Rhino 3D Blog

Rhino for Mac OS X

2007-07-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Reporting from the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Rhino conference Ralph Grabowski reports that Robert McNeel & Associates is developing a Max OS X version of Rhino. More detail at CAD Insider...

www.neomyz.com/poll

Ten Questions for Bob McNeel

2007-06-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Nice interview with Bob McNeel by Roopinder Tara from TenLinks.com
http://www.tenlinks.com/tenquestions/060507_robert_mcneel.htm

McNeel Press Event

2007-06-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Roopinder Tara has a great article in his current issue of upFront eZine. Detailing the recent Rhino conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in conjunction with DIMe, Design Industrial Mexico.

The interview with Bob McNeel and the detailed look at the Rhino business model was amazing. http://www.upfrontezine.com/2007/upf-521.htm

Robert

Rhino on Mac OS X native

2007-06-04T14:44:00.001-07:00

Rhino on Mac OS X

RhinoReverse 2 for Rhino 4.0 - Reverse Engineering

2007-06-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

Creates spline-faces based on given mesh of point data. The user interactions have been reduced on sketching the boundaries for the new faces. All calculations will be done automatically. This leads to a very simple and intuitive handling. One big advantage is the option to represent large complex shapes by a few faces.
rhinoreverse.icapp.ch

video

Array Pedals

2007-06-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Question: Is there a way of arranging the pedals in the attachment so three of them are equally spaced around the shaft. - Steve

Answer: In the Top view use ArrayPolar, snapping to the center of the shaft edge with the Cen Osnap to set the center of the array. - Pascal

Best of the Rhino Newsgroup

Decorative Scrolls

2007-05-29T11:06:00.001-07:00

I am hoping someone can help me... I am attempting to draw some decorative scrolls (similar to those in the attached picture), and was wondering if anybody knew the correct method to go about it. I can free hand sketch thedamn things, but they don't look so flowing when I'm interpreting them in Rhino.

Best of the Rhino Newsgroup

VRAY Manual Available as PDF

2007-05-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Vray for Rhino 4.0 Manual is available as a PDF on the VRAY forum. Registration is required to download. http://www.asgvis.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=90&topic=2213.0

VisualARQ - Rhino for Architects

2007-05-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Asuni CAD is happy to announce that the WIP 1 of VisualARQ, the new architectural plug-in for Rhino 4 is now available for download from www.visualarq.com.

Based on Rhino 4.0, our goal is to develop an application for Architects and Interior Designers that fulfils your needs and expectations. We are convinced that the best way to achieve that is with your help and listening to you.

AuxPecker 1.0 - Rhino 4.0 Plugin

2007-05-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Auxpecker is an easy and free solution to get a pleasing realtime preview of objects directly on the viewport of Rhino3D v4.0. It is simply based on the use of environment maps; making viewport objects reflect in ways that reproduce / approximate the look of various materials. This technique is not meant as a preview for rendering in association with any render engine. It is a stand-alone method for communicating very pleasantly, in realtime, projects to your client.

Auxpecker 1.0 come with a complete collection of pre-installed material maps and a plug-in for Rhino 4.0 allowing you an easier selection and us of the maps.

Roberts Review:
A Free Rhino 4.0 plugin to make quick real time presentations. It applys materials to a Rhino Model, comes with a fair amount of materials. Note - you need to turn on viewport rendering (right click on viewport name and choose render.
For more detail http://auxpecker.blogspot.com/

Tire Tread - Flow Along Surface

2007-05-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to create a tire thread. Have a tire, and threads, and try to flow the threads along the tire surface.


Basically it always wraps the wrong way around the tire. So it's wrapping the width of the threads as opposed to the height. Eg, the thread has 3 shapes horizontally but the 3 shapes repeats 50 times vertically. I want the 50 shapes flowed (that goes vertically) but it keeps wrapping the 3 shapes that is horizontal.

I tried to change the orientation of the threads by rotating them various
way along the X, Y, Z. I thought maybe it has to do with how they are oriented. But still no luck. - Less

----

Your tire blank is a single surface - you need to split it so that the tire tread area matches the base surface, like the yellow surface below. Also, you'll need to trim your base surface so that the treads line up at the seam so it won't have that gap.

You'll need to do both, but if those still don't get you all the way there, you can try swapping U and V using Analyze Direction. - Hans

Best of Rhino Newsgroup

Reverse Engineering with Rhino and a Digitizer

2007-05-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

I purchased a used Faro arm to digitize our automotive parts & jigs, so we could get them into Alibre Design, and forward them for manufacturing. I purchased Rhino3 (and now 4 SR1 candidate1) after the demo, and have been using it to try to reverse engineering a front spindle, which is a pretty odd shaped forging (nothing very planar, other than the snout the hub goes over). The Solidworks/Dezignworks/Microscribe digitizer & modelling demos at trade shows make things look so easy, for a $10k combination of software.

The surfaces created from the digitize planar section curves have these very weird flares, twists, waves, and wrinkles. Rhino tech support suggested doing a Fair or FitCurve on the curves to simplify them. It helped quite a bit, but didn't eliminate them. How do you make a smooth, simple surface, that's still accurate? I'd offset the curves .125", but they're not always normal to the probe, so I'd introduce errors there. Once the surface is made, I then have a hard time averaging/blending/trimming the overlapping surfaces. What's the best strategy for that? Should I be using loft, or sweep2? If you guys don't mind sharing a workflow on how you digitize & create the part, I'd be grateful, since I'm sure I'm doing things the hardest way possible.

So far, my work flow has been:

Digitize multiple points on all the flat surfaces, create a plane through the points, and offset the surface .125" to compensate for the probe diameter.
Digitize multiple points for a few heights for bolt holes, and create "circle from multiple points". Create points at the centers of these circles, and draw a line for the hole axis. I usually draw a line connecting two quadrants of a top and bottom circle, and revolve that to make the hole ID or cylinder OD, and offset .125" for the probe dia.
Use digitize planar sections to make a curves with point clouds. Often the curves don't quite "get it", and have these crazy fly-outs, which I then need to split, hit Point, click on the line, enter, click on the line again, and delete. Settings have been .05" between planes, and .02" point spacing, to help capture the detail.
Create a surface with loft or sweep2, and offset it .125".
Try to trim the surfaces and blend them, where I always get into trouble.

Andris, frustrated in CT...

