Some wishes, notices and questions

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

I wish these would be great in Rhino. These might be already here, so please tell me if.

  1. I make a lot of explosion drawings of my products. It would be great to have “create explode group” command. With that you can make many groups, which are not normal groups and are not on (does not get active when pressing) all the time. Only when using “choose explode groups” command (maybe some kind of tree to choose jumping in). Then there should be “explode group” and “connect croup” commands. When pressing “explode groups” all the “explode groups” would move away (option to give how far) from other explodegroups, like in parametric softwares like f.e. Solidworks. That would help hugely my work, because now I have to move all parts/groups one by one.

  2. I use a lot of div command. Often I have curve and then I have to get positions for screws f.e… Let’s say my curve (not always straight) is 305mm. I want to get point which is 10mm from the end. I have to check dir and then use div with lenght command. In this case it gives me 30 dots, but I only need one. Next I delete all the rest dots. Next I want to make it to the other end also, have to change dir, flip curve. And same again. It gives me 30 dots, from where I need only 1. Next I want to div curve between two points. I have to use cut curve with points I got, and then div it, and again, deleting all the rest, saving only one dot…
    It would be great to have option in div command.
    a) How many points I want Rhino to show.
    b) To show or add lenght for Rhino, from which point I want to div (without cutting the curve(might be bad when surfacing it))
    c) Div with more lenghts than only one. To give f.e. 10mm, 30mm, 45mm. Then it should div curve beginning from the end (or given point (b))… 10, 30, 45, 55, 85, 130… (+10, +30, +45, +10, +30, +45…)
    d) Ask if I want to div at the same time beginning from both ends (or points(b))

  3. Extensions. Makes me a lot of frustrating. These should work similar!
    Extend curve -> Asks first how far I want to extend, then which curve I want to extend
    Extend surface -> Asks first which edge I want to extend, then how far.
    .
    Extend surface should have also option “ThrougPoint”, not only “ExtensionFactor”.
    In V5 (32bit) Extend curve has usual (natural). I press it and choose line but it still stays on natural. If I do it again, then it changes the type to line. I think this is bug?

  4. I use autosave/backup. It has saved (and a little bit taken) a lot of time. I really hate that when I am doing something, without any warning it just stucks/kills rhino and starts to save. Very annoying. It would be great to have some 5 seconds blinking light in toolbar so you will notice (or skip from there) that autosaving is coming after few seconds. Sometimes my models are over 700Mb and it takes some time to save it…

  5. Sometimes I’m choosing the edge of the surface, which is not clear. F.e. blend surfaces. I just pick first edge and second edge and it gives me great surface. Sometimes I choose first edge, but second edge is in 2 or more pieces. What to do then? Is there any command to destroy/delete extra dots from the old edge of surface? In loft command I can duplicate curve parts, join and then loft first (clear) edge and second curve (taken, joined from bad edge). But this does not work in blend…

I just read about “fillet history” / “canceling solid fillet/chamfer”, it would be awesome!!!

Well, just some thoughts. By the way I really LOVE Rhino!

Now I have to go home…

2

Hi Wagner, that is a lot to respond to… I’ll see if I can help at all with some short term suggestions for some of your requests-

Exploded views- NamedPositions should help here, even if it is not as automatic or dedicated a tool as you are suggesting.

Measuring from the end of a curve- this can be scripted in RhinoScript or Python for now. I’ll attach a RhinoScript

MeasureOnCurve.zip (643 Bytes)

To use the script, extract and save the .rvb file from the attached zip archive, then drag and drop the saved rvb over an open Rhino V4 or v5 window. This will load the script, set it up to load on startup in the future and register the alias

MeasureOnCurve

that will run the script much like a regular command. An alias can be typed or added to a toolbar button or keyboard shortcut (F-key).

You can use Extend with a negative number to shorten a curve by that amount.

Extend asks for an optional boundary first, yes, but if you do not use a boundary, it asks for the curve(s), then the distance or point. ExtendSrf does not have the concept of a boundary or target. It’s not clear to me how these could be made more similar in a really useful way…

I’ll add your Autosave request to the pile…

In BlendSrf, use the All or Next or Autochain command line options to string together contiguous edges. MergeEdge and MergeAllEdges will also help here.

-Pascal

3

Hi Pascal!
Thank you very much for script and tips!
Script will help me to save my time. And negative extend is also great, I didn’t know that before :slight_smile:

In extend similarity I mean that both extends should work similar way.
First to ask which curve (extend curve) or edge (extend surface) I want to extend. After that how far (dimension or surface)
This can be also other way. First how far and after that which curve or edge I want to extend… I think that would make usability better…

Have to check blend options later. Thanks for the tip!