Ply and bevels

karmaclimbing

Hi,

Bear with me as this is very complicated and I'm looking for a guru to enlighten me.

I am modelling some 3d wall structures (indoor climbing walls) That are made from panels of plywood that are tessellated to some degree and joint together by way of bisected angles. To start with I model the basic look of the wall and features and then create individual components for each of the tessellations. These are all in flat shapes to start with, then I extrude the shapes to 18mm to model the thickness of the ply. As the joining panels are at different angles to each other they have to be bevel cut at the bisected angle. Is there a quicker way to draw in the lines where they bisect and to get this angle on the finished components. I then copy the components away from the structure and add all the dimensions to it etc. All this is so I can produce a cutting list to make production quicker in the workshop. Currently I am having to use guides and am drawing them individually. Is there some kind of plug in that can do all this ?

Provided pictures below.

Simon

an angle that has been bisected and drawn in

a look at the surface of the structure. as flat (0mm) panels ready to extrude and bisect etc.

Dave R

Hi Simon,

Welcome.

So if I understand this correctly, you want to join the corners on the outside of the panel with the ones on the inside? I don't know of an automated way to do this. I suspect a plugin could be written to connect the corners with line segments. Perhaps you could put in a request on the Plugins forum and one of the Gurus of Ruby would have a solution.

When you create components of the individual panels, are you replacing the selection with the component and then moving it out? Or are you just filling up the In Model component library and dragging them out later for dimensions? If it's the former, I wonder if you'd have issues with the first component stealing the line segments so they aren't there for the next. I think that would be the case. I guess I'll have to play with that.

karmaclimbing

So first,

I draw a large rectangle at the outer limits of the structure.
I draw lines on the surface and pull them around to create a more 3d shape. pulling the centres out along the horizontal to give a nice shape.
I then create a component from this to give me a concept. then I overlay lines on each tessellation border and create separate components. (this gives workable panel sizes).
Each of these new components then is extruded backwards to create 18mm thick panels.
as the view is switched to the rear the back corners no longer meet the opposing panel. and so what I need to do now is find the bisected angles and effectively create the cuts (saw cuts)at the right bevel to joint both back and front of the panels. Each panel (assume a triangle) can possibly have three different bevel cuts.

is this clearer..?

karmaclimbing

Hi Gurus,

Can anyone suggest an automated way to do this..I'm loosing hair.

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=183&t=45974

Regards.

Dave R

I think it's clearer. So you are drawing the components over the original shape you've created.

I believe I would approach it differently. I would draw the shape with all the facets and get it looking as I want. Then I would use Joint Push/Pull to create the thickness. Next I would use Selection boxes around facets to convert each to a component. This would get you at least the inner and outer skins in the component. Finally I would edit the components to draw the lines joining the corners of the inner and outer faces. This is the part that I was wondering about automating.

karmaclimbing

thats is indeed the part that takes up time and would be good to automate. effectively it would be like having the edges cut through like a section plane tool..?

karmaclimbing

is there a way of deleting everything to one side of a selection slice..?

Dave R

No but you could use Zorro 2 to slice the model where you want.

karmaclimbing

ive just tried using zorro 2. as yet i cant seem to get it to do what i need. so is there a chance of asking for a plug in to be made..?

Dave R

There's always a chance but what doesn't it do that you want?

zero

Try with the plugin "join pushpull" you will have the two face of each pannel, just join the corner with lines to create the edges faces.

Dave R

@zero said:

Try with the plugin "join pushpull" you will have the two face of each pannel, just join the corner with lines to create the edges faces.

@zero: see here.

Simon, I was experimenting with JPP and found that not only do you have to connect the corners but you may often have to triangulate the edges of the "plywood" to get faces to fill in. If you make your request for a plugin on the Plugins forum, you may want to describe the desired results to include skinning the edges between the inner and outer faces.