__________________________________________________________________

One trouble is, the shapes you have are not best represented, in terms of surfacing, by a series of parallel section curves. It might be better to look at the object and decide what surfaces you need, bearing in mind that there may be some useful 'underlying geometry' (like parts of cylinders or spheres etc that might not be obvious at first glance) that you can build and then trim back. Digitize points that will help you to get those surfaces. Also, transition surfaces that are obviously filleted edges say, I would not build into the initial surfaces, I would try to add these as edge fillets between the base surfaces- things like that. -Pascal Golay

Best of the Rhino Newsgroup

How to approach fillets

2007-05-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Get all the planar surfaces in place.
FilletSrf at the two radii you want to use.
Untrim the fillets and intersect the fillet surfaces with the top and bottom planes.
Loft the resulting curves (Refit option due to incompatible curves), then trim and clean up, Join.
Filetedge the edges that work.The front corners do not at .25 because the radius of the edge itself there goes down to about .18
Create Tangent blend curves between the edges of the fillets. The top oner needs to be adjusted so as not to bulge out too much (See the red and white curves)
Trim back the surfaces
Network surfaces matching for tangency.

Rhino Newsgroup

Cylinder In a Box

2007-05-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Draw the red line using osnap end on both corners of the cube, then use the cylinder command and the first point locate it in the osnap mispoint of the red line. The direction of the cilinder is relative to the view you are using for drawing it.

Rhino Newsgroup

Design a Helmet in Rhino

2007-05-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

Start with something like this. redraw the curves to get the exact shape you are looking for. Then use rail revolve, extrude both sides and split.

Rhino Newsgroup

Build a Road in Rhino 3D

2007-05-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

Mid line of road
Horizontal line perpendicular to curve '1' - representing road width.
3 sweep1 surface created in with the roadlike top option.
Instead of a straight line for the the road width you could substitute a real road section.

Rhino Newsgroup

Create a connecting surface to two pipes with the same cross section area

2007-05-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

First I divided the pipe into 4 parts, two pairs of symmetrical pieces. Then I built the red and blue curves for the initial loose loft. Loose loft is the easiest way to controllably guarantee continuity in simple cases. The blue lines are actually degree 2 curves with the middle control point weight matching the arc middle control point weight to make sure all iso curves in the resulting surface will be nice and straight.

Then I built the initial Loft with Loose option, and extracted a section in the middle and built a planar surface from it. Used the area (about 315) and the target area (308) to calculate a scale factor (about 0.97) for the section curves. Scaled the section curves (magenta) and finally built another loose loft from all the curves. The cross section area is 308 dot something all the way.

Rhino Newsgroup

2D DXF to Rhino 3D

2007-04-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

You can bring in the drawing and position and scale it as you suggest. It is easy enough to move the elevation part of the drawing to the front view... (See RemapCplane). But from there on out, it looks to me like you will need to redraw many if not all of the curves in Rhino. The dxf curves are very dense polyline approximations of the curves and are not really suitable for making surface geometry directly.

You should probably bludgeon your way through at least the level 1 training material (on the Rhino CD) and get fairly familiar with the curve drawing tools. The level 2 training stuff will help as well once you have a good feel for the basic tools- it has a chapter or two on aligning curves in 3d and using them to create surfaces. This project might be a good way to learn all that but I would be perpared for some false starts as there are some potentially somewhat complex shapes in there- the canopy, the vents in the cowling, etc. for example.

Attached is a file with the curves in position. A new curve drawn for the cowling, using the dxf as a reference, and a surface revolved for the cowling. You might want to do more shifting of curves to layers for clarity of course etc. but this is how I would get started.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rope on a curve

2007-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Path curve, White
Spiral, Around Curve
Cplane set perp to the path curve. Profile curve on place.
Sweep2 along path and spiral

Rhino Newsgroup

Model a Philips Tip in Rhino 3D

2007-04-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Surfaces revolve and Sweep1 rail
Array Polar
Boolean Difference

Rhino Newsgroup

Model a Pillow in Rhino 3D

2007-04-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

A simple curve works best.
Copy vertical 3 times.
Leave the base curve and at least one vertical copy up from it alone.
On the next curve use Smooth in X nd Y directions only a few times to smooth out the base shape somewhat.
Copy this curve vertically again and smooth it some more, as well as Scale2d a bit smaller.
Scale2d another copy
Place a point object in the center of the smallest curve.
Loft all of the curves to the Point, making sure the Loose option in Loft styles is chosen.
The shape can be varied by the level, number and position of the curves- make sure the smallest curve in the middle and the point object are always coplanar. You can also turn on the points of this surface and move rinmgs of points up ands down to edit the shape. Again be sure the middle point and the next ring of points stay coplanar

To make the pillow a little softer looking:

OneLayerOn
Bend a Pillow layer.
Zoom extents

Cyan curve = target shape
Red curve= Current shape
Note: These curves are the same length for minimal distortion of the surface.

Use Flow (Transform menu>Flow along curve). Red is the orignal 'backbone' Cyan the new 'backbone' curve. Join after Flowing.

Rhino Newsgroup

Model Heart Aorta in Rhino 3D

2007-04-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Add one curve vertically between the lower branches (white).
Loft both branches together with this curve (red surface)
Trim this with a plane.
Loft the upper curves.
MatchSrf for tangency the upper to the trimmed loft.

I added a knot horizontally in the lower span of the blue surface before matching to limit the area distorted by Matchsrf.

Rhino Newsgroup

Curved Flange Around Pipe Intersection

2007-04-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sweep 1 the little rectangle along the edge curve that belongs to the outer horizontal pipe surface. Use 'Align with surface' in th Sweep 1 dialog.

Rhino Newsgroup

How To Draw Pyramid Knurl in Rhino 3D

2007-04-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

Make a pyramid: square base extruded to point
Array to desired flat dimension
Flow along curve

Armido

Rhino Newsgroup

RhinoGold

2007-04-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

RhinoGold® is the new plug-in for the Rhinoceros® 4.0 NURBS modeler for Windows. RhinoGold® makes it possible for jewelry designers and manufacturers to fully modify and manufacture jewelry precisely but quickly without sacrificing a clear and intuitive interface that both simplifies and cuts down learning time.

Current Status: Phase 1 - WIP

Videos

Presentation
RhinoGold 1.0 WIP 5
What is new in WIP 5

Creating a surface by extruding a curve

2007-04-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

Rhino Newsgroup

How to close this loft smoothly – Pascal

2007-04-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's a network surface and a couple of profile curves. You need the split the edge of the original surface to create the two edge curves as input for the NetworkSrf, needed to maintain continuity. - Pascal

Rhino Newsgroup

Brazil Rendering for Rhino 4.0

2007-04-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

We are in the process of adding new pages to the Wiki regarding Brazil for
Rhino. Please let us know what kind of information you are most interested
in as potential beta-testers and users.

Brazil Wiki Home:
http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/BrazilHome.html

Organic Text

2007-04-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

1a,1b, and 1c are the original curves used to create the organic font. They were produced using the curve option in the standard Rhino text tool using COMIC SANS MS font. You could prepare your outlines using any curves drawn in a plane.

