From: Jonathan Chertok (chertok22@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Nov 19 2003 - 19:25:24 EET
Caleb,
I thought we had a pretty healthy discussion of this issue on the Rhino
site. Rhino specifically stated to me they wanted to improve their mesh
capabilities.
For a very new user such as Grant the Rhino -> RP process can be tricky. Add
that fact, to the process of having to wrap your head around a surface
modelling mentality and you have a task ahead of you that needs some input.
I don't think I have ever gotten to the stl process in Rhino and not been
able to export the file as an stl. Will Rhino give you an error message
about something not being a valid stl file? Either way, you can get objects
out of Rhino as stl that wouldn't "get out" of Form Z. This seems odd to me.
For a new user I think it would be hard to understand why you would not be
getting error messages from Rhino while you were modelling.And why you could
then export that file, send it out, and then get hung up on the dowstream
end. I think Grant got some helpful advice.
The fact that you can get 99% of your files out of Rhino as valid stl's is a
little like saying you can tie your shoes 99% of the time. I'd imagine Grant
in the same position - trying to tie his shoes - except Rhino does not give
him any way to know if they are tied or not...
I think it is a problem that you can generate files in Rhino that "can't" be
exported to stl but can get out of Rhino as stl. It may not be a problem for
an expert user, but for a new user looking to start modelling in Rhino and
expecting to get an stl model for his use - this could be a bumpy ride. Not
having any visible error messages might be part of this...
Do you even use the Booleans in Rhino?! They're there - so if I were Grant
I'd probably be looking to use them quite a bit. Maybe he's an experienced
surface modeller, but it didn't sound like it.
Mind you, I plan on continuing my work in Rhino - but I think you've got to
be realistic about what you can expect out of Grant on this project he's
embarked upon. He's modelling it - your not. My advice was for his use, no
really about how a very experienced user works with Rhino.
Cheers
Jonathan
Universal Joint: Buildings + Digital Design
Jonathan Chertok. Principal
Austin, Texas [512] 407 9628
Full Service Design and Construction
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