brain block:( trying to model this shape)

Message 4836.1 deleted 7 Jan 2012 by MICHAEL GIBSON

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 From:  Michael Gibson
4836.2 
EDIT: (looks like you've got it figured out? I had prepared this reply for you anyway, so here it is..)


Hi Steve, at first glance it wasn't really clear to me what you're trying to do there - it's a kind of sparse set of curves.

It seems like maybe you're trying to do too much all in one single surfacing pass rather than building some pieces incrementally?

If you've got areas of a shape that look like they are carved off from a bigger block like it sort of looks like you want to have in this case with the slanted upper and lower pieces, it can be easiest to actually build them in that exact way by drawing a starting block shape and then cutting that with booleans.

Usually when you see some kind of broad flat piece, you can get that the easiest by cutting a shape by a side profile.

Just in general I'd recommend thinking a bit more "2D"-ish - if your shape can be formed by some combination of cuts of 2D profile curves then usually doing it by using those 2D profile curves is the best way.


That would go something like this - start with an initial profile that then gets extruded to form the base block like so:





Then draw in some 2D side profile curves something like this:





Now you can select the block and then use boolean difference with the 2D curves as the cutting objects to do this:



Delete the pieces you don't want, and that will leave you with this:



Then select these edges:



And apply a fillet to round them:




So basically the key thing here is to try and focus more on what kind of 2D profiles can be used to generate the shape and then draw in those 2D curves rather than focusing too much on building a whole 3D curve framework only.

There are some situations where you may need to build a 3D curve framework and do stuff like sweeps and networks for totally freeform type shapes that don't really have any 2D defined nature to them at all, but if your shape does have 2D silhouettes to it, then forming it with 2D curves tends to be better.

- Michael
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 From:  Stever_uk (STEVER)
4836.3 
Hi Michael,

I wasn't expecting a reply as I deleted it soon after posting....but I glad that you did :)

Thats exactly what I was after

It's just a part of a printer that I decided to give it a go in MoI thinking it would be easy but I was surprised at myself how much trouble I had.
I ended up lofting the curves but didn't strike me that this was the correct way of doing it and to be honest I really don't go the network tool, I always get bad results (due to me not using it right that is).

But as you mentioned (you have mentioned it before slap wrists!!) you don't have to do everything in one hit and curve your main block with curves.
I hope this sinks in now :)

Thanks again

Steve
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 From:  Stever_uk (STEVER)
4836.4 In reply to 4836.3 
Michael






I want to design some buttons but want to place a array grid of them at the same angle of the panel (see image above).

Of course I could do this by eye just wondering how you would do it

Steve
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 From:  SteveMacc (STEVEH)
4836.5 
You can set the construction plane to the top surface. Then your curves will lie on that and you can then extrude them perpendicular to the top.
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 From:  Stever_uk (STEVER)
4836.6 In reply to 4836.5 
thanks

Just trying to figure out how to use it :)
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 From:  Michael Gibson
4836.7 In reply to 4836.4 
Hi Steve, yeah like the other Steve mentions probably setting a construction plane would be a good way to work on an angled area like that.

When you set the construction plane (the button is under View > CPlane), it allows you to redefine the Top/Front/Right views to some local area of your model so you can then go to the top view and draw in it as you normally do, but you will actually be drawing on the angled plane directly.

Some more information here:
http://moi3d.com/2.0/docs/moi_command_reference5.htm#cplane

It's also possible to just draw directly on a planar surface just by snapping your points on to it too though - for example if you set object snap on and then draw a circle you can place the center of the circle on to a surface and then the circle will be oriented to the surface normal when you draw it. Similarly when you do an array grid if you snap the cell size that you draw onto a planar surface for 2 points, it will use the orientation of that plane for doing the array - this all applies when you are drawing in the 3D view and snapping points on to the surfaces.

So you can just directly draw on surfaces in many situations as well without necessarily setting the cplane actually.

If any of that seems confusing, you can also just draw what you want in the regular world top view and then rotate it afterwards as well.

If you want to model and object in the world coordinate system and then transform it onto a location on an object, you can us the Transform > Orient command for that kind of stuff, see here for some examples on that:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4487.61


So there's a variety of methods you can use, there's not necessarily just one best way you can use which ever of these methods that you like the best.

- Michael
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 From:  Stever_uk (STEVER)
4836.8 In reply to 4836.7 
Thanks :)
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