Rhino 4 Level 1 2011: Preview

Tutorials

• Rhino 4 Level 1 2011: Preview
  
  
• Rhino L1 01: Primitive Geometry
  
  
• Rhino L1 02: Customize the UI
  
  
• Rhino L1 03: Modeling Practice
  
  
• Rhino L1 04: Intro to NURBS
  
  
• Rhino L1 05: Intro to Snapping
  
  
• Rhino L1 06: Snap and Transform Tools
  
  
• Rhino L1 07: Freeform NURBS Surfaces
  
  
• Rhino L1 08: Offsets and Fillets
  
  
• Rhino L1 09: Revolve Surface
  
  

Course Description

This three-part beginner course introduces digital 3D Rhino3D version 4. The version 5 beta will be available to students as well, and never fear: all of the skills learned in v4 will translate effortlessly into v5.

Students are expected to have basic computer skills: creating and saving documents, surfing the web, etc. By the end of this course, students should feel comfortable with the fundamentals of Rhino. Each part will teach a different part of the Rhino interface using hands-on exercises.

What is “Rhino”?

Rhinoceros (aka “Rhino3D” or “Rhino”) is a digital 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) package first released in 1998. Rhino is a Non-Uniform-Rational-B-Splines (NURBS) modeling system that is particularly well-suited for rapid free-form design. Its strength is its simple, straight-forward visual approach to free-form modeling.

Rhino version 4 is the latest official release of the software, but version 5 is currently in public-beta. Both versions will be available on student machines.

Course Outline

Each part we will use real-world modeling challenges to illustrate, learn, and practice Rhino modeling techniques. The goal of this course will be to provide a broad overview of Rhino’s strengths.

1. Part 01: Introduction

   Rhino is very powerful, but also easy to learn and fun to use. Our goal today will be to get up and running quickly by getting comfortable with some of the most fundamental interface elements in Rhino.

   • Demonstration (video):

     Introduction to the Rhino interface and workflow.

   • Exercise:

     Build an intergalactic space station using Rhino’s Primitive, Boolean, and Transform tools. Use Grid snapping to precisely position elements on the CPlane.

   • Goals:

     • introduce UI and key concepts
     • basic viewport navigation controls (source: rhino3d.com)
     • use a variety of primitive tools (cube, cylinder, sphere, cone, taurus) and make use of the command-line interface to set tool parameters and dimensions
     • use the default grid to snap geometry to rational dimensions on the CPlane
     • use boolean tools to create compound shapes
     • use orthographic viewports to position 3D geometry by dragging, use [ctrl]+drag to move objects normal to the CPlane in Perspective
     • create a custom viewport popup palette for BringViewportToTop commands

2. Part 02: NURBS Modeling Part 1

   The Rhino is a Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) modeling environment. NURBS is a mathematical model for describing curvalinear forms invented to describe the smooth curved surfaces on ship hulls. In Rhino, literally every piece of geometry is a point, and NURBS curve, or a NURBS surface: there is no such thing as a “line” or “arc” in Rhino, as even analytical geometry types are actually NURBS curves under the hood (a “line” is really a “straight curve,” etc). As a result, all non-surface geometry–including lines and arcs–are referred to as “curves.”

   • Demonstration (video):

     Introduction to NURBS: the Control Point Curve (“spline”) tool. Introduce 2D drawing tools: Lines, Arcs, splines, Fillet, Trim, Split, Extend, Join, and Explode. Extrude 2D profiles.

   • Exercise:

     Create new and interesting shapes on the space station by introducing extruded 2D profiles.

   • Goals:

     • introduce NURBS
     • use the Control Point Curve to create controlled curvalinear shapes
     • add/remove Control Points
     • use the simple geometry, Fillet, and Trim/Join tools to create complex profiles
     • intro the Move and Rotate tools

3. Part 03: Precision

   CAD is all about precision, and creating accurate geometry in Rhino requires the use of its extensive Snapping tools. Controlling NURBS curves requires the careful application of Control Points (and the Spans between): too many Control Vertices will be difficult to control, and too few can not define the desired shape. This will take time to master, so be patient! Once you learn it, you’ll never go back to Bezier!

   • Demonstration (video):

     2D OSnap, Ortho, the [tab] key, using Control Point Curves to create precise geometry with SetPt and creating round buildings using the Revolve tool. Use the Move and Rotate tools in combination with OSnap to precisely move geometry in 2D.

   • Exercise:

     Practice creating radially symmetric shapes on the space station from precision profiles using Rhino’s 2D snapping tools. Precisely Move and Rotate objects using OSnap.

   • Goals:

     • 2D OSnap and Ortho
     • controlling Control Point Curves accurately (the [tab] key and SetPt)
     • introducing the Revolve tools
     • Move and Rotate with precision

Full Transcript:

Felicitous greetings and salutations fellow and future cadjunkies, my name is Adam, industrial designer for cadjunkie.com, check out the site for more digital design related tips tricks and tidbits than you could shake a stick at.

