Manage Library Patterns with PanelingTools

Learn how to use 2D and 3D library patterns in the PanelingTools plugin for Rhino.

http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/panelingtools

Grasshopper's Image Sampler

Learn how to use the Image Sampler component in Grasshopper.

Grasshopper3D.com

NXT for Rhino Basics

nXt for Rhino-Basics

Getting Started

This tutorial shows how to render a standard Rhino model using nXt.

The Tutorial covers the basic steps of rendering with nXt which include:

• Opening a model
• Creating materials
• Editing materials
• Adding a ground plane

The first step is to download and unzip the tutorial files. To download the zip file, click on the nXt Getting Started.zip link. Unzip these files into their own folder somewhere memorable on your computer.

Open the nXt Getting Started.3dm file in Rhino. Check that Flamingo nXt is the current renderer in the render drop down menu.

Render controls

For your first rendering of the model, click on the render button. Your image should look like the one on the right.

nXt works differently than previous versions of Flamingo. A new model in nXt will use a default HDRI lighting set up and will also use a white default material for all objects. For instance you will see shadows start out very sharp and linear. With each pass, the shadows will get softer as they blend together. There are many other effects that will also improve with each render pass. In this way, an nXt rendering is never "finished"; you merely decide when it is good enough to stop. This allows you to let images that are looking good to continue to improve. But you can also stop an image at any time, if you would like to change or save something.

Some of the effects that improve on each pass are:

• Lighting (such as global illumination if enabled)
• Soft Shadows
• Reflections (blurry)
• Refraction
• Anti-aliasing
• Depth of field

You can stop the rendering in a number of ways:

• Click the Stop Raytrace button to stop the rendering at the end of the current pass.
  
• Double-click the Stop Raytrace to stop the rendering immediately.
  
• Click the "X" button in the upper right of the render window to stop the rendering immediately and close the render window.
  

Materials

Because basic lighting is already built into nXt, making the right materials is normally where most of the work lies. Materials are stored directly in each model. To create a set of materials, we can use material templates that assist you in creating new materials quickly.

Open the Flamingo nXt control panel from the Flamingo nXt drop down menu in Rhino. Then expand the Materials section.

Now, let's make a few materials.

To make metal materials:

1. First, you will need a metal material. Select the New Metal Material in the templates drop down.
   

   
   

2. A dialog will pop up with a simplified interface for metal materials. In this case, the default properties will work great for Chrome.
   
3. In the material name field, type "Chrome". Press OK to make the material.
   

   You'll now see the new material thumbnail image in the material browser.
   
   

   
   

4. One of the most interesting materials in this model is the gold satin metallic finish at the top of the reel. Here you will start with the New Metal Material template.
   
5. Slide the sharpness slider left to 0.150. Also, set the material color to gold as shown.
   
6. In the name field, type "Gold Satin Metal" and press OK.
   

   
   

7. The next material in this model is the anodized aluminum material for the reel spool. Here you will start with the Metal template. But slide the sharpness slider left to 0.110. Also, set the material color to red as shown.
   
8. In the name field, type "Red Anodized Aluminum" and press OK.
   

   
   

To make a plastic material:

1. Next you will need a black plastic. Select the New Plastic Material in the templates drop down. A dialog will pop up with a simplified interface for plastic materials.
   
2. Drag the color to black. The fastest way to do this is to grab the small white dot on the color square and drag it down toward black.
   
3. Type in the Name field, "Black Plastic" and press OK to make the material.
   

   
   

To make a clear finish material:

1. The red body color of the reel is a Clear finish material. This is a car paint style material. Select the New Clear Finish Material in the templates drop down.
   
2. Drag the color to a bright red. Notice that with this material we only have to select the color.
   
3. In the name field, type "Red Clear Finish" and press OK.
   

   
   

To make a rubber material:

1. The next material you will make for the reel is a black rubber. Rubber is slightly reflective; you can simulate this with a New Glossy Material.
   
2. Select the black diffuse color as shown.
   
3. In the name field, type "Black Rubber" and press OK.
   

   
   

To make textured materials:

1. The next material you will make for the rod handle is cork. For the cork material we will use a texture. Select a New Textured Material. Here you are prompted to pick a texture.
   
2. Navigate to the directory that you created when you unzipped the tutorials files and select the Cork.jpg and click Open.
   

   You can see you have a simple textured material. The tile size of the bitmap is often important. In this case we will accept the default tiling.
   

3. In the name field, type "Cork" and press OK.
   

   
   

4. The last material in this model is a wood material that we will use later for a ground plane. Wood materials are best done with an image or photograph of wood. To create the wood material, select a New Textured Material.
   
5. Open the DeckWood.png file.
   
6. In the name field, type "Deck Wood" and press OK.
   

   
   

Your material browser panel should look like this:

To assign the materials to a layer:

Now you will assign these materials to the model. In this case, we will assign the materials to the layers in the model. This means all objects on those layers will use the render material assigned.

