yorik wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 7:02 pm
Then, we could use it as a base for other rebar objects, instead of a sketch. But then, instead of calculating an extrusion, it would just copy the base rebar. So you could have one base stirrup, then place series of that stirrup, with different spacings and quantities, in different situations. That would be pretty simple to code, and I think pretty flexible. How does that sound?
I'm certainly fine with whatever - I'm mostly interested in seeing the rebar retain it's sizing and spacing relationship with the structure as the structure dimensions are changed (hence my interest in a constrained sketch and automatic recompute for the solids).
yorik wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 7:02 pm
About Joel's experiments, that's interesting. The current rebar tool is made to work with any 2D object that can be used as an extrusion path, being sketch or any other object. I think the best way to work with an automatic offset from existing edges would indeed be to create an intermediary object, that would be used as a base for the rebar.
The only complicating factor to this approach (as I've considered it), has been more complex rebar shapes. In my example, I used a simple straight bar. To place it, I selected three edges. The first and third provided the edges from which the bar ends were offset. The second was the edge to which the bar itself was held parallel. A more complex shape could require more references.
Nevertheless, because I transformed the rebar coordinate system so that the x-axis was always along the reference edge (the second edge selected), it didn't matter how the structure was rotated or which face I chose, and that made orienting and constraining the rebar really easy. I don't assume, however, that it's better. It solves one problem with the rebar tools as they are, but trades off a bit on the user experience. It doesn't really add that much, IMO.
yorik wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 7:02 pm
Working with sketches is useful from a graphical interface point of view, but programmatically I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to use another kind of object, maybe a combination of the lattice shapebinder, to create a copy of some edges form the solid, and a Part2Doffset?
Definitely out of my depth
It's got me curious though - I should start playing around with that stuff...