Today we begin a great quasi-Odissian saga, and you will play the part of the hero. As we all know from the Classical Hero’s journey, every great story begins with a Call to adventure that leads our champion to the threshold of the unknown. Let this be that call: today we pass into the wild wilderness of Rhinoceros 3D, a NURBS modeling package for Windows first officially released in 1998. We’ll be learning what “NURBS” really means as the class progresses, but suffice it to say that Rhino’s strength is its simple, straight-forward approach to rapid free-form design.

As of the date of this recording, Rhino version 4 is the latest official release of the software, but version 5 is currently in public beta, and is free for all Rhino 4 license holders.

Each week we will use real-world modeling challenges to illustrate, learn, and practice Rhino modeling techniques, with the ultimate goal of providing a broad overview of Rhino’s strengths.

Each week’s assignment will build on the week before, so it’s very important to keep copies of everything you do in the class. Save early, save often, and save iteratively.

Enough blabbing: close your eyes, hold your breath, and step into the unknown.

When you launch Rhino you’ll be presented with a list of template files. Choose the units that make the most sense for your workfloaw. Click the template called ‘Large Objects – Feet.’ Notice that the details for this template are listed at the bottom of the window: this template has an absolute tolerance of plus/minus .01ft, or just under 1/8th of an inch. This would be fine for a rough design for a skyscraper, but not nearly precise enough for my needs. Click the ‘Small Objects – Feet’ template, and see that the absolute tolerance is set to .001ft, or around 1/80th of an inch, which should suffice for smaller buildings or set designs. As a consumer product designer, I tend to use the ‘Small Objects – millimeters’ template. As we work in Rhino it’s important to keep in mind that Rhino geometry is only as precise as the absolute tolerance of the document. But more on that later.

Welcome to Rhino. At the top of the screen we have a standard Windows menu bar, in which virtually every command in Rhino can be found. Immediately below that we have a status and command line with which we will become intimately familiar as time goes on. Next is the Standard tool bar populated with all kinds of useful stuff, and to the left are two vertical tool bars that contain all of the core drawing and modeling tools you’ll use in Rhino. By default you will see the Command Help palette with lots of useful resources for the uninitiated. You won’t be needing it today, so click the red X at the top-right of the palette to close it. At the bottom of the screen are a variety of buttons and text fields that will be useful to us for precision modeling, and finally, the bulk of your screen is taken up by four default Viewports: Top, Front, Right, and Perspective.

Think of these viewports as a window into your 3D universe: these are not separate drawings, but different two-dimensional vantagepoints from which to view the same three-dimensional drawing. To demonstrate, click the ‘Snap’ button at the bottom of the window to enable grid snapping, then activate the Box tool by left-clicking it once in the Main toolbar. Notice that the status line now says “Command:_Box,” and that the command line is requesting the “First corner of base.” In the Top View viewport, click five-feet up-and-left of the origin to begin the base of the rectangle, and see that the command line is now requesting the “Other corner of base…” Click five feet down-and-right of the origin to finish oblige it. Because we anabled the Snap button at the bottom of the screen, our cursor snaps to the nearest grid square. Finally, the command line requests a “Height…” but we can’t interactively define a Height from the Top View. Instead, move the mouse over the Front view, and define a height there: click anywhere along the grid line five feet above the origin. Our cubeis complete, and the Command line is blank once again.

Take a look at the viewports. Drawing a Box created a three-dimensional cube in the Rhino modeling universe, and that cube is now visible in all three viewports: Top, Front, Right, and Perspective. By default, these are all Wireframe viewports. To change the Perspective viewport to shaded mode, right-click the word ‘Perspective’ at the top-left of the viewport, and drop down to ‘Shaded.’ The walls of the Box are now opaque.

Navigating in Rhino can be accomplished using the Pan, Rotate View, and Zoom Dynamic tools in the Standard toolbar, but it’s far too much work to click a tool every time you want to move the view. Instead, right-click and drag in the perspective viewport to rotate the view. Now hold the [shift] key while dragging the right mouse button to Pan, and the [ctrl] key while dragging it to Zoom. If you prefer, you can also use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom toward the location of the mouse pointer. Should you accidentally zoom out so far that you lose track of your model, left-click the ‘Zoom Extents’ icon in the Standard toolbar, or use menu bar > View > Zoom > Zoom Extents, or use [ctrl]+[shift]+E on the keyboard. This will recenter the current viewport on the model geometry.

Navigating orthographic viewports is almost identical, except that since you can’t rotate an ortho view, the RMB is reduced to Pan.

Practice navigating by creating ten more Boxes, being sure to mix-and-match all four viewports as you work. If you make a mistake, you can always hit [ctrl]+[z] to undo, just like any other Windows application.

about adam: Adam O'Hern is an industrial design consultant specializing in visual brand languages, and has designed products ranging from laptops to power tools, classroom toys to bathroom fixtures, and robots to lint rollers. He has published with 3DWorld Magazine, CGTuts+, and Luxology, and works with Josh Mings of SolidSmack.com on EngineerVsDesigner.com.