I just started using Rhino so be easy on me. Is there a plugin or technique I can use to keep track of parent curves? I’m using Rhino mostly for jewelry.
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hi @Russell_Baker
there is no really good way right now, at least not automatic
We have a few commands that can help:
SelParents
SelChildren
Other than that, you could use a dedicated parent curve layer.
A very experienced jeweler that has a lot of experience working with History is @EricM
He might be able to share some tips and tricks regarding this.
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what i do usually is either putting the parent on a different layer like Gijs suggested or use custom colour to distinguish it better, then i use BringToFront to have it visible at all times when i modify it which helps when you sweeped, lofted or built any other surface that would obstruct the view to it.
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Hey @Russell_Baker, I value history above all else. It lets me turn finished rings into templates that I can re-use on similar jobs in the future.
There is a steep learning curve, but it’s worth it. I have a discord where I can answer quick questions with a screen share. If it’s a really good question, I’ll stream it to youtube.
A couple of tips. I work with children objects locked:
The Rhino user experience was never designed to work this way, but the addition of things like !& in V8 make it much less painful. The benefit is that I don’t have to search for the parents when I’m doing coarse adjustments like changing the spacing between heads in a 3-stone. I select the whole thing and drag it to where it needs to go.
Second is how I organize my layers:
I don’t create these manually. I call a script, give it a name like Shank, and it gives me a starting structure and color scheme. You can find an older version (updates are going into a plugin) on my github.
Every part of a ring will have its own layer and color. Parent curves go onto Ctrl, which is the same hue and saturation, with a max brightness value:
That’s my secret to finding parent curves:
Crvs are the inputs used to create a surface. Sometimes, the Ctrl curves create the surface directly, and Crvs is empty.
J is a junk layer. I like to create things in isolation, then use a flow command to put it into position. Here, I create a straight prong that is the right size and profile (J), then create the final Srf with _FlowSrf that gives me the proper curvature and position on a head.
Once I get started with a new object, I tidy up like so:
Crvs usually stays locked, so it doesn’t clutter my selection menu, J layers are usually locked and hidden, and Srf layers are locked.
And when I’m done with a file, I use purge to get rid of any layers I didn’t use:
-Purge Layers=Yes BlockDefinitions=Yes AnnotationStyles=Yes Groups=No HatchPatterns=Yes Linetypes=Yes Materials=Yes Textures=Yes Environments=Yes Bitmaps=Yes Enter
Once purged, I make a final save with all of the history is intact. Then, it’s time to break things.
_SelOpenSrf
_SelOpenPolySrf
_Invert
_Hide
This will isolate any groups of open srfs. I make each group solid with either !&_Join or !&_Cap, and I’m ready to export to 3DCoat for fillets and smoothing.
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Thanks for the detailed answer. I joined your Discord server.