Introduction to Rhino

written by Anne Leonhardt, John Eberhart,
Joseph Lim & Severino Alfonso
The City University of New York
Architectural Technology Dept. digital media assistance
archtech
Tutorial
Rhino

Tutorial: Rhino2
Interface:
Icons,Menus,Pallettes,ViewManipu -
lation, Command Help
Rhino is designed as a Nurbs Modeler.
Nurbs stand for Non-Uniform Rational
B-Splines. This basically means that
smooth surfaces can be created
through mathematical formulas. What
this means to us is that complex
smooth forms can be created that are
highly adjustable and mailable for the
designer. In traditional Modelers,
surfaces are defined by a series of flat
planes joined together to create
a facetted surface. Nurbs modelers
allow you to create smooth complex
surfaces by defining a couple of
points that can then be manipulated.
However, when it comes to simple
modeling, Rhino is a very easy to use
and a highly intuitive modeler.
-
Tool and Command Prompt
View Controls
THE MODELING WINDOWS
Properties Panel
Rendering Controls
Snap Etc. Controls
Rhino 3D Basic
Modelling Tolls
Rhino has a typical Modeling interface.
By default it is composed of four view
points and a tool palette on the left.
At the bottom are the ortho and object
snap controls. At the top are the Pan
and Zoom Controls, as well as the tool
command prompt..

Tutorial: Rhino3
Setting up grids and units
for accurate modeling:
• Click on File>Properties to
open the settings window.
• Click on the units Tab,
and select either Millimeters
or Inches. Match your Unit
setting with the Distance
Display
Units Tab
Units Setting
Grid Tab
Display Setting
Snap Spacing

Tutorial: Rhino4
Snap, Ortho, Planar,
OSnap, Record History,
and S-Track:
-
The bottom of the Rhino interface
is a number of drawing aids. These
allow you to lock lines and Snap
as needed.
• Record History: Allows you to
link lines to surfaces. If youchange
the line, it will update the surface
(Kind of Works)
• Osnap: (Object Snap)Activates the
snap menu. Will snap linesto geometry
as you draw.
• Planar: Keeps curves in a set plane
as you draw from one view to another.
• Disable: Disables the
O-Snap functions.
• Ortho: Locks lines to 90 Deg.
Hit F8 to toggle or hold dow shift key
while you draw.
• S-Track: Allows you to snap projection
line from multiple types of geometry.
• Project: Will project line snapped
to geometry onto the ground plane,
useful for creating plan outlines.

The Tool Palette
• Selection Tool: Used to select and move objects
• Draws Points: Used to place single points. This can be used with rail sweeps.
• Draws Lines and Curves: Used to construct splines for surface and object generation.
(see below)
• Draws Circles and Ellipses: Used to construct closed curves.
• Draws Arc’s.
• Draws Rectangles.
• Draws Polygons.
• Fillet Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Surface Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Advanced Surface Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Solids Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Boolean Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Curve from Object Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Mesh Tools: See below. Hold down mouse for more options.
• Join Tool: Used to join together two surfaces.
• Explode Tool: Used to break apart joined surfaces.
• Trim Tool: Used to cut a surface with another object.
• Slit Tool: Used to cut a surface with a cutting object.
• Group and Ungroup tools.
• Control Points On and Off toggle tool.
• Point Editing controls: See below. Hold mouse down for more options.
• Place Text tool.
• Transform tools: Hold mouse down for more options.
• Copy Rotate and Scale Tools.
• Analysis Surfaces Tools.
Tutorial: Rhino5

The Tool Palette
Tutorial: Rhino6
Most of the items in the tools palette can also be accessed in the menus palette. In the Menus palettes
there are also more specific tools associated with its menu item not listed in the tools palette,
• Curve Tools are used to adjust and
fix existing curves. These include
Fillets, Chamfers, Off Sets, Fix Points,
Simplify and Rebuilding Curves
• Surface Tools: This palette is
used to generate surfaces from
Points and Curves. Lofts, Surface
from Curve Network, Sweep Along
one and two rails, Revolve, Patch,
and Drape Functions
• Surface editing tools:
These are used to edit, adjust,
fix and rebuild surfaces
• Solid Tools Pallet.
This is a typical pallet of object
primitives that can be created
• Solid Editing Tools: These includes
difference, union,intersection. As well
as fillet, cap holes, and extract surface
• Curve From Object Palette:
This is used to generate curves
from objects that then can be used
to generate more surfaces. You can
also generate a series of contours
from an object, section curves, etc
• Mesh Tool Palette. This is used to
extract mesh surfaces and objects
from nurbs surfaces. This is useful
for exporting intoother programs.
You can also create direct mesh
objects without creating a nurbs
object first

Fig A - NURBS sphere Fig B - Faceted surface
Fig C - NURBS curves
Rhino Basics
Tutorial: Rhino7
-
Rhino is primarily a Nurbs Modeler. Nurbs stand
for Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. This basically
means that smooth surfaces can be created through
mathematical formulas (Fig. A).
In traditional Modelers, surfaces are defined by
a series of flat planes joined together to create a
faceted surface (Fig. B).
Nurbs modelers allow you to create smooth complex
surfaces by defining a couple of points that can then
be manipulated.
Points
[A point shows an exact position or location on a
plane surface. It is important to understand that a
point is not a thing, but a place. We draw a point by
placing a dot with a pencil. This dot may have a diameter
of 0.2mm, but a point has no size. No matter
how far you zoomed in, it would still have no width.]
Points are not very exciting in Rhino, but they are
important to keep in mind as we explore the basic
tools they support. Points can be placed, but do not
appear when rendering. In Rhino, points can be
connected up to form multisegmented lines called
curves. The shape of the curve depends on the
mathematical formula used to generate it. To the
left you can see how the same control points
generate different geometries based on the degree
of the curve. The larger the degree of the curve,
the greater the range of influence of the control
points (Fig. C).