In column 'a' the solution leads to a blend surface
In column 'b' the solution leads to a patch surface
In column 'c' the solution leads to a network surface
In row 2 all the letter curves were rebuilt to produce less control points (in this case 20) 'a'

4a Extrude the curves to form an inner and outer surface. Use blendsrf to create the surface. Use the tangency option.

5a The finished letter 'b'

3b Copy the curves up. (I did this only to get a more vertical shape at the edge) Offset the upper curves as shown and move the offest curves up.

4b Patch all the curves using
sample - 1
u - 10
v - 10
stiffness - 0.001

5b In the front view trim the patch using the outer base curve to produce the finished letter. 'c'

3c Split the C at two points: one each 'end'.

4c Copy vertical pairs of lines below the curves (snap to near)
Blend the top end of the lines to produce section curves.

5c Using the curves of the C and the section curves create a network surface
to give the finished letter.

Rhino Newsgroup

Swimming Pool – Pascal

2007-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

A 3 (longitudinal) section curve loft gives a beautifully smooth pool shape. I'm trying to construct a swimming pool that should look organic and "flowing." The attach files show what I've done so far, but I'd like to get something that combines more of the accuracy of the PlanarSrf model with the smoothness of the Lofted version.

Ideally, I'd like to have the steps smoothly blend into the walls which should flow into the floor. The Lofted example is closest in spirit to this but I need more control over the placement of the steps.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino Reverse 2 BETA for Rhino 4

2007-04-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

The first beta version of RhinoReverse 2 (for Rhinoceros 4) is now available for downloading. Please see www.rhinoreverse.icapp.ch for more information.

We focused the new development on three main targets:

More design flexibility and high data quality. n-sided faces with n>=2 curves can now be sketched by the user. The accordant trimmed faces are created automatically and the seams are adjusted to reach Rhinos absolute tolerance. The resulting faces, suitable for any solid modelling operation, show high accuracy (close to the given mesh) and smooth transitions.
Ease of use. RhinoReverse 2 offers to work on the command level of Rhino 4. This makes the use lean and fast.
Simplified data management. All data are now stored within Rhinos´s 3dm-file. Extra files will no longer be needed to store RhinoReverse´s mesh and grid information.

More Features:

RRMatchSrf. Like Rhino’s MatchSrf but working on trimmed surfaces.
RRHeal. Like RRMatchSrf but working simultaneously with all selected surfaces.
RRPatch. Like Rhino’s Patch but working out the trims and tolerances automatically.
RRCommitCurves. Gives you access to sketched Curves/intersection curves.
RRImportGridV1. Compatibility tool to import your old V1 grids into V2.

Please feel free to test the new version and send us your feedback!
Jörg Danzberg
RhinoReverse - Team

Model a Newsom Chair in Rhino - Dave Rutten

2007-04-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Rhino Newsgroup

AutoCAD 2D drawing as a template for a Rhino 3D model - Pascal

2007-04-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Rhino Newsgroup

Modeling A Human Ear - Rubencito

2007-04-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

I first sculpted an ear from a modeling clay, sliced it like a birthday cake and visually "digitized" the sections into Rhino. I used Curve->Freeform->Control Points to draw the section curves. All sections must have the same number of points and the points of all curves must be visually in sync with each other. I rotated the sections in place and used Loft with Closed Smooth option to create the initial ear surface. Rubencito

Rhino Newsgroup

How to Model Wire Mesh

2007-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

Rhino Newsgroup

AccuRender 4.0

2007-04-09T09:47:00.001-07:00

madCAM Finishing a Mould

2007-04-06T14:07:00.001-07:00

madCAM milling a steel mould.

Rhino Online Class's

2007-04-06T11:47:00.001-07:00

Rhino Online Class's

Where is the Rhino 4.0 Solidworks Import plugin located?

2007-04-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

It is in its own directory after you install Rhino 4.0
C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 4.0\Plug-ins\Import_Solidworks\Import_Solidworks.rhp

Rhino Newsgroup

Modeling a curve twist around a rod - Pascal

2007-04-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Make a helix with the right number of turns - less than one in this case I guess, and of larger diameter then the surface. Next make a line up the center of the surface - actually the center of the helix, really. Loft the helix to the line and get the curve of intersection between the lofted surface and the original surface (a revolve in the attached image)

Rhino Newsgroup

How to approach fillets and/or how to fix naked edges

2007-04-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Question
I need help on how to approach fillets and/or how to fix naked edges. The green shape is a solid I've created. I was able to put a small fillet (.3 or .2) on it , but there are naked edges. I've tried to fix the naked edges two different ways, but was defeated each time. I tied to detach the problem edges, untrim them and then match them. I get either weird joins or twists. (see blue ribbon shape) I ran a small pipe (.3) around the outside of the green solid and subtracted the pipe from the solid, exploded and then tried to use blend surface. I created several new surfaces. The purple solid looks like what I after, but after joining I have more naked edges than I started with.

Finally, I tried to redo my basic geometry to match tangency of curves at key points (I would prefer to be able to fix naked edges rather than let my ability to produce clean fillets dictate what shapes I can produce). The blue shape has curves that are tangent, but it won't take any fillet ( even .1 mm).

Answer
I know well your problem. However I did get yours to fillet. Well with a workaround anyway.
1. I used the sweep 2 rails.
2. I created the fillet profile at the 2 pointed ends on the shape
3. Then sweep 2 rails all the way around.

Rhino Newsgroup

T-Splines for Rhino

2007-04-04T17:36:00.001-07:00

T-Splines for Rhino 4.0 latest BETA video.

Chair Back

2007-04-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

For the from and back surfaces i used extrude along curve instead of sweep along 1 rail.
Then each surface was trimed with the curve on it (the curve is not exactly on the surface so i use proyect, and if the trim doesn not work
Extend the ends of each side of the curve and then extrude them (using bothsides option to get a nice trim).
The middle part was created using surface from curve network.
Here is were i have to use the match comand to obtain section that are good to use.

Rhino Newsgroup

Unfold 3D Surface to 2D, Apparel Like Application

2007-04-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

All surfaces that are at least degree 1 in one direction (U or V) can be unfolded in Rhino.

Rhino Newsgroup

Lofted Pillow

2007-03-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

1 outline guide curves locked., Control point curve over 1 half.

2 mirror and join the red curve, then removeKnot one knot from the ends where they were joined (green points) This will make the curve remain smooth at these points later when the copies are edited to make them more circular. With the extra Knot there tey would develop kinks and make a mess of the lofts.

Make a planarSrf from the joined curve and use Analyze>Mass properties>Area centroid to find the 'middle'

3 copy the curve vertically twice, then move the point to the same Z value as the top curve. SetPt with the Z box checked and the Near osnap works well for this.

