Hi, I’m trying to learn how to use rhino to model more complex objects such as toilets, sinks etc. I’m working on a project where i need to quickly model a proposed fit-out based on specific products so I can produce various renders.
However despite having used Rhino for some time now, I’m stumped as to where to begin with such modelling… Attached image of my first hurdle which I’ve already fallen over. I was wondering if someone can point me in the right direction to learn how to model stuff like this?
Hi Sam - basic rule for a thing like this, I would say, is separate out the form into primary and transition surfaces (i.e. fillets and similar) - getting transitions right on this type of thing will be key. Make the primaries first, so that you’ve got the thing complete as a hard-edged object, preferably with simple, exact surfaces - could be a lot of planes and parts of cylinders or elliptical surfaces perhaps, in your image. Then figure out a strategy for the fillets/blends etc. Where these collide will be the tricky bits.
Hi Sam,
I agree with Jeremy.
A lot of manufactures like Kohler have DWG and STL mesh files of their products.
You can import them into the Rhino model for rendering or to reverse engineer.
You can take contour likes thought the mesh, rebuild the curves and use them to generate the primary surfaces. And as Pascal mentioned, once you have the primary surfaces, them determine how (or if) they will transition. This will take all your Rhino knowledge and expertise to do.
Make 2D also works with meshes in Rhino 6.
So only model this only is necessary and only use the minimum detail required for the rendering or animation
Thanks very much everyone, as first port of call I’ll email out to all of the manufacturers to see what I can get. I’ll give modelling a go as per your suggestion Pascal, this may be quite a steep learning curve regardless!
So once I have a series of primary shapes (a sphere, cylinder etc) would it be a case of intersecting, splitting and the Blendedge tool?
Hi Sam - I did not mean that you necessarily should build the primary shapes from primitives like planes and spheres etc, only that these primary design shapes are generally cleaner and easier to deal with when they are simple and exact, and it seems at least likely that there are some simple geometric shapes in the image you posted. But by all means get the primaries any way you can - lofts, extrusions, what ever. Then, if you can build the thing as a hard edged part and it looks right except for that, then FilletEdge, BlendEdge, FilletSrf, Lofting and MatchSrf - all of these and more might be useful in creating the transitions.
That is how I’d think about this, at any rate… the devil is in the details.
Firstly, take the seat and cover off. Now try to imagine it without fillets. It’s all blended together to make it look like one thing, but the geometric shapes should call out at you.
The part the sits against the wall can be made from an extruded outline. It’s just 6 points to get the shape, and it looks like it has a radius on the bottom. Then it can be extruded.
There is a an area where the seat went, the top is just a rectangle that’s radiused on one end. That can be extruded down.
There’s a mere rectangular box that comes from the wall plate, near the floor.
There’s a truncated cone that supports the bowl.
The bowl can be made from a sphere that’s been split in half. Now comes the tricky part because they are coplanar and the fillets run out to nothing. The bowl and the the top plate that supports the seat, will have to be matched, perhaps, using the match surface, with added splits. This fillet will be a challenge to get done. Alternatively, you may need to use Rhino’s blend or connect to make the front surfaces coplanar.
A simple box may be subtracted from the top to form the step-like area that the seat…sits on.