Tutorial: Rhino8
In Rhino, surfaces can be joined together
to form solids. Surfaces that have been
joined to each other are called polysurfaces.
There are many methods for creating solids,
and here we will cover a few of them.
Solid Primitives – Box, Sphere, Cylinder,
Cone, Truncated Cone, Pyrami. All of these
commands will produce their related solid
primitive. Check the command prompt for
options related to each specific command.
“ExtrudeCrv” command: Solids can also
be created from a closed curve. Create a
“Rectangle” and then “ExtrudeCrv.” If the
capped option is active, the extrusion
will have end caps as shown on the left.
If the capped option is set to “no” then
the extrusion will be open, as shown
on the right.
“Slab” command:
Slab creates a “thickness” and “height”
from a curve. You will be prompted to
enter the thickness, the side where the
offset should go, and the height, all
at the command prompt.
Solids

Tutorial: Rhino9
“Join” “Group” and
“Explode” commands:
Make a box and “Explode” it. Notice that
it is all separate planes. Select all of the
planes and “Join” them. Now they are
together again. Note that “Join” is about
geometry grouping. If you “Group” the
objects are related organizationally not
geometrically: they will all select together,
and look exactly like a solid but they are
NOT a solid, and you can NOT perform
solid editing commands on a group.
“ExtractSrf” command:
Allows you to remove a surface from a
joined object without exploding it. Enter
the command, pick the surface you want
to extract, and hit enter. The surface will
un-join the original solid.
“Cap” command:
Takes an open surface with planar holes
and caps them, creating a solid object.
Extrude a rectangle with the caps option
set to “no”. Select the resulting surface
and enter the “Cap” command. The open
rectangular polysurface should close
into a solid.
“BooleanUnion”
“BooleanDifference”
“BooleanIntersection”
Create a sphere and a box and
intersect them. Now let’s Boolean
these objects using each of the
three commands.
“BooleanUnion”
“BooleanDifference 2”
“BooleanDifference 1”
“BooleanIntersection”

Tutorial: Rhino10
Object Manipulation
“Rotate 3D” command:
In order to rotate objects in 3D space you
must use the rotate3D command. Execute
the command then choose your objects
to rotate. Choose the axis of rotation by
specifying the first and second points to
rotate around. This line WILL NOT MOVE.
The object will rotate AROUND it. Imagine
the earth. It spins in space, but at the
absolute north pole, and the absolute
south pole, the coordinate do not change,
only the orientation. The first line you are
drawing is this axis of spin. You will then
choose a point which will determine the
reference angle for rotation. The last point
you pick will determine the angle of rotation.
Orient Command:
Orients an object to another by moving,
copying, rotating and scaling the object,
using two reference and two target points.
1. Select one object.
2. Pick two reference points on the object.
3. Pick two target points on the second
object: the first and second reference
points will match these locations.

Tutorial: Rhino11
Surfaces
Just like points can be connected to form
lines and curves, curves can be connected
to form surfaces. Surfaces in rhino can be
created in multiple ways. We will go through
a few now. You can enter any of the following
commands without the “” quotes in order
to initiate the command.
“Plane” command:
Creates a planar surface element
based on the coordinates entered.
Creates a planar surface element
based on a collection of planar curves.
“Loft” command:
Loft creates a surface between two
or more curves that act as control
geometry. Lofts can be planar (flat)
or have 3D contours.
“ExtrudeCrv” command:
Allows a surface to be extruded up
from a profile curve
“PlanarSrf” command:

Tutorial: Rhino12
Sweep1:
Create a rail curve and a profile.
Think of the rail curve as the path
that will be traveled, and the profile
curve as the curve that will be trav
elling on it (like a rollercoaster). The
red path represents the profile curve
in the example below. The options
box controls may require some
tweaking to get the desired effect.
Use Command Help for an exhaus
tive description of the options.
Sweep2:
Is very similar to sweep1, however
you can select 2 rail curves to con
trol your profile curves. Remember,
the order is important. Select the
2 rail curves FIRST, then select the
profile curve.