4 Scale 2d the top curve on the center point with the Copy option.

5 Use Smooth on the last two (magenta) curves repeatedly until they are rounder. I smoothed the smaller one a couple more seps than the outer one so that there would be a transition from the cyan curves to the rounder middle curve.

6 Loft the curves to the point (p option in Loft) Use the Loose option in the dropdown menu in Loft.

7,8 you can edit the resulting surface by:

-moving any of the rows of surface points up and down, but f you move the middle point move the next row of points at the same time and keep them in plane or you'll lose the smooth pillowy effect and get a sharp point or a divot.

- Scale2d-ing rows of points, on the middle point would work best.
-PG Rhino Newsgroup

Indents for seat in chair

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

3 curves
sweep1
Boolean difference
- Pascal

Rhino Newsgroup

Top Twenty Rhino Plugins

2007-03-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

The following are suggestions from the Rhino Newsgroup for the "Top Twenty Rhino Plugins." The following are listed in alpabetical order.

Named View Manager v0.7.1 by Mattias D'Hooghe
nPower
Point set reconstruction
madCAM
Maxwell
Monkey
RhinoArt
RhinoCAM
Smurf
TechGems
VRAY

Placing circles by their tangent

2007-03-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

The quick way, since the points are evenly distributed, is to use
ArrayCrv. Place one copy of the circle/point group at one end of the
scallop like this:

Since the scallop is a series of arcs, Select the circle and point and
start Orient. Set Scale to No. Put on the Near and Point osnaps, (or
Quad and Cen would work as well). Snap the first base point to the
circle itself (near or quad) and the second to the center of the circle,
or your point. Now put on Point and Cen Osnaps and place the circle
snapping first to the point on the scallop, then the center of the arc
the point lies on.

Then use ArrayCrv with 51 copies. Set the base point to the point where
the circle hits the scallop. You could also repeat the above Orient
routine with Copy=Yes, placing copies at each point and snapping to the
center.

In cases where the scallop is not made up of arcs, to place the first
circle, Offset the scalloped curve to the left by some reasonble
distance, say .25. Use the same technique as above but use the Perp
osnap for the second target point- so the first target point is one of
the points on the curve, the second is perp on the offset curve. - Pascal

Rhino Newsgroup

Creating blended fillets

2007-03-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Offset all the surfaces by the fillet radius.
Intersect them and get a complete curve all around.
Delete the offsets
Use Pull to suck the intersection curve back to each of the original surfaces.
Trim the surfaces with the pulled curves.
Pipe the intersection curve to the fillet radius.
Trim the pipe with the pulled back curve.
Stir gently over low heat, serve immediately.
If the pipe winds up having a seam within the final fillet, it might be better to sweep1 a circle around the curve of intersection instead, making sure that the seam in the circle is outside where the final fillet will be trimmmed to. - Pascal

Rhino Newsgroup

Create smooth blended surfaces

2007-03-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Create smooth blended surfaces between the trimmed edges of 2 torus's which have been trimmed using a circle. - Pascal

1. Two Torii
2. BooleanUnion
3. FilletEdge all the edges at once.

Rhino Newsgroup

Off Broadway Affiliate Program

2007-03-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Join for free and earn 6% on referreals.
It costs you nothing to participate. Instead, we pay you commissions on sales from Off Broadway Affiliate Program Tracking services, regardless of link type. There are no sign-up or membership fees for affiliates. Building your links, viewing your earnings and traffic reports, and updating your account information in our "affiliate only" area.

How does the Off Broadway affiliate program work?
Off Broadway partner program is free to join and easy to use. As an affiliate, you simply place links to Off Broadway on your Web site. Each time a visitor clicks from your site to Off Broadway to purchase services, you earn referral fees.

How do I get started?
After you complete the online registration form, you will immediately receive an introductory e-mail that welcomes you to the program and explains how to set up some quick links. You will also receive access to our members-only area, where you can choose the best links for your site, download graphics, and find tips about using our free program to your advantage.

Click here to signup for the Off Broadway Affiliate Program

rhino3dmodels.com Free Downloads

2007-03-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

rhino3dmodels.com now has a Free Download directory. Any registered user can download from the Free Directory. Registration is free.

madCAM 4.0 for Rhino 4.0 Shipping

2007-03-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

madCAM the 3D CAM plug-in for Rhinoceros® Gives the operator the ability to perform both modeling and toolpath creation inside Rhino 3D.

$1,495 until June 1, 2007
Upgrades $495

New for Rhino 4.0

Automatic Remachining Video
The remachining is calculated from the true stock model. It works for Z-level finishing and Planar finishing. It is possible to do remachining with any cutter in madCAM, Ball end, Flat End, Corner End and Taper Mill.

Taper Mill option
It is now possible to use taper cutters in madCAM.

Z-level finishing Smooth Corners option
New option for sharp or smooth corners for Z-level finishing. If the cutter can't reach corners on the model due to cutter size, it will normally produce sharp corners on the toolpath. The smooth corners option will create fillets at those corners and make it smooth even when cutting those areas.

Planar finishing Blend option
New option for blending when joining the toolpath curves for Planar finishing. This makes a smoother motion when cutting.

TechGems Rhino 4.0 Compatibility Patch

2007-03-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

TechJewel publishers of TechGems has released a Rhino 4.0 update for TechGems - version 4.2 that supports both Rhino 3.0 and 4.0. All registered clients can download this free update www.techjewel.com/upgrade

This version is exactly the same as TechGems 4.1 - only the compatibility with Rhinoceros 4.0 was added. It uses the same installation password and the same HASP protection key (dongle).

What should I do before upgrading to Rhino 4.0?

2007-02-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

Uninstall the Rhino 4.0 beta if installed.
Save all R4 Beta plug-ins, preferences, custom shading modes, toolbars must be saved and then reloaded after the install. Note: Rhino 3.0 Plugins do not work with Rhino 4.0.
Run ExportOptions from Beta (if installed)
Exporting all non-standard display modes.
Save any custom display modes if you've created any (those need to be exported separately.
Back up your custom workspace if you have one (if you've modified the
Default workspace, it's imperative that you save it under another name)
Note any plug-ins that you might have added - those will need to be re-loaded.
If you have any external scripts, those will also need to be backed up for transfer (although stuff that is not included in the default install shouldn't be touched in theory).

