Anyone got any tricks for this in Rhino?
I’m working on a counter display and I would like to perfed sheet metal and if I make my shape then extrude the patern at the bends it comes out kind of funky. If I make a flat shee then extrude my shape and then bend it…well it doesn’t bend the way I want it. Anyone got any ideas?
C
I have done a number of projects/renderings in Rhino with perforated metal.
I find the easiest thing to do is to just use a texture map to simulate the perforations rather than model them. Keeps the file size way down and the drawings are a lot easier to work with.
This also allows you to play around with the size of the perforations without remodelling every time.
Ditto to Van ID’s comment. Especially if its just cosmetic, do a texture. It will keep your computer from melting down.
it sounds like you are trying to do it the way you would in solid works from your description. In rhino, I would suggest not building it that way, but instead creating the surface you are looking to describe using contour lines and then offset the surface as a solid once you get the shape to give the thing depth.
Also, this may not help you now, but for the future you may want to research solid works and pitch it to your company as a better sheet metal modeling tool.
The other approach is to tackle it like you’re designing your own perf. If you cut and bend perf in production you get ragged edges. You need to make sure they’re covered or else they’re going to catch on clothing or whatever.
Also, if you design your own perf, you can keep the cuts away from the edges so it looks more intentional, cleaner and “designed”. It also doesn’t really cost you much more than a standard perf. You can talk to your local metal fab shop and I am sure they can give you a standard die pattern or you can pop the extra cash and have your custom shape made up.
It also solves your rhino problem 