Novedge Webinar #70: Q&A with Maia Merav Holtzman – Rhino 5 – Better, Bigger, Faster!

One of our most popular webinars ever, last week's episode on Rhino left us with lots of unanswered questions once time ran out. Here Maia Merav Holtzman, from Design Rhino, and Pascal Golay, from McNeel, pick up exactly from where they left off.

Q: Can you render with a clipping plane so you just render what you see with the clipping plane?

A: Yes, with Rhino's renderer and some others, like Brazil. Flamingo nXt now recognizes clipping planes as well.

Q: Is there a way to quantify the angle when you create a taper (by scaling a sub object) like that?

A: Not with the gumball, ExtrudeCrvTapered for an exact angle.

Q: Can you position the gumball in a specific location on an object – like the end of a curve or corner of an object?

A: RelocateGumball command is the easy way. This is a command you can type at the command line, or put on a button etc. This allows the location as well as the orientation to be set. In addition, you can adjust the gumball by first holding Alt and then changing the gumball control (its center point) location or scale handles, rotation handles or axis handles. With Alt down first, these changes will affect the gumball widget only and not the geometry the gumball is attached to. Object snaps are allowed.

Q: Will we ever get stones to work with in V5 for those of us in the jewelry industry? Gemstones like in Matrix?

A: It’s possible that Matrix hasn’t released a version that’s fully compatible with V5 yet. I imagine that they will soon, but in the interim I’d be happy to send you stones, and there is a downloadable library of them available at here.

Q: Will a V-Ray 2.0 ever be released for Rhino 5? If not I'll be forced to leave Rhino and I do not want to do that.

A: Presumably yes, but Chaos Group will have the definitive answer to that.

Q: Can you scale at all with the gumball? I don't see how?

A: The small squares on the gumball are scale handles. You can click and drag to scale in one axis, hold Shift while doing this to scale 3d and click on a handle and type a scale factor as well (1D only).

Q: Can you add your own environment in the V5 library? Like having our own library within Rhino?

A: Yes, you can create environments from the Environments panel, and save these as files to disk to make them available in any Rhino file. See also the Libraries panel.

Q: Is it possible to scale with the gumball to a specific height or length?

A: No. Only proportion can be entered by typing, not desired size. Use the traditional scaling commands with distance constraints to scale to a dimension.

Q: Patch command seems to have changed a bit in V5.

A: We would need more info to answer this question.

Q: I'm having a weird thing happen that may be related to the clipping plane … occasionally a shaded model disappears along a moving plane when I am using the mouse … seemingly moving away and towards me … that must be some function I am not familiar with. I have to save the model and reopen to get it to stop … help?

A: Not sure I understand, but please send a model and details to: tech@mcneel.com.

Q: I think when you lift control points it can look harsh, [what if] you want to elevate a point slightly?

A: Use the Gumball and set GumballDragStrength to say, 50%.

Q: What are her settings to get the updates [to a polysurface being edited using sub object selection] to happen. Or how would you disable those updates to the sub objects

A: If the object being edited is a sub object then the rest of the object updates- no history involved.

Q: On the TweenCrvs command is there a way to get it to make multiple curves based on
distance between curves rather than a set number of curves?

A: Sorry, no, only the number, evenly distributed between the inputs.

Q: Where can I find a tutorial on making complex surfaces with 5 edge curves (I've seen a car
fender tutorial somewhere??)

A: I'll need to hunt around but this might help. If you’re still interested.

Q: When using the display options, e.g. tech or chalkboard, may the resolution be set for higher dpi printing over screen resolution? Thanks

A: Use -ViewCaptureToFile, with a dash in front, like this _-ViewCapturetoFile. You'll see that you can set the resolution as needed.

Q: When using the clipping plain can the plain be made invisible to make a screen capture without seeing the plain?

A: The plane is infinite, so you can move the 'widget' out of the way, or just hide it.

Q: You mentioned easily converting meshes to NURBS – can you explain further.

A: This, as an automatic process, is only practical for relatively simple and planar-ish objects using MeshToNURBS. Otherwise, a full reverse engineering process is needed, using the mesh as a reference for new curves and surfaces. There are plug-ins that can help on the Rhino resources page – look for "reverse engineering".

Q: What are your favorite work flows for jewelry design in Rhino?

A: I always work with a caliper for measuring, and like to have my dimensions sketched out in advance. Generally, I will draw my design by hand and import that or an image that I want to work with using the PictureFrame command. Then I will start to build, using that image as a reference point. I do a lot of surfacing commands: sweeps and revolves and lofts, and a lot of reductive modeling using BooleanDifference. Filleting is part of every single piece I’ve ever created. I am always careful to create a watertight model, checking edges as I go even when I plan only to render the model, because I consider it important to build a piece that is cleanly and carefully made, no matter the final use. For more on this, check out our 3D Jewelry Design Google Hangout.

Q: Which do you prefer to use for jewelry design Rhino or Rhino Gold?

A: I prefer Rhino.

Q: Is Rhino 5 capable of 3D printing or casting machines for jewelry, and if yes how easy can it be set up in Rhino 5. Thanks

A: Rhino can export to 3D printing formats. It does require careful modeling to get good, closed, printable objects.

Q: Can the clipping plane be a curved or complex surface, i.e. not a plane?

A: No. AsuniCAD's Dynamic Display plug-in may be useful.

Q: Is there a way of changing the background in the Artistic Display mode?

A: You need to make a copy of the mode- the built-in one is hard coded.

Q: The back of a surface does not have a different color when I am in shaded mode.

A: You need to set that up in the display mode controls- it is not on by default. Go to Tools>Options>View>Display Modes, choose whichever display mode you'd like, and look
for Backface Settings.

Q: Can clipping plane also cut a cross section if wanted?

A: No, not by itself- SectionTools can help, see here.

Q: Will RhinoGold 4 work with Rhino 5?

A. I have heard that it will.

Q: Can you extract cross sections with the clipping plane?

A: Not directly, but this is possible with a script. Look here for ClippingPlaneCurves. Instructions for installing and running the scripts are at the top of the page. IntersectPlane may also be of interest.

Q: Will clipping plane work with the intersect command?

A: Not directly but a script can help: see above. Also, you can always snap to an end of the clipping plane to create a planar surface at the exact same height that can be used for Intersect.

Q: Does the clipping plane work with mesh surfaces?

A: Meshes are clipped, yes.

Q: Do we have smooth options with control points? If we move one we can influence on other
points.

A: SoftMove is the best we have for this currently.

Q: Is there a way to print with hidden lines (not as bitmap or screen grab). The Make2d option is
way too slow for very complex scenes.

A: Use the Technical display mode
 
Q: Thanks but using the print command and in vector mode doesn't show the object in technical
display mode, only as raster mode.

A: Set up a Layout with a detail in technical.

Q: Yes but how do you print not just display it … Hidden lines can be hidden

A: You can turn off hidden lines in the technical mode. Also see the Pen mode

Q: Thanks I'll experiment using a layout

Q: Can she give the url for her site? Some people may not know.

A: To learn more about Maia's work, visit her website at Design Rhino.

Would you like to learn more about Jewelry Design and 3D printing? Join us for our upcoming Google Hangout on Air!

In the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas? Contact Maia directlyto learn more about her classes!

Curious about our upcoming webinars? Check out the list here!