The edge color usage for clipping plane should have options to be object. material. layer color. I want to see those edges of various parts with different colors so I can tell what section is from what object, not all with same plane’s color, or all with same solid color.
Be able to tweak the options at the clipping plane level, instead of at the viewmode setting level.
Pascal, before you yell at me: If this creates conflict with clipping plane options residing on each viewmode, then just make these options at the clipping plane tab an instance, so at the clipping properties tab I can make changes that feed that active viewmode’s options. Makes sense?
Btw: One of the simplest clippingplanes is what Adobe has in Acrobat. It is too simple for Rhino IMO, but starting with simplicity and adding complexity is often a good way to go.
My main focus is this: When I want to clip something it is manly to examine the model, so fiddling with the placement of the clipping plane distracts me from the task at hand, that’s why sliders are good, or using arrow keys, but the hand is allready on the mouse, so I prefer that. (I always set arrow keys to Nudge, as rotating the view is not something I use the arrow keys for (so also please set nudge as default for V6 ;)))
Got to go, the Friday beer is calling.
Edit:
And please add the ability to type in CenterPosition and rotation. So we can set the clipping plane to say: W10,0,0, Rotate 90 degrees, Tilted 20 degrees.
Hi @Holo and @gustojunk,
Some of what you wished for is already supported in SectionTools to some extent. Just curious, do you use ST in your workflow? and if so, what are your thoughts? http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/sectiontools
My wish for the clipping planes is that there should be a object property (by layer, parent, …) that also adds a hatch to the object when it is cut with a clipping object.
I had started looking into ST at some point (that does support hatching) but never got around using it - there are so many st commands… I’m sure it’s very good to document a model (as opposed to quick viewing) but to me it has always appeared that functionality that was partly available in ‘regular rhino’ were duplicated and enhanced in ST. I’d like it more consolidated into regular rhino.
Hi raja, I am afraid no.
I did some years ago, back in 2009/10, but as I needed functionality not supported by it I wrote my own, and have not needed it since, due to different tasks and projects.
And like Wim I would like to see ST integrated into vanilla Rhino.
We are trying to do a better job of designing clipping/sectioning features than just dumping section tools into V6. We’ve learned quite a bit from section tools and we want to reproduce many of the workflows, but they need to be implemented at a little deeper level than what the current state of things is at.
This is great to hear, I was playing today with some macros and the plugin that @dale wrote for me. What I have is very dirty and hacky, but at least I know what works and I want to suggest some ideas of what’s needed. I’ll post tomorrow or when I get a chance.
I can try, I working on a massive building (150x850 meters) and we needed a lot of sections with proper outlines of the cuts and hatches. So neither ST nor boolean and vanilla make2D was good enough as they generated lots of small segments and it would take a long time to clean up the data. In example we needed the floorplan of every floor for a twisting tower and this was an organic building with lots of surfaces and many modelers so many of the joints were not perfect (a typical real world scenario) which caused many of the sections to fail (as expected). We also needed all the 2D data positioned at the right place in space, not just “close to Origion” nor just projected to C-plane, so all the data was repositioned, grouped and had some data added to it telling where the section was made. And I made a simple tool to handle a list of all the sections so it was easy to recalculate them. The cut and the hatch was also put on separate layers with different properties so it was easy to import them to AutoCad for further work.
The following features would be a welcome addition and would make clipped drawings applicable for architecture. At the moment we cannot use clipped drawings due to the following and have to use ST and Make2D (which both cause a slower workflow and require custom scripts to be applicable)
Use case description:
architectural drawing
layout size, A0
detail view on layout
clipping plane is setup within the detail view
3D model contains elements such as walls as solid objects
Walls etc. in architectural drawings often require more detail on 2D drawings than one would like to model 3D. Ideally and as know from other software such as ArchiCAD one makes a rough 3D model and draws 2D detail information within the detail view above the sectioned, rough 3D model. If the 3D model is changed, within the detail view it is immediately visible if things do not match anymore.
The following features are missing to enable this workflow:
All 3D models placed within detail views on layouts print as pixel images. On an A0 this produces plot file sizes that cannot be handled by most plot services or they charge extra fees. Furthermore the pixel images are missing the required precision of architectural drawings that often have fine detail.
Wish: A mesh based vector display mode / print mode that is fast and in place.
Wish: In order to draw detailed line drawings over the section, one would require snapping to the section.
Edit: Kinked sections are another useful feature in architectural drawings.
@holo
Can you please share the model or part of it? You can email directly.
ST should allow you to create multiple sections and keep a table of those sections to update when needed. It simplifies curves, create hatches and caps, and should create as clean geometry as possible. Positioning is another area that ST tried to give some options, but obviously does not satisfy your needs. I need an example of what you need and your current workflow to better help. Thanks.
Hi Rajaa, I am sorry but I can not share the files, and this was back in 2009 so I am sure ST has evolved a lot. I don’t work with architecture now, but I’ll test it out next time I am on such a project.
Hi @silvano
May I ask what are the custom scripts you use, or what functionality you achieve with them that is missing in ST? Any example of projects or worksflow will be very helpful to identify the missing parts. Thanks.
Hi @rajaa,
The thing I think I like most about not using ST but using the current clipping plane functionality is that there is no additional geometry created. There are no new layers to deal with, no section curves (and hatches) to move around.
This goes over into the Make2D discussion a bit. I believe that what most people are after is visualization of the model. With ST you get that, with good quality, but you also get ‘production output’; geometry that you can use to further develop a model or run a CAM machine with. I think that often that is overkill. If we could get good management of the clipping plane properties I think most would be happy: sliders to move and rotate for real-time viewing; object properties that dictate fill (solid and/or line hatching) and outline weight and type; an easy way to assign a particual clipping plane to a particular detail on a layout.
