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Help with object creation for Gallery installation


Gyro

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I’m reasonably  new to Formz, although I did attempt to get my head around it about 10yrs ago.[/size]
 
I’m working on a large installation for the Auckland City Art Gallery.
A series of 8 facetted irregular forms between 2-3.5m in height hanging in a 15m high atrium for 1 year.
 
Could someone please tell me if the methodology I’m adopting for CNC cutting the plywood formers using Formz is correct or is there a few different steps I could take.
Not helped be the fact I’ve left it pretty late 58yrs old, and have just broken my arm!
 
The overall basic approach is as follows:
Construct a lattice frame from plywood in 2 halves that will be skinned in crunched up aluminium foil and back sprayed with expanding foam or fibreglass. 
 
The artist has produced the 8 forms in clay which I have 3 scanned using Agrisoft Photoscan, which finally has given great results.
 
Once imported into Formz I need to patch the hole where rod was supporting the object for scanning.
•Duplicate the object and scale it to give a 200mm wall thickness. I have tried the thicken tool with no success.
•Then expect a series of horizontal contours using the contour tool.
•Next a series of radial ribs which will intersect the horizontal contours.
I have watched the tutorial<http://www.formz.com/webinars/webinars_html/fabricatingaLatticeStructurewithformZ.html>
But I’m unable to create my forms in that same way as the tutorial that allows the boolean operations to be performed in the same way.
I’ve offset line to get the thickness of 100mm as a workaround but the inner paths of the perpendicular contours don’t line up amongst other problems.

 

Is there a better way to create the radial ribs other than creating 4 cross sections? Also I’m not sure how best intersect perpendicular contours.
 
 
Here are the files created so far.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7h89js2lze7fz80/Gallery_Model_Installation.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1g5wzwz3ykfxy7f/Scan_3_20k_Mesh.stl.fmz?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wu47xnw1ucupxsy/Object_3_Contours.fmz?dl=0

Any help would be most welcome.
 
Thanks in advance
Andrew Turney
www.gyro.co.nz

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Hi Andrew, 

 
From the files you sent it looks like you are going the right direction.  Another method you could try is to create thickened planes where you want the contours and then use the Intersection tool to create the thickened contours and radial ribs.  This will allow for smoother intersections between points.  (See photo below).
 
post-5-0-08005700-1442858831_thumb.jpg
 
post-5-0-75002400-1442858830_thumb.jpg
 
However, if this model is going to be cut on a 2d CNC machine, these curvy intersections may not be a realistic approach (because that would not be able to do the wavy edge).
 
In this case, you will have to determine which set of geometries will serve as the “inner” notches and which set will serve as the “outer notches”.  For example, if the horizontal contours are to be the “inner” notches then the outside edge of these geometries should be offset towards the center of the model so they do not fully intersect the radial ribs.
 
Does that help?
 
 
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Impressive progress...

 

I might suggest a question. If your CNC service can also dato the upright parts plus engrave tiny text or labels inside datos, along with, matching the horizontal piece-ends,  then it might be easier to carry out the assemblage.  The modeler has to mark these in 3d... so as to more easily verify all pieces, all together.  By Difference tool differencing these labels, vast areas of error and grief are avoided. Thanks to Booleans.

 

I've various kinds of sculpture, usually with cementitious or wooden material, but not one like yours.  Getting the right parts in the right place convinces me that this step is important and saves a lot of time.

 

 

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Plea for help here.

I have  deadline looming with 9 objects to create, I'm still stuck on the 1st one!

I need to notch all the horizontal contours like the orange ones in the file as linked. I can only get 2 notches to appear using the difference tool.

Please can someone aid me in progressing with this model.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o6ymvzds77lm7pm/Object_Lattice.fmz?dl=0

 

Looking forward to your reply.

 

Andrew

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post-242-0-36123300-1443009016_thumb.jpg

Gyro, I think your problem is shown by the stray edges underneath as shown attached. If you delete them however, you still have a surface object.

If you select the good curved surface shape of the surface type object using faces topology, copy it to clipboard, delete the object selecting with objects topology, paste the shape from clipboard, reshape it to get solid thickness, you should have a solid shape to work with again.

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Hi Andrew,

 
Yes, one of the Boolean Difference operations did in fact turn the orange geometry into a Surface.  To turn it back into a Solid use the Object Doctor, select “Fix If Possible” and set Max # of Edges to 8.
 
Continue the Boolean Difference operation with the other green geometries.  When you find the operation that turns the Solid into the Surface, undo the operation, then use the Object Doctor on the previous green object.  
 
We found one of the objects had some Coplanar faces that needed to be fixed (which Object Doctor did) and then we were able to use the Boolean Difference without a problem.  (See screenshot of highlighted problem geometry).
 
Hope that helps!
 
 

post-5-0-59411400-1443018565_thumb.jpg

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Hi again,

After toiling a further 14hrs, I have a file for export to CNC.

I'm building a 1:5 scale in 1mm plywood using my in house laser, once that all works I'll send out the files and get the parts CNC routed in 4mm Plywood. This is the test before I start on the next 8 objects.

 

I need to layout all the paths onto a flat plan, I’ll then import into Illustrator to clean up the paths. I'm unsure how to layout the parts onto 1 plane.

Is unfold a good solution?

