be, something like 1mm?

- Michael

1, 2 or 3 it's so I can grasp the idea how to do this.
On the highlight see attached pic the triangle shapes on the inside of the highlighted line.

Thank you!

Hi Matadem, so looking at your surfaces, you have curved areas that have a bend radius that is tighter than your desired thickness.

So you probably won't be able to use surface offset to make the interior pieces because the offset surfaces will be bunched up in those spots.

Here's a description of the problem, if your offset distance is smaller than the radius of bends, it will be ok, like here is a surface offset of one of your pieces at 0.1mm:



And as it grows larger here's what happens:







So at around 0.8mm the offset surface is bunching up on itself, here's another visual depiction of this:



If you plan on hollowing a piece out it may be a good idea to construct it as a simplified block with sharp edges and no tight bends in it initially, the bends can come from putting on fillets after.

So anyway in a case like this you will probably need to just model the interior piece similar to how you modeled the exterior and then boolean it out.

If it's ok for the thickness to be approximate you could do some shortcuts like here I projected a line onto the object giving some sections:



Then offset the curve 1mm to the inside:



Loft those to make an inner solid, move the top station upwards so it exits the main piece, then boolean difference:

Hi Matadem, so for those triangles maybe something like this building a straight pattern and then using Transform >Deform > Flow to shear and size it onto a point edited target plane:





- Michael

Hi,

If this is the result you wanted, you could use Flow.



But it's only possible with a single target surface.
So you have to construct your surface to be a single surface.

Good day.

Thanks!

I did manage to make something in the direction that I want.
I guess to flow the shapes all around is not easy to do.

Another question pic attached.

In order to get the triangles into a certain shape I needed trim (I do not know if this is the best way to do this)
Is there a better and more efficient way to do this?

Hi Matadem,

> In order to get the triangles into a certain shape I needed trim (I do not know if this
> is the best way to do this)
> Is there a better and more efficient way to do this?

Yes, Boolean intersection can be more efficient because it will automatically figure out which pieces are contained inside the outline. So you won't have to pick which pieces to discard like you do with Trim.

Select the pieces you want to cut, then run Construct > Boolean > Isect (short for Intersection), then select your closed outline curve:





- Michael

Got it.
Tnx!

What a great thread you started!

Nice!

Tom