[[solidThinking Tips]] [#1: can't make a curve with tangency align at
center?] When you want to make a curve to have tangency
align at center (X-Z plane), after you create the first point, disable
X and Z coordination dragging, then create the second point. Enable coordination
dragging, add points to draw a curve. When you use this curve to create
surfaces, they will have tangency align at the curve section. (Ver3.5
has surface tangency align tool.) [#2: how to move local axis origin?] Sometimes, I want to move local axis origin to
somewhere else such as an end point of a curve, or a front center corner
of a surface. solidThinking doesn't allow you to modify local axis origins
after once you create objects. Though still you can move the local axis
origins. How? Copy and Paste object that you want to move its
local axis origin. Enable Snap to points. Enter Edit mode, pick all of
edit points, drag one point where you want to move the local axis origin
to, to the local axis origin. The point snaps to the local axis origin.
Enter Object mode, drag object to original object. Now it is located original
place and has its local axis origin at the point you wanted move to. Delete
original object.(Ver3.5 has Local axis align tools.) When you create a curve, if you want to have a
local axis origin at the world axis origin, push enter after you click
on a curve tool icon. If you want to have a local axis origin at the end
of the curve, click on a curve tool icon, click and decide a local axis
origin at the first point location, then push enter to decide the first
point at exactly same location. [#3: can't Intersect with a Curves network surface?] Curves network surface has complex knot construction,
compared to other surface type such as Skin, Coons or Birail. Duplicated
knots that are created automatically causes failure in Intersecting with
other surfaces. If you delete these duplicated knots manually, you can
Intersect. How? Pick Curves network surface. Click 'NURBS surface
editing tool' and collapse construction tree ('Yes' to the question that
you are asked). Open Modeling Tool (Ctrl+2), find duplicated knots that
has same number in ( ), such as U#009(0.5) U#010(0.5) You might have several sets of these duplicated
knots. Do not confuse U and V directions. Pick later one (U#010), set
Tolerance to 1.000, click Remove button to delete it. Now you can Intersect
with other surfaces. [#4: can't snap to extracted edges?] You can't snap to an extracted edge that is part
of a Construction tree. Simply Copy and Paste it. The new one is not part
of a Construction tree. You had better not use Edit -> Collapse Construction
tree, otherwise you might lose the original surface. (When the original
surface is part of other Construction tree, it won't be deleted.) [#5: how to create nice surfaces? 1] Basically, curves in a same direction (U or V)
should be drawn with same number of points. Draw with minimum number of
points. Though, to create surfaces, solidThinking is fuzzy in good way,
you don't really have to worry about these things. Above all, you should
not change your design to create a nice surface. [#6: do not create surfaces with looped extracted
edges] Somehow rendering never comes back. [#7: how to divide a surface?] solidThinking doesn't have surface divide tool.
Though this is not a big deal. Just Copy and Paste the surface, Trim (or
Intersect and Delete) Exterior of one of them, Trim Interior of the other
of them. [#8: combine extract edges!] Edge Extract is one of the great unique feature
of solidThinking. Moreover you can combine extracted curves that are from
several serial surfaces. This feature makes it extremely easy to create
simple construction of your model. (CurveSimplify tool of Ver3.5 will
be really useful, because usually extracted edges have a lot of control
points.) [#9: can't uncombine?] Combine is a useful tool when you want to deform
(such as Taper, Bend and Lattice) several surfaces together. Though combined
surfaces must have a same material. In such kind of cases, you might want
to uncombine surfaces once you combined. It is possible. Just Copy and
Paste combined object, Make original one invisible, press Alt-key down,
pick one material surfaces and delete them. Make duplicated object invisible,
paste combined object again, press Alt-key down, pick the other material
surfaces and delete them. (This is an example when you have 2 kind of
materials. If you have 3, do same things one more time.) Make the first
duplicated object visible, now you have uncombined surfaces. (Ver3.5 has
Uncombine tool.) [#10: Lattice is the force field!] When you move the Lattice-deformed object, what
happens? The object changes its shape because the Lattice stays original
place. When the object goes outside of the Lattice completely, it backs
to original shape. Lattice is like a force field. (This is fun! :) So,
when you don't want to have this interesting behavior, again, just copy
and paste the Lattice-deformed object. The new one doesn't have its construction
history any more. [#11: how to create nice surfaces? 2] When the surface you created is not enough good.
You should try another order of picking curves. Basic rule is picking
clockwise or counterclockwise. For 3Sides surfaces, mesh will be created
along the second curve. [#12: simple is the best] Try to draw curves with the smallest number of
points. Less number of control points always brings better result of creating
surfaces. (Again, I don't mean that you have to change your idea to get
a fewer control points line.) Usually a curve-on-surface or an extracted
edge has a lot of control points. CurveSimplifyTool of ver3.5 will help
you to get better result of creating surfaces. Even after once you create
a surface with lines that have a lot of control points, you can use SurfaceSimplifyTool
of ver3.5. [#13: can't Translate specific curve or surface?] When you make a surface with curves, the surface
and the curves overlap each other. Sometimes, you might make several copies
of an object at the same location. In such cases, it is hard to pick specific
one. Use Browser to pick specific object, input xyz coordinates of 'To'
location in Modeling Tool Manager. Or, on Browser, you can make object
that you don't want to pick invisible. In case of a curve and a surface
overlap each other, solidThinking seems to pick the curve when you click
on the edge, and pick the surface when you click on the other part. [#14: can't Mirror surfaces by World axis origin?] Some objects like spheres and other primitives
might have local axis origin at their center. Surfaces usually have its
local axis origin at origin of first-entry curve of construction tree.
Do not pick them first of surfaces to be Mirrored or Combined. Create
a dummy object at World axis origin, and pick it first. Later, Copy and
Paste Combined object, delete original one. Delete the dummy object. If
you don't Copy and Paste Combined object, when you delete the dummy object,
Mirroring axis moves to the local axis of the target object. Though, Ver3.5
has LocalAxisAlignTools, you don't have to worry about this... [#15: can't Trim very well?] Sometimes, Trimmed edge isn't enough beautiful.
In such cases, create Extrude or Skin surface with the Trim curve, and
Intersect with the target surface. Usually you can get better results
in this way. [#16: weird rendering results of glass material?] You might have strange looks about your Mirrored
glass material objects. Surface normal direction is the cause of the problem.
Open Modeling toolbar, and click 'Inverse U dir'. You can have a nice
tutorial about this problem on http://www.flexicad.com/forum/sThinking/17.html |