WEEK 4: Studio Tutorial – Drawing with CAD (RHINO)
During this week we had to gain a basic understanding of CAD drawing using Rhino. This became quite a difficult task as I had never used CAD software before. Rhino is a 3D modeler used to create, edit, analyse, document, render, animate and translate NURBS curves, surfaces and solids etc.
Each individual had to become familiar with the Rhino interface, navigation, appearance and command entry. Then in groups we were given a colour each (Red, Yellow and Green) as we had to learn a specific tasks to be able to teach the other members of our group during the studio
My assigned colour was yellow, I learnt about Organising Your Work, this involved becoming familiar with your layers tab whether it was creating and deleting, naming and renaming, turning on and off or locking layers... I was able to understand this as I am familiar with layers in Illustrator which are very similar, this allowed me to learn about layers in Rhino quite easily, making me feel confident that I could teach my other members of my group.
During our lecture Rob showed us the specific colour usually used when separating each layer.
This included: Construction – Magenta, Centre Lines – Cyan, Dimensions – Blue and Outlines – Red
PART 1: Learning by Teaching
We started off the tutorial by teaching each other about what we learnt prior to class. I began by teaching layers then I learnt about constructing 2D geometry and how to edit 2D geometry from Hee Chul and Arron.
Constructing 2D geometry (Red):
Lines, polylines, curves, circles, arcs rectangles, polygons
Control points
Find out how to create objects to the exact size and orientation you want
Find out how to draw accurately using drawing aids such as object snaps (osnaps) and ortho
Editing 2D geometry (Green):
Selection methods
Transformations (move, mirror, rotate, offset, scale)
Filleting and chamfering
Control point editing (turning off/on, moving, nudging etc.)
Trimming extending, Joining and exploding
PART 2: Learning by doing
Using our new gained knowledge we had to work as a team and construct the gasket shown below.
There were many aspect of this drawing that took me a while to understand and get my head around, but with the help from my group I was able to figure it out and complete the gasket. Working as a team was really helpful and if I got stuck or was unable to complete a task they were there to help and assist me.
We began by drawing the centre lines and the main centre circle, using our new acquired skill. This wasn’t difficult as they were quite simple shapes and easy to draw.
It became more difficult when I added angled lines and smaller circles, as I needed to ask Aaron how to draw lines at a specific angle. These lines had to be at specific angles and distance from the main circle which I found quite difficult to begin with. I learnt that I had to type the specific angle into the command line to ensure that the lines and small circles were in the correct spot.
From there I used the same method for the larger circles, which helped locate where the bottom row of circles are. Each circle had to be 6mm apart from each other.
Next we drew in all the straight lines to the outline of the shape, it was at this point as a team we got stuck and didn’t know how draw the curved lines. Luckily we were able to get help from Will, as he told us about the fillet command. This command was a lifesaver, literally one of my favourite things on Rhino now.
Fillet: The Fillet command adds a tangent arc between two curves and trims or extends the curves to the arc.
This command helped me add all the curves lines to complete the outline. When you fillet you can choose the radius of the tangent arc between two curves therefore I was able to replicate the original gasket rather than guessing size.
After we finished the outline we got stuck again on how to draw the rounded box in the bottom left hand corner. Will assisted us again and introduced us to the offset command, which is another really helpful command on Rhino.
Offset: The Offset command copies a curve so that all locations on the copied curve are a specified distance from the original curve.
We offset the outline to create that parallel diagonal lines and then off set the base line to create the box. To complete the box I filleted the corners in order for it to have rounded edges.
After completing each everything it resulted in construction points that were unnecessary and irrelevant now that I completed the gasket.
Trim: The Trim command cuts and deletes selected portions of curve
Using the trim command to delete all the unnecessary lines to neaten up and complete the drawing.
Final Gasket Rhino with Centre Lines:
I learnt a lot of helpful skills during this studio as I am now more confident with using Rhino, the most helpful and interesting commands I learnt were Offset, Fillet and Trim as they allowed me to complete tasks that I didn’t think were possible. I will continue to use and explore the different commands and techniques on Rhino to improve my skills as I believe that having these skills will assist me in my future.
