Modelling a Multi Angled Lofted Object and Mapping a Surface to It

[IN82jm]

Hi There,

I'm looking for some advice with regards to a small personal project, I am struggling to proceed with developing a model of a local landmark and subsequently mapping the plates it is constructed from.

This is the building in question:

In my mind, the model is a simple multi-lofted design that can be extruded with a couple of sketches on custom angled plains. The issue comes with modelling the triangular plates which have been used in the construction. I've attempted to use projected extrusions which are then path patterned with the loft sketch as a path. While this aesthetically works with a simple loft, due to the curvature of some lofts, the extrusions deform which does not work for my intentions (to 3D print a representation).

I am looking for a better way to model and feature a design based on the above landmark and to avoid the pit falls of my current process (when I eventually model other landmarks for fun!).

Cheers 

  

[TrippyLighting]

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@IN82jm wrote:

In my mind, the model is a simple multi-lofted design that can be extruded with a couple of sketches on custom angled plains. T

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I'll have to look at the image aa bit more, but I can already say hat this is more complex than the idea you have. The individual diamond shaped sections are flat an not curved, so mapping geometry onto a curved surface is not going to result in a flat shape. 

[laughingcreek]

this looks like it was probably developed with an algorithmic modeler like grasshopper.  You can probably pull it off in fusion, but it's going to be pretty tedious I imagine.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! The quickest way to create similar geometry (not exactly the same) is to tessellate the Loft into Mesh (Mesh environment -> Tessellate). In this way, the Brep is converted to mesh. Then you can convert the mesh back to faceted Brep.

Many thanks!

[OceanHydroAU]

I've had surprisingly great responses more than half the time, by asking (nicely) assorted original people if they've got a CAD model - more often than not, they do, and they share it for free !

A second outside-the-square idea... create an approximate version of the rounded shape, then save it as an STL with an absurdly low poly count, and re-import that.  STL files are already triangle meshes...

If I had to do this task - I would not manually model it.  Fusion360 has a commandline and an API that lets you generate stuff with python code - it's probably faster to write the code to spit out the answer, than push your mouse around all day to do it manually...