Rhino Newsgroup

3D Graph Interpolation

2007-02-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

Rhino Labs
This plugin creates a smooth colour distribution over a 3D mesh based on spatial relationships of sample points. A sample point is a combination of a 3D coordinate and a sample value. When multiple sample points occupy the same space, the sample value at any given coordinate can be guessed (interpolated). The diagram below is a one-dimensional representation of this algorithm:

In this case only two sample points are specified; A and B. The null-effect line represents the zero-influence line. Let's assume that Sample A has a value of 2.0 and Sample B a value of -0.5. When we calculate the value at point 2, the resulting value is the exact average of A and B; +0.75. In a 3D environment, every vertex of a mesh is interpolated and the local value mapped to a colour gradient which gives the following result for three Sample-points:

Rhino Labs Multi Tools

2007-02-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

Miscellaneous tools for the most discriminating Rhino 4.0 designers

ConvertDots - converts text dots to either points or text objects.
DupDimStyle - duplicates dimension styles.
HideLayersInDetail - similar to Rhino's HideInDetail command, only it hides all objects on a layer.
ImportDimStyles - imports dimension styles from another .3dm file.
ModifyRadius - changes the radius of arcs and circles.
ReplaceBlock - replaces a blocks with another block definition.
RevCloud - creates revision cloud curves.
SelHatch - selects hatch objects.
SelRenderColor - selects objects by their diffuse render color (Rhino renderer only).
VertexColorCreator - generates mesh vertex colors based on a meshes texture.

Creating Stairs in Rhino

2007-02-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

DupEdge the top edge of the step.
ArrayCrv, RoadLike, Top Cplane this curve on the spiral curve.
Open the Osnap toolbar and float it near where you are working.
Turn on Planar at the status bar.
Orient the original step with Copy=Yes, Scale=No snapping to the end of the edge at the spiral as the first point and the far end of the edge as the second.
Now for the target points, you will need to toggle Osnap projection so that each time you pick on the 'inner' end of a target line Project is off, and every time you pick on the 'outer' end Project is on. You can toggle these inside the Orient command so you can do it all in one go, but it is a lot of clicking.

- Pascal Rhino Newsgroup

Model a Fender in Rhino

2007-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Create a patch surface. Use the pull curve to surface command to apply the curves on the surface and split the patch with the pulled curves.
Create the patch surface as in step 1.
Split the patches with uv curves.(Use extract isocurves to create the curves)
I use blend command to create the surface. extend ,
Split and delete the blend surface where needed.
Join the surfaces and check for naked edges.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino 4 New Features

2007-02-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

Rhino 4.0 is the most significant upgrade in the history of Rhino, with hundreds of new features and enhancements.

Modeling enhancement including robust variable blend tools, improved Booleans, and G-infinity™ blending. Video...
Editing tools including UDT for free-form deformation of all geometry types, feature recognition for direct polysurface and solids editing and command history for editing surfaces by changing their input curves. Video...
Interface enhancements including SmartTrack™ technology and live help with video clips. Video...
Display pipeline takes advantage of the latest graphic card technology to provide a major speed improvement, new advanced display modes, new analysis tools, dual-screen support, and support for new third-party applications. Video...
Rendering enhancements including new basic rendering technology, upgraded Flamingo and Penguin, Brazil r/s available, and new third-party renderers including V-Ray and Maxwell. Also included are texture mapping tools that can be used by all Rhino plug-in renderers. Video...
2-D drawing/drafting tools including line styles, line weights, hidden lines, dimensions, hatching, page layout and printing/plotting. Video...
Mesh modeling, editing, analysis, repair, and rapid prototyping. Major enhancements in mesh creation and editing. Also many new tools for STL repair and 3-D printing. Video...
Analysis with new tools for both measurement and display. Also enhanced tools detecting problems and evaluating model quality so the problems downstream can be avoided. Video...
Large projects support with hierarchical layer management, file locking, and enhanced support for worksessions, blocks, and reference files. Video...
Compatibility enhancements including improved PDF, AI 8+, STEP, DWG/DXF, PLY, DGN, FBX, SolidWorks, Google Earth, SketchUP, and WAMIT support. Video...
Software developer tools for users and third-party developers.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino 4.0 Shipping

2007-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

From the Rhino Newsgroup

As promised you are the first to know that we started shipping Rhino 4.0 stock to resellers today. By the end of next week, many resellers should have 4.0 and 4.0 upgrades in stock.

The Rhino 4.0 PR campaign starts on 1-March-2007. Hopefully by then all of the resellers will have stock and many of the third-party plug-ins will be ready (or at least have a beta available). Enjoy - Bob

Rhino 4.0
Rhino 4.0 Upgrade

DWG Import to Rhino Units

2007-02-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Question - I'm importing a file from AutoCAD in DWG, system unit in AutoCAD was millimeters, what i have to do to get the proper scale when importing to Rhino? - Sam

Answer - Open a new blank file in Rhino and set the units to millimeters, then use
Import to import the DWG file. - Mitch

Watch out for a scale problem with AutoCAD, file unit system was saying mm but it was meters, so rescaled it in AutoCAD with 0.01 factor and imported in Rhino.

Rhino Newsgroup

Model a Chair Seat in Rhino

2007-02-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

Draw seat curves
Sweep1 between the curves
Boolean difference

-Pascal

Rhino 4 Labs - Technical Drawing Display

2007-02-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

This plug-in adds a new Technical display modes to Rhino 4.0 with hidden lines and other options.
Rhino 4 Labs

Rhino Loft

2007-02-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Explode your curves and rejoin them to create the rails for 2 rails command.
Run sweep 2 rails command to create the blue white and red surfaces.
Run Blendsrf command to create the violet and green surfaces
Run Intersection commando to create a curve in the green and violet surface intersection. Probably you should edit the curve a little bit to get a clean curve.
join the surfaces. Use showedges command and look for surfaces naked edges.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - How to find the center axis of a helix

2007-02-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Use orient 2 points command to create a vertical (to cplane) helix.(use copy option and no scale option)
Use line pertfromcurve command (in top view) with planar mode on to create the blue lines
Use line command with INT osnap on to create the green line (axis)
Use orient 2 points command (copy= yes scale=no). Orient the green line using the red line (from both helix) endpoitns as reference.
Verification

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - Cam and Follower

2007-02-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

Method to copy and place the group (consisting of a circle and a point) so that the copies are at each point along the scalloped curve and the circles tangents are on each point?

The quick way, since the points are evenly distributed, is to use ArrayCrv. Place one copy of the circle/point group at one end of the scallop like this:

Since the scallop is a series of arcs, Select the circle and point and start Orient. Set Scale to No. Put on the Near and Point osnaps, (or Quad and Cen would work as well). Snap the first base point to the circle itself (near or quad) and the second to the center of the circle, or your point. Now put on Point and Cen Osnaps and place the circle snapping first to the point on the scallop, then the center of the arc the point lies on.

Then use ArrayCrv with 51 copies. Set the base point to the point where the circle hits the scallop. You could also repeat the above Orient routine with Copy=Yes, placing copies at each point and snapping to the center.