Tutorial: Rhino13
Revolve:
Revolve is a command that creates a surface
from profile curves, a revolution axis, and angle.
First draw a profile curve that you want to revolve.
Then click Revolve. Rhino then asks you for the
curves to revolve. You can select more than one.
Normally these curves are 2-dimensional or flat,
but they can also be 3D. Then choose a
revolution axis. This is the axis around which
our objects will rotate (think of a CD. A line
drawn straight up and down through the
center of the hole would be the axis of
rotation). The length of this line is not important,
only the direction. Then choose the angle through
which you want to rotate the curves. 360
is a full circle, 180 half a circle, and so on.
BlendSrf
Blend is a command that takes 2 different
surfaces and creates a third surface that
literally blends between the first two. There
are different options available for the blend,
which we will cover here and that are also
covered in the Command- Help. Invoke the
BlendSrf command. Rhino will ask you to
choose the edges to blend together. Choose
the two edges facing one another. Hit enter.
Rhino will then present you with an options
box, and several options from the command
line. Notice the Continuity options are set to
G2. The number describes how “strong” the
influence is from that edge’s surface.
Change the Continuity _1 from G0, one by
one, to G4 to see how this affects the shape
of the resulting surface. Move the sliders to
change the strength of influence for each
edge. You can also edit the handles directly
to change the shape of the blended surface.
-

Tutorial: Rhino14
ChamferSrf:
Chamfer creates a beveled edge on
two adjacent surfaces. Invoke the
ChamferSrf command. Rhino will then
prompt you for the two surfaces to be
chamfered. Choose the two surfaces
and hit enter. After hitting enter, Rhino
then prompts you for the distances
to chamfer. You can cut more from
one surface than the other if you
make these distances unequal.
FilletSrf:
Fillet is much like chamfer in that
it acts on two adjacent surfaces. Instead
of producing a bevel, or cut; however,
fillet produces a radius joint. Invoke
the FilletSrf command. Rhino will
prompt you for two sur faces.
• Choose the two surfaces and hit
enter. Rhino will then prompt you
for a radius to cut.
• Choose your radius and hit enter.

Tutorial: Rhino15
Contour
Contour creates a series of cut planes
through an object and makes curves at those
locations. It is possible to choose the distance
between contours and their direction.
• Choose an object for contour. Invoke the command.
• Choose the base point for the contour plane
(it does not matter where this is).
• Choose a second point. The second point
determines the direction that the contours will be
created, so if you choose a point directly above the
first point on the z-axis, your contours will all be
made in the x-y direction.
If you set the JoinCurves option to ByCon
tourPlane, each contour curve will be a single
object. When you hit enter, the command will
generate contour curves.

Tutorial: Rhino16
Explode:
Explode will take a solid object and separate
it into its constituent parts. For instance a cube
would become 6 separate surfaces when
exploded. Sometimes this is useful because
we want access to each side individually. More
often than not, however, it is easier to work
with one side at a time. We can extract sides
individually by using:
Commands that work similarly in
AutoCAD and Rhino for you to try:
Trim, extend (works with surfaces as
well), stretch, scale, rotate (in addition
to rotate3d), mirror, array, chamfer and
fillet (works with curves as well),
Commands that are new but
work like commands we have
already covered to try:
Curveboolean – Booleans with curves
Moveedge – Move the edge of a surface
Maelstrom – Rotates part of a surface, solid, or
curve leaving the rest stationary
Arrayhole – Creates an array of holes in a solid or surface
Deletehole – Removes a hole in a solid or surface
Rotateedge – Rotates an edge of a surface
Rotateface – Rotates a face in a solid
Rotatehole – Rotates a hole in a surface or solid

Tutorial: Rhino17
To create an object in Rhino,
click on one of the Solids
from the solids tool pallet:
This box is defined by two points
and a height.
• Height
• Two base points
Note, use multiple windows to create
your box. Define the base points in either
the top view or the perspective view,
then activate ortho at the bottom of the
modeling window, and then extrude the
box in either front or side view.
Creating complex objects in Rhino
is easy to do using the boolean
operations. Simply build the object
you want to cut and place it in the
correct location relative to the object
you want to keep.
• Object to cut
(Shown highlighted)
• Object to keep
• Cut object

Adjusting Surfaces by Editing its Control Points
Along with normal objects, you can
adjust “blobs.” Start with a sphere.
Click on the
Solids Menu>Sphere>Center,
Radius. Click in the screen and draw a sphere.
• You can now move the control points
that define the sphere by clicking
on the point editing tool. With the
sphere selected, click on this tool
to turn on point editing.
Now in plan or front view select a
series of points. Then click and drag
the points stretching out the sphere.
Note: This will not work with
rectangular solids, but will work
with spheres and surfaces..
• Control points on, and some
points selected:
• Selected points moved and
sphere is deformed
• Rendered Sphere.
This process can be applied to
almost any Nurbs surface.
Tutorial: Rhino18

Tutorial: Rhino19
Lofting a Surface
Advanced modeling features
Some of the features below are very specific
to Rhino. Others will appear as variations of
tools in other modeling programs.
Lofting a Surface
The term lofting comes from the ship
building industry. This is the method of
placing a surface over a ship skeleton. In
Rhino you generate a lofted surface over
a series of curves spaced out. To loft a
surface, create a series of splines, and
arrange them to define the soon to be
formed surface.
Select Surface>Loft. At the command prompt,
click on the splines in the correct order. Click Enter
or Right Click when done. The following window
will appear: (Note, click to one side of the lines to set
the direction of the loft) Now in plan or front view
select a series of points. Then click and drag the
points stretching out the sphere.
• The Loft Options box will appear.
• Under the Style drop down you will
have a number of loft options:
• Normal: The most mathematically efficient loft
• Loose: Will create a smoother loft that is not based
exactly off of the loft curves, but averaged.
• Tight: Constructs a loft that is exactly on the various loft curves
• Straight Sections: Will create a series of ruled surfaces between loft lines
• Developable: Will create lofts that can be flattened out on a single sheet.
• Uniform: Guarantees that every control point affects the surface
exactly the same way.

