Clipping plane

[robinp]

Does anyone know if it is possible to copy the geometry created from a clipping plane? It would be great to be able to do the equivalent of extractFace or dupBorder on the surfaces / curves / fills created with a clipping plane. It would fulfil much of the same functionality as things like split and intersect but being much more interactive / WYSIWYG.

[nathanletwory (Nathan 'jesterKing' Letwory)]

Wish: extract clippingplane clipping info into curves (and hatches)

It is quite simple really: import Rhino import Rhino.DocObjects as rdob import scriptcontext as sc cps = [ob for ob in sc.doc.Objects if ob.ObjectType == rdob.ObjectType.ClipPlane] selob = [ob for ob in sc.doc.Objects if ob.IsSelected(False)>0] Rhino.RhinoApp.RunScript("_SelNone", False) if len(selob)==1 and len(cps)>0: srfs = rdob.RhinoObject.GetFillSurfaces(selob[0], cps) print(srfs) for srf in srfs: print(srf) id = sc.doc.Objects.AddBrep(srf) sob = sc.doc.Objects.FindId(id) pri…

[robinp]

Thanks, but what I had in mind was something more GUI so that you can chose the specific surfaces or curves by selecting them.

Sometimes there are LOTS of objects and you only want to use a specific curve or surface. I could imagine it working in a couple of ways:

1. Just add a series of commands that are specific to interacting with the clipping plane geometry

2. Have some kind of toggle that makes the clipping plane geometry temporarily selectable and then use standard commands

Maybe there are other ways, but these are the two that immediately come to mind.

[nathanletwory (Nathan 'jesterKing' Letwory)]

Right, I see what you mean.

I was more giving the seeds in case you want to grow your own

[robinp]

Would it technically be possible via a script to do what I want? I’m totally inexperienced witty rhino scripting so it would take a lot of work for me but maybe something to have a go at one day

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

Hi Robin - first off:

@robinp

Does anyone know if it is possible to copy the geometry created from a clipping plane?

@robinp

Just add a series of commands that are specific to interacting with the clipping plane geometry

@robinp

Have some kind of toggle that makes the clipping plane geometry temporarily selectable

The thing is, there is no “clipping plane geometry”. It’s a display trick - there is no geometry.

@robinp

Would it technically be possible via a script to do what I want?

Anything is possible. And there are many others that are interested. You might want to read through the following thread:

Clipping Plane Fills! Please

They’re still unreliable, and I don’t understand how this can remain the situation for so long. In the example below, the Section Attributes, View Mode Panel, and Options>ViewMode are set in EIGHT different places to display as black. Is there an error somewhere here? Does it ever work? This example is just a simple box, and I can’t get it to work after a year and a half on Rhino. [NoSettingsWork] Almost no design can be communicated without a plan or cross section. Basic convention has alwa…

-wim

[robinp]

Thanks, these mostly seem to be about using clipping planes for presentation purposes. And I do agree they could be significantly improved.

I don’t know or understand the display trick used to create the clipping plane surfaces and curves. If real geometry isn’t actually being created using the clipping plane, it would surely be possible to using some of these other commands that gives the impression that it is the clipping plane that’s creating it. After all, it’s the end result that’s of interest, not the specific nuts and bolts of whether it was command X or command Y that produces the result.

My initial thought would be create a plane that matches the clipping plane and intersects all objects. Select the curves and surfaces you want to keep and all others are deleted.

Even seems like a script I might have some hope of making.

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

@robinp

My initial thought would be create a plane that matches the clipping plane and intersects all objects. Select the curves and surfaces you want to keep and all others are deleted.

Yes, that would be the start of things.

@robinp

[…] these mostly seem to be about using clipping planes for presentation purposes.

You never stated what your purpose of this geometry is. Depending on that, things might become less straightforward.
-wim

[nathanletwory (Nathan 'jesterKing' Letwory)]

@wim, fwiw the script I linked to gives the fill surfaces of clipping planes with selected objects. Further in the thread linked to there is a hint at how to get the curves.

Then indeed as @robinp suggest splitting objects and thowing away what isn’t needed will give you eventually the geometry you need.