Skeleton fattener + mesh cage morph

[gustojunk (Gustavo Fontana)]

hi @DanielPiker,

I’m trying to use Fatten component in the way I was using TsPipe from T-splines, and it’s not working for me.

Let me show you some examples:

1. This is what fatten does to this simple lattice structure:
   

   
   
   GH file with internalised data here:
   fattener_pipes_flow_issues_01_gf_190210.gh (34.1 KB)
   here’s a video showing the poly flow/thickness/artifacts issues with it:
   Dropbox - inconsistent_pipes_fattener_01_gf_190210.mp4 - Simplify your life

2. This is a more uniform/desired output of pipe thicknesses using Dendro (I culled duplicates in my example so Dendro doesn’t get pissed, I know Fatten will ignore duplicates.
   

   
   
   GH file for that: dendro_pipes_01_gf_190210.gh (38.6 KB)
   and video: https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/3X/b/4/b45ea16507f5401a789a068abbf00edab5e8eabd.mp4

3. And here’s the best result, using TsPipe in V5, what I had asked originally, when Bob mentioned I should check this work:
   

   
   
   GH file with the low-poly that Tsplines built: ts_pipe_mesh_01_gf_190210.gh (227.5 KB)
   and video of that old tool in Rhino V5 when it’s being setup (this includes a few pauses because it’s very slow, not interactive).
   Dropbox - Tspipe_pipes_01_gf_190210.mp4 - Simplify your life
   You will notice in the mesh internalized .gh file here that they also have some mesh twisting, but it seems to still work ok for some reason.

I know in the documentation you mention that this has trouble with <4 curves coming together:

…but here the max is 4 at any convergence.

Also I think that the logic that I need to choose either pipe diameter OR sphere does not make a lot of sense for design flexibility.

I think pipe diameter is about what’s the minimum /nominal diameter at each curve’s midpoint. And the spheres should only dictate how large is the webbing between each curve. Does that make sense?

We’d really love to use this tool for a lot of controlled design structures and lattices. We don’t really like any of the lattice tool/plugins for GH, they are too constrictive and limited. But for us to build our own we need a good fatten tool. What you have is so close, but not quite there. Do you think this can improve some more?

Here’s some screenshots of fatten (blue) vs ts-pipe (green), notice how besides the thickness inconsistencies, there are also some weird normals/tears in the fatten mesh:

Happy to give you more examples of what works/doesn’t. I know it’s a hard problem.

Thanks,

Gustavo