Curving a Componant

I have a componant that is now, for all tense and purposes, an extruded rectangle. I need this rec. to bow outword if i am looking in plan view, so it looks like a half circle. I cannot, however, start over and just draw two archs, connect them, and extrude that object, for the componant i have now is to complicated. Thanks for the help.

Is this what you mean? I readjusted half of rectangle. Make as many segments as you want for your circle and use the move tool to readjust your rectangle. Use the soften tool to soften the edges.

rectangle.skp

i am starting with rectangle though, not a arc. if it were an arc then i could deal with it as you state above, however it is not starting as such.

Read about an interesting property about editing an extruded arc in SU help file. The Help topic is 'arc'. It is possible to adjust the bulge of an extruded arc shape up until you deform the arc entity.

If you started with an arc/arc shape you can adjust the bulge so that it becomes a line - or at least close to a line.

no, i am trying to bend the componant rather than augment it, if that makes any sense. take a line for instance, i would draw the line, and then bend that line along an arch.

Arc has this property, not line.

You may have to start with a rectangle with edges(s) that look like lines but have the arc properties. Draw a arc with know bulge. Use the move tool to move the bulge back the same amount, entering number via VCB. With hidden geometry off, the sides look flat. Looks like a rectangle. Then those sides/edges can be bulged out with the move tool for the arch.

Group the modified rectangle so you do not loose the arc properties at some point down the road.

I cannot start over and just draw two archs, connect them, and extrude that object, for the componant i have now is to complicated. Thanks for the help.

You have to start over. You can't do it. Todd

Can't you draw what you want in a group. Position the group on the model. Explode and intersect with model.

Also there is Push/Pull+Ctrl (PC). It will extrude faces into non-planar surfaces.

acalle,

I think I understand what you need to do. I know of no way to "curve" a component. Obviously you can scale and rotate but not bend.

Actually, this would be a great feature for SU6.

Ron

Well, you can ADD arcs to the rectangle and push/pull then to the existing height (a concave and convex arc). Since you have described it as an extruded rectangle, we are giving you solutions for how to manage an extruded rectangle.

curved_rectangle.skp

Todd,

the prob is that i need to curve the object not augment it, because it will change the detail i have on and around it.

thanks though, anything else?

Another option for adjusted lines/surfaces is using some of the tools on the projection_extension toolbar.

Lines can be extruded along Z axis, faces extruded along their normal or a vector of your choice. Script at http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=projections. Positive and negative numbers affect the direction of the extrusion.

bell,

yeah i know, i still am hoping that we can figure something out here though.

Is the detail 3D? If it is not, draw some lines down the face you want to change. Move the lines out to get a bulge.

Draw arc you really want.

divide straight edge into the same number of segments as arc.

draw lines at edge nodes down the rectangle face.

move lines to corresponding node on arc.

This might work with 3D stuff on surface. It depends on where the stuff is in relation to the 'fold' lines.

yeah it is in 3d

acalle, it may help people if you upload your file so they can play with it. By your description, I am not sure what you want. Others may, but not me.

Gentlemen,

What I think acalle is after is the ability to take a SU component, like a window or a couch, and actually bend it into a curve.

I guess one could explode, regroup in segments and rotate each segment into an overall curve. Some touch up would be required.

Ron

to make matters worse i cannot release the file for public viewing

ron's got it!!

however, exploding then regrouping the entire componant would take an enormous amount of time

denhom,

refer to what ron said to further explain what i am after

I can write a script to do this. I just figured out an easy way to do it. Don't hold your breath. You'll pass out after a few minutes, and it will still take me a month.

Todd,

Such a script would have great utility. Another smustard offering?

Ron

Here's one method. Not perfect. Some touchup on segment edges. Got division lines by using a plane and doing intersect with model.

To close outer gap after grouped panels moved and exploded: select edges that sticks out and use Move tool to pull them over. Many need to use Move+Shift to lock axis movement.

Another way to to get the edges between grouped faces to meet: select edge, rotate.

to curve.skp

I dunno, maybe I'm missing something here...

This is a simple, 4 section version of my thought. It seems scriptable as the process is very repetitive. And please pardon the crudeness of my demonstration, but I've never done one like the gurus before (feel free to offer suggestions).

Hope this helps,

John S.

Arc a component.skp

Okay, since you don't seem to be giving us more info, I played a bit more. It's mostly a game of creating two reference grids, one rectangular and one warped.

If the shape of the component is non-rectangular, create a "bounding box" that suits. Then, create a corresponding arc w/arrayed radii. Aside from that, you'll have to decide which parts to "warp", and which to merely rotate. This file has has half of the seat cushion rotated, and I would choose to do a circular array of the legs to maintain their structural shape.

In order to move each "slice" created by "intersect with model", make sure hidden lines are visible, select the slice w/high-left-to-low-right drag, and then I had to use <alt>-move some of the time. Likewise, it is very important to remember that (in my case) I was trying to morph from a straight line to an arc - pick the right locators as called out in the model, as the move and the rotate generally don't begin on the actual component. I left only half of it done to give anyone a chance to try the method on the other half. In the case of a simple model, it goes very quickly.

The resolution in your situation is obviously up to you. If you had the time, you could array 100 slices (or 1000), and then morph each group within the component after "intersect with model".

By the way, the bench is upside down as I just chose to rotate it 'cause it's easier to get a top view than a bottom. Of course I could've just laid out the grid on top...

Keep us posted,

John S.

Arc Component 2.skp

Hello John,

I think acalle had a detailed, 3D bas-relief decoration of some sort. At least detailed enough that any remodeling - or jockeying about the lines - would be very time consuming and annoying. Flat and flatish faces are easy to push out as you noticed. You're right on target.

When you try to move out a fold-line on a dimensional face, the geometry modeled on the face does not move. One of the real good things that came out of this thread is in a few months Todd will make this sort of manuvering a script.

Yeah, I know it's easier with a script. The guy just seemed desperate, and if I had to save a detailed component on a tight schedule, I'd just pull the resolution to about 0.5 degrees or tighter and do the move-rotate arrangement. After initial setup, it takes just a few seconds per intersected plane to move-rotate if you pull the requisite menus right by your work zone. It's very repetitive, but it could get him through it nearly without thinking...

On the other hand, this thread now has me finally looking at Ruby in the SU environment (which looks well thought out, by the way). The math for such a transformation is very straightforward, assuming you want to give a center point/axis, so I will at least give it a shot. No guarantees, but if I succeed, I'll post it for testing.

Thanks,

John S.

Hi Acalle, hi folks.

See attached SU file for ideas.

Component_bending.skp

John,

Sometime in the near future there will be an online macro editor for SU - SU5 doesnot support a download of it. You will not need to know scripting and it works like playing with Legos. It will be at http://labs.plugins.ro/.

Jean's tutorial is a more detailed version of what I did 2 nights ago. I thought the guy was desperate too, so I tried something crude and quick to get him through the night. I have a feeling that the macro editor could build up a series of steps, much like is outlined in Jean's tutorial, to do this technique. I don't know when the online editor will be available to try this out though.

Nice SU bridge to do scripting on a script editor at above site too. I'm using it to slowing learn this scripting stuff.

Automating this process would be a useful tool. Yes indeed, post your script work.