cad@sggsa Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Good day All Been a long time since my last post. I am stuck on how to draw a sail shape. I have the shape drawn out, but need to 'bend' it like the wind is catching it. Similar to the Render I found. Anyone who can help me out? Thanks Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Carl, MK is the master at this, but I found a way. I'll bet there are many other ways. I attached my file. I started in front view, drew the curve as a polyline, the top and bottom (widths) as lines, and then I converted all of them to NURBS. I switched to top view and rotated the curve 90?, back to front view and I aligned the top and bottom lines centered at the top and bottom of the curve (which now looks like a straight line), back to right view and aligned the top and bottom lines to the top and bottom of the curve (hard to see them in right view since they are single points there). Then I used the Loft Surface Tool Brail Sweep mode. I selected in this order the bottom line, top line, then the center curve, click the check mark to bring up the dialog box. Do a preview to see the results, looks good click OK. Now look at it in right ISO, good, render it, good, go back to front view and double click the shape to enter edit mode and move the side center vertices in a bit one at a time to make the curved edges of the sides. Sounds like a lot, but it took me less time to do it (and I was experimenting) then it did to write this! Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 (edited) I think the easiest way is to work from your plan. Draw a line along the top and bottom of your sail shape. Draw a third line parallel to the top and bottom somewhere in the middle. Covert all three lines to NURBS curves. Assign a Z height to the top line. Assign a Z height to the middle line that is more than half your overall height. Loft using No Rail mode while in plan view. You can see how it conforms to your plan view right away. Check it in 3D. If the curve's not quite right, undo and adjust the height/length of the middle line. Kevin Edited August 21, 2013 by Kevin McAllister Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Thanks Kevin I have managed after 2 hours to crteate this, well not quite what I wanted as working with Loft Birail is interesting and frustrating as the point move in one plane as you want, but select another on a different plane. So a bit skew but looks OK. I will try your method a bit later as it seems a bit easier and more controlled Thanks again and I will get back on this soon. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Very nice Kevin! Moving NURBs points can be very confusing as Carl points out. I wish someone would make a movie tutorial about moving points on NURBs curves. That would be helpful. Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 You can also do this with the project tool. See this discussion: http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=35653&Number=175538#Post175538 hth mk Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 VW is definitely not friendly for moving NURBS points. Its confusing that the OIP defaults to moving the whole object if you try and do it numerically. If you try and do it by grabbing points, you need to lock to one axis for it to be intuitive. I actually wish you could lock to two axes since you almost always want to move across a plane (C4D allows this flexibility). I had one project where I was constantly moving points and I tended to do it numerically. Kevin Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I always forget about the project tool. That is a good method if you have a known radius. A little more difficult for irregular curves. Kevin Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted August 26, 2013 Author Share Posted August 26, 2013 Thanks for the link MK That makes it easy!!! Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 This entire discussion has brightened my day. Thanks to all who contributed. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.