Help with Drilling Holes in an Object

 From:  Michael Gibson
5130.5 In reply to 5130.3 
Hi YHWH_777,

> Thanks, but I already tried to use the flow tool over the past few days
> to no avail. That is why I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to
> make this work.

Can you please post the 3DM model file with the geometry in it that you have been trying to Flow without success?

That would then give me something more direct to look at and give you feedback about rather than just a screenshot.

Like I was describing above, probably the easiest set up for doing Flow to bend something around a circle is to draw a line curve and a circle curve, and use those as the base and target objects.

The way that is set up is like this - here there's an object to flow (the one with the holes), and then a line curve beneath it and then a circle curve off to the side, like this:



The first step is to select the object you want to deform. Note that _only_ the object that is to be deformed should be selected in this first step - not the base or target objects, those are done in subsequent picks so that they can be individually identified to the Flow command. So your screen should look like this (neither base line nor target circle curve selected yet, only object with holes in it):



Then run Transform > Deform > Flow. The prompt in the upper-right corner of the main window will say: "Select base curve or surface" - now at this point you want to click the line curve underneath to specify it as the base curve for the flow, like this:



Then you will be on to the next stage of the Flow command where you pick the target object - the prompt in the upper-right corner of the window will say "Select target curve near matching end" - now is when you select the circle to specify it as the target curve for the flow. That will then set up a flow from that line onto the circle like so:



You can then adjust the parameters like whether to stretch or not. If you want no stretching you probably want to create a plane and base line that has the same length as the circumference of your circle.

Hope this helps, I've attached the 3DM file for this example as well. Make sure to watch what the prompts say in the upper-right corner of the window, since those are what tell you what type of input MoI is expecting for you to give it next.

- Michael