how does that differ from here?
BTW, there is a designated channel on the McNeel Discourse for teachers. Not very active at this time, but could potentially be a good place to exchange knowledge and share feedback and resources:
1 Like
I like what youâre saying here. In my instruction, I always try to integrate 3d concepts and common pitfalls (like how scale gets distorted by looking at stuff on a computer screen) as Iâm teaching the software. Thanks for the comment!
2 Likes
This sound very interesting.
I would love to see one of your âprior to modelâ exercise to understand better.
I teach mainly to higher level of students (Master or graduated) and Iâm always facing the problem you describe. Most of them do not know how to represent their idea, itâs not a software problem is the metodology.
One of the tool I use is a presentation where I explain the bottom-up vs top-down metodology in the 3d modeling. Itâs a small help to bring student to the idea behind surfacing and Rhino.
1 Like
Cost.
A little background, I taught scenic design for 17 years at the collegiate level in entertainment design programs.
I stepped back into the professional world in 2018 and then when the Actors/Writers strike was in full swing in 2023, I stepped back into the classroom.
When choosing the software I was to teach, I could not justify the cost to students when most of the other programs out there were free to students. The one I chose was also free to the institution, but to be honest that was not a contributing factor in the decision.
I do believe that Rhino is a superior program for scenic design in a myriad of ways but as I was at a state school, I could not justify the cost to the students.
When other programs are available for free, Rhino is not going to be the first choice.
Also, while working in entertainment, (film/t.v.) Rhino was preferred because of the cost and the pricing structure. It was also preferred because of its versatility, its ability to interface with other methods of idea expression, (3D printing) and Grasshopper.
People sitting at the back was a big problem at uni, easily solved by sharing screen over zoom in a lecture.
Most of the material out there is videos. Itâs hard to follow, lots of searching , rewinding. Very tedious. Too fast to follow along.
Is there an easy way to save and share the instructor clicks and command window script? Synch it with the action. A video of a user demonstrating their mastery of any software is miles away from a tutorial that teaches the subject. Itâs very difficult to teach when you are an expert and impossible if you arenât. Not aimed at only Rhino tutorials Please slow down to a pace that can be followed.
1 Like
Maybe it sounds silly but having something centralized has some advantages. The Rhino Forum is the Rhino Forum. On Discord you can have all your interest in a very real time way.
1 Like
Bug / Wish - Priority
Sometimes I do not understand, how mcneel priorities their effort.
As this community is growing - some topics gain a lot of attention, also by mcneel members, other topics get lost with no attentionâŚ
I would appreciate, if there would be a better system of how wishes / bugs / ⌠are sorted / prioritised - thanks.
3 Likes
Why not create a repository where people could contribute to as tutorials?
Food4rhino was often the place like that but it was always scaterred to individual websites.
Github is good for code, but for learning material it is a bit different approach needed.
I like Twinmotionâs approach on the roadmap. If you click on of the topics that are under consideration or in progress you can vote on how important this feature is to you.
Clean, simple, easy to understand.
âhttps://portal.productboard.com/epicgames/3-twinmotion-public-roadmap/tabs/5-in-progressâ
And once you click on how important it is to you, then you can add details about it and publish your vote
5 Likes
Youtube is kinda that already, no?
I thought about doing some youtube videos. Even though my channel is not monitized, I still feel some trepidation posting my own videos here (as I have earlier today.)
Rhino could support with illustrative teaching material about NURBS modeling similar to this:
https://help.autodesk.com/view/ALIAS/2022/ENU/?guid=GUID-21501AEB-9E7A-4F9F-A0B3-0A4B3431B9BD
these principles (Golden Rules) of NURBS modelling should also be reflected in the exercises in the training guides and video tutorials
2 Likes
Another note
A basic tutorial on the Rhino YouTube channel shows that curves can easily be extruded into surfaces:
However, the points are actually displayed differently in Rhino by default. The surface must first be exploded in order to be able to edit the points in this way.
This means that you canât show this video tutorial to students because they often donât get anywhere with it on their own
1 Like
I definitely agree with this. I understand that thereâs many ways to skin a rhino, but at times it can feel like there are steadfast rules to nurbs, surfacing, and curvature that are referenced constantly on the forums but rarely seem to be broken down in official McNeel tutorials. Itâs possible this is the result of official tutorials focusing more on the âhowâ than the âwhyâ but I think breaking down and giving âgolden rulesâ like this could be incredibly helpful in moving towards a more robust understanding of the software for those looking for it. Knowing the right way to do something from the beginning can save hours and hours of confusing down the road.
1 Like
Many default icons in Rhino consist inappropriate commands. For example, the Plane iconâs LMB command is set to 4-point plane, which is rarely used and forces the Rhino users to make several extra mouse clicks to reach the much more usable basic Plane command (corner to corner plane). A better solution is to assign the basic plane to the LMB, while the RMB should build a vertical plane. Those two are the most used plane types for general product design, architecture, mechanical engineering etc.
Also, the RMB command for the Circle icon must be assigned to alter the radius of circles and arcs, because this is one of the most needed commands whe it comes to dealing with circles.
1 Like
Do you mean this icon which appears in the Main, Main1, Surface and Surface Sidebar tool bars?
That is the icon for SrfPt. When the input is four points the result may or may not be a plane, depending on whether the 4 points are coplanar.
In the Main toolbar if you click on that icon and hold tfor a second or so then additional icons and commands are available with a single additional click:
Icon for the Plane command which creates a plane using 2 points.
Perhaps your disagreement is with which icons are shown in the some of the toolbars.
Yes, I mean this icon for building a 4-sided surface. Itâs much less used (especially a twisted plane) than the basic plane from corner to corner, this is why I wonder why the developers opted to put the former as the major icon instead of the latter. Being forced to click and hold that icon to get access to the basic plane or vertical plane is a bad decision.
Of course, the used has the freedom to customize the toolbars according to his or her needs, but my point is that the basic plane is far more usable in most modeling situation, this is why in my opinion it should be the default icon. Iâm pretty sure that this change of the interface alone will make the new users of Rhino feel much less confused, because the plane will be in front of their eyes. As we know, one can build many things with basic planes: product design, houses, furniture, bridges, tubes, metal plates, structures, etc.
This is the main reason why I propose the following:
LMB = ! _Plane
RMB = ! _Plane _Vertical
LMB = ! _Polyline
RMB = ! _Line _Vertical
LMB = ! _Circle
RMB = ModifyRadius _Pause _Diameter
LMB = ! _TextObject _Pause _SelLast
RMB = _mirror _pause _3Point w0 wr0,1,0 wr0,0,1
LMB = ! _Pipe
RMB = _-RunPythonScript âYourDirectory\ExtractCenterline.pyâ
ExtractCenterline.py (6.5 KB)
The latter is extremely powerful when dealing with pipes! Rhino lacks such a command, so I upload the script here in case that someone finds it useful.
2 Likes