Novedge Webinar #66: Q&A with Michael Günther-Geffer

Did you watch this week's Novedge Webinar? Michael Gunther-Geffer introduced us to high-end surface modeling in Rhino with VSR Shape Modeling. You can watch the entire live recording on our YouTube and Vimeo Channels.

A few of your questions went unanswered because of time constraints, so we sent them to Michael, who provided us with the answers. 

Q: Can you do curvature analysis on the mesh? In Alias I use this to layout my primary surfaces.

A: We have e.g. a section command with curvature analysis on top, but the result is not smoothed, and therefore probably useless on meshes.

Q: Is there a function similar to the detach command in Alias?

A: As far as we can judge, the Rhino Split function covers this functionality, therefore we don't see a need for a VSR function doing that.

Q: Can you work with meshes resp. scan data?

A: We have several functions allowing the creation of curves and surfaces on top of meshes. You
can sketch curves on meshes, modify curves or surfaces on top of a mesh, create surfaces on a
mesh and so on. We can also select areas of a mesh (curvature based), and trim, split or create a new mesh from this area.

Q: These values are indicative of the level of tangent or curvature different from CATIA values or
Alias. In other words, the curvature of the value of 0.1 in the VSR, corresponds to 0.1 in the Alias
and CATIA?

A: For Position and Tangency we use the same result values as you know from ICEM or
ALIAS. For curvature we use a bit of a different numerical result display. You can have a look
into our online manual coming with the plug-in, there you will find a detailed explanation. In general you can say, 0.0 is perfect, other values are showing the relation of the curvature on both sides to each
other. But we have also other analysis for this, e.g. you can cut radial sections with a curvature
graph on top between both edges.

Q: Is it appropriate to discuss the use of the "Adopt" option in the "Surface Align" tool?

A: The "Adopt" option takes over the parametrization from the reference surface on this edge.
It therefore aligns the control point distribution of the surface to match to the control point distribution of the reference, often leading to a better matching result.

Q: And is there some way to change color of section on mesh and surface ? I use very often in icem. And smooth?

A: Smooth command is already developed, and will be in the next Shape Modeling major release (3.0) in Q4 this year. We created an enhancement request for different colors for sections on meshes and other geometry. Meanwhile you could create two section analysis, selecting the meshes for one, and the rest of the geometry for the other analysis, defining two different colors for them.

Q: Is there in VSR something to extrapolate?
A: Yes, in the control point modeling there is an option "Extrapolate", allowing dynamic extrapolation of a curve or surface.

Q: Hello there, which is the "best" density of triangles for a scanned mesh from a 3D scanner, in
order to work later creating surfaces? I am using a NextEngine scanner.
A: Sorry, unfortunately there is no general answer for this question. It depends on the shape of the object, and the needed quality for the reverse engineering.

Q: Can you get a color map of the deviation between the surface and the mesh vs section lines?
A: Color mapped deviation will come with Shape Modeling 3.0 in Q4/2013.

Q: Can you make a surface from points only?
A: No, we need a triangulated mesh. But for Rhino 5 there are some free plugins available to
triangulate a point cloud to a mesh.

Q: Can we become a beta user of the new release?
A: Of course, customers and people giving valuable feedback on our plug-ins are always welcome as beta testers.

Q: I need smooth surface from the points but as close to the points as possible.
A: This is exactly what our smooth function will do. It is always a compromise, though, and depends heavily on the quality of the points. If the quality of the points is poor the surface may not become smooth, when the deviation is very low.

Q: In Catia you can match a surface projected on top of another without trimming. Basic matching
on top of a surface instead of the edges. The question is are you guys planning a tool like that?
A: This is already implemented and will be available in Shape Modeling 3.0 in Q4 2013.

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