In cases where the scallop is not made up of arcs, to place the first circle, Offset the scalloped curve to the left by some reasonble distance, say .25. Use the same technique as above but use the Perp osnap for the second target point- so the first target point is one of the points on the curve, the second is perp on the offset curve. -Pascal Rhino Newsgroup

Penguin 2 Beta 10 Available

2007-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Main Features

Works in Rhino 4.0
Available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Czech
Improved interface and more integration with Rhino
Supports dimensions, annotations and curves
Supports shadows and transparencies
New combinable shaders
Per object settings
Vectorial output
Real time display (cartoon, sketch, hidden lines)

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino on Windows Vista

2007-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Rhino Wiki has a page on running Rhino in Windows Vista. A must read before you upgrade your operating system to Vista.

Rhino 4.0 Release Candidate 1 Now Available

2007-02-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Rhino 4.0 Release Candidate 1 (18-Jan-2007) is now available from
http://rhino3d.com/4/beta.htm

Most of the changes since the last beta are crash bug fixes and changes to the installer - you likely won't see much difference.

To download, and for a complete list of changes, please visit
http://rhino3d.com/4/beta.htm

Brian Gillespie
Rhinoceros Development
Robert McNeel & Associates
http://www.rhino3d.com

The Art of Shipbuilding

2007-02-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

ScheepsbouwKunst is a Dutch company using Rhino for maritime development. ScheepsbouwKunst translates to "The Art of Shipbuilding". Take a look at one of their projects. scheepsbouwkunst.nl

Modeling footwear in Rhino

2007-01-31T17:43:00.000-08:00

The shoe main body should be generated as shown in the attached file. The shape in the attached file is not ergonomically correct.- Facundo
Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino Surface Comprising Array of Objects

2007-01-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

Make a block of the original object and arraySrf that to keep file size reasonable. In this file I have a loose mesh and the NURBS surface object available as Blocks. ArraySrf the red object on the surface, say 50 by 50 pieces. Set the Normal direction in Front or Right views vertically from 0,0,0. - Pascal

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino 3D Revolve to create a housing

2007-01-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

I used revolve to create this housing. I would like to add the thickness to show it in true 3D. It is .015" thick. How do I go about getting this?

You can do it a number of ways. I use offset curve and created a lip curve, then did revolve. If you leave one curve end open the surface will close itself when the surface is revolved.
RM Rhino Newsgroup

Screw Thread Tutorial

2007-01-29T16:03:00.000-08:00

Color Chart:
Grey - Construction Line/Surface
Red - Current Object in Step
Cyan - Thread Pitch Profile Line
Blue - Thread Pitch Helix

Layout bolt cylinder diameter and profile
Insert a line to establish the pitch length and draw your thread profile. Make sure that your thread profile extends beyond the bolt diameter line. Move the thread profile so that the middle of the minor diameter lines up with the start of your bolt profile.
Create the thread helix to match your TPI (threads per inch) specifications.
Copy your thread helix from end to end (this is so that you can create your disappearing thread curve).
Take the copied helix and scale it up (in all three axes) by 1.25. Then create a cutting plane and place it approximately 1/2 turn into the scaled helix curve.
Trim back the helix to the cutting plane.
You now have the thread curves required to sweep your thread profile curves. Do not join the thread curves or helixes.
Taking two of the thread curves (shown in cyan), use the "Sweep 1 Rail" command using the helix as the path. When prompted, choose the "Right Side" preview and select OK.
Taking the last thread curve, again use the "Sweep 1 Rail" command using the connecting minor diameter curve of the thread surface you just created in Step 8. When promted, choose the "Follow Curve" preview and select "OK". Once completed, you can join all 3 surfaces together into 1 (this will close off the edges, assuring your thread surface won't have any bad edges to deal with).
Repeat the same process as used in Steps 8 & 9 to create the disappearing thread surfaces.
Taking the surfaces created in Steps 8 through 11, explode and then rejoin them into 1 surface. You now have your thread profile/cutting surface.
Using your bolt profile you created in Step 1, rotate your bolt diameter circle 90 degrees on the Y axis.
Move the rotated bolt diameter circle in the X axis -1/4 inch and create a 1" long cylinder using the "Solid - Extrude Planar Curve" command in the X axis.
Using the "Solid - Differnece" command, subtract the thread profile/cutting surface from the bolt diameter cylinder.
You should end up with a 3/8" dia. x 1" lg. stud with a 3/4" lg. thread length.

Bolt diameter cylinder can not be Booleaned if bolt cylinder end extends beyond the thread profile/cutting surface. The thread pitch helix curves can be joined to make a longer threads. For All-Thread studs, the stud diameter cylinder must remain smaller than the thread profile/cutting surface.

- Tom Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - Make a Die in 10 easy steps

2007-01-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

Turn on snap by highlighting "snap" on the bottom toolbar.
Create a polysurface box (command "box") that is 10x10x10 units in size. You can use "Shade" and "RenderPreview" at any time to see how the design is coming along, try it now.
Type in "FilletEdge" and select all 12 edges of the box. To change the default radius from 1.0 to 0.5, type in .5 and press space. Press enter to perform the fillet.
Type in "Circle" and create a circle. Make this roughly 33% the size of the box. You can reposition objects wherever you want by highlighting them and left-click-and-drag. The example circle is hidden, to see it type in "Show".
Type in "Scale2D" and squish your round circle along one axis to make it look like the demonstration. This is necessary because the indentations in the die are not exactly circular, they are more flat. You may have to temporarily disable snap to do this.
Position the squished circle close to the surface of the die (but not touching) and center it on that side using all viewports. This will become the "1" side.
Turn Snap off and Ortho on, this will help us place the circle with more precision. Notice the demo circle intersects the surface of the die by approximately two units in cross-section. Duplicate this, then turn Snap back on and Ortho off.
Now that the "cutter" is positioned, it is a simple process of moving it and performing boolean operations to create the dents. Type in "BooleanDifference" and select the die and press enter, then select the circle and type in "d" plus a space to toggle DeleteInput to NO, then press enter. The intersecting area of the cutter and die is removed from the die and both objects remain.
Side one is nearly done! Now rotate the box 90 degrees on any axis so we can get to another side, do this with the "Rotate" command. Notice how the dots are spaced on the die, and position the cutter to emulate this on your version. Perform more boolean differences and cut out the remaining indents on each side. Right-clicking in the viewport repeats the last command used, so try that instead of typing "BooleanDifference" a million times.
Now that the die has the correct indentations in it, we need to break the surfaces up so they can have different materials applied to them. Highlight the die and type in "Explode," this splits the object up into its basic surfaces. Select all the dot surfaces, add them to a group with the "Group" command, and hide them with the "Hide" command. Then select all the exterior die components by dragging a selection box around the whole shape, careful not to select the cutter. Type in "Join", and the surfaces are recombined into one polysurface, minus the dots. Use "Show" now to unhide the dots.
To assign the surfaces some materials, select the dots and press F3. Under "Layer," change this to the first colored layer and press enter. Ignore the colors. Select the Die and change its layer to #2. Right-click on "Default" on the bottom toolbar, this brings up the layers control panel. Here you can rename the layers and assign them specific materials. Make the die layer white-ish, and the dot layer dark-ish.
Add a spotlight, table surface, and adjust render settings to your taste. Click in the Perspective viewport to make it active and type in "Render" to render the finished scene!

