Unboolean?

Hi,
I have looked through the Web and user guides in an attempt to find a comand to fit my purpose. What I am looking to do is unboolean things. So I have say a fuel tank for a yacht. It has a top plate with inlets etc. I model the parts separately (some are common from file) then boolean the lot together. I boolean to check for water tight, volume etc and so I don’t loss bits when I move it in to the hull. “Oh no I have put that bit on the wrong way up.” The only option I know of is explode but I don’t want all the separate surfaces I what the separate parts. Is there a way? If not a comand that I am missing maybe a different approach to my modeling, any tips?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Doubleclick - ExtractSrf and Untrim are going to be your friends here, but it can get complicated and fussy, depending on the shapes and how they’ve combined.

-Pascal

At the risk of sounding like a cheer leader, Rhino for Mac offers a nice option here that Rhino for Windows currently does not natively offer.

We talk so much about what is not in Rhino for the Mac, it is easy to forget that there are few things that are only in Rhino for Mac too.

In Rhino for Mac, if you saved the model before you did the boolean, you can revert back to the pre-booleaned model. You could also, copy the pre-booleaned parts to the current model, via the clipboard. This is called Versions. In Rhino for Mac, on the File menu, pick Revert to -> Browse All Version. When you find the version you want, either restore or copy and paste into your current model.

In Rhino for Windows, I recommended always incremental saving the model before Boolean operations, or saving your own “decorated” version. I realize this can be a daunting task.

Without a saving a pre-booleaned model, as Pascal replied, you are into a pretty challenging advanced surfacing project. This takes some advanced knowledge of Rhino to do effectively and efficiently.

Thanks for letting me tangent a bit from the current issue in this thread.
Sincerely,
Mary Fugier

Boo no unboolean,

Thanks both. So yes it’s change my modeling or buy a mac! Will have to save out versions before I boolean.

You are a quick study!
Thanks for the update.
Sincerely,
Mary Fugier

Is not that what you are looking for ? I think boolean data is stored inside Rhino file and reversible, but this plugin costs a bit
Link here: click

Hi Doubleclick,
have you tried the round hole & make hole function, it will allow you to make different shapes & size holes, move the holes and remove holes. If you have several items to make assembly (fuel tank - tank plates, internal baffles, valves, etc) then group them together.

Hi Eddi,
Power Solids for Rhino looks like an interesting plug.
If you do a lot of Booleans, it could be worth it.
And they say it is fun!

If anyone tries an eval, please report back.
Thanks for sharing the link.
Sincerely,
Mary Fugier

Eddie,
Thanks for tip will look into that. Cian, yes your right I could use the hole comand to make spaces for all the parts. Like a solidworks assembly. Maybe I am too obsessed with joining the thing up.

@mary
@doubleclick
If interest, i have a few old video tutorial’s, format *.wmv (but previous version Tools Rh3, Rh4)
Regards