Lofting a Surface
Rebuilding Surfaces
• Selecting this will create a
closed lofted surface. Check
and click preview to see.
• Align Curves: This is used to flip
the direction of a curve.
• Rebuild With Control Points.
This allows you to set a number
of curve divisions refining the
smoothness of the surface.
Set the loft to rebuild with 20 points
and click Preview to see the sur
face. If you like it, click OK.
• The Lofted Surface
Rebuilding Surfaces:
Often after you create a curve or surface,
you will need to rebuild it. Rebuilding a
curve or surface changes the number of
points in a curve or the number of points in
a profile curve used in creating a surface.
Each point then has a line (Iso-curve)
running through it. Rebuilding a curve or
surface changes the number of points in
each line. This will, in effect, make the curve
orsurface smoother (reducing points)
or more flexible (increasing curves).
Select a surface or curve, then click
on Edit>Rebuild
• Change the number of points in
both the U and V Directions
• Keep the Curve Degree to 3 or
lower typically
• Click Preview to preview the new
Curve or Surface. Click OK to rebuild.
Tutorial: Rhino20

Rebuilding Surfaces and Curves
Trim and Split
• Rebuilt Curve with only
6 control points
•
• Original Surface with
20 Control Points
• Same Surface “Rebuilt”
with only 6 control points
Trim and Split:
When dealing with complex surfaces,
you will most likely need to cut holes
and trim surfaces. This can be done
with the boolean tools, but there are
times when they do not provide the
level of detail that the trim and split
tool offer. Trim and Split are basically
the same tool, the only difference
is that the trim tool will delete the piece
being cut. Split will just cut the objects.
• Trim
• Split
• In this example, I have
placed a cylinder through
a lofted surface.
Tutorial: Rhino21
Original Curve with
16 Control Points

Trim and Split
• Click on the Split Tool.
At the prompt, click on the lofted
Surface--the object to be split. Click
Enter. Then Click on the Cylinder.
This is the object to cut. Click Enter
to split the object
• The Object Split (Note: I deleted
the cylinder but there are two
objects remaining.)
The Trim Tool will automatically
delete the cutting object. Also in
this example, I just have the circle
shape. I do not need to extrude a
cylinder through the lofted shape.
• Click on the Trim Tool
At the Prompt: Select Cutting Objects,
choose the Circle and hit Enter. At the
Prompt: Select object to Trim, select
the lofted surface
Note: Do this through the Front El
evation, otherwise the lofted shape
would be cut through the perspec
tive view. If you click on the lofted
shape inside the circle, the inside
circle will be deleted. If you click
outside the circle, the outside will
be deleted.
Tutorial: Rhino22

Trim and Split
Patching a Surface
•
• Trimmed by clicking outside
the circle
Patching a Surface:
Patching a surface is used to create
a uniform surface from a series of
closed curves. The most common
use for this tool is generating terrain
models.
Select Surface>Patch
• At the Patch prompt, click in
order the closed curves to be
patched.
Adjust the setting to get the desired
result. Click on the preview button
to see a preview of the patched
surface. Click OK to generate the
patched surface.
Tutorial: Rhino23
Trimmed by clicking inside
the circle

Duplicating and Projecting Curves onto Surfaces
Duplicating and Projecting
Curves onto Surfaces:
You can generate curves from existing
geometry and then project that
onto other geometries.
In this example, I have added a
plane to the model with the trimmed
lofted surface. I am going to project
the holes onto the surface.
• Surface to project the
curve onto
• Lofted Surface with the hole
-
Step One:
Duplicate the Edge of the hole.
Click on Curve>Curve From
Objects>Duplicate Edge
At the Command Prompt, select the
edge to duplicate.
Note: Sometimes you will have to
click on many segments of an edge
to duplicate. If this is true, you will
also need to join the segments after
they are duplicated into one singe curve.
Tutorial: Rhino24

Step Two:
Project the duplicated edge curve
onto the surface.
Select Curve>Curve From
Objects>Project.
At the Command Prompt, Select
Surfaces...to project onto, select the
surface.
Note:You have to do this through
an orthogonal view. If you do it in
perspective view, it will perspectively
project the curve.
• Click the Surface to project onto
in an orthogonal view
• The curve projected onto the
surface.
Delete the surface and you are left
with the projected curve.
• Lofted Surface
• Filleted Surfaces
I lofted the two Edge curves and
filleted the intersection of the two
lofted surfaces.
Tutorial: Rhino25
Duplicating and Projecting Curves onto Surfaces

Capping Holes and Generating Surfaces from Edge Curves
Often you will need to cap holes. If
the curves that make up the edge
of the hole are planar (They all fall
inside a single plane), you can use
the Planar Holes tool.
• Select Surface>Planar Curves.
• Select the curves to cap and
Hit Enter. (Note: You can select
more than one curve.)
• Capped Surface
To cap a non-planar surface, you
will need to use the Edge Curves
tool. The problem with the edge
curve tool is there is a limit to the
number of curves you can select
(only 2-4 curves) To get around
this you can join additional curves.
However, the result can be less then
satisfactory.
A common use for the Surface From
Edge Curves is to box out two surfaces.
• Use this tool to create surfaces
along the two edges of the
existing surfaces. (Note: You
could loft it but it is hard to do it
on all four sides.)
Tutorial: Rhino26