1. Open the layers dialog.
   
2. Drag the material swatch from the material panel over the name for the layer and drop. You should see the name of the material show up in the column just past the layer color square.
   

1. Once you've assigned all the materials click the Render button.
   

   Flamingo nXt will take multiple passes at an image. With each pass many subtle effects will continue to improve.
   

   Look at the Gold Satin material on the top of the reel. You will see the reflections are pronounced and sharp at first. As the passes progress, you will see the reflections continue to blur creating the satin effect. The longer you let nXt render, the more detailed this material quality will become.
   

   
   

We're getting closer to the final rendering and just need to add a few more details. Next, you will add a ground plane.

To turn on the Ground plane:

1. Open the Render panel. Check the Ground plane check box.
   

   
   

2. Press the Render button again.
   

   
   

   By default, nXt uses a grey ground plane. Here again you can see the multi-pass rendering in action.
   

   In the first passes, you will see that the shadows are sharp and that there are many shadows going in multiple directions. As the passes progress, the shadows will get softer and softer. Soft shadows are automatic in nXt, but they do take multiple passes to generate. So, when you are rendering your own images, do not be alarmed at the multiple shadows on the first few passes.
   

   The grey ground plane is OK, but you'll see a difference when you use the wood deck material you created for the reel to sit on.
   

3. In the Render panel, assign the wood deck material to the ground plane. Do this by clicking on the Material button... in the ground plane section of the nXt control panel. Browse to select your textured material.
   

   
   

4. Press the Render button again.
   

   
   

   This render's already looking pretty good, but for small objects adding Depth of Field will add increase realism. This will make the foreground and background out of focus and draw attention towards the model itself.
   

To enable the depth of field:

1. In the Render panel, Depth of Field section, click the Enabled check box.
   

The focal distance and strength of depth of field is critical.

1. To set the Focal distance, click on the ... button.
   
2. In the perspective view, snap to a point on the reel. This selects the focal point from the camera to the object in the scene.
   
3. Then set the Strength between the first and second lines. You can see in the image above an example of where the slider should be.
   
4. Press the Render button again.
   

   You should see an image that is similar to this:
   

This is the end of the tutorial. I hope you find this helpful.

Three methods for lighting interiors with Brazil for Rhino

In this video tutorial you'll learn several methods for lighting interior scenes using Brazil for Rhino.

http://Brazil.McNeel.com

Revit to Rhino and Back!

Here's another workflow between Revit and Rhino, this time inserting Revit geometry in Rhino as reference to build the necessary freeform surfaces and then take them back into Revit,

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Freeform-Roof-in-Revit

Cheers!

Rhino to Revit from HOK

In this interesting blog from HOK, aimed at sharing their knowledge in CAD, take a look at this detailed tip on how to go from Rhino to Revit,

http://hokcadsolutions.blogspot.com/search/label/Rhino


Enjoy!

Using a GI Photon map in Brazil

Learn how to set up an interior rendering using Brazil for Rhino. This tutorial covers the process of choosing settings for a GI Photon map as well as using the Rhino Sun with Brazil.

Product rendering in Brazil

Learn how to set up a product rendering in Brazil for Rhino. Material creation concepts and the use of HDRI environments are covered in this advanced rendering tutorial.

Custom patterns with PanelingTools

Learn how to make custom paneling routines using existing 2D and 3D geometry and the PanelingTools plugin for Rhino. You can download and try PanelingTools through the main wiki page on the plugin.

http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/panelingtools

The basics of PanelingTools

Learn the basics of using the PanelingTools plugin for Rhino. You can download and try PanelingTools through the main wiki page on the plugin.

http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/panelingtools

An introduction to Brazil for Rhino

Learn how to set up a simple rendering using Brazil for Rhino. This beginner video shows how to control the quality of the rendering produced in Brazil by adjusting simple skylight and anti-aliasing settings. The creation and assignment of materials and environments is also covered.

You can download and try Brazil for Rhino at www.brazil.mcneel.com.

Modeling a Y-branch polysurface

Learn how to model a smooth Y shaped polysurface in Rhino using the Sweep1 and BlendSrf commands.

Arraying patterns

Learn how to make patterns of objects using the Array command in Rhino.

Filleting method for solids

Learn a few techniques for using the FilletEdge command over an entire model.

Modeling a lofted button

Learn how to use the Loft command to make button shapes in Rhino.

Modeling from reference images

Learn how to use the PictureFrame command to place reference images for your model in Rhino.

Flowing objects along a surface

Learn how to use the command FlowAlongSrf in Rhino to morph any selection onto a target surface.

Modeling screw threads (1 of 2)

Learn how to model screw threads using helical curves and booleans in Rhino. The threads shown are the type you would see at the end of a light bulb. Changes to the cross-section profile and path will provide you with ways of making alternate styles of threads as well.

Modeling screw threads (2 of 2)

Learn how to model screw threads using helical curves and booleans in Rhino. The threads shown are the type you would see at the end of a light bulb. Changes to the cross-section profile and path will provide you with ways of making alternate styles of threads as well.

