Hi sven, do you have an example model that you could post?

That would help a lot to see what you might be running into.

One thing that the filleter does not like very much is if you have 2 surfaces meet in such a way that they are nearly smooth to one another already - it's better for filleting to have things that meet at a more distinct corner.

If you're trying to make your things shaped smoothly to one another with your curve framework, but then trying to apply a fillet on the same area that is already close to being smooth that creates some difficulty.


Filleting is in general a pretty sensitive function and there are a lot of things that can cause it to fail, things like self-intersections or areas where a surface folds back over top of itself can cause problems, etc... It's hard to guess at what particular thing you may be running into without seeing an example.

- Michael

Hi Sven

Probably best that you attach an example scene / model we're you're having problems. We can then have a look and offer suggestions.

Nigel / 3DKiwi

Hi sven, also you wrote:

> b) work in a flat plannar way only rounding a curve
> (I guess i apply the fillet to the base curve and that
> is not the good way)

Sounds like you may have some of your original construction curves still hanging around and getting in the way of selecting edges which are right in the same area.

Try hiding or deleting those original curves so that they won't interfere with the selection of those edges.

But that's a bit hard to know for sure just from a text description - if you were to post the 3DM model file where you ran into this problem, it would help a lot for me to be able to see exactly what you were running into.

- Michael

Hi all,

thnx for the feedback allready.
I attached the file and also made a small vid to focus on the probs.

http://clients.nonius.be/moi/moi3d_filletprobs.swf

thnx in advance.


sven

Hi sven, thanks for posting the file and the video.

In the video you're kind of doing a lot of different things, deleting some curves, moving some pieces around, joining some stuff.... I'm sorry but it's kind of difficult for me to follow which particular thing you're actually trying to fillet.

Could you possibly make a screenshot and point to one particular edge that you are trying to fillet?


One thing that I noticed about your model is that it is made up of a kind of patchwork of numerous smaller surfaces touching each other. Usually with NURBS modeling you don't want to build things in that kind of small patchwork manner and instead if possible try to build things out of larger sheets and then trim them.

You're kind of trying to build surfaces that hug around contours and cuts, rather than actually cutting holes in things.

When you build things in that manner, you tend to get surfaces that have slight creases between each adjacent part, which is not good for filleting. If you build things as larger sheets, you can get smoother and more simple topology which will be better for filleting. See this previous post for an example of how building larger surfaces can help avoid creases between parts:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1398.19


Also see this other previous discussion thread where a model was being built in a similar way and some suggestions on how to build it with larger pieces that are cut instead of "patch-by-patch":
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3105.1

- Michael

Hi,

that explains allready a lot. I patch indeed. It's an heritage from the splinepatch in c4d, and a bad one so it seems.
I'm a polygon man actually, but there's a grwong demand for modeling of product design, and nurbs do this much cleaner and way faster.

In the video, the most important issue is the fact that I cannot join those two patches on the side by the way. Though this caused the filleting to fail.
Apart from all this, I was thinking that the model looked real clean and correct and that drove me crazy :-)
Attached also a screenshot.

In the mean time I'll have a look at the links you've posted above. Thnx for those!


gr.


sven

Hi sven, even though it's hard to see it unless you zoom in closely, there is just barely enough of a gap between those pieces so that it won't join.

Did you build those piece with the Network command?

There is currently a problem that you can run into with Network - it fits the network surface to a looser tolerance to avoid generating excessively heavy surfaces when making a network through a lot of curves at once.

But sometimes that looser tolerance can result in the shapes being just barely away from the joining tolerance (which is 0.005 units) as well, that seems to be what you have run into here.

That is something that needs to be fixed up in Network, so that the curves on the outermost boundary of the network will get fit to the regular tight tolerance so that they will join more reliably.

Right now one way you can work around that problem is to scale the objects down by 1/10 in size, then do the join, then scale back up again - that's how I made the attached version which has that part joined now. That works because scaling down also scales down the size of the gaps and puts it within the 0.005 unit join tolerance.

Right now the idea with Network is more for building a larger sculptured surface and not so much for making smaller patches like you are doing here.

- Michael

yeah, its network allright.


Saw Danny's approach on the watch in the end of thesecond thread you send me and that's a very good explanation too.
Lessons learned today. Time to put them into practice, here I go... I was really affraid that I was going to be forced back upon the steep learning curve of Rhino.
No doubt that's a good app, but there is just tooooo much things in it for some one like me, a designer. I just want to create, not study for weeks first.

The scaling tip is allso a life saver.

Thnx!

I'll keep you posted on my progress in the demo and when things work out fine I'll be purchasing, no doubt!

gr.



Sven

Hi Sven, do you maybe have an image or a drawing of what kind of final result you are looking for?

If you could show something like that to me, it could help me to make a more specific example for you.

One of the main things that takes some adjustment for people with a poly modeling background is to rely on cutting or booleans as a main way of working, since for the most part in poly modeling it is something that you try to avoid. But usually with NURBS you want to use cutting/trimming/booleans as a primary way of working.

So there is a pretty different strategy for how to best approach things.

But actually that's why NURBS modeling can be a really useful thing to add to your toolbox, because it has a different set of strengths than poly modeling and it can make mechanical models come together really quickly.

So there is still some learning curve involved with using MoI as well since the overall modeling strategy with NURBS will be different. But I've tried to make MoI's UI more welcoming to artists rather than only being focused on technical engineering users like other CAD programs.


- Michael