- [Instructor] So here I wanna talk about mesh surfaces.
Now there's several mesh surfaces
that you can use and I'm basically gonna talk
about Through Curves, Studio Surface,
and just as a note, you also have
what's called Through Curve Mesh.
They all operate similarly in that you're picking curves,
sections, and to drive a shape,
but with a Through Curve Mesh
you also have to pick cross strings
or kinda like a guide string.
Through Curves you don't have to do that.
Studio Surface is kind of a combination
of both of these in that you can pick
two sections and no guides, you can pick
two sections, one guide, two sections, three guides.
You can also pick one section, one guide,
so it has a lot of additional options.
And yes, they all do something a little
different mathematically, so you may pick the exact
same curves to create a Studio Surface
versus a Through Curves or a Through Curve Mesh,
and end up with slightly different results.
So it's good to make sure that
you're getting the best result.
So you may have to make the surface a couple of times
unless you're sure that you're getting exactly
what you want then again, you may have
to go back and make the surface a couple times
using a different operator.
So in this case, start out with Through Curves,
go into Through Curves, now I need to go in
and make sure I have my selection intent set.
I'm just gonna use Single Curve,
pick this curve for my first section.
Pick this curve for my second section.
Now the alignment is important,
so here, because I'm using a single section
or single segment in section one,
single segment in sketch two,
it's not as critical, but I still, in this case,
prefer to go to Parameter, turn on Preserve Shape,
and make sure that this is an arc,
this is an arc, that I'm getting the simplest shape
in between those two.
If I look down here at Output Surface Options,
you also have additional options as far as
what that surface is doing, the complexity of it.
And I'll come back to this here in a minute.
So for now, what I'm gonna do is
just show you basically my Through Curves.
This is almost like a ruled surface,
this is just shooting straight across.
Another thing that I can do with my sections,
let me go ahead and cancel that,
I'm gonna go to Home, create an extrusion,
I wanna extrude this out, go zero,
and reverse, and we'll just go out 50 over here.
Hit my Apply, I'll do the same thing on this side.
Select OK, go back into Surface,
Through Curves, this time, I'm gonna change my
selection intent, say Single Curve.
Curve one, curve two.
Here, I'm gonna come down and apply a continuity.
You'll notice that it's currently set to G zero.
If I change this, and I turn on apply all
'cause I want both sides, to say tangent,
it's gonna ask me what do I want to apply a continuity to?
I can pick this side face here,
go to the next one, pick this side face here.
Now you can see the shape has changed,
doing a tangent transition across from one to the other.
If I want to I can also do a curvature transition as well.
So you can see that I have a nice curvature shape
coming across, in this case, you'll see
that it's also not necessarily coming down
and meeting the ground plane that I have set up.
That could be because of the flow direction
that I have right now, it's not specified.
If I change it to say something like Isoparametric,
what it's doing is it's looking in the isoparametric
lines at the surface, the isoparms,
and it's making this perpendicular
to the isoparms at the surface.
If I go to perpendicular, it's making the surface
actually perpendicular to the edge
of the surface not the isoparms.
There is a difference, one is the internal
mathematical calculation, the isoparms,
the other is perpendicular.
It's based off of the geometry that you're looking at,
so it does a slightly different calculation.
So here, based off of your first section,
your last section, you may need to go in there
and adjust the way the surface flows.
Also, if I go down to the output,
I can change this to say, you know,
you have construction set to normal.
A lot of times I like to use a simple construction.
If it can, it'll simplify the surface even more.
You may get a slight deviation from the original
normal construction, but you end up
with a much simpler, cleaner surface typically speaking.
So oftentimes I will use the simple construction.
Now that being said you'll notice
that it doesn't quite hit these curves.
If I do want to hit those curves,
I'm gonna go ahead and hide this,
I can go in and use a Studio Surface
or a Through Curve Mesh.
Here I'm just gonna talk about the Studio Surface.
The Through Curve Mesh is similar enough
that if you understand this you can
go back and use a Through Curve Mesh.
So I'll go into Studio Surface,
and now it's asking for my primary curves.
This is my first curve here, and I'm gonna add a new set.
This is my second curve, and you'll notice
it looks just like the Through Curves, right?
I didn't pick anything, do anything,
just like the Through Curves.
So I'm gonna change this now to say tangent,
pick this to be tangent there,
again, very similar to the Through Curves.
You'll see that I have that lifting up,
I have my flow direction.
Again, if I go Isoparametric so again
this is very similar to my Through Curve option.
It may look just slightly different
because mathematically what it's doing internal
to the surface is different, so just pay attention to that.
That's why I said you may want to check
which one gives you the better surface.
Other thing that I can do with this now is
I can add cross curves or guide curves.
So in this case if I needed to add a guide curve
I can come over here, select a guide curve,
pick this curve, now you'll notice
it's asking for a tangent face.
Do I have a tangent face for that, no I don't.
So I'm just gonna turn off Apply to All,
and I'm gonna come down and say G zero.
As soon as I say G zero, I don't have a tangent face
or any sort of constraint on that side, which I could.
It goes ahead in this case, it applies that guide curve.
So now, or cross curve.
So now I'm gonna add a new set,
do the same thing here, I'm gonna pick this curve.
Again, don't panic, it's not that it can't make the surface
with your inputs, it's just, it can't make the surface
with the way the input is set up.
So the last guide curve, change that to,
again, G zero, remember I don't want
to apply this to everything.
So I wanna make sure that's turned off.
So now I know that surface is going through
that curve, going through that curve,
and it's also being imposed as far as tangency
across the boundaries on either side.
If I were to do something like,
let me go ahead and select OK,
let me double-click on it, just so I keep it.
If I were to say Apply to All,
and change this to G zero, and select OK,
there's no guarantee across this boundary
from here to here that it is tangent.
At these corners, where the guides come in,
it will be, but internally it may not be.
So if I look at this, you'll see I may have a break in here.
So if I double-click on this, actually I'll just undo it,
just undo what I just did, you can see
that there's a subtle shift because now the tangencies
that I had initially imparted are there.
So basically the constraints for your mesh surfaces
are that the curves of the mesh surfaces,
like if you want to impose tangency,
these minimally have to be tangent.
If you want to impose curvature,
these minimally have to be curvature.
And then the surface basically takes everything up
across the rest of that boundary.
So if I double-click on it you'll notice
once again, let me go ahead and just shrink the continuity,
look down here, I have my alignment methods,
and within my Studio Surface you have the option
to switch strings, in this case,
it's not really gonna do too much.
Basically, it just takes the sections
and makes some guides and takes the guides
and makes some sections.
So you have those options, and again,
you have your alignment methods,
your parameter, arc length, by point.
It's a very comprehensive tool,
extremely powerful, and again, you don't necessarily need
to have, if I come over here and remove that
as a guide, it's still makes that surface.
I can in fact do the same thing.
I can come over here and remove that as a section
and you can see that it does it.
I have one section.
I have one guide.
And then if I want to add a new guide
I can come back down and add a new guide.
So it's a very flexible tool, and again,
it's a combination of the Through Curves,
the Through Curve Mesh.
So if you get familiar with this,
you'll be able to use the others.
But again, mathematically internally you don't see it.
What it does internally, but it does calculate
the surface math slightly different.
So you may end up with again slightly different results.