Need Help creating a component.

simon510

Yeah I'm trying to figure out how to make the base.

jeff hammond

Yeah I'm trying to figure out how to make the base.

hmm.. that's going to be sort of tough.. i think you'll have to draw the shell then manually draw in the curves then one of the piping plugins after that?

i faked one just to see (using fredoScale's taper function on arrayed hexagons) and that wasn't too bad but the base in the picture isn't so structured/perfectly symmetrical..

simon510

^ That looks nice, how'd you do it?

jeff hammond

.

you could always cheat

(rhino)

i brought it into sketchup but it's pretty bad performance / too big to upload here.. i think you'll have to do what i was originally saying.. draw it manually in sketchup then use a piping plugin with real low edge counts on for the pipe (6 segments?) ..also, don't fillet the 45º bends.. keep them sharp.

jeff hammond

@simon510 said:

^ That looks nice, how'd you do it?

draw a profile
Follow Me the profile on a circle (this one is standard 24 segments)
array planes vertically then intersect
the above steps will form a grid on the surface which you can use for layout points
fredoScale's taper can do stuff like this.. those arrays can be aligned with the grid.. (that's how i did the first picture in the thread.. but it might be better results / more random if you use the grid in step4 as horizontal guides only but vary the position of the 45º bends.. keep things grouped.. do one lap around then pipe it then group it.. then the next one etc.. it will take about an hour i guess.

simon510

Thanks man really appreciate it.
Will give it a try.

Edit: For step 1: I draw the profile, then draw a circle (24s) with the polygon tool correct?
For step 5: How do I lap the pipes around (in a circle)?

Thanks. Sorry very new to this.

jeff hammond

@simon510 said:

Here's what I got for the first two steps.
Am I doing it right?

yeah, that looks ok so far.

(and sorry, i think i was confusing you with another simon who would of been just looking for ideas.. didn't realize you're new to sketchup.. i'll try to make a better step-by-step )

simon510

Here's what I got for the first two steps.
Am I doing it right?

I am stuck at the intersect part.
When I try to interact is says:

"one or more of the selected objects is either not a solid or is locked"

simon510

Hi,

I am stuck at the intersect part.
When I try to interact is says:

"one or more of the selected objects is either not a solid or is locked"

cotty

Jeff used the standard intersection (right click menu), not the solid tools.