smoothing one part of a model into another

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have no background in CAD prior to beginning this project so please forgive the amateurish nature of this enquiry, however I am at my wits end with it!

I am designing the body of an electric violin that will be 3D printed.  Befoe that can happen I have to get the body looking right.  While I am nearing completion with the model, I have a specific task left to do which will be the difference between this thing looking profesisonal and like some chump just headbutted the keyboard until pictures appeared on the scrieen...

I need to smooth parts of the model together.  Some of it I have created in the model environment (e.g. fingerboard geometry which has to be exact) and some in the sculpt environment (e.g. the scroll head which is more organic in nature).  These aspects of the model are both fine on their own, but not together.  Together, they don't merge smoothly.  Now, if this was a physical model, I would crack out some putty and sandpaper and smooth the joins between the offending parts, but I am thinking there must be a workflow which will enable me to have each of these parts of the model flow organically one into another so it begins to look like a whole instrument.

The added complication is that I am a good way through the project and many of these parts have long since been combined etc.    I have a friend who is happy to do this for me in 3ds Max, but there seems to be little compatibility between that and Fusion, so I am wondering if you would be able to give me some advice on how to do this in Fusion directly?

Therefore, my question:  Is there a workflow which will enable me to smooth one part of my model into another and give it a professional finish before I send it for printing?

Many thanks and best regards,

James

[TrippyLighting]

It is very hard to judge by those miniscule sceenshots what may be exactly the problem.

It sounds like you should be able to "Modify->Join" the bodies created in the Sculpt (T-Spline) and Model environments and then add fillets or virtual putty 😉

You can actually export the cage mesh of your T-Spline as a .obj file and then import it into 3DSMAX to continue working with it as a subdivision surface model, however that won't help you in this case as it would not include the geometry from the Model environment in Fusion.

That combination of T-Spline and Solid model environment is what makes Fusion very unique.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for your reply!

I have attached some larger screen shots, sorry about that!  Currently the offending components are brep solids, maybe there is a way to convert them back to t-splines so that I can edit them and use those fillets?

It may be that I will need to export as a mesh, I have tried that out and I can do so but I would need to keep some of the geometry exactly as is.

Again, many thanks for your time

[TrippyLighting]

Would you be able to share the model ?

You can invite other Fusion users to you project or export hthe model as an .f3d file and attach it to a post. It looks like a very intesting model but this is still hard to judge.

If you can't share it perhaps post a screenshot of the entire Fusion 360 sreen with the browser tree unfolded so details can be seen.

[Anonymous]

I would be happy to do so:  This is a hobby project rather than a commercial venture so I don't mind,  I was going to open source it if it works out anyway 🙂  I guess the fundamental issue is that because I have been learning fusion as I go along I have done a bunch of stuff in the process that I wouldnt have done had I got more experience.

public link with download option:

https://myhub.autodesk360.com/ue295d54c/shares/public/SHabee1QT1a327cf2b7a34d676575cb353eb

Rather than clear all the clutter in the history and the component list etc., let me simply point to the three components whose shape really matters because they are the parts that will be printed.  They are 'scroll, body and neck', 'skeleton frame' and 'body underbelly'.  effectively what I am looking to do is to have each of those components flow organically into one another, without seams.  Thus, the body needs to blend into the left side of the neck (no idea what i did wrong there!), the skeleton frame needs to blend into the body (but not the neck, that contact point is finished) and the scroll (the head at the end of the neck) needs to blend into the neck.  The issue has come because the neck has a very fixed geometry underneath which must remain just so.

Once again, I really appreciate any time you can give to helping me solve this,

James

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

This will take a while. It is unwise to ignore th obvious warnings in the timelie and it may well lead to a failure of the model later in the process.

that would be a shame, because this spaceship  violin it is absolutely beautiful.

I am wondeing if I need to get a few folks on board that have experinece with designing string instruments in Fusion 360 such as @Phil.E, @TOwens777 and @Anonymous.

