Lesson 1: "Rhinos don't bite!" or "Optional comfort"
Well, now you got that great program Rhinoceros 3D, and you are thrilled to start it and to try everything out?
Well, don't try to trick me, I know that isn't so, or you wouldn't read this tutorial now. I think you started it, saw a lot of buttons, played around with it a bit but you had absolutely no idea what you were doing or what you should do, and so you got frustrated, exitted Rhino and showed the skirmish AI that you were really angry...
But that you came and read this shows me that you are willing to learn, so let's begin. Start Rhino again. And don't worry, this time I'm with you... ;)
This is what you should see now:
Lotsa buttons, aren't there? And there are even more!
But hey, that is absolutely no problem!!!
A) Rhino3D is the easiest modelling program I know...be glad that there actually are buttons!
B) For a TA model you don't need 99% of the functions of Rhino!
And to make it even easier, we'll set some options now to make it easier for you to model. Don't think now I would tell you to use some "I'm-a-beginner" options that restrict the functionality of the program. The options we're going to use are essential if you want to model precise, and also very good for comfort. You can recognize a beginner when you see that he has not set these options!
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The "Options"-button
Left-click on the "Options"-button. A new window will appear with a lot of options you can modify. Look at these pics to see how to modify the options (changes are marked red! Sorry for the german buttons at the bottom... ;) ):
We activate the Grid Snap and make F4 the hotkey for the "joinmesh" command. (The other options are irrelevant for now).
So what do these changes mean?
We make a shortcut key for joining meshes together. We'll need it later. We make the hotkey because you need the command very often when modelling for TA, but there is no button for it. We assign it to F4, feel free to make it any other key, it doesn't matter.
Grid snap means that the cursor is not positionable everywhere, but "snaps" on the grid. That is extremely helpful for precise modelling. You'll see what it mean, okay?
You can modify how the grid behaves in the "grid options":
The units used here are to be seen relative, they are no centimeters or inches or whatever.
You see a entry field called "Snap Spacing" there. A number of 1.0 mean that the cursor will snap at every line of the grid (If grid spacing is 1). A value of 2 would mean that it stops every 2nd line, and so on. Also values like 0.5 are possible and sometimes more comfortable.
The "Grid spacing" effects how close the lines are together.
The next options explains itself.
"Grid extents" is how big the Grid is. If your model is bigger than the grid you may find it hard to model, so entering a higher value here makes the grid bigger.
Wow! And did we model anything until now?! No! These were only the preparations to begin! Oh my god!
But don't be shocked now: We'll save the settings now so that you don't have to make this every time you model something! ;)
Open the "File" menu and click on "Save as
Template". Rhino got a default folder for templates , simply type in the filename for the new template, for example "mytemp.3dm".
To make sure Rhino uses the template from now on, click on "New" in the file menu and select your template file. Then check the box at the bottom left saying "Use when Rhino starts" as you can see it here on the screenshot:
Click on "Open" (It's "Öffnen" in german, sorry! ;) )
So, that's it! Now exit Rhino and start it again, and if you see this:
At the top of the screen, we were successful and we can advance to the next lesson! Well done!
If not, you should look if you did everything right, or you should mail me that I explained it wrong! ;)
Click here to jump to lesson 2 without the theory crap!
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Words & more:
- Template -
A template is nothing else but a Rhino 3d model file. In such a file, Rhino stores everything, not only the model but also the options and viewport positions (Like if you want to make pics of your models for an isometric 2d-game and you needed two hours to find the correct angle, you wouldn't want to redo that every time). A template now is a model Rhino3d loads as soon as it starts or when you start a new model. Most often it only contains your preferred options and viewport info, but it can also contain a model. As I said, it's nothing else but a model file that is loaded everytime when Rhino starts. It only has got a different name. Weird, isn't it?
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