- Mark Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino 4.0 - Print Line Thickness

2007-01-26T08:14:00.001-08:00

Question
How can I print different line thicknesses for object edges and dimension lines? - John

Answer
In the layer dialog box there is a printwidth setting that allows you to choose various widths. (In version 4.) - Don Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - Simple House

2007-01-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

Using all SlabTools commands.

PolyLine in plan
Slab walls
MoveSide adjust walls location & thickness
SplitFace 6 splits
MergeFace 4 merges
split 4
MoveEdge make angles in a wall
PlyLine in elevation
Slab roof
MoveEdge adjust walls angle
Make holes with booleanDifference
MoveHole copy and move holes locations
MoveSide adjust opening width
PolyLine
Slab make stairs

- Rajaa Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino Quatrefoil in a Gothic Arch

2007-01-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

Path which would be the lobed shape and a cross section to sweep along it. Put a profile at each end then MatchSrf.

- Pascal Golay Rhino Newsgroup

Join Two Rhino 3D Polysurfaces

2007-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Select all
Explode
Change your Absolute Tolerance to .1
Join

- Larry Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - Unfolding Surfaces

2007-01-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

Create the surface shape
Rebuild surface and change control point number (to anything you need) and degree. UV to 1 or just one to degree 1 and the other to degree 3.
Split the surface by isoparms using END OSNAP
Flatter developable surface.

- Facundo Rhino Newsgroup

Build a Scroll in Rhino 3D

2007-01-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

Use a background bitmap of your shape to trace the outline (PlaceBackgroundBitmap)
Extrude that outline (Extrude cap=yes)
Add another solid and boolean add it to fill in center part (BooleanUnion)
Fillet edges. (FilletEdge)

Heath Rhino Newsgroup

Advanced Filleting on Rhino Wiki

2007-01-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

There are situations where the automatic filleting tools in Rhino may fail. This page contains tutorials that show how to manually get the desired results.

FilletEdge

Creates a tangent surface between multiple polysurface edges (joined) with optional varying radius values, trims the original faces, and joins the resulting surfaces together.
Is not limited to just two surfaces
Can fill in corners between adjacent fillets
Is limited to exactly three surfaces meeting at a point
The radiuses used can not be so large that they overlap each other and completely consume any surface they are following.

FilletSrf

Creates a tangent surface between two surface edges (joined or not) with a constant radius, and optionally trims and/or extends the original surfaces.
Works on exactly two surfaces at a time
Does not fill in corners between adjacent fillets

What if they do not work?

Four Surfaces
	This example will show you how to manually fillet a corner where 4 planar surfaces meet at a single point.

Five Surfaces
	This example will show you how to manually fillet a corner where 5 planar surfaces meet at a single point.

Overlapping surfaces
		This example will show you how to manually fix two overlapping fillet surfaces.

Short walled pocket
		This example will show you how to manually fillet a pocket with the walls are too short for the desired radius.

Existing small radius
		This example will show you how to use a large radius fillet when a small radius fillet already exists.

Tangent Cylinders
	This example will show you how to fillet two stacked cylinders that share a tangent side.

Overlapping boxes
	This example will show you how to fillet the shared edges of two overlapping boxes.

Turn one layer on and all other layers off

2007-01-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

Question - How can I Turn one layer on and all other layers off. - William

Answer - OneLayerOn - James

Rhino Newsgroup

Emailing Rhino Files

2007-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Question - I'm having trouble emailing a model to a client. Our email limit is 5MB and my file is 63MB is there a easy fix? Matt

Answer - I would try SaveSmall. SaveSmall will not save render and analysis meshes, geometry only goes further and also tosses layers and annotaion and so on- a bit drastic. But, you might also want to see if you can Export the relevant geometry to a new file- it may be that there is a lot of reference geometry and so on that does not need to go along. - Pascal
---
Zip your file, as rhino files often shrink a massive amount when zipped. It's unlikely to make a 63mb file only 5mb, but no matter how you send it, it will be far faster if it's zipped. - Heath

Rhino Newsgroup

Brazil 2.0 for Rhino 4.0

2007-01-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

** PLEASE NOTE - THIS IS WORK IN PROGRESS SOFTWARE **

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Work-in-Progress (WIP) releases may crash, lock up, or corrupt files.

Rhino 3.0 and 4.0 Beta users are encouraged to download and try this work in progress release of the production quality renderer - Brazil r/s 2.0 for Rhino.

Brazil r/s 2.0 for Rhino WIP 13 is now available from
http://download.mcneel.com/brazil/2.0/wip/download_wip.asp

Please read the attached letter from Splutterfish with regard to Brazil 2.0 licensing. You will not be able to run Brazil for Rhino if you do not follow these instructions.

http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/BrazilLicensing.html

Note: If you have already applied for a Brazil for Rhino beta license, you do not need to do so again - this WIP release will work with your WIP10 license.

This is an early version of Brazil r/s 2.0 for Rhino and is still quite incomplete. However, we are now nearing the beta stage of this product, and the most of the main features are now in place. This version includes a lot more work on the lights, and quite a few new materials and utility shaders. It is also fairly pointless using the WIP release to judge speed issues. None of the shaders or core are optimized for speed at the moment.

Bongo 1.0 Service Release 3 RC3 - Rhino 4.0 Support

2007-01-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

Bongo 1.0 Service Release 3 RC3 is now available from:
http://download.mcneel.com/bongo/1.0/beta/

Bongo 1.0 SR3 adds support for Rhino 4.0 Beta.
You will require your CD-Key to run the installer for Service Release 3. This key is printed on the license insert on the left side of your DVD case.

Note - This is a pre-release beta version of a new service release for Bongo 1.0. It includes Rhino 4.0 (Beta 7-Dec-2006 onwards) support along with several bug fixes and improvements. We recommend users who are experiencing problems with issues listed below to install this service release.

Model DreamCAST in Rhino 3D

2007-01-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

Clean original curves (turn on points and compare to point count of your original lines)
Use "sweep2" on top curves, using the two identical curves for the cross-section. Extrude the base curves. Not that the curves have not been filleted at this point.
Trim these surfaces to each other, join, and cap (the cap is not necessary unless you want it to be "solid").
Use "FilletEdge" with a .4 radius on all but the bottom edges.

- Heath Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino - Close a hole that is not planar

2007-01-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

Duplicate the surface edge.
Split the resulting curve symmetrically.
Use loft command to create the surface.

