I hope to get some answers to questions I couldn’t find a satisfying solution for.
For instance:
Say I have two identical cubes. They are placed on top of eachother, perfectly aligned.
Now I want to select one of the touching faces. How do I do that? In Rhino it seems that a solid is always ‘open’ for editing. So if I drag a ctrl+shift window around the face, it will select both touching faces. Please tell me there is another way then hiding, locking or moving/seperating the solids first.
If you want to select just one face, you can quickly Isolate the polysurface the face is part of, select the face with Shift + CMD and use Show to bring back the previously hidden geometries.
You can also Lock the geometry that obfuscates the face and then use Shift + CMD plus a mouse-dragged bounding region from left to right that encompasses the face to select. You still have to Unlock the previously locked geometries though, so it’s about the same number of steps as the Isolate way.
CTRL + SHIFT + click to select sub-objects.
That doesn’t seem to work when two touching faces are of the same size and perfectly aligned. I can only select the edges that way, not the surface.
That actually sounds like a reasonable solution. select - isolate - subselect - show. The subselection stays active after show, which is crucial.
I am mainly a Sketchup user up untill now, and I am really searching for a similar -direct modelling- workflow. Although Sketchup is very limited when it comes to native modelling tools, it is unbeaten when it comes to intuitive workflow.
If you are executing a command, such as OffsetSrf or FilletSrf which requires a surface, then only possible surfaces with be shown.
You can also switch to Wireframe display mode which allows clicking on a surface isocurve. assuming isocurves are displayed.
Another method: Switch to Wireframe display mode, then use Ctrl Shft to click on a face. This is easier if isocruves re displayed. A menu with the possible selections will appear and highlighted choice will be highlighted on the screen.. If the objects are on different layers or somehow different then it should be clear which one will be lelected. If you want a different one then use the cursor to change the one which is highlighted. Finally click on the panel to make the selection.
Although isocurves are turned on, for some reason not every solid gets them. A basic box for instance doesn’t have isocurves. But after certain(?) editing, it does get isocurves.
So, atleast in my case, that doesn’t seem like a usable workflow. I tried the wireframe option, because that seemed like a logical solution, and now I understand why it didn’t work.
Although isocurves are turned on, for some reason not every solid gets them. A basic box for instance doesn’t have isocurves. But after certain(?) editing, it does get isocurves.
So, atleast in my case, that doesn’t seem like a usable workflow. I tried the wireframe option, because that seemed like a logical solution, and now I understand why it didn’t work.
Btw, I try to stay away from the wireframe view. My models are actually complete interiors with all of it’s construction, so in wireframe it is pretty much unviewable.
How would you do this in Sketchup I wonder? It’s a situation that doesn’t come up often (for me at least) but one that I would just use the hide/isolate/lock as others have suggested. If you get used to that workflow it can be very fast. My middle mouse button menu has all those on it:
I can get the surface in a shaded/filled mode by using a Clipping Plane. But I can’t tell which face I’ve selected. Rhino allows you to edit stuff really fast, so if I get the wrong face I can just put it back quite easily. I wouldn’t bother with this however as just using the other options is much quicker:
Like with Sketchup you just work with the program’s strengths. There’ll be lots to get used to. Whether or not it’s better than Sketchup will depend on you and your personal preferences. I also use Rhino for Interior Design.
In Sketchup a solid, when set up right, is either a group or a component. You can only edit it by entering it via double mouse click for instance. But then you only edit that item, the rest of the world greys out a bit.
So I have to get used to this kind of sticky behaviour in Rhino. It’s not just two touching surfaces, it can also happen that you select something further behind in the model without wanting to.
But it’s just a lot of things you don’t see in the numerous tutorials, but I do encounter them in real life.
And for now I’m trying to figure out wether Rhino is the right software for me.
Whether isocurves of a surface are displayed depends on:
Whether Show surface Isocurve is checked
The isocurve Density setting
Whether the surface is single span or multispan:
Isocurves are only shown if Show surface isocurve is checked. If it is checked then:
If Density is 1 or greater then at least 1 isocurve will be displayed in the u direction and 1 will be displayed in the v direction.
If Density is 0 then isocurves will not be displayed if the surface is single span in both directions. For example, the surfaces of a box created by the Box command are single span in both directions so no isocurves are displayed.
You probably have Density set to 0, which results in no isocurves for basic boxes. Certain types of editing will add spans to the surfaces, which results in isocurves appearing.
Thanks for your explanation. I can’t find that particular setting yet, but I think I will leave it for now. Maybe when I feel the need later. The software is overwhelming enough as it is 
I set a right mouse button macro for ‘isolate’ and ‘show’ (yes, the middle mouse button is set to orbit to match my Sketchup muscle memory), and I think the quick isolation/show method is actually very good.
What would be the quickest way to draw a curve or a surface directly on a vertical surface of an existing solid? When I draw a vertical rectangle at first it seems to work out, but when I zoom out it landed somewhere behind the solid underneath the ground plane.
AutoCplane enabled will automatically set the drawing plane to whichever surface is selected.
The quickest way for me is to use a Persistent Osnap:
Also very useful is the Planar option for modeling.
If Planar is selected while executing a command such as Curve, after the first point is selected subsequent points will be on the same plane parallel to the Cplane as the first point unless the cursor snaps elsewhere.
If Planar is not selected then points will be on the Cplane unless the cursor snaps elsewhere.
The Project Osnap can also cause confusion and points not being in the desired location. If the Project Osnap is on then points will be at the projection of a snapped location onto the Cplane, not at the snapped location.
If you haven’t done so take time to read through the Users Manual. Section 5 Accurate Modeling talks about how Osnaps work. Rhino User's Guide
Click and hold the right mouse button opens up a menu. I think the short click function remains the same.
This same setting is available BY SURFACE for each individual surface on the surface’s Property panel as well. You may need to scroll the property panel to see it.
Also available by Layer.
