Rhino BETA Feature: Project Clipping Drawings In-Place

[rajaa (Rajaa Issa)]

You can now project sections and elevations onto the clipping plane in their true 3D location.

ProjectDrawingInPlace

What are Clipping Drawings?
Clipping drawings are dynamic 2D drawings extracted from clipping sections and projected either onto the clipping plane or placed parallel to the World XY-Plane.

Why Project In-Place?
Projecting in the true 3D location helps organize drawings, reference their location, and view the rest of the model behind them using different display modes.

How to Use “Project In-Place” Clipping Drawings*:
The Project In-Place clipping drawing is a typical clipping drawing block. You can copy, move, or rotate it as one associated set of objects. Double-click to edit its properties, make a copy like any block, or explode it to remove any association with the clipping plane.

1. Add a clipping plane to your 3D scene using the ClippingSections command.
   
   

• Select the clipping plane(s) and run the ClippingDrawings command.
• In the dialog, turn on Project In-Place, Properties set “By input object” (along with any other options), then click OK.
  
  

1. With Project In-Place enabled, the drawing is projected onto the section plane in its true 3D location (no placement point is requested).
   

   
   
   
   

2. Move the clipping plane and watch the drawing update to follow the new location.
   

3. A clipping drawing is a block. Double-click it (or run EditClippingDrawings) to edit it in place. It can also be copied, rotated, or exploded like any other block.

4. Any updates to 3D geometry not reflected in the clipping drawing can be forced with the UpdateClippingDrawings command.

5. The Project In-Place clipping drawing can be arranged on the Layout and shown in a Detail with or without the 3D geometry.
   

   

Try It:

Adding the Clipping Planes

1. Download the Rhino BETA.
2. Download and open in the Rhino Beta:
   Try it -Clipping Section In-place V9.3dm (3.0 MB)
3. In the Top viewport with the ClippingPlane layer current, go to Drafting → Sections → Create Sections or type the ClippingSections command.
4. Press Enter for all objects in the model to be sectioned.
5. At the Place Sections prompt, set the Dir = Y and Flip=Yes.
6. Pick the West Elevation point and the Section A-A point.
7. Toggle the direction with the Flip=No option.
8. Pick the East Elevation location point. Enter.

Renaming the Clipping Planes

1. Select all three clipping planes by picking or with a selection window.
2. In the Properties panel, on the Clipping Plane page, under View, uncheck the Top view. Now the model will return to its full visibility in the Top view. Why? The viewport that was active when you made the clipping section, automatically gets the clipping plane(s) turned On or checked.
3. Next, In the Properties panel, on the ClippingPlane page, rename the Clipping Planes so they correspond to the views they will be generating. Highlight the clipping plane closet to the West Elevation dot.
4. In the Properties panel, on the Clipping Plane page, in the Name field, type West Election. Pick on the viewport to complete the name and deselect the clipping plane.
5. Highlight the clipping plane closet to the Section A-A dot.
6. In the Properties panel, on the Clipping Plane page, in the Name field, type Section A-A. Pick on the viewport to complete the name and deselect the clipping plane.
7. Highlight the clipping plane closet to the East Elevation dot.
8. In the Properties panel, on the Clipping Planes page, in the Name field, type East Elevation. Pick on the viewport to complete the name and deselect the clipping plane.
9. Highlight the three clipping plane, and In Properties off the Clipping Plane page, set the
   Label to Dot.

Making the Clipping Drawings In-Place

1. From the Layers panel, turn Off the layer Dots globally, since you no longer need them.
   
   
2. From the Layers panel, make the layer 2D Section Drawings current.
3. Start the ClippingDrawings command. Pick all three clipping planes. Enter.
4. Use these settings: Project In place, From Input Objects. Uncheck Create Section Surface.
   
   
5. Pick OK. Go to the Perspective view.
6. From the Layers panel, turn Off in “Model only” the 3D parent layer.
   
   
   The 3D model will no longer be viewed, and you will see where the sections were created on the 3D model in place.
   

Assigning the Clipping Drawings to Layers

By assigning the clipping drawing block to unique layers, you will be able to control the visibility of of the clipping drawings in the detail with the Layers panel Detail On setting. By setting a layer detail layer visibility to off, object on that layer will not be visible in the detail.
The goal is to have one clipping drawing visible in each details on Page 2.

1. Select the West Elevation clipping drawing. It is a block.
2. Using the Layers panel, right click on the “West Elevation” layer and click Change Objects Layer.
   
   
3. Select the Section A-A clipping drawing. It is a block.
4. Using the Layers panel, right click on the “Section A-A” layer and click Change Objects Layer.
   
   
5. Select the East Elevation clipping drawing. It is a block.
6. Using the Layers panel, right click on the “East Elevation” layer and click Change Objects Layer.
   
   

Arranging the Clipping Drawings on the Layout for Printing

1. From the Layout panel, make the Layout Page 1 current by double-clicking. You can see the 3D model with the in-place sections.
2. From the Layout panel, double-click to make Layout Clipping Drawings current.
3. Double-click to activate the West Elevation detail.
4. Observe the layers that are off in this detail.
   East Elevation and Section A-A layers and its sublayers are Off in the Detail.
5. Double-click to activate the East Elevation detail.
6. Observe the layers that are off in this detail.
   West Elevation and Section A-A layers and its sublayers are Off in the Detail.
7. Double-click the Section A-A detail.
8. Observe the layers that are off in this detail.
   East Elevation and West Elevation layers and its sublayers are Off in the Detail.
9. Double-click back to the layout.
10. You are now ready to Print to the Rhino PDF. Select All Layouts to print both the Page 1 and Page 2. Select Raster output because of the advanced display model Concept.
    
    

Extra Credit

Use Options → Document User Text and Properties → Layout User text to add the project and sheet information. The text fields in the title block will update automatically with these details.
See a details about creating title blocks in Rhino here.

[rajaa (Rajaa Issa)]

The rest of SectionTools Enhancements can be found here…