Video: 2 of 2

An overview of the Rhino 4 user interface

Learn the basics for navigating the Rhino 4 interface.

Basic object types in Rhino

Rhino supports a variety of basic object types for you to work with. In this beginner tutorial, you'll learn what they're called and how to make them.

Establishing geometric continuity

Learn how to produce smooth transitions between curves in Rhino.

The Background Scene

Check this blog for a cool tip on how to align your model to a background image, so that you can then render it and open it in Photoshop to place the real photo and do further editing,
http://people.bureauofarchitects.com/forum/topics/2275696:Topic:3471

Cheers!

Viewport Access

Here are 3 tips for a quicker access to your viewports.
- When you have a maximized viewport you can shuffle to the next by pressing ctrl+tab. This avoids having to double click, coming back to the default 4view and double clicking on the next view.
- But if you do like the clicking, you can at least simplify it by setting it as a single-click. Go to the Options... > View > Under "Viewport Properties", select "Single-click maximize".
- Another way of quickly having access to the viewports is by enabling Viewport Tabs. Just type ViewportTabs and select Show. You can then click on the tabs to make a certain view active. It's a quick way of renaming your views as well, just by double-clicking on the tab.

Cheers!

Advanced Object Snaps

The advanced object snaps are tools that allow you to pick on geometry in a more sophisticated way than the normal object snaps. Among my favorites "Between" and "Alongline" (which by the way, are nestable within a command, meaning you can type them while a command is active). These tools can be found under menu: Tools > Object Snaps. The first block of osnaps correspond to the traditional ones found at the bottom of Rhino's interface; the second block are the advanced ones.

To quickly access these last mentioned, you can hover over the normal object snaps (at the bottom of Rhino's interface) with your mouse, while pressing the Ctrl key down. This will switch from normal to advanced osnaps. I learnt this tip a few days back from Gijs de Zwart, while trying to win a competition on who knew more about Rhino. This item made me loose ;-)...


Have a blast!

Associative Dimensions

We all know Rhino does not have associative dimensions, but there's a workaround that can be used in a lot of cases. By grouping the dimensions to the dimensioned object, you can then edit the object, with, lets say _Scale and the dimensions will follow along.

Cheers,

- vane

Auto Targetting in Walkabout Mode

We'll thank Jeff LaSor, Rhino's main developer for display related items, for this tip! When you're inside Walkabout mode (for those who haven't tried it, look it up in the help file), you're usually walking towards an object. It's moreless like you entered a room and Rhino's camera are your eyes (of course it also feels like you are a machine and you can only move forward, backwards or sideways). So as you move, you don't get to see an object as you do in Rhino's normal navigation mode, whereas the camera rotates around a target. To get the advantages of normal navigation mode (rotating around an object) while in Walkabout mode, you can activate Walkabout mode (_Walkabout) > use the arrow keys or MMB to move forward/backwards > and when you get to an object that you would like to rotate around (make sure the white cross in the middle of the screen is on the object) > press the right mouse button and then the left mouse button > and move the mouse around. You can also use CTRL+SHIFT+RMB to shift between both navigation modes.

This is what Jeff calls "auto-targeting"!

Cheers,

- vane

Trimming or splitting surfaces

Trimmed surfaces are sometimes tricky because, once they are trimmed there are certain commands you can't use on the trimmed edges. Useful commands that allow to create or maintain continuity, such as _MatchSrf or _Symmetry become useless. A possible workaround to this issue is, if appropriate to the situation, to _Untrim the trimmed edge and then to _Split the surface using the command line Isocurve option. This option allows you to keep the same geometry structure for your surface. If you turn ctrl pts on (F10), you'll see all points lie on the surface edge. You can erase the unwanted split part of the surface and use any command you want on the resulted surface! Cheers!

Organic Toolbar - Chapter 2

This post is not about the Organic Toolbar, but more about how to replace it! In Chapter 1, we saw how to compress/expand points that were at either side of the Origin (Cplane or World). But if your points are elsewhere, these buttons won't work the expected way. By shift+right clicking on each button, you will see that these are simply macros using the Scale1d command and the Origin as a reference point. Therefore to make it work, when your points are all at one side or the other of the Origin, you can simply use the Scale1d command, finding as an origin point, the midpoint between the points you wish to expand/compress along, and as a scale factor one of the selected points. Cheers!

Organic Toolbar - Chapter 1

The Organic Toolbar is a nice little tool that allows you to move objects in any viewport, in the right direction (x,y,z). So you don't have to worry about having the right viewport activated, as opposed to using the alt+arrow keys. This toolbar contains several buttons, indicating whereas you will move the selected objects in X, Y or Z, up or down, etc. You can find this toolbar in the toolbar list that shows up, when right-clicking in a grey area of the interface. It is specially very useful when point editing. For me, the best ones, are the "Compress along..." or "Expand along..." buttons, that allow you to move 2 or more points equidistantly in the opposite direction or towards each other. Now, beware of having the points you want to compress/expand all at either side of the origin....