-Facundo Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino Labs - In Place Block Editing Added

2007-01-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Rhino Labs has released a prototype in RhinoScript a "In Place Block Editor" for Rhino 4.0

Edit: Select a block to edit.

If the block is a single level block, the block is exploded and everything else is locked.
If the block contains nested blocks, select the block to edit from a list. The selected block is exploded and everything else locked.

Add to: Swaps the locked status of everything, which lets you select objects to add to the block. Copies of the selected objects are now unlocked and available for editing. Note: To move objects into the block rather than copying them, use the UnlockSelected command to free the objects for selection.
Save: Uses all currently unlocked objects to redefine the block.
Cancel: Restores everything to the way it was before the edit started.

More info on Rhino Wiki

Metal Sculptures Designed in Rhino

2007-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

Heath from Heath Satow Sculpture used Rhino to create animals in metal for the Denver Zoo. On the Rhino Newsgroup Heath says his favorite Rhino Command is UnRollSrf. Very nice work.

Rhino Ring Tutorial

2007-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Control points, symmetry and position were checked and adjusted in the original curves provided. Horizontal and vertical cutting planes were created and the intesecting points with the curves established. (shown green) - INTERSECT
Use the green points to create 3 point arcs - ARC3PT, snapping to points.
Create the straight line between the end of existing section curves as shown.
MATCH the 'straight' curves to tangency with section cuves. Check preserve other end setting. Pick the cyan curve first and do not average curves. Join the two black profile curves.
Use SWEEP1 to create a temporary bottom surface for the ring. Rail = (1), sections are arc sections created at stage 2.
Create horizontal section curves in the surface near the bottom point. (Use SECTION in the active front view.) These curves will control the shape of the ring in the network later. For some reason I found that I needed to IMPROVE the lower curve before the network would work at stage 13. Find the intersection point between the horizontal cutting plane and the curve (2) Create a temporary short orthographic line from the intersection point.
Create the BLEND curve (3) between the temporary line and the arc as shown. Delete the temporary line.
Mirror the curves (2) and (3) as shown.
Join the curves (2) and (3)
At this stage there are enough curves to proceed to the network surface. However the surface will not follow the original blue target inner edge curves too well in the upper section. This may not be critical. If it is you will need additional horizontal sections. I will create one.
Move the horizontal cutting plane to align with a critical position on the blue curves. Find the intersection points shown green and delete additional unwanted points that may be created.
Use INTERPCRV to prduce a closed curve through the intersection points. (I started on line (2)) (Repeat steps 10 and 11 to create other section curves where you consider critical.)
Split curves (1) and (2) at the intersection point between them.
Use all of the green curves to produce a network surface.
In the FRONT view use the blue curve to trim the surface.
The result.
You dont actually need the blue inner edge curves. You can create the sections independently.
Example with new top shape.

The bottom section was replaced with a semicircle to give vertical tangents and the matched curves adjusted to tangency. Additional section curves were created using the hidden network surface and section command. The curves to create this network are on the network curves layer.

Once you you have a set of network curves you like you can create a new top face shape to vary the result. Split the resulting surface with a suitable sized cylinder.
With a network surface, curves don't have to touch. Experiment and see what happens.

Rhino Newsgroup

Rhino 4.0 Page / Sheet Layouts

2007-01-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Rhino 4.0 tutorial that explains how to arrange, annotate and plot the model. Layout viewports are designed to do the following:

Arrange several views of the model at different orientations
Assign model scales to the detail viewport.
Add annotations like title blocks and general notes
Plot from this area 1=1, typically.

Rhino Wiki

Advanced Flattening - from Rhino Labs

2007-01-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Rhino Labs has announced an early prototype of a tool to flatten a non-developable (curved in two directions) 3-D mesh or NURBS surface into a flat 2-D pattern.

Expander from Ship Constructor for Rhino 3.0 does a good job of flattening but will not be available Rhino 4.0. Rhino Labs has developed a replacement. This is the first prototype.
Details on Rhino Wiki Link

Rhino - Polygons to NURBS

2007-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

How do I change a net of polygons to NURBS? Stefan

If the polygons are all coplanar, then DupBorder followed by PlanarSrf will get you a surface(s). MeshToNurb will make each polygon into a trimmed plane only useful if the model is quite simple in general. Beyond that, you can try T-spline in V4, I do not know if that will fill the bill in your case, or SMURF or of course more complex 'reverse engineering' surface building strategies using Rhino's tools. -Pascal

Rhino - File Locking

2007-01-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Question - Where can I found more information about File Locking? What is it and how is it used? Francis

Answer - In Options> Files there is a setting to lock files so that others opening the same file after you have it open will get it as 'read only' and will see a warning. Once you close the file, one or more other users on the network can open it with full access, depending on the settings in their Rhino for file locking. This is turned on by default I think. BTW, the later SRs of V3 have this as well. -Pascal Rhino Newsgroup

Internal Screw Thread

2007-01-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

Create white helix with one revolution.
Copy white helix to make black helix.
Make blue and red sections.
Sweep1 red section about black path, use Roadlike Top.
Sweep1 blue section about white path, use Roadlike Top.
Array the two swept surfaces to make copies.
Join all the copies.
BooleanDifference them with purple block.

- Bryan Rhino Newsgroup

Flatten Surface

2007-01-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

Question - Does anyone know how to spread out flat a surface in order to send the dimensions to a fabrication shop to cut the steel section out. - Rob

Answer - If the surface is developable as in your example, use the command Unroll developable surface (UnrollSrf) in the surface menu. -Mitch Rhino Newsgroup

Flamingo 3 Work In Progress 15 Available

2007-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

http://download.mcneel.com/download_rel.asp?rel=220

There are no new features in this WIP, is it an expiration date update release. If you have Brazil for Rhino installed Flamingo 2.0 Wip 15 still wont run. For a complete list of future features http://www.flamingo3d.com/nr.htm- Facundo

Rhino 4.0 Foreshortening Views for Fairing

2007-01-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

In Rhino 4 we added the ability to forshorten any view. Along with the ability to add your own display styles. Follow these steps to create a new Foreshorten view style in Rhino.

To Create a new view Style in Rhino:

Go to the Tools Pulldown, select Options.
Under Appearance, select Advanced Settings.
To the right you can select the Display Setting you like and then select Copy.
At the top of the display mode change the name of the Display Mode

To activate the Foreshortening in a display style:

On the left of the dialog, go to Other Settings under the new Display mode you are in.
Change the View Scaling that you want to use. For instance .25 in the Horizontal and 1 in the Vertical scale will forehorten the length of a boat to 1/4 its size.
Press the OK button to save the style.

To use the style in a viewport:

In any view you are in, Right click on the View name.
Select the the Display style you created
The view should foreshorten.

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