On this page I have put together a selection of notes to assist in the transition from Creo to Rhino. The biggest obstacle will be the transition from a parametric features and history environment to a freeform paradigm.
Rhino 5.0 has a history option and there are various plugins for model management. There are generally loads of different 3rd party plugins for Rhino, eg subdiv/direct modelling T-Splines
Some excellent tutorials from the full lynda.com course (paid for) which are on Youtube – search “Rhino lynda.com” in Youtube
Some definitions – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lSuuoEGk-c
TeachDoc Rhino folder – Level I and II manuals and exercise files
Curve and Surface Degrees
Level II manual on TeachDoc, p37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gp5XEwH6Ns
Toolbars (TB)
Always worth creating a custom toolbar to collect commonly used tools, this is the set I’ve created so far;
Export as .tb extension
Flyout TB – Long RMB to float flyout TB
Tools > Toolbar Layout… > RMB > New
Hover over icon > Ctrl > LMB and drag to copy to other TB – create your own Essentials TB
Drag to graphics area to delete icon
Hover over icon > Shift > RMB for icon edit
Viewports (VP)
4 VPs by default, Dbl click on a VP name to go to single VP
Use the name tabs at the bottom of the graphics area
Navigation
LMB for 3D tumble
Shift+LMB for pan
Scroll wheel or Ctrl+LMB for zoom
LMB to select
MMB for quick menu
RMB to finish a feature
RMB again to repeat previous feature
LMB drag box to select many
Command line sub options can be mouse selected
Versions
Either Save As regularly or select all and use Copy to drag a version to another position in the model environment.
Geometry control and snapping
Grid Snap, Ortho and OSnap (object Snap) are tools you need to use to control the placement or the direction of geometry. Osnap End and Near are probably the most useful to snap to existing geometry.
Construction Planes
CPlanes tab
Right side Tabbed Panels > RMB on tab > Named CPlanes
CPlanes (CP) – construction planes
CP Elevation – offset CP
Offset with new orientation > 3Point (Command Line) > use all VPs to set origin or type xyz coord > set x direction > set orientation (y) direction
MPlane – Mobile CPlane – stays ref’d to selected object
Curves
Polyline – straight curves
Non uniform curves in Rhino are known as Nurbs (splines in Creo)
Simple Control Point curve – use 4 points – 2 ends, 2 end vectors.
- 1st point – defines the start of the curve
- 2nd point – the magnitude and direction of the 1st end vector
- 3rd point – the magnitude and direction of the 2st end vector
- 4th point – the end of the curve
Tab key to lock direction whilst dragging
Control points on – F10
Control points off – F11
Alt+arrow keys to move selected control points incrementally
Rebuild – increase UVs
Curve continuity
Existing curves can be matched tangent to existing geom – Curve tools > Match Curve
Use Ortho and grid snap as you build curves to control the second control point placement
Normal to surface – there is not option to set a curve normal to a non planar surface, best work around is to create a Line with the Normal option and use this as construction geom for the curve.
Surface continuity
If you use ‘surface from network of curves‘ then inferred boundary conditions will be offered. Use adjacent surface edges rather than underlying curves – see video below
MatchSurf to match surface edges
The default setting will extend shorter edges, use the Match edges by closest point if this occurs:
SetSurfaceTangent – you can set untrimmed surface edge to have a specific tangent direction
Useful for setting entities normal to a direction, again switch views through the bottom tabs and set ortho to that view.
Primitives
Create cylinders, cubes etc. and they are initially a closed polysurface (Watertight, Manifold) rather than NURBS surfaces.
Explode the primitive and you are given the individual NURBS surfaces
All NURBS surfaces are 4 sided, the end face of a cylinder is a trimmed NURBS surface. Use the Untrim tool and pick the exploded end surface of the cylinder, it will revert to a square with 4 patches. Look at the cylindrical surface and you will notice one of the edges is darker than the others – it is two edges of the ‘rolled’ rectangular surface.
History command
Stores the connection between a command’s input geometry and the result so that when the input geometry changes, the result updates accordingly.
For example, with History recording and Update turned on, a lofted surface can be changed by editing the input curves.
By default history recording is cancelled after each command, use the RMB menu to switch on permanently.
Working with Meshes – STL files
You may see reference to a mesh or a point cloud
Specific tools are available through the Mesh Tools tab
If you have detached outliers or noise simply drag a box select and hit delete.
Select right to left and any partial selection will be included, select left to right and only bodies completely enclosed will be selected – therefore you can select all detached elements from the main bodies as long as you leave a potion of the main body outside the selection box.
By default mesh points are not selectable, use ExtractPt to make the points selectable, particularly useful if you want to set up a Cplane relative to the mesh to create intersecting trimming geometry.
Create a surface though the mesh and then use the MeshTrim tool
Shell a model – Shell Polysurface
Naked edges
CADCAM Resources 