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Open Curve Button
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Open Curve Button // New Users
Post by janetb // Mar 8, 2007, 7:03am
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Does the Open Curve function in editing nurbs work only on a closed curve? I have a shape (closed curve) I want to break in two by opening two points on the curve. But once I open one point, I can't get the function to work again. Does a nurbs curve have to be a closed shape for the Open Curve to work? My curves are outlines of a words (joined letters) which I want to break into the separate letters. I have been using TS a long time and never ran into this problem.....
Thanks,
Janet
TS 6 |
Post by Chester Desmond // Mar 8, 2007, 9:39am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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I guess logically, not to be a smarta$$, you can't really open something that isn't closed.
You might be able to extrude the curve and then use the scissors to cut it up where you need to. Select the top curve of each piece and use the 'curve from edge' tool to extract the curve which you can then close.
edit : if you open the curve before extruding then you just have to cut the other end free with the scissors. Performing this maneuver with multiple copies of the original would be easiest. |
Post by janetb // Mar 9, 2007, 6:32am
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Hi Chester,
I will rephrase my question:
How can you separate a curve or polyline composed of several segments into two or more separate curves or polylines. I need some sort of Cut function that works on curves/polylines---like you have in every 2d graphics program.....
J. |
Post by spacekdet // Mar 9, 2007, 7:48am
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Does navigating the heirarchy by using the down/left/right arrow keyboard keys allow you to select the seperate letters? |
Post by Chester Desmond // Mar 9, 2007, 8:47am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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Hi Chester,
I will rephrase my question:
How can you separate a curve or polyline composed of several segments into two or more separate curves or polylines. I need some sort of Cut function that works on curves/polylines---like you have in every 2d graphics program.....
J.
There is no function or tool (that I can find) to cut up NURBS curves other than the once-only open\close tools you already know about. If the picture below illustrates what you are trying to achieve, then the only way I know of would be the method I mentioned, which took about 2 mins to do. The same sort of approach could be used with a polygonal outline; you would use 'curve to path'.
I guess you could also use a 2d program to break up the curves and import them separately into TS. |
Post by janetb // Mar 10, 2007, 8:52am
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Spacekdet:
There are no 'separate letters'....Just think of it as a single curve on a draw panel that I want to divide into two or three (or more) parts. In any case, we are talking about editing a single nurbs curve, so there is no hierarchy.....
Janet |
Post by spacekdet // Mar 10, 2007, 9:44am
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Interesting problem!
Here is what I came up with:
I drew a closed shape and indeed, only one opening can be active in it.
Plan B:
First I converted the curve to a plain patch. (save it first in the curve Library)
I Extruded the curve.
I could then Scissor the patch into seperate sections- each edge section could then be saved into the curve Library.
If you don't have these handy NURBS tools (http://home.mindspring.com/%7Eclintonr/MyTruespace/TSPlug.html) already, they'll come in handy for re-connecting everything if you need to do that.
EDIT: You'll need to scissor along the short vertical edges created when you extrude the original curve.
http://home.mindspring.com/~clintonr/MyTruespace/TSPlug.html (http://home.mindspring.com/%7Eclintonr/MyTruespace/TSPlug.html) |
Post by janetb // Mar 10, 2007, 1:10pm
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Thanks Chester---That is just what I want (if your example is in fact 2d curves---I don't see the Draw panel).....Perhaps it's before you took the Curve from Edge.....
Now comes my stupid question---I looked at the manual, but don't see exactly how to go about it...:-(...Any chance of getting you to do a step-by-step for one of the cuts on your THE.....?
Janet |
Post by Chester Desmond // Mar 12, 2007, 7:09am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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Hi Janet, here's a zip of a pdf explaining the procedure. I like spacekdet's idea of saving the curves to the library too.
I also came up with a way that may be easier depending on the number of letters in your word.
If you open the curve, you now will have 2 points in the same location (easily seen by moving one of them slightly). Using the word THE again, imagine that one of these points belongs to the T and one to the H. Select the one belonging to the H and press the 'delete curve point' button. Continue to do this until you get all the way around to the last point of the T. Now you can close the curve on the T, select your next copy of the word and repeat the procedure on the next letter. Lots of clicking, but easy. Hope this makes sense. |
Post by janetb // Mar 15, 2007, 6:36am
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Thanks Chester!
I think the first way is actually quicker, as you can just procede letter by letter without having to duplicate the whole word each time and then get rid of all the remaining copied parts....I'm doing it over a plane with the original graphics mapped on it, so the first way leaves everything in place with each letter exactly over the relevant graphics.....
One thing---it took me a long time to work out that the correct instructions for step 5 are double-opposites of what you wrote...:) ...It should read:
1) L-click (=select) the Curve from Edge tool, and then
2) L-click (=select) the curve
Thanks so much! I've always worked only in polygons, so I didn't know how to get to the scissors and still end up with the 2d curve.....
Janet |
Post by Chester Desmond // Mar 15, 2007, 6:58am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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You're welcome, glad it worked for you.
One thing---it took me a long time to work out that the correct instructions for step 5 are double-opposites of what you wrote... ...It should read:
1) L-click (=select) the Curve from Edge tool, and then
2) L-click (=select) the curve
Actually I never realized it could be done this way! I thought you had to select the curve first, then extract it, which is why I wrote it that way. The right click I mention is actually to get the nurbs object into edit mode and then you still have to (left or right) click the curve again to select it and then extract it or, better yet, use the tool the way you are using it :) I will change that wording if I ever post this tutorial anywhere else.
Thanks Janet. |
Post by janetb // Mar 15, 2007, 7:44am
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janetb
Total Posts: 35
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Chester,
I kept doing your R-click and it kept giving me the curve-edit pop-up instead of the pop-up with the scissors, etc......So I couldn't get to the Curve from Edge tool! This is a constantly recurring shortcoming of the TS manual--it tells you what the tool does but not how to use it....One never knows whether to first select the object and then the tool or vice-versa....And doing the wrong order can lose you a lot of work, as I find you often can't undo.....:-)......
J.
PS Perhaps you have a solution for the intriguing problem I just posted on the Tech Forum......:-)...... |
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