Faster way to create a solid hollow model (In order to design joint fingers)?

Hi,

I’m trying to model finger jointed designs in Rhino by following this tutorial (I’m running Mac, so no Grasshopper): http://dclabs.wikispaces.asu.edu/file/detail/Finger%20Joints.3dm from http://dclabs.wikispaces.asu.edu/Rhino+Resources (Instructions are included in the file’s
notes).

Apparently a few things changed in Rhino since this tutorial was made. In particular, I was wondering if there was a faster (and more automatable) method than mine to create a hollow solid.

My current process:

  • Create a box (As extrusion or polysurface, doesn’t seem to affect the result)
  • Explode faces of the box (If I do not explode the box, Rhino cannot create a solid from the offsetted polysurface)
  • OffsetSrf and flip offsetting direction (As I need to offset inward to avoid edges-gap) for each side (As I had to explode the polysurface). That’s the time consumming-part, especially for more complex surfaces than boxes.

Is there a way to go from a closed polysurface such as a box to an offsetted solid without having to manually orient each face?

I know that’s a minor detail but since I was looking to script the thing afterward, the less manual operations the better :smile:

Xavier

Not that I know of, but if you are going to script this, you should also be able to automate the process in the script.

–Mitch

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There’s a FlipAll setting in OffsetSrf- is that what you are after?

-Pascal

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Yep, cannot believe I missed it. Thanks!