Step One:
Snap Curves between the two Surfaces.
Using the curve tool, and with the
end point O-Snap active and Project
off, snap two lines between the
two surfaces.
• Two Curves Drawn between the
two surfaces.
•
Step Two:
Activate the Edge Curves tool
by Clicking on
Surface>Edge Curves
Select the 2 Curves and 2 Edges that
will make up the surface. The surface
is created.
• Model with all four surfaces
created
Tutorial: Rhino27

Object Manipulation using Caging
Caging allows you to transform a
complex object using a small number
of edit points.
Caging is a two step process, first
you define the shape (Cage) that
will be used to box around the object
and transform it.
To do this select Transform>Cage
Editing>Create Cage
At the prompt, draw a 3-point box
around the object and hit Enter. A
box is formed around the object.
The next step is to Edit the Cage
which will transform the object.
Click Cage Editing>Cage Edit.
At the prompt, Select Captive Objects,
select the objects to transform.
At the next Prompt, Select Control
Object, select the caged box.
At the next Prompt, select Global,
and points are created throughout
the cage.
• Select Points in the cage and
move the points
• Transformed Object
Tutorial: Rhino28

CageEdit
We will explore the options involved in a
CageEdit in this section. While we will
cover these commands in a detailed way,
there is additional explanation and video
help available in the CommandHelp
in Rhino. Start with a text object: it has
a fairly complex geometry, and since
the shape of letters is familiar, it will be
easy to distinguish the changes taking
place. TextObject will allow us to make
3D text. Now invoke the CageEdit
command.
The following options will appear
The control object is the object that we
will edit in order to change the target objects.
Let’s choose BoundingBox for the time
being. BoundingBox automatically generates
a box that surrounds the objects selected.
Rhino will then prompt for a coordinate
system. World is the default, but you can
also choose Cplane, if you have defined
a custom C-plane in your viewport. We will
be working with the world coordinates
for these examples. Rhino now prompts
you for the number of cage points in
the x, y, and z points. These directions
correspond to the world or c-plane
axis depending on your previous choice.
Choose the default of 4 points and hit
enter. A cage with corresponding points
will appear in Rhino. Pulling these
points will change the shape of all
of the letters within the cage.
Tutorial: Rhino29

Now try it with a different control
object. Use the Box option to create
a box that is located away from the
text. For all of the remaining options
use the same settings so it is
possible to see what just this single
change can do. When prompted,
choose Global as the Region to
Edit. When we deform the control
object, the changes to the target
object are very drastic. As a rule,
the further away from the control
object you are, the stronger the
changes.
Now create another CageEdit using
Box as the control geometry. Place
a portion of the object within the box
and a portion of the text outside of
it. Again, choose the same options
as before, but this time, choose
Local as the Region to Edit. You will
be prompted for a falloff distance.
The larger this number, the more of
the geometry outside of the box will
be affected. The upper image was
created with a smaller falloff than
the image below.
Tutorial: Rhino30

Control Points
In addition to controlling one geometry
with another, we can directly edit the
points that make up a surface or a
curve, as we saw last week. Move,
scale, bend, rotate, and all many
other tools also work on control
points. To turn on the control points
for a surface, hit F-10. To turn them
off hit control F-11.
Selu/Selv
You can select an entire row of
control points by selecting a single
point, and then running the SelU or
SelV command.
SetPt
You can align a series of points by
running the SetPt command. Choose
the points you would like to align
and then enter an orthogonal viewport.
Invoke the SetPt command. A dialog
will appear. Choose the axis to align
on, hit ok, and then choose a single
location for the group of aligned
points in the viewport.
Tutorial: Rhino31

Smooth:
It is also possible to smooth a
surface. Choose the control points
to smooth, and then invoke the
Smooth command. A dialog box
appears asking which direction to
smooth. You can choose any combination
of x, y, and z. The smooth
factor controls how much the surface
control points are smoothed.
SoftMove
Weight – control point weight dialog
Edit>Control Points>Insert control
point u or v toggle direction, changes
shape InsertKnot inserts control
points and maintains shape of surface
Tutorial: Rhino32

Blend Surface Feature
Rhino has a number of tools to match up
two separate surfaces. These are located
in the surface tools pallet, or in the surface
pull down menu.
• Fillet Surface
• Blend Surface
These are two surfaces that I want
to blend together to create a single
surface that will transition the two surfaces.
Step One:
Select “Surface” from the menu bar,
and then “Blend”.
Step Two:
In the command prompt at the top of
the window, under “Select First Set of
Edges”, click on the edges of the first
surface to blend. After you have
selected all of the edges, hit return
or right click.
Tutorial: Rhino33

