How to build a PDA using Fillet Flange and Tube
Flange.
- Choose Surfaces > Rolled Edge > Fillet Flange
❒, then click the trimmed edge of the top
surface.
- You may find that the fillet flange builds
in the wrong direction, based on the curve direction. To change
the direction, choose Flip in the Wall section
of the control window.
In this example we have set a 15 degree taper
on the wall and a two unit fillet. You should notice immediately
this tool first builds a flange wall, and then fillets between the
flange wall and the input surface in one very simple workflow.
- Adjust the length of the flange then
click the Recalc button.
- When you have completed adjusting the
fillet and flange properties, turn on Auto-Trim so
the top surface is automatically trimmed.
- Turn on WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade
to evaluate the surfaces.
- In the Top view,
project the curves on the inside that will define the LED display
area.
- Use the trim tool to discard the center
of the surface, resulting in surfaces as shown here.
- Use Surfaces > Rolled Edge > Tube Flange
to create a blended inner
surface for the LED area.
- Tube flange prompts you to select a series
of curves. In this example, we create a fillet (tube) then draft
a flange from the edge of the fillet. This complex operation is
done with one simple workflow using the Tube flange tool.
By default, the tube is 1 unit and the flange
is built at 90 degrees.
- In the control window, adjust the Fillet
size to 5, Flange sweep angle to 15, and the Flange length to 2.
- Turn on Hardware Shade to
review the surfaces.
Building button holes and
buttons
- In the top window project the circles
that will form the button holes.
- Using the trim surface tool, discard
the holes in the top surfaces.
- Use Surfaces > Rolled Edge > Fillet Flange to create the blend recesses
for the buttons.
- Repeat this the fillet flange process
for the second button.
- Turn on Hardware Shade to
review the button recess.
- Choose Surfaces > Planar Surfaces > Set Planar
to create the tops of the
buttons using simple circle curves.
- Choose Surfaces > Rolled Edge > Tube Flange to create the filleted flange
surfaces that are needed for the button edges.
- Dolly the camera out to review the surfaces
created so far.
- Refine the surface design and add more
detail, like buttons for other functions.
Finishing the concept model
Next, we’ll add some
graphic design detail to our concept model. In this example we have
turned off the gray plastic paint layer and selected all the surfaces
highlighted in red.
- Open the Canvas > Project Sketch
options window, select Active
View and Active Objects, then click Go.
- In the Hardware Shade options
window, make sure layered shaders is turned on.
Originally, we created the quick concept sketch
using a texture brush to create a plastic finish for the PDA.
- Open the Canvas Layer Editor (Windows > Editors > Canvas Layer Editor
) and turn
this layer back on.
- Choose Project > Project
sketch in the Canvas Layer Editor to
update the projected shader.
Here is a close-up to show the faint plastic
finish painted on the 2D image layer.
- You can now set up the scene for raytracing
and produce a simple design image like this. All complex texture
mapping is handled by the Sketch projection procedure.
