Sketch cage for lofted canopy

[Intuos5]

I am trying to model a canopy inspired by the BUGA pavilion. The design is in a conceptual phase, so I'm not yet interested in the paneling, which I won't be doing in Fusion anyways.

This is what I made sofar, but I am running into an issue where the sketch failes to compute when I change the dimensions. Moreover, I don't see how I can maintain curvature continuity across the lofts.

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

[TheCADWhisperer]

I would use intersections of 2D sketches to create my 3D sketches.

That way it is a simple matter of editing 2D sketch dimensions to edit the 3D sketches.

[chrisplyler]

Just Patch it all in one shot?

Not a single 3D sketch, by the way.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/b1f86fdd-1a61-4442-bedc-3a5064238069

[TrippyLighting]

The base structure does not require a loft. It's a truncated sphere.

That leaves only the ears. A sweep or a loft might work here.

[Intuos5 · Accepted solution]

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@chrisplyler wrote:

Just Patch it all in one shot?

Not a single 3D sketch, by the way.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/b1f86fdd-1a61-4442-bedc-3a5064238069

That looks exactly like the result I am trying to achieve on this one. Do you happen to have the file so I can have a better look at how you constrained the sketches?

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

The base structure does not require a loft. It's a truncated sphere.

That leaves only the ears. A sweep or a loft might work here.

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Ah yes, I see now.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@TrippyLighting wrote:
It's a truncated sphere. A sweep or a loft might work here.

I think you meant to write Sweep or Revolve.

[Intuos5]

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@TheCADWhisperer wrote:

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

The base structure does not require a loft. It's a truncated sphere.

That leaves only the ears. A sweep or a loft might work here

I think you meant to write Sweep or Revolve.

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He is correct, the ears (arc extensions) are supposed to be swept or lofted.
As a truncated sphere, it is quite easy to model.

Although, to be precise, the pavilion is made from a spline cage.

As indicated by the plan I found.

[chrisplyler · Accepted solution]

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@Intuos5 wrote:

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That looks exactly like the result I am trying to achieve on this one. Do you happen to have the file so I can have a better look at how you constrained the sketches?

Sure. Here you go.... Please note that I used conic curves for the ends, but you could change them to regular arcs if you want.

[Intuos5]

The dimensions in your screencast had me confused, I didn't know about this feature to show all dimensions in the view, nice!

I think I understand how it was made, it is really interesting, yet much simpler and cleaner than my first attempt.

Thanks!

[chrisplyler]

Glad to help when I can.

If I were you, I would turn on the visibility of every body, every sketch, and every construction plane. Then roll the timeline marker back to my first sketch. Edit that sketch, or at least use the Show Dimensions option.

Then roll the timeline marker one step further. Edit THAT sketch, or turn on Show Dimensions.

Keep going, one step at a time. Edit each action I took and think about the logic of it. Why did I set up a plane where I did? What did I do BEFORE I set up that plane in order to control where that plane lies? What dimensions did I set up so that I could control/adjust the final shape?

Following along like this, using the models other people had made, was a very useful learning tool for me. Good luck!

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

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@Intuos5 wrote:

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Although, to be precise, the pavilion is made from a spline cage.

As indicated by the plan I found.

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I beg to differ!

The main body of this object and really any of it does not require a 3D spline cage whatsoever. Can a 3D spline cage be used? Sure. Is it necessary? No!

[Intuos5]

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

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I beg to differ!

The main body of this object and really any of it does not require a 3D spline cage whatsoever. Can a 3D spline cage be used? Sure. Is it necessary? No!

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Point proven!

I take the blame for constructing a model that was too coarse and which I therefore thought couldn't pass the bill as modeling method.  This thread turned out to be the surface modeling 101 I needed, thanks all, I'll be putting it to good use 😄