The command prompt will now
say “Select Second Set of Edges”.
Select the second set of edges, and
hit return or right click.
Step Three:
At the command prompt “Select
Seam Point to Adjust. Press Enter
When Done” you will get some
additional options. You will also notice
that you will get two arrows. These
arrows allow you to adjust the location
of the seam to the blended surface
and adjust the direction of the surface.
• Two Arrows
• Seam of Blended Surface
Adjusted.
.
Also in this command prompt you
will notice three options “Flip Direction,
Automatic, and Natural” The flip
direction option allows you to orient
the arrows in the same direction to
avoid a twisted surface. Automatic will
generate the surface automatically.
Natural will give a more relaxed look
to the surface. Click Enter to Continue.
• A preview button will appear
where you can adjust the
settings.
• Generated Surface
Tutorial: Rhino34

Using Blocks in Rhino:
Often you will use the same part
created in Rhino many times. If this
is the case it is best to use blocks.
Blocks have two major advantages:
1. It keeps the files sizes small and
thus you can create complex models
without having large files sizes.
2. If you need to update the part,
all the instances of that part will be
updated.
• Complex Form that will be
turned into a block.
Select Edit>Blocks>Create Block
Definition.
At he prompt, select objects to
define block, click on objects and
hit Enter. At the Prompt, define base
point, click to set an insertion point
for the block. The following window
will appear:
The block Definition properties
will appear.
• Give the block a Name and hit OK.
-
Tutorial: Rhino35

Inserting a Block Definition:
After you create a block, you can
then insert instances of the block
into the Rhino model. An instance
is a reference of an original. This
is how you can keep the file sizes
down.
• Choose the Block to insert
• Select Various insertion settings
• Click OK to insert
• The block will be bound to the
mouse and when clicked, will
be inserted
Tutorial: Rhino36

Linking External Models
as Blocks:
Another powerful way to use blocks is to link
a series of external models into a “Master”
Rhino Model. This allows updates in different
models to be automatically updated in the
master model.
• Step One: Create a Block
from an external file. Select
Edit>Blocks>Insert Block
Instance
• Select File
• Select a Rhino Model to insert
Tutorial: Rhino37

Using Blocks in Rhino
• Linked File Name and Pathway
is displayed
Note: It is a good idea to keep
all files in the same folder to avoid
broken links
• Under External File, Choose
Link
• Click OK to place in model
• Linked Models
If changes are made in the original
model the changes will appear in
the model with the block definitions.
• Change Made to Original Model
File
• To update the Link Model, click
on Edit>Blocks>Block Manager
• Select the Block to Update, and
click on Update.
• Blocks are Updated
Tutorial: Rhino38

Make A 2D Drawing:
In Rhino you can generate a series
of 2D Drawings from 3D forms.
These drawings are a series of 2D
curves that can be imported into
Illustrator or Flash.
• To make a 2D drawing, click on
Dimensions>Make 2-D Drawing.
-
At the prompt, select objects to
The following Window will appear:
• Choose 4 View USA
• Click OK
• Four Views, Top, Front, Left,
and Perspective are created.
These views are located on the
ground plane. If you select a view
and export it from the top view it will
be oriented in the correct direction.
Tutorial: Rhino39

Basic Rendering
Key – The key light is the main light
and should be approximately twice
as bright as your fill light for regular
scenes, but can be up to 8 times as
bright for dramatic shadows.
Fill – The fill light helps to bring up
the level of the shadows.
Back – The back light should be
bright enough to create a light halo
around the back and side of your
rendered object.
Basic Lights:
Directional – Light that is similar to
the sun (it fills the render space with
a uniformly intense amount of light)
and creates a directional shadow
Spot – Light that is similar to a
stage spot-light. This has a limited
range of effect, so objects outside
of it will not be lit.
Point – Like a candle flame or light
bulb. Light radiates from a point.
Limited range.
Rectangular – Light radiates from a plane.
Linear – Light radiates from a line.
Set the Renderer to Rhino renderer
by going to : Render> Current Ren
derer> Rhino Render. In this dialogue,
you can change the resolution of your
image, the back ground color, set a
background image, and change
other options.
Tutorial: Rhino40

Constructing Page Layouts for
Printing, Background colors, and
Orienting objects
1. Select View > Page Layout > New Page Layout
2. In the New Page Layout dialog, choose printer
(or None), set the paper size to 11 x 17” landscape,
set the Initial Detail Count to 4, and click on the
OK button. The four viewports open at this time in
your drawing will appear in the layout viewports.
The Initial Detail Count refers to the number of
detail viewports that will be constructed
automatically by the system. If you choose 0,
you will have a blank page layout.
3. To manipulate the viewports, activate it by
double clicking inside it: you can rotate, pan,
zoom, and orbit, or by choosing the “Select
View” icon, change to a different view.
4. To lock at a detail, so the selected view is not
altered, select the edge of its box (it will turn
yellow), go to the Properties list, select detail,
and in the dialogue box and check “Lock”.
5. To add shading to a viewport, double click
on the viewport to enable it. Then left click on
-
Background color
Background colors for the screen are
found in the Options > Appearances >
Tutorial: Rhino41

