Rhino 3D Primer

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

Tutorial: Rhino2
Interface:
Icons,Menus,Pallettes,ViewManipu -
lation, Command Help
Rhino is designed as a Nurbs Mod-
eler. Nurbs stands 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 malleable for the designer. In
traditional Modelers, surfaces are
defined by a series of flat planes,
joined together to create a faceted
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.
Rhino 3D Basic
Modeling Tools
Rhino has a typical Modeling inter-
face. 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.
Tool and Command Prompt
View Controls
THE MODELING WINDOWS
Properties Panel
Rendering Controls
Snap Etc. Controls

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

• 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

Tutorial: Rhino6
Most of the items in the Tools pal-
ette can also be found in the Menus
palette at the top or the screen. In
the Menus palettes there are 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 typi-
cal pallet of object primitives
that can be created.
• Solid Editing Tools: These
include Difference, Union, and
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, sec-
tion curves, etc.
• Mesh Tool Palette. This is used
to extract mesh surfaces and
objects from nurbs surfaces.
This is useful for exporting into
other programs. You can also
create direct mesh objects with-
out creating a nurbs object first.

Tutorial: Rhino7
Rhino, as mentioned above, is primarily a
Nurbs Modeler. Nurbs stands for Non-
Uniform Rational B-Splines. This basically
means that smooth surfaces can be cre-
ated through mathematical formulas.
In traditional Modelers, surfaces are
defined by a series of flat planes joined
together to create a faceted surface.
Nurbs modelers allow you to create
smooth complex surfaces by defining a
couple of points that can then be ma-
nipulated.
Points:
[A point shows an exact position or loca-
tion 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 multi-segmented lines called curves.
The shape of the curve depends on the
mathematical formula used to gener-
ate 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.

Tutorial: Rhino8
Solids
In Rhino, surfaces can be joined to-
gether 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,
Pyramid
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 “Rect-
angle” and then “ExtrudeCrv.” If the
capped option is active, the extru-
sion 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.

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 group-
ing. If you “Group” the objects are
related organizationally not geomet-
rically: 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 explod-
ing 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 en-
ter 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 coor-
dinate do not change, only the orienta-
tion. 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 ob-
ject, 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 com -
mand.
“Plane ” command:
Creates a planar surface element
based on the coordinates entered.
“PlanarSrf ” command:
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

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 Re-
volve. Rhino then asks you for the curves
to revolve. You can select more than
one. Normally these curves are 2-dimen-
sional 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 differ-
ent 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 be
tween 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 deter
mines 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 con
tour 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 individu-
ally. 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 cre-
ate your box. Define the base points
in either the top view or the per-
spective 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 op-
erations. 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 high
lighted)
• 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 rectan-
gular 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. Re
building a curve or surface changes
the number of points in each line.
This will, in effect, make the curve or
surface 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 Curve with 16 Control
Points
• Original Surface with 20 Control
Points
• Same Surface “Rebuilt” with
only 6 control points
Trim and Split:
When dealing with complex sur-
faces, 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

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 he 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.
• Note: 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 inside the
circle
• 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

Duplicating and Projecting Curves onto Surfaces
Duplicating and Projecting
Curves onto Surfaces:
You can generate curves from exist-
ing 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 seg-
ments of an edge to duplicate. If
this is true, you will also need to join
the segments after they are dupli-
cated into one singe curve.
Tutorial: Rhino24

Duplicating and Projecting Curves onto Surfaces
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

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 Proj-
ect 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 num-
ber of edit points.
Caging is a two step process, first
you define the shape (Cage) that
will be used to box around the ob-
ject 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 Ob-
jects, select the objects to trans-
form.
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 avail-
able 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 Bound-
ingBox for the time being. Bound-
ingBox 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 C-
plane, if you have defined a custom
C-plane in your viewport. We will
be working with the world coordi-
nates 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 op-
tions 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 com-
mand. 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 com-
bination of x, y, and z. The smooth
factor controls how much the sur-
face control points are smoothed.
SoftMove
Weight – control point weight dialog
Edit>Control Points>Insert con-
trol point u or v toggle direction,
changes shape
InsertKnot inserts control points and
maintains shape of surface
Tutorial: Rhino32

Blend Surface Feature
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 ad-
ditional 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 set-
tings.
• 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 mod-
els 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 Man-
ager
• 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 Draw-
ing.
At the prompt, select objects to
draw, and select the objects.
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 choos-
ing 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 the shaded viewport command
icon.
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 head-
aches 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 impor-
tant as you do not want to modify your
working drawings accidentally.
NOTE
It is recommended that you choose Au -
toCAD 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 ex-
traneous 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, scal-
ies (people) and other non-architectural
elements. It is best to remove all of
these blocks from the drawing by delet-
ing them. Blocks are also often used to
simplify the process of drawing com-
plex 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 ap-
plied 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 defini-
tions, 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 for
-
eign. 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 com-
mand 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 tem-
plate 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 af-
ter placing your templates) but can be a valid
method for working with certain object pro-
files.
The fourth involves modifying the CPlane and
can be difficult for some students to master.
(This is generally an intermediate skill: intro-
duced 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 fol-
lowing 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 fol-
lowing 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 qual-
ity 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 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 can-
not create a closed .stl file, the Export
Incomplete Solids dialog box asks if
you want to export anyway.
The tolerances you set in the Docu-
ment 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 poly-
gon normals where welding of points
should occur. If two naked mesh edge
points of a selected mesh are coinci-
dent and their neighboring faces are
within the angle tolerance of each other,
they are replaced by a single mesh
point. If the two points were from differ-
ent “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 render-
ing, texture mapping on mesh objects,
and file export for stereolithography.
Unify Normals
UnifyMeshNormals is primarily for mak-
ing 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 com-
mand 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,cleartheRen -
der Backfaces checkbox.
•Renderyourmesh.Ifsomeofthe
faces that should render disappear,
their normals are flipped. Use UnifyMe-
shNormals 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 nor-
mals: vertex normals and a face nor-
mal. All polygons have a face normal
direction, but many polygon meshes do
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 coun-
terclockwise. The normal direction is
determined from the vertices using the
right hand rule.
Select Naked Edge Points
The selected naked edge points com-
mand 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 poly-
gon meshes and press Enter. Points at
edges of polygon meshes are selected.
Tutorial: Rhino47

Rhino 3D Primer

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Rhino 3D Primer