There is also one path that has no colour that will not unfold however.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/poweb1f0wu197zx/Object_3_CNC_Paths.fmz?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cbtk9ngjt96z3wr/Help_File.pdf?dl=0

 

As always thanks in advance for you help.

Andrew Turney

 

 

 

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Hi Andrew, 

 

The reason why that path is not filling in with color is because the closed wire is not flat.  You can see this by viewing the geometry from the top (see attached photo).  One way to make it a flat surface is to define a Custom Reference plane using two of the segments of the closed wire (not the protruding lines that you see from the top view) and then use the Projection tool with Orthographic Projection selected in the Tool Options.

 

Perhaps the easiest way to lay each surface flat on the XY plane is to draw a rectangle on the XY plane and then use the Place On tool on each surface.

post-5-0-37335900-1443123897_thumb.jpg

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Hi All.,

Finally laser cut and assembled in scale model in 1mm at 400mm tall.
Unfolding is the only way to get the objects onto a flat surface, (projecting just throws the shapes onto plane on their current view) but I need to put guides onto them so I can reorient them in back to vertical Illustrator as they are placed radially into the grid.
 
 
Here's a few questions that will help me from here on:
Is there a way to put some text into each plane I can use as ID for the CNC cutting.
When I define a reference plane to an object I want to view it from the top or side relative to the new plane, yet using the view tools is shows the planes for the document. How do I view from another angle relative to my custom plane?
How do I post an image to a topic rather than using dropbox links?

 

 

 

As always thanks in advance for you help.

Andrew Turney
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Hi Andrew,

 

Great to hear of your progress.

Please find your answers in the attached images. Hope they help!

 

By the way, to attach files you may need to click the 'more reply options' tab at the bottom right of the reply window.

Certain types of files to attach need to be zipped first. Recommend 7zip which is free. 

Gmail is more fussy than it used to be for security reasons, some file types, you need to change the extension before zipping and inform the recipient to change it back again.

post-242-0-80185600-1443336353_thumb.jpg

post-242-0-13182900-1443336355_thumb.jpg

post-242-0-17989900-1443336356_thumb.jpg

post-242-0-39394400-1443336357_thumb.jpg

post-242-0-35253100-1443336358_thumb.jpg

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Hi Allen,

I have experimented with your suggestions re reference plans with some success.

The text really needs to be attached to each object so it  travels with the paths when exported to illustrator as there are going to be scores of objects that will be CNC cut and later assembled.

 

Attached is an image of the1:20 model (well half if it) of what i'm building, I cut on my laser last night.

 

All the best Andrew

post-12183-0-95514600-1443338699_thumb.jpg

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Very good Andrew.

 

Can you group a label to an object, would that do? And/or name each object accordingly? You might also find the Information Management useful to create a Bill of Materials which can be output to a spreadsheet. See attached.

 

I wish Autodessys would add GROUP to the info management options.

 

Maybe your laser could even burn numbers or etch marks onto or next to each part if that would be helpful if there are too many to mark manually? But I would think you could generate some adhesive backed labels from manipulating a spreadsheet output.

 

Alan.

post-242-0-20845000-1443364111_thumb.jpg

post-242-0-53718000-1443364112_thumb.jpg

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Hi there,

I seem not to be able to fill the hole created by removing the stalk that was used for 3D scanning the object.

Object doctor I've tried without success, perhaps I don't have the parameters set correctly.

I have selected the perimeter of the hole, copied it, triangulated the surface, (which it the object named "filler" in the file), with the hope of attaching it to the main object so I end up with a solid that I can extract contours from.

 

What are the various ways of filling the holes in a situation like this?

 

 

As always thanks in advance for you help.

Andrew Turney

 

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Andrew, you will be pleased to know you are almost there.

Upon viewing with the clipping plane tool, all looks good, but the solids are separate and hollow.

Select both the main object and the patch, select the stitch tool (one of the modify (boolean) tools) and click on the selection.

It completes to a unified solid not hollow object so you must have done a good job!

 

Stitch tool is the key.

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7342ojdvdwzse7/Hole_Fix.fmz?dl=0

 

Hi there,

New object this time.

 

I'd like to thicken the wall of the object to derive contours from the resulting wall thickness.

 

I've used Object doctor to form a solid object, yet the hole is still present visually.

 

I have selected the perimeter of the hole, copied it, triangulated the surface, and attempted to stitch it agin without success

 

 

 

As always thanks in advance for you help.

Andrew Turney
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Follow on question, 

I've spent hours attempting to derive a face from an offset path with any luck.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1g8o1bej5bvba6w/Contour_Description.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zt43fpf22z61n88/Contour_Problem.fmz?dl=0

 

If someone could please take a look at the links and respond it would of great help!

 

Thanks Andrew

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7342ojdvdwzse7/Hole_Fix.fmz?dl=0

 

Hi there,

New object this time.

 

I'd like to thicken the wall of the object to derive contours from the resulting wall thickness.

 

I've used Object doctor to form a solid object, yet the hole is still present visually.

 

I have selected the perimeter of the hole, copied it, triangulated the surface, and attempted to stitch it agin without success

 

 

 

As always thanks in advance for you help.

Andrew Turney

 

Andrew, I selected both the main part and the patch, clicked on stitch and the 2 surface objects became a united solid.

 

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