Circular pattern on surface: no patternable object?

[jamie.q.white]

I want to create a pattern of holes in the surface of a hollow cylinder.

I've searched the forums and watched the tutorials.  It seems something like this should work:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/sketching-sculpting-modeling-and/creating-a-pattern-inside-a-shape/m-p...

I have tried "pattern on path" and "circular pattern", but I always get an error message that says the objects are not patternable.

here's a screencast of what I am trying to do (embed does not work!)

http://autode.sk/1Gxdnxs

Here's the downloadable file 

http://a360.co/1GxecpZ

Thanks!

-jamie

[joel.palioca]

Hi Jamie,

I have looked at your video, and have a clarifying question that will hopefully help me understand your end result.  You mention in your original post that your trying to create a pattern of holes in the surface.  In the video you looked to have used project to surface and then a split face on the geometry to create a face.  What was your intent with this face that you created?

Looking at your video makes me believe your goal is to cut into the surface and to pattern that cut around.  One way I was thinking that you could do this was by using your sketch "Holes to lighten BB surface" and using the extrude comman to pull it into the surface.  This way you can use the cut option of the extrude command and create a planar face cut into the body.  From there you can use the pattern circular like you were trying to do in your video and pattern the extrude itself.  When I try this, it successfully cuts 12 holes that are planar into the body.

Hope this helps, if not please let me know and I can see what else we can do to help.

Cheers,

[jamie.q.white]

Hi Joel,

Thanks for the help.  If I understand, I should make the hole and pattern the "hole".  I do get a different error message:

"Error: One or more pattern instances could not be intersected with the original body. Try adjusting the pattern settings, or changing the selections."

I don't quite understand why patterning the face after making the hole should be different than patterning it before, but there you go. In my own defense, before posting I did try patterning the face after making the hole (as you suggest) but conceptually I don't see the difference and the error message in both cases are equally cryptic.

I tried again following the instructions from the "Creating a Pattern Inside a Shape" post to use the "pattern on path" command, and it gives the same error.  I tried to accomplish the task on a simple test file and also was unsuccessful, generating the same error, and then crashing F360.

Here is a screencast of me trying again:

http://autode.sk/1BWeoZd

Could you post a screencast showing how you solved the problem?  The goal is to cut a pattern of holes into the cylinder to lighten the object.

thanks,

jamie

[joel.palioca · Accepted solution]

Hi Jamie,

I went and tried it again with the model you attached above and it worked fine for me.  I have attached the screencast for you, please note there is a graphical problem you will see in the video that I am already following up with the team on.  If your not getting the same results please let me know and if you have made changes to the model since you sent it, you can send me an updated version and I can take a look at it there.

Cheers,

[jamie.q.white]

Hi Joel,

Thanks a lot for the help.  I figured out the problem. Conceptually, I needed to select the hole.   Because a hole is empty space, it is not a selectable object.  It made sense to me that the information about the hole was in the circular face, not the cylindrical face. Once I saw you select the cylindrical face in your screencast, everything clicked. Compare the selections in this screenshot:

A separate issue was that I was projecting to the surface before cutting becasue I wanted to include the curvature of the cylinder in the cut so that the wall thickness left by the hole was constant (rather than constant  diameter  through the depth of the hole). 

Once again, I was befuddled by the cryptic error message.  How about writing in plain, clear English:  "select the cylinder, not the face"?  Maybe include a helpful image in the error similar to my screenshot?

thanks again,

jamie