Hi, I have just started with Rhino Gold 6.0 I am having trouble creating solid images. When I create a shape using smart curve or line drawing tool and extrude it my object always comes out hollow with walls but no bottom or top. I have used the cap tool and that appears to resolve the issue until I trim the object and I can see it is hollow. Using the cap tool again resolves this, but is there a way to make a solid object? I am guessing the initial outline drawing I extrude isn’t a surface which is why this will be happening but I cant seem to find how to make an outline a surface. I have hunted for a tutorial or forum thread on this, I am sure it is very basic but need a little help to find the answer. Thanks.
As opposed to many solid modelers out there, Rhino is a surface modeler. That means that you will explicitely have to close your objects yourself if and when that is needed.
In addition to what wim said… Even most classic “solid” modelers do not “fill” the object with some sort of virtual material (exception - voxel modelers); they are simply closed hollow shells just like in Rhino. The difference is that solid modelers do not let you work with open objects, they will always force them closed, whereas Rhino does not assume automatically you want closed objects and lets you decide.
You can do the same thing as solid modelers in Rhino, more or less. Rhino has both surface and “solid” modeling tools. For example if you extrude objects, you can have either an open extrusion or a closed one, depending on the “solid” option on the command line or from which menu (Surface or Solid) the Extrude command is chosen. If you wish to trim an object keeping it “solid”, you can use WireCut with a cutting curve, or BooleanSplit the object with another surface.
HTH, --Mitch