Wrap geometry to surface

[Diamond]

Hi,

I don't believe it is possible to wrap (as opposed to projecting a flat surface) onto another 3D surface. We can do something similar with the "Text Along Path". Time we had it in our 3D toolset as well.

Thanks.

[Benson Shaw]

Agree it's time.

But look closely at TAP. The letters do not wrap to surface. They remain planar.

-B

[Diamond]

Good spot. I hadn't picked that up. Am I correct in thinking this is the closest thing Vw has to wrap?

[grant_PD]

I thought you could do this. Project and trim. Now, you can't wrap something all the way around a curve, that's more like a texture map. But a straight line projection, yes.

[Kevin McAllister]

As Benson says you can project and trim a surface and then shell it, but it won't maintain its size exactly i.e.. A won't equal A.

Kevin

[Elite Exhibits]

It does not appear to be that hard to draw - Peter

[Elite Exhibits]

It may be better to think of this is simple terms. Like a bottle with a label. Mapping an image is often easier than creating the geometry. (except if you do not have an image editor handy)

In the case of a cylinder the adjustments in RW leave a lot to be desired. Example, this map, when applied, was not at the center of the cylinder, even though the diameters were set to match - Peter

[Kevin McAllister]

Going back to the original wish - this is a feature that should be implemented in VW.

These examples are really simple and yes, there are workarounds. But I'm finding I need to create accurate complex geometry more and more. 3D printing and other types of digital manufacturing are changing the type of modelling required.

Kevin

[PVA - Admin]

Yes, its key that this be an automated feature as well. Being able to manually warp and bend existing objects is useful as well (and has been included in varying forms in something like 10 separate requests recently) but having it be able to automatically "read" a surface and "apply" another piece of geometry to it without the user having to specify anything other than perhaps an offset is what the focus of this seems to be.

I will make that clear in the request.

[PVA - Admin]

Another side-note: The closest thing to this actually seems to be a Surface Array, but currently the deforming action that occurs when the array object is not within a group or symbol is not user-controllable enough to accomplish most tasks like this.

This is a decent example of what we are going for, but users should be able to use 2D geometry to start with an end up with a "wrapped" 3D object afterwards:

[Kevin McAllister]

Flow Along Surface is really useful and well implemented. The reference surface is very helpful in achieving as little distortion as possible.

Kevin

[Diamond]

Hi Jim,

Yes, that example of the option of warping the objects is a good one. I wonder if a 3D symbol could have an option to be warped, not just scaled.

Back to what we were creating that has brought up this request. See the attached Render. We got around the issue by;

1. Drawing the 3 sizes of battens in plan and extrude.

2. Project an extruded 2D elevation of each batten size outline onto an extruded radius of the building footprint (because the footprint radius was consistent, in this case was possible. If we had an oval it may not have been).

3. Extract the intersecting surface.

4. Loft each surface to create a solid to be intersected with the each of the corresponding batten size extrusions.

5. Breath.

Would have been much easier to be able to model this first, convert to auto-hybrid object, and generate the plan and elevation from 3D. Thanks.

PS Julian Carr provided some assistance here.