CMick Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 I'm new hear, have caught some of the videos and read the user guide. I'm focusing on a 3D printing project. A lot of the user guide and videos online I see appear to be focused on Architectural and the occasional vase or similar. I am trying make some parts that will snap fit together. I have provided an image which demonstrates what I have been able to do in another sketch-type CAD workflow. I intend to make more advanced shapes as I go but i thought this was the simplest visual example of where I'm heading. In Form Z I have seen some tools that work with lines/profiles/curves which if closed can be dragged up/extruded. I have also seen some tools which start with a primitive solid shape. The issue I seem to run into is not creating the initial solid but adding cuts in the locations and the sizes I want them to be. Are there any hints or tutorials for a nice workflow when doing this kind of work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Hi, There's a lot of flexibility built into FormZ to do just that. For example, you could start with placing some Guides and move them and copy them to create your locations where you will create the cut shapes. Like if you know it is a center line or offset .25" or whatever. Then you could also create the cut object seperately away from the initial solid you already have and then move the cut objects onto your solid for cutting or as FormZ calls it, the Difference tool. FormZ solids are extremely easy to work with in this way using the Difference and Union tools. Does that help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMick Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 Many thanks for the reply. Did you have any links to this process, that would be extremely helpful for me to get started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 You might find the older Booleans video helpful - There are new videos coming from Evan Troxel on FormZ 10 including the Booleans, here is the first, just released this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMick Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 Many thanks, I was hoping to find a way of drawing on the geometry so i could get direct placement and then extruding and cutting, possibly bending my way into creating parts. Do you know if that type of workflow is possible? Otherwise I can most likely boolean my way to shape/part creation glory. Just trying to get on the right track so I'm not expecting the software to work a way it really isn't intended to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Hello, Can you show an example of the workflow you are trying to replicate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMick Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 On the form Z website, this video snippet is what got me in the door, so to speak: https://videos.files.wordpress.com/X54GpTBL/s4_3.mp4 Found on (I couldn't see it for some reason on my phone, desktop works okay for me though): https://autodessys.com/formz-pro/ I have also done a mock-up with plasticity which for me the process is something like: - Lock to Front (construction) plane, draw a rectangle (which I believe results in a sheet) - Draw the inner squares/rectangles in same plane - Extrude the sheet away into a solid, this seems to auto cut the square/rectangle regions - From the back of the solid, press space which auto aligns and creates the next plane (construction) - Draw further shapes on this plane and extrude out - Continue doing this and using the shapes to cut and boolean (they are positioned correctly within the shapes due to the construction planes) To me this feels a bit like sketching straight on the shapes and having some freeform operations like moving and filleting directly on the edges. The wordpress/main website video seemed to show something similar, the big draw card for me was form z being parametric, because right now I printed the plasticity version and found my clips broke off when press fitting, so I need to go back and move them about or thicken them up. Would be great to go in and adjust a number with some precision and have them update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 This workflow is easily done in formZ. Though I would have to warn you that anytime you add 'Rounding' to an object, it will lose it's Parametric qualities and becomes a solid object. So Rounding should be the last step after you have all your thicknesses dialed. If you are still playing with part thicknesses, you may want to keep a seperate 'core' part copy on another layer in case you need to go back and adjust thicknesses later. You would just then need to reapply the Controlled Rounding as the final step. For exact placing of your cutouts, I would simply use the center point snap and a Polygon using the Polygon Drawing (Center Radius) option. This should let you draw on the middle line of your part and you can then adjust it's size up and down as you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 CMick, If you like to draw directly on 3D objects to modify them, select any of the 2D drawing tools, and in the tool's options, select one of the generation modifiers (3D Extrusion, Insert Opening, etc.). Hover over the face of the 3D object, then click to draw. For the shape above, the Offset Outline, Imprint, and Reshape tools may also come in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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