AutoCAD to Rhino
Cleaning your AutoCAD drawing is one
of the most important parts of the process.
A clean .dwg will allow you to easily produce
a 3D model, while a messy .dwg can cause
many headaches in the long run.
Make a Copy of your Files:
Before you make any changes to your file,
it is recommended that you use File>SaveAs
to create a second set of files that will
become your underlay for modeling by
appending something to the end of the
filename. This is important as you do not
want to modify your working drawings
accidentally.
NOTE
It is recommended that you choose
AutoCAD 2004 as your filetype when you
SaveAs. The 2007 and 2010 filetypes
WILL typically NOT import into Rhino.
Delete Unneeded Information
It is important that we remove any
extraneous information from the drawing:
Text and Dimensions:
Delete all text and dimensions. You will
not need them in Rhino and they will
only serve to cause you headaches
if you leave them in your drawing.
Layers:
It is time to leave your layers behind. Turn
on all of your layers (assuming that you need
all of them in your model) and change all
of your layers to layer 0. You’ll likely find
that you have some objects that still appear
to be on a layer. These are probably
blocks that have been improperly
made. We will deal with blocks next.
Blocks:
You may find that the drawings you are
working with use blocks for washrooms
or bathrooms, kitchens, furniture, scalies
(people) and other non-architectural elements.
It is best to remove all of these blocks from
the drawing by deleting them. Blocks are
also often used to simplify the process of
drawing complex geometry. These blocks
should be simplified (by editing the block
directly or using bedit) and then exploded
using explode.
You may need to Edit>Select All and
change the layer of your objects to 0
one more time, as blocks can have
objects set to different layers nested
inside them.
NOTE
It is better to delete your unneeded
blocks before exploding them as you
will often have a hard time cleaning
up your drawing should you explode first.
Hatches:
Next, we will want to make sure that we clean
up any hatches from the drawing. You should
just delete these objects unless they are
highly specific (a brick pattern that has
been PROPERLY applied at the right scale.)
IF and ONLY IF you absolutely need a hatch
(think long and hard about this), you can
explode that hatch and it will import into Rhino.
Helpful Commands:
Purge, Qselect, Overkill
After deleting the above objects (block instances,
hatches, and objects on unneeded layers) you
will want to purge the file. This helps ensure that
your Rhino file will not have hundreds or possibly
even thousands of unused block definitions,
layers, hatch definitions, etc. taking up space
and slowing down your model.
Tutorial: Rhino42

AutoCAD to Rhino
Open Rhino and Choose
File>Import:
Make sure that you choose Auto
CAD drawing file in the type drop
down.
Your geometry should appear in
your Rhino model. Before doing
anything else, group the drawing.
This will allow you to select it as an
object, rather than line by line.
Create a new layer (right click on
the layer palette> New Layer):
and place your plan on it (select the
plan, right click the layer you made
and choose Change Object Layer):
Verify your units and dimensions
match in AutoCAD and Rhino by us
ing the distance command in both
AutoCAD and Rhino on the same
geometry.
Now we want to simply repeat the
process with each of the underlay
drawings you will be using.
Tutorial: Rhino43

For some of you who are coming
from AutoCAD 3D or SketchUp, the
workflow in Rhino may be a bit foreign.
This worksheet will describe two
possible methods for drawing in
3D space.
This is the default setup for viewports,
which will be familiar to many of you.
Each view is linked to a camera, and
can be changed by right clicking on
any of the viewport names.
It is best to understand how to draw
in 3D fairly early, usually right after
exploring the interface. In this view
port, I’ve drawn a line, which ap
pears to be starting on the grid, and
extending upward in the Z direction.
This is the reality. In general, when
you draw in a viewport. Unless you
specifically tell Rhino to draw in the
3rd dimension or OSnap to another
object, you will be drawing on the 2D
construction plane (the plane of the
gray grid—called the CPlane from
here on) shown in the view.
Interface
Tutorial: Rhino44

The first way to draw vertically (or in the 3rd
dimension not represented by the CPlane, as
this is possible in any viewport) is to use the
vertical command line option when invoking a
command. Many very basic commands have
this option.
The second is the coordinate system. When
drawing a curve, for example, you are able to
input coordinates for points using the command
line in the x,y,z format. This is going to use the
coordinate system defined by the CPlane of
the viewport you are working in. If you modify
the CPlane, make note of this! The third is to
draw objects to use as a template flat on the
CPlane and to simply rotate them in 3D the
appropriate amount. This can take some time
(you are still only drawing in 2D and then often
need to model further after placing your
templates) but can be a valid method for
working with certain object profiles.
The fourth involves modifying the CPlane and
can be difficult for some students to master.
(This is generally an intermediate skill: introduced
this after one has grasped the idea of how the
viewports are working, and feels comfortable
creating 3D geometry). You can create a
mobile construction plane tied to a piece of
geometry that you can then use to
edit your project:
Right clicking on a viewport brings up the
following context menu where you can change
viewport properties and edit which camera is
being used. It also provides us with the option
of creating a mobile CPlane.
If we have the following geometry, and we
want to create a mobile CPlane in the Front
view, we invoke the command and see the
following prompts:
Tutorial: Rhino45

We then choose the geometry
to represent our mobile CPlane.
I’ve chosen the small rectangle.
We will then be prompted to choose
a coordinate system starting with the
origin, and proceeding to the axes.
We will then be prompted if we want
the CPlane to automatically update
when we move the geometry.
Saying yes will cause the CPlane to
move when the geometry moves, as
can be seen here.
Remember to think about breaking
down modeling problems as a set
of procedures. There are many ways
to create a piece of geometry and it
is best to approach any object that
needs to be created as a problem
that needs to be solved. Often one
will see the end goal and not be able
to get beyond it’s complexity. Even
the most complex objects can be
broken down into a series of simpler
operations.
Tutorial: Rhino46

