Clipping plane options wishes

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.

Section Tools should be part of v6.

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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.

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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.

G

Here is the tool Gustavo is talking about:

Holo,
If you still recall, I am interested to hear what functionality that was missing.

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.

Thanks for considering.

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Yes, I was about to revisit this thread to add fully implemented snapping to the wish list.

@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.

@holo , thanks. I’ll appreciate any feedback once available.

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.

Hi @wim
I see your point about sparing the users from having to deal with the geometry until needed.

This already exists if you make the clipping in a detail view, it is only clipping inside the detail view.

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That makes sense, yes. Thanks.

@rajaa, instead of describing our script solution I would rather prefer to describe the ideal workflow. Also our scripted solution is not accomplishing what we would consider ideal. Much of it goes into the direction of Make2D.

  1. Place a SectionPlane (can work exactly like the current ClippingPlane)
  2. Set properties of the section on the SectionPlane level through object properties.
    a. Section line weight options: Absolute value, ByParent (the sectioned 3D object), ByLayer (the layer of the sectioned 3D object)
    b. Edge line weight (the seen edge lines): Absolute value, ByParent, ByLayer, AsPercentage (as a percentage of the lineweight of the sectioned 3D object. e.g. in architecture furniture has thinner line weights than a structural wall. In a section I would like to differentiate the lineweight between wall edges and furniture edges)
    c.Hatch: Absolute value, ByParent, ByLayer (I know the latter do not exist. It would be great if we could set hatching styles on a per object basis in object properties and on a per layer basis in the layer manager. This should follow the exact same concept as e.g. Linetype)
  3. Draw additional 2D detail over the section, mostly lines, dimensions, text. In order to not clutter the 3D model with 2D detail lines, I would like to draw this in a special mode. E.g. by double clicking on the section symbol in the Rhino viewport (like for blocks) I enter into the section mode. The view rotates plan to the section plane and I can start drawing in it. In the section properties dialog and through a command I have the option to display the geometry drawn in the section mode or to hide it. If I setup the section in a Detail View, I would only see the geometry drawn in section mode in the view in which I setup the section.
    For the above to work the following features are needed:
    a. Snapping to the section lines
  4. Printing
    a. The SectionPlane has to produce vector output. Otherwise it is useless for architectural drawings. Please see my comment above for this.

I suggest to have a look at how Revit is doing this. Their solution for adding 2D drawing objects into sections/clipping planes is close to ideal. It is just too clumsy to draw with it ;).

I will add to this if more comes to my mind.

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Not sure if this thread is still active. But let’s try anyways.

Maybe not a new option but a fix that we are looking for. The texture fills for Clipping planes don’t seem to work properly on blocks with elements that include box mapping. https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/box-mapping-different-in-a-block/112658/2. It seems like Clipping Plane fills don’t take the origin point for the box mapping into account when slicing through a block.