To create smoothly flowing shapes you need to "modify->combine" the different bodies and then create radii. That will be diffcult as currntly some of these bodies don't even intersect.

Even if they do, the curves these radii have to work on are very complex.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you like it 🙂

One option would be to effectively start again: to take some key info such as the underside of the neck, the geometry of the strings intersection with the body etc. and use that, along with all the other components (fingerboard, shoulder rest etc.) which are all finished just fine. I would be willing (although not thrilled) to do that, I'm sure I could make a better job of it a second time! If I end up having to take this route then would you be able to point me to a tutorial video or something about the modify->combine/create radii workflow you mention above? I would be concerned about coming up against the same issue again, albeit with a neater model from which to work then.

[Anonymous]

Wow that does look like quite the instrument you modeled there!  I still haven't sculpted a whole lot, but from my experience in order to get smooth transitions (i.e. G2/curvature matching so any transition doesn't cause an abrupt change in the reflection of light from the surface) then a contiguous/connected body needs to be modeled as a single body in a single Sculpt instance.  This way you have a single mesh network that right from the get go finds smooth transitions between all mesh faces, which can then be further modified/sculpted.  What you're trying to model is very advanced (looks like you're already quite good though!), and there's a lot of tools in the Sculpt environment that one needs to become acquainted with, especially under the Modify column ;).  I will say one of the coolest Create tools is Pipe, which could likely create a nice object primitive with that bifurcation of the neck meeting on its side with that thin body part. 

You've done a lot of work clearly, and it's definitely hard to start again, but so goes the learning process 

Spoiler

Good luck!

Jesse

[Anonymous]

I'm just thinking out loud here but maybe if it were me I might save a new copy of the model, then determine which sculpt body was the most difficult, perhaps the body and delete everything else in the timeline () then work with that Sculpt and go from there, maybe deleting some Tspline faces so can figure out how to use maybe Bridge to combine the existing Tspline body with other element primitives, such as tubular neck (which when good with edit form can be quickly flattened on one side, creased etc), the thin body portion, etc.  Don't know, I guess a program like blender is more suited for something complex like this, but as you've already shown is definitely possible right in Fusion.

Jesse

[Anonymous]

Some interesting thoughts, thanks jjurban55.

tbh I only installed Fusion 3-4 weeks ago for the first time and had no experience in CAD prior to this project so please don't think that I'm in any way advanced, I am fishing around mostly in the dark here!

Your responses have gotten me thinking:  I appreciate that beginning again may be the right call, and that is something I will be happy to accept doing, but I shuld look at the way in which I can leverage the work I have already put into the current model.  Is there a way of taking a series of lateral cross sections, maybe by turning them into sketches and then drafting/lofting (sorry can't remember which the correct term is) from one to another to create a model with smooth transitions but which maintain a specific profile around the parts where it matters?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Well it seems you're fishing in the right places so far!

In regards to your idea I believe might have just the ticket for you.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/foot-insole-modelling/m-p/5715117/highlight/t...

It's a fairly tedious process currently, and there is an Ideastation post to speed up the process:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/cross-section-curves/idi-p/5751250

But you could definitely give it a shot. 

Good luck!

Jesse

[Anonymous]

Oh you legend! That looks like just the solution I was envisaging: now I know what I am spending tonight doing! 

I'll give it a try tonight (and knowing me a retry tomorrow!) and report back

Thanks again

James

[Anonymous]

Thanks to you both for your help with this, it is most appreciated.  I have had real life overtake me somewhat for the last couple of weeks but have now had some time to come back to this project.  If you are interested in the progress made then I have created another thread tackling the final stitching together of the t-spline entities prior to finishing the form and doing the work on the model environment.  It is looking so much better!  the thread with progress pics is at

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/attaching-t-splines-to-one-another-in-the-scu...

Thanks again,

James

[Anonymous]

Awesome progress you're making James!

Jesse