Tips for Users of Rhinoceros for Creating Models for 3D Printing
Tips for Users of Rhinoceros
for Creating Models for 3D
Printing
Rhino can be a valuable tool for both
the creation of 3D mesh and as a tool
for conversion of parametric based
geometry to polygon geometry. Rhino
also imports a large number of file
formats, which can be converted to the
.stl file format.
Exporting to .stl
Prior to exporting to .stl format follow
these diagnostic tool to check the
quality of the solid. .stl Mesh Export
Diagnostics For some rapid prototyping
machines, .stl files must contain
completely closed (watertight)
polygon mesh objects. You might
want to do this to make sure the
meshes really do fit together before
exporting them for use in an expensive
.stl job. Use Join, then Weld
(angle=180), UnifyMeshNormals to
turn a group of meshes into a single
watertight mesh object. Then use
SelNakedMeshEdgePt to find the
open (naked) edges.
Watertightness
• Selectthemeshobjects.
• FromtheEditmenu,clickJoin.
• Conceptuallythisgetsallthetri -
angles into one bag, but does not
glue the edges together. (The
situation is similar to having a bunch
of surfaces that all fit together but
have not been joined into a Solid.)
• Selectthenewmeshobject.
• FromtheToolsmenu,clickPolygon
Mesh, then click Weld.
• AttheAngletoleranceprompttype
180. An angle toleranc180. An angle
tolerance of 180 tells the Weld
command to glue adjacent triangle
points together no matter what.
• FromtheToolsmenu,clickPolygon
Mesh, then click Unify Normals. This
changes all the triangles so they are
oriented the same way, that is, if two
triangles share an edge, then they
have the same idea of up.
• Toseeiftheresulthasanyholesor
gaps, type SelNakedMeshEdgePt.
If a mesh point is highlighted, then
it is part of a “naked” triangle edge.
Note
When exporting NURBS objects to .stl,
Rhino converts the NURBS objects to
polygon mesh objects. If Rhino cannot
create a closed .stl file, the Export
Incomplete Solids dialog box asks if
you want to export anyway. The
tolerances you set in the Document
Properties dialog box, Units page
do not affect the .stl export tolerance.
Instead, to control .stl accuracy, use
the mesh tolerance settings from the
Detailed Controls section of the mesh
dialog that appears during .stl export.
Set the Max distance edge to srf value
to the .stl tolerance you desire.
Weld Polygon Meshes
•Selectthegroupofpolygonmeshes
objects.
•AttheAngletoleranceprompt,enter
a maximum angle between mesh
polygon normals where welding of
points should occur. If two naked
mesh edge points of a selected mesh
are coincident and their neighboring
faces are within the angle tolerance
of each other, they are replaced by a
single meshe of 180 tells
point. If the two points were from
different “sub-meshes” of a joined
mesh, the meshes become one mesh
that cannot be exploded.
•Toperformasimilaroperationwith
control points, see the SetPt
command. Welding polygon meshes
affect rendering, texture mapping on
mesh objects, and file export for
stereolithography.
Unify Normals
UnifyMeshNormals is primarily for
making sure the order of the vertices
in all polygons in welded polygon
meshes are the same.
•Selectasingleunjoinedmesh.The
normals of all the faces of the mesh
now point to one side of the mesh.
The UnifyMeshNormals command
changes the direction of the surface
normals of a mesh object so they all
face the same direction. This
command is useful for tidying up
your mesh objects for export into
3D Studio.To test if the mesh needs
to be unified:
• Filemenu:Properties
• OntheRenderpage,cleartheRender
Backfaces checkbox.
• Renderyourmesh.Ifsomeofthe
faces that should render disappear,
their normals are flipped. Use
UnifyMeshNormals to make them all
match.
Note
If UnifyMeshNormals does not seem
to affect your mesh, explode it. Once
the normals are correct, re-join the
meshes. A polygon can have two types
of normals: vertex normals and a face
normal. All polygons have a face normal
direction, but many polygon meshes do
Tutorial: Rhino47
not have vertex normals. For example,
3DFace object, all mesh primitives and
all polygon meshes imported in formats
other than 3DM and 3DS do not have
vertex normals at all.
In general, the order of the vertices in
a polygon determines the face normal
direction. The order of the vertices
should be either clockwise or
counterclockwise. The normal direction
is determined from the vertices using
the right hand rule.
Select Naked Edge Points
The selected naked edge points
command shows where polygon mesh
vertices are not completely surrounded
by faces. Joined meshes, such as are
made by Mesh Box, have naked mesh
edge points where the sub-meshes are
joined.
To eliminate naked mesh edge points,
move them to make them match in
pairs, then weld them to make a single
mesh that cannot be exploded. Edges
that formerly rendered sharp will shade
rounded, unless you use FlatShade.
•.stlToolstoolbar:ShowandSelect
Naked Mesh Edge Points
Command line: SelNakedMeshEdgePt
•Selectpolygonmeshesfornaked
edge point search prompt, select
polygon meshes and press Enter.
Points at edges of polygon
meshes are selected.

Introduction to Rhino

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Introduction to Rhino