Smooth grooves in product design on round surface

[chriseder95]

Hi fellow designers, I am searching for a solution to create regular grooves on a round surface, I've played around with the pipe tool and offset paths and 3d sketches, but I am struggling to recreate the fade-in/fade-out effect as well as the grooves not being straight lines due to the nature of the round tool I use.

Any suggestions on how this could be designed with Fusin360? 

[TheCADWhisperer]

@chriseder95 

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

[TrippyLighting]

What is your level of experience with CAD and 3D modeling in general and in Fusion 360 specifically?

This can be approached with surface modeling but would be fairly advanced. It can also be accomplished with T-PLSine modeling but would also likely not be a beginner project.

[chriseder95]

@TheCADWhisperer I don't really have a file to share, I'm just trying to apply it to a surface, I'm more looking at the process of how to get to these lines. Any idea how to approach it? 
I can share my tryout file and how I approached it tomorrow, but it didn't work anyway. 

[chriseder95]

@TrippyLighting I would consider myself fairly advanced, worked with surfaces previously, but I wouldn't know where to start with this one as I cannot split the surface into polylines to create surfaces. 

haven't worked with T-PLSine modeling though. but would love to get into it. 

Would you be able to give me a rough idea of how you would start? 

best regards and thanks for your help 🙂 

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@chriseder95 wrote:

 Any idea how to approach it? 
I can share my tryout file and how I approached it tomorrow, but it didn't work anyway. 

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I have lot's of ideas of how to approach - but before I answer any modeling question I like to see what the OP has tried on their own. (Doesn't matter how successful the attempt was.)

I can tell you that whenever I attempt to model geometry like this - I consider how I would machine the same geometry out on the shop floor.  If possible that usually involves standard tooling and simple machine moves.  No complex contouring.

One problem with working from a single image like that is convex/concave optical illusions - not sure what I am looking at (this is a hot topic in the Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon UAP or UFO postings - suffice to say that most don't realize how easily optical illusions can fool even high tech electronics equipment let alone human observers).

[TrippyLighting]

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@chriseder95 wrote:

, worked with surfaces previously, but I wouldn't know where to start with this one as I cannot split the surface into polylines to create surfaces. 

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There are no polylines in surfacing 😉 In surfacing you work with NURBs curves and (mostly) lofts.

There are polygons/control points in T-Spline or Sub-D modeling.

I might be able to create a screencast tomorrow on how to do this with T-Splines.

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

Here's a quick model of how this can be accomplished using T-Splines:

 

[etfrench]

This can be done with the coil tool.  Create a coil with a large radius, a small revolution (0.25), and enough height to create the desired angle.  Rectangular pattern the coil. Combine it with the base:

[davebYYPCU]

Is it just me, or the optical illusion?  

OP is after grooves, your suggestion inverted, I’ll presume.

[etfrench]

Hmmm.  Perhaps you're right.  Grooves would be created by combine/cutting the coils instead of Combine/Join😎

[TrippyLighting]

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@etfrench wrote:

This can be done with the coil tool.  

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You have got to be kidding!

[TrippyLighting]

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@davebYYPCU wrote:

Is it just me, or the optical illusion?  

OP is after grooves, your suggestion inverted, I’ll presume.

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The OP is NOT after grooves, because the object he depicted does NOT have grooves.

The design is very similar to what you find in the Logitech MX Vertical Mice.

[etfrench]

While the coil will work, it would probably be easier to just use an arc as the path😁 Unfortunately, the coil tool and the sweep tool fail if they intersect.  Using the rectangular pattern allows each groove to intersect.  The fade out is done by having a different radii on the main body and the groove pattern.  A more complex path using a 3d spline should be relatively straight forward to implement if the simple arc doesn't give the right pattern.

[TrippyLighting]

With that simplistic mechanical Engnieering approach you will never get the smooth surface transitions this object exhibits.

[chriseder95]

Thanks so much, that's exactly the surface I needed to get. I will try to replicate it today. Thanks 

[chriseder95]

@TrippyLighting just one more question to this, I could replicate it and know how to solve it now, thanks 🙂

but one question, if you're trying to be precise with the T-Splines, do you use a sketch to project them? or how would you precisely position them? when setting up the T-spline Grid? 

[TrippyLighting]

I don't remember ever using a sketch for any T-Spline modeling. T-Spline modeling is very similar to modeling in a Sub-D/Polygon modeler and I started working with Blender 18 years ago. Sketches do not exist in Sub-D modelers, so I naturally gravitate to not use them for T-Splines.

In this case it might help to use spline curves simply as a graphical layout tool and then use them as a visual aid in creating the T-Spline.