The Rhino 9 WIP now supports details with boundaries that can be made from any closed curve. This can be done with either the new SetDetailBorder command or by using the FromCurve option in the Detail command.
You can now have layouts with circular “zoomed in” details as shown below.
Great that this has finally been introduced, however, it is a shame that such a simple feature which was requested as far back as 2013 only finds it’s way into Rhino 9 in 2025. Moreover, the fact that it is not simply offered as an update to Rhino 8 is quite disappointing…..
Thank you very much for introducing this feature in Rhino, it’s something I really missed. Honestly, I would already consider upgrading to Rhino 9 just for this tool alone.
That said, I would encourage the McNeel team to keep pushing in this direction. For instance, it would be extremely valuable to have proper control over overlapping details. In Rhino 8, I can’t manage the stacking order of overlapped details, and this becomes a real limitation.
For Rhino 9, I envision something closer to what Illustrator or Affinity Designer offers, enabling richer and more flexible layouts. Some examples:
Advanced text editing (multi-font text, the ability to style the first letter differently from the rest, editable text on paths).
Shapes filled with bitmaps or seamless vector patterns.
Independent on/off layer controls for details within layouts.
A redesigned Layer panel with a dedicated hierarchy for detail layers in layouts.
These improvements would bring a huge step forward in making Rhino not only a powerful modeling tool but also a more complete solution for presentation and layout work.
Hey, love the new feature in Rhino WIP but stumbled across a bug yesterday.
If you move the boundarys of a Non-Rectangular detail the content is moving aswell. Makes working difficult since you can not make drawings on seperate layouts overlay exactly.
Hope this can be fixed!
Best
