United3dArtists Archive

Emmanuel · Post by **Emmanuel** » 13 Dec 2021, 12:11

I've designed a hollow-door to be cutoff from an aluminium board.
The cutoff design was created in Affinity Designer, my favorite vector-drawing software

My client is happy with the design and now he wants a 3d preview of it, blended in a photography of his interiors.

I can export my 2D drawing to AI or EPS format, and import it in trueSpace, but I am stucked with trueSpace boolean tools that refuses to cut off. Both Modeler and Workspace boolean tools are failing.
I have no other 3D software (only Sketchup) to experiment and I can't figure how to generate a 3d model from that design...

Do you have some tips or tricks ?

You can try AI and SCN files, attached in the zip file below.

MikomDude · Post by **MikomDude** » 13 Dec 2021, 15:28

Have you tried quadrifying the geometry before boolean? Sometimes a bit of extra geometry helps when doing a boolean operation in trueSpace.

Emmanuel · Post by **Emmanuel** » 13 Dec 2021, 15:47

Yes, I tried to add details, triangulate, etc.
Resizing the objects also helps : boolean works better with large objects.
But there is still too much errors on Modeler side ; and Workspace simply freezes...

I guess I should use an other software for that particular case.

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 13 Dec 2021, 16:05

I brought your subtraction object into Rosetta, used Heal vertices, Clinton's Fix Bad Geometry's - Delete Floating points, Quads, and Quadrify
Using Select Quads was the only way I could select all Geometry
Finally, Boolean Subtract your subtraction object from a Cube that had 1000 x 1000 x1000 segments
tS761 Door.RsObj

.
.
Exported the tS761 Door's Editable Shape
Created a Cube in tS76, swapped the object Editable Shape, exported as a cob from Model
tS76 Door.cob

clintonman · Post by **clintonman** » 13 Dec 2021, 19:18

I think I got it! I tried and gave up and then saw trueBlue's boolean with cube trick.

Number of steps:

Open AI file in Illustrator and add fill and stroke.
Save as SVG file
Import SVG into trueSpace workspace with options:
- Zoffset = 0
- Uncheck Constant Color
- Always Close Curves - cause 1 curve wasn't closed
- Show Polygon Edges

PE mode, Dynamic Sweep on the big piece, with Boolean on release to close the open bottom - slow process
Boolean combined all the smaller pieces into 1 then dynamic sweep it - both also slow
Create a short cube 100x100x1 divisions, shorter than the big piece and shorter than it
Boolean subtract the combined little pieces from the cube
Boolean intersect with the big piece.

Cube is the final object and the scene file shows how it looks before boolean steps.

While working on this I noticed some shortcomings with the SVG import that makes it more difficult to model with the imported meshes, so some changes are needed.
Edit: note to self - bridge was causing issues, turned it off

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 13 Dec 2021, 19:47

Much better!
Same object with a cleanup
Lowered two elements that were sticking out, deleted floating points, and removed orphaned material
Dang!!! 16.6 MBs

Emmanuel · Post by **Emmanuel** » 13 Dec 2021, 22:17

Waow, you guys are definately trueSpace geniuses !

Your SVG import tool Clinton is saving my life !
So part the trick was to fill the AI curves and import it via SVG

I would never thought about it that way !

Once again, this workflow opens many possibilities. It builds new bridges between 2D and 3D.

Many many thanks again to all of you !

Emmanuel · Post by **Emmanuel** » 14 Dec 2021, 14:36

I am still using Photoshop CS3 (never upgraded since 2012, yes, just like trueSpace

)
But my son, who is using a recent version, told me the best solution was to use the 3D features of modern Photoshop :
Simply load the drawing, convert the layer into a 3D layer, then export as OBJ. Easy !

clintonman · Post by **clintonman** » 14 Dec 2021, 16:55

My last version of Adobe is CS5 and the export 3D from Photoshop works pretty well for your complex shape. I still had to stroke and fill to get it to work. One more tool for the belt, thanks for the tip.

The youtube link doesn't work for me.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 14 Dec 2021, 17:35

dont want to spoil the fun, but why didnt you do it in the 2D vector software to be cut out like that? :) and you could only extrude it in tS and thats it.

Emmanuel · Post by **Emmanuel** » 14 Dec 2021, 19:37

bitkar wrote: 14 Dec 2021, 17:35 dont want to spoil the fun, but why didnt you do it in the 2D vector software to be cut out like that? and you could only extrude it in tS and thats it.

Because Affinity Designer's AI export creates plain curves : when imported in trueSpace the holes in the main object become curves, not holes.

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 15 Dec 2021, 20:54

Just wanted to add that using Heal vertices and Clinton's Fix Bad Geometry's - Delete Floating points was needed using Clinton's Domino PreBool.RsScn before performing Boolean subtract and Boolean intersect

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 27 Dec 2021, 15:49

truespace doesn't like holes in a polygon !
if you have Moi3d, you can import illustrator or pdf file and extrude. Export the result in obj.
The advantage is that Moi3d will automatically create lines so that each hole is separated.
TrueSpace imports the result very well and there will be no problem.

here is an example of transforming an illustrator file to trueSpace (model side).

borgcone · Post by **borgcone** » 10 Jul 2023, 20:35

Emmanuel wrote: 14 Dec 2021, 19:37 Because Affinity Designer's AI export creates plain curves : when imported in trueSpace the holes in the main object become curves, not holes.

A seemingly elegant solution for the punching (realized only with standard functions of tS) is to use the "Curve to patch projection" button in tS7.61 Model side. A 2D curve can be used for trimming the surface of a 3D NURBS, so we can make the shape by trim a NURBS plain (simple rectangle) bypassing the uncertain Boolean operations in this way.

Alas,

however, the executing time is toooooooo long. It will take 10 minutes to trim the main object (and when you load from the saved scene with the projection)!

Steps: Load the .ai file in to Model side, unglue all objects, add a NURBS plain, enlarge it to enough size, use the main object (frame) to trim outside of the NURBS plain, use other 2D curves to trim inside, and lastly extrude the punched NURBS as a polyhedron (At this time, some procedure may be necessary to remove the triangles on the top and bottom faces).

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Jul 2023, 18:00

Blender does Booleans well and has various ways to cut meshes. Even if you want to stay with TS you could import/export between them for complex or slow Booleans and such.

Useful note: If you do use Blender for Booleans be aware of the setting for fast or precise. Sometimes fast works better than precise.

borgcone · Post by **borgcone** » 11 Jul 2023, 21:53

Finis wrote: 11 Jul 2023, 18:00 Blender ... TS ... import/export between them ...

In relation to that, one of the important routes with free-tool-only is; Inkscape --> Draw 2D surface (closed path) filled in black --> .svg --> Blender --> Convert to mesh --> Edit Mode --> Select All by trait --> Extrude region --> export to a .stl --> tS7.61 Model.

Some unfilled or non-black surface often causes problem like reversed-normal when it's imported in tS. You can remove unnecessary triangles on upper/bottom face in tS scene by Boolean intersection with a cube with shorter height in order to make a pure N-sided prism. Such a prism for a drill reduces error at another boolean operations (as someone wrote).

If Emmanuel's objects can be exported to a .svg, this way may also help whether the boolean is done in Blender or not.

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