Hi, I am a long time AutoCAD user who is new to Rhino. I’m really impressed with Rhino’s capabilities. I’ve attached a file in which I have 2 questions:
Is there a way perhaps using Grasshopper to create “dynamic” lines that could be trimmed to a particular size using lines and part of an arc or ellipse, but then would at the same time activate the lengths of corresponding lines in another place inside the model? Currently, I am manually creating the line lengths and then moving them to their respective places one by one inside the model space. This is time consuming and if I want to adjust the curvature, I must start the whole process over again.
After connecting to points at the tops of the lines, 2 rails are created using the offset tool. I am then able to sweep the handrail profile (using sweep2) and keep the bottom of the profile parallel to the ground which is imperative. Where I am having difficulty is in keeping the profile perpendicular to the tangent of the path in plan (top view). If you see, you will notice that the profile seems to skew a bit in plan and thus warps the inside curvature and overall thickness of the handrail. For a good outcome, it’s imperative that the profile to stays parallel to the ground and also stay perpendicular to the tangency of the path.
I hope I’ve explained this clearly…thanks 25-02-23 Wreath Study.3dm (557.1 KB)
It sounds like a job for Gh but it is not easy to understand the job from your description.
We love sketches.
Your section profile is ‘almost perpendicular’ at every point. The bounds in the lower-right corner indicate deviations, acceptable or not. Maybe the result would have been better using loft through multiple sections.
Re. your first question: yes, but maybe as a first step, instead of moving your lines “one by one”, you could explore the _Flow (Flow along curve) command which allows you to place them all in one go.
The ‘trick’ to this is to ensure that your rail is a) on the surface of the profile and not somewhere within it because the latter seems to mess with Rhino’s head a bit. And b) you need the rail to coincide with the profile’s seam point for best results. I moved the rail up to the top of the profile to get this (see note below, though). Next you need to select the ‘Roadlike’ option and then click the ‘Set axis’ button and select two points that indicate a vertical direction (I used the middle bottom of the profile, then the middle top).
The seam is the point where you profile curve starts and ends. It is good practice to shift this to somewhere it won’t be a nuisance (using _CrvSeam). In this case I would choose one of the bottom corners of the profile. I would then offset the rail to coincide with this point:
