Draw sketch on surface

[Anonymous]

#1

Is it possible to draw a sketch on a face or a curved surface instead of a plane?

This could be a feature of the project tool.

I suppose that if we first project the face on the plane and then draw the shapes using that projection as a guide and then project the drawn shapes back to the initial face it could work. This would be a manual way of doing this, I haven´t tested this idea, I´m just imagining as I write.

A feature to specifically draw on curved faces would be handy.

#2

I also need to repeat a shape along a face but the face is like a trapeze and I need the shape that is going to be repeated to adapt in size along the trapeze and keep a margin to the trapeze edge.

This could be a feature of the pattern tool.

#3

Another thing I need is a feature to clear space within an offset to a face. This could be done manually and its easy on simple shapes, it could also be included during the design process, a smaller object to be used as a tool later... But the best would be to be able to do this at anytime.

Let´s say I have a cube, hollow, 5 faces only, inside a structure to hold it when it is 3d printed but I want that structure to be 1mm away from the cube faces, then at the slicing stage I will set the slicer to merge the two structures, the inner and the outer 5 faces so that the inner structure is not visible on the single wall outer cube.

Sounds strange but this is exactly how the object attached to this  is made. Watch the second image, the inner structure with the small holes, it is 1mm apart from the outer shell.

These features would allow fusion to be able to draw model airplanes that would then be 3d printed.

Without them its a pain.

[etfrench]

1.  Sheet Metal workspace allows you to wrap text or other geometry around non-planar surfaces.

2.  Pattern on path may do what you want.  You can control sizes by using parameters.

3.  It isn't entirely clear what you want here.  Perhaps the Combine|Intersect and Combine|Cut operations will work for you.

[Anonymous]

1. never used, will look.

2. will look

3. yes, it would be a combine operation but to combine you need two existing objects, I want to do it with one object as target and the offset of another object as tool. Like an outline on a text and then use that outline to cut the shape. Do you see?

[etfrench]

This thread may help a little for creating expanding patterns.

Extrude|Cut and Press/Pull will cut other bodies and components which are selectable in the dialogs.  Text can be extruded directly or exploded, then extruded. Cut option is available in either case.

[davebYYPCU]

For 3.  Sounds like you want to be in Patch workspace, 

offset the face by the gap amount then thicken to the inside, 

I think I know what you mean. Negative positive?

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the ideas.

At this point I´ve managed to do the fuselage with all the inner structures and print it on a 3d printer. the result was good.

Now I´m having some issues with the wing, it seams that the objects are not well formed and the stick command is not filling th gaps, at least its what it seams.

I´m sharing some images with you so you can see that your input was valuable 🙂

[etfrench]

Airfoils are a popular design question on the forum.  Perhaps one of those threads will have the answer for you.

[Anonymous]

My issue was not exactly with airfoils. I wasn´t able to make the wing tip loft, the face I was creating was not being accepted as a valid shape because the sketch it was made from was not closed.

Now I´ve drawn a new sketch for the tip and it closed well and I was able to make the loft.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will still see what people are saying about their techniques.

[rasmusfjordside]

Hi @etfrench

1) Could you please describe the workflow/tools involved in this?

I have (also) been looking for a way to "project normal to" a given curved surface to avoid distortions, especially when projecting text/logos to curved bodies. In the same area - and what I think the title of this thread was originally about - is it possible to draw/sketch directly on a curved face? I am working with furniture design and often I want to outline the upholstery on a curved shell chair. My workaround is to create a sketch on an angled construction plane and try to guess how the distorted projection will end up (see attached image) In this case I got a satisfying result, but I would like to be able to control the final shape directly on the surface. I have watched a lot of tutorials of how to use object snap when sketching or making shapes directly on top of other curved shapes, but in most cases you end up only making sure that the control points or vertices of a given surfaces are directly on the target surface.

---

@etfrenchwrote:

1.  Sheet Metal workspace allows you to wrap text or other geometry around non-planar surfaces.

2.  Pattern on path may do what you want.  You can control sizes by using parameters.

3.  It isn't entirely clear what you want here.  Perhaps the Combine|Intersect and Combine|Cut operations will work for you.

---

Best regards

Rasmus

[etfrench]

This thread's last post by @TheCADWhisperer has an excellent video on sheet metal rules.  This thread shows how to wrap text around a cylinder (Instead of text you can use any sketch geometry).

If these links don't help, can you start a new thread and attach your file to it?  (File|Export|Archive file (*.f3d))

[rasmusfjordside]

Thank you for your swift reply, @etfrench, this is a great tool for wrapping text and other geometry to curved surfaces/bodies. 

However I don't see how this tool can be applied to double curved surfaces, that are not created as sheet metal bodies and therefore cannot unfold. I know that CAM design takes som planning (and experience) so maybe one could make a sheet metal body only to handle specific geometry to use later on in the Model workspace on other bodies or maybe modify the sheet metal body to the desired shape later on.

I will search the forum for other threads on this topic (there are already a few) and see if I feel the need to start a new thread.

Thanks again

Best regards

Rasmus Fjordside

[lichtzeichenanlage]

@rasmusfjordside: Just to clarify: Are you talking about support structure or in 3d Printing term infill structure?

Edit: Printing added

[etfrench]

@lichtzeichenanlage: Wrong thread??

[lichtzeichenanlage]

@etfrench: Ouch. Not the wrong thread. I didn't recognized that @rasmusfjordside is not the TO and the topic changed. Thanks for pointing out.