edge extrusion

[gabrielefx]

Hi all,

I'm a Rhinoceros user. Unfortunately, the evolution of this program is very slow.
I also use Spaceclaim to have a bidirectional import-export with Rhinoceros to perform direct modeling modifications: delete holes, delete fillets, clean the surfaces.

Because I want to have a more robust program to create better layouts for my 3d designs I'm learning Vectorworks 2020.
At the moment I'm using a demo because I want to understand if I can replicate the same Rhinoceros workflow.

I can't find some basic commands.
For example most of the useful 3d commands stay in the pull down menus. Is it possible to iconize and have all of them in the palettes? There are too many steps to call these 3d commands from the menus.

This is a list of the commands I can't replicate from Rhinoceros to Vectorworks:
#01 how to extrude the edge of a solid without duplicate it before? Within Rhinoceros I select an edge and I extrude it.
#02 How to extrude along a direction? I see only an extrude command and a push-pull feature but it's always orthogonal to the surface. I want to extrude a shape diagonally or long an edge (it's not an extrude along a path) without duplicate it
#03 How to create extrusions without the caps? Imagine a cylinder without top and bottom cap.
#04 How to cap a cylinder shape with a patch tangent to the border?
#05 How to create a line perpendicular to a curved surface?
#06 Multiple extrusion or push-pull deletes the original shapes, how to maintain or extract them?
#07 How to change surface orientation color (not the normal vector)? In Rhinoceros I have a setup to see the surfaces back face with another color (red)
#08 How to detach a single face from a solid?
#09 How to draw a line perpendicular to the construction plane?
#10 How to align (orient) a 2d shape (or polygon) perpendicular to a path?
#11 How to make a line perpendicular along a direction of an inclined (diagonal) line? The Smart cursor works only if the line is orizonthal or vertical, I can see the green or red guides but for diagonal lines Vectorworks doesn't draw a smart guide.
#12 How to draw a spline on a curved surface? (drawing a nurbs curve directly on a sphere or cylinder wall)
#13 How to create a 3d spiral along a spiral path? Spirals in Vectorworks have no realtime feedback during the creation.
#14 How to interpolate 2 curves with a series of curves? (tween)
#15 How to auto close a nurb curve (interpolated closing)? Overlapping the last point to the first one doesn't create a smooth closed nurbs
#16 How to blend two 2d nurbs curves?
#17 How to offset curves normal to and on a surface?
#18 How to flow a curve or a solid along a curve?
#19 How to perform a lattice deformation on a 3d solid?
#20 How to orient an object on a surface?
#21 How to split a solid with a surface leaving both parts?
#22 How to select one of two overlapped lines?

#23 How to sweep a curve around a free oriented axis?

Notes:
please change the last polyline point input with an enter command, the double click could add another segment.


Regards.
 

Edited August 24, 2020 by gabrielefx

[axhake]

Hi gabrielefx and welcome to the forum.
Some of the questions you have listed Vectorworks is capable of doing, however it may be beneficial to you to do a search for NURBS on the forum and read some of the threads to understand the limitations of NURBS users face using Vectorworks.

[gabrielefx]

@axhake I'm watching almost all Vectorworks tutorials during this period of lockdown.

I think it's a great program probably designed for architects and not for designers.
The parasolid side is not developed to the maximum potential. Probably in the future we will see a Vectorworks Mechanical version.
I also used Fusion 360 for two years but it was super buggy.

At the moment it doesn't exist a program containing all the features of Vectorworks to generate layouts + the surgical surface design tools of Rhinoceros + the full direct modeling commands of Spaceclaim/Fusion 360.
 

[axhake]

I cant’s disagree with you regarding Parasolid's, we are being limited by the tools and features Vectorworks has implemented and at a disadvantage with no workarounds when it comes to display and presentation of curved/NURBS geometry in the way it converts it to facets.

 

I have had several projects which I have started in Vectorworks and spent many days working on only to have then rejected by the client due to the poor display and accuracy of the large curved elements when collaborating with others using alternative packages who require accurate geometry to work to. Tried every workaround I could think of after looking on the forum and talking to others finally having to abandon and re-create them in Rhino and then borrowing a license from a company I help out at and finish the projects off in either Revit or ArchiCAD depending on what licenses they have free at the time. Not ideal but was they only was I could deliver.

 

If you look through the forum you will see that the issues with Parasolid's/NURBS have been around for some time now with no fixes being made. Will be interesting to see if VW2021 has fixed these problems as they say in the “3D Modelling Enhancements”...

 

“Eleven different tools, and popular objects such as Lines, 3D polygons, and NURBS curves, have brand new modes as an extension of our Push/Pull feature”

 

Have they fixed the underlying problems with Parasolid's/NURBS? or have they just build additional tools and features onto something that is already flawed... we will have to wait and see.

[Claes Lundstrom]

VW is a great program in so many ways, but the NURBS modelling side definitely needs a major upgrade to get in par with what other programs can do, as well as what the underlying Siemens Parasolids engine can do. Despite doing very precisely defined free form NURBS based modelling on a daily basis, I pretty much never use VW for this type of work. For me, the ideal solution is to use a combination of programs, where the strengths of each program can be used to it's maximum. 

[rDesign]

On 8/25/2020 at 5:14 AM, gabrielefx said:

Probably in the future we will see a Vectorworks Mechanical version.

I wouldn’t plan on this. There used to be a Vw package named ‘Machine Design’, but it was dropped over 10 years ago because it had such a small user base.

 

Here is a LINK to an old thread with more info on the decision to drop Machine Design.

Edited August 26, 2020 by rDesign