Sorry, Peter. I'm back in use and when starting back up had issues with load fails and crashes. I deleted scads of plugins and got back in the saddle. Loaded any new ones lately?
How far back do you have to go to get a working model? That is weird that the files would have been saved in a corrupt form and it seems more likely that something else is amiss. Try a non-pro prog load; try a different load on a different computer?

Are either of these worth buying for the details? My needs now are limited and strictly residential.

Architectural Graphic Standards 4.0 CD-ROM, based on the current 11th edition - $375
Architectural Graphic Standards for Residential Construction 1.0 CD-ROM - $325

From the network version description:

What's new in Version 4.0:
* An improved user interface that allows the user to navigate the CD using familiar and easy-to-use web-browser functions
* 100% of the details in CAD-compatible format--15% more than Version 3.0--available in .dwg, .dgn, and .dxf file formats
* Easier search methods--Topic Search, Index Search, Key Word Search, and CSI Code Search

I have a 30% discount available through March 31, received by mail, so I'm guessing anyone could have it.
(I'm not a layout user but understand that is where their use has more purported relevance. For me that is another discussion.)

Thanks, Rich. That is a relief. I did actually update my profile, when I restored my avatar, but it didn't stick. I'll try again.

EDIT: It didn't stick because I balked at characterizing my level of expertise, which IMO should be self-evident but I don't want to argue about. EDIT some more: Not that I think you would, even if you would. I bet somebody would.

I've been away for a while and thus may have grown ignorant. I recently updated to the Trimble branded SU and found the scene manager to not be re-sizable ==> larger.

Woe is me.

Please let me know if I am mistaken or if there is a work-around. Thank you.

~ Brooke

Using sly Jean's method, you can Fredo scale the pulled arc to approximate your second arc. After cleaning up your arcs and deleting the connecting edge, you can use Fredo's curviloft (create loft junctions) to create the surface 'exactly', as Cotty suggested.

If you can get the scientific (Latin) name for the species being modeled than you will likely be able to find some nice images of same to assist. Without that it may be bogus, hybrid, unknown, unverifiable... a mashup.

Orchid phalaenopsis (hybrid)

Looks nice. Thanks for sharing.

I'm just going to jump right in and say thanks again for epitomizing the way to share a most potent, stealthy tool set, gloved with generous explicating tutorial and annotated pics. You try to make it easier to get with the power of Fredo .

(We can, as a rule, be slow, lazy, impatient... I should know. Sometimes these things need to be said.)

@mac1 said:

@cheneymax said:

then again, I've got all summer, right? Either way, I found a new method that worked wonders because the other way was the incorrect way of doing it.

If you wnat a really good closed form solution, Post the model; post the model, post the model,etc. If you cannot not then at least the model of the problem area

Not everyone has all summer. And this is shared info, not just for you that they are working ...

Should have a video of various people working, in different ways with different energies, doing different things. And also should strike the 'mac 27' crap unless they only want to sell to macfolk. Seems well considered. And they do have a cutout for TIG's beer glass.

Ah, banks.

They already have your money.

[off:a2hfkqdz]I just finished my second bite back of one which tried to screw me out of the full, if modest, value of a checking account. Then with their new charges they put the account into negative territory and threatened collection which they said would ding my credit rating. The federal Office of the Comptroller and then their later morph took my form letters and the banks came around, the last time with a call form a special rep of the CEO, acknowledging the mistake....right.[/off:a2hfkqdz]

Begging you pardon....Another one for the Curvi-Tut series.

@pbacot said:

So you have been to my favorite place?

How about a hint?

The erosion is a little further along than the building in question, whose surface is smooth and sleek, more like the flash-flood-water eroded canyons, or Elvis' hair. Maybe yours is like the building in 4 or 5 years.

I know this is a modelling discussion and not a 'why bother?' discussion, but that is at the core of my every response...

Look at this: all the taffy is decoration and deceit; so many useless calories....

hollow spaces holding much hot air.

Thank you, Terry, for your continued sharing of a very helpful tool.

@unknownuser said:

Although I usually don't understand you

I hope he doesn't take that as some kind of crazzy personal challenge. His pictures usually do tell a good story.

In retrospect it occurred to me that (as referenced in the marketing blurb), eroded sandstone and the like can look quite like pulled taffy, though it is not so bad for your teeth.

I have not studied your link. I looked but the images were small and not very revealing. Consider this: the project was originally sculpted in stiff whipped cream and then photo digitized into a 3D model. From there it went into production, and in some cases, it went viral. Try to sculpt it yourself and proceed as they did.

EDIT: No. I am wrong. It was modeled in pulled taffy, then chopped neatly.

There is, however a wealth of filler available to augment the puffing up of the creamed taffy:

@unknownuser said:

The Museum’s massing becomes a diagram of these geological forces visible in the sedimentary creases abundant on the facade. Using parametric techniques we were able to visualise these layers and texturise the facade to implant an identity which echoes time through its weathering. Emulating these natural landform processes frees a language intrinsically linked with ‘Place’ while hinting of this ‘place’ as a time before human history. This Experiment with an abstracted ‘Growth’ of a building has taken the form of accentuating the landscape, creating distinct man made insertions to augment the existing topography and give the museum its identity.

And therein may lie some important clues to guide us in the resolution of this conundrum.

Looking good to me. Very nice, Pilou. I'm going to take the opportunity to encourage someone to get in touch with Sketchy FFD, as per daredevil's rec... It seemingly would allow manipulation so that the grid remained more faithful to the original, rather than being really a non-grid.

Well, I tried it on the simple grid and crashed twice, which is enough for me.

That's very accommodating of you, Sam, but you've surely opened a hole in the dike...

Could we have some animation and transitional effects with that, please?

In addition to posting the problem model it helps to have a picture of it with notes as to the problem. Folks can maybe then answer you quite quickly and specifically.

EDIT:

Perhaps try working with one swirl segment at a time, as a component. It is hard to tell what the result is that you are looking for as there are many possibilities for the skin. I think a plugin could have the same issues, though if we knew the kind of thing you were looking for then the plugin could be directed that way by the edges chosen, etc.

Rich's nice one, so you only have to open your eyes, no downloading or opening required:

It ssems you continue to offer your potential helpers very little, save belittlement. Perhaps a dead end.

You still have nothing to show?

@unknownuser said:

thanks, but i need thoughts and ideas

@unknownuser said:

finally i see a meaningful reply.

@unknownuser said:

i just need some brilliant thoughts and inspirations,
because i know i can model it eventually somehow in some not very clever ways

@unknownuser said:

if i could work out how to model it...than this is not a request post but a tutorial post.

@brookefox said:

Not going the image way, how to do this (in a way appropriate to this thread, that is)? How to distort a grid of faces and edges, before or after extrusion?

Lay a smaller grid on it, intersect and warp with what tool?