Project faces onto curved surfaces

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apeltauer
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Project faces onto curved surfaces

Post by apeltauer »

Hi all,
i want to introduce a new feature i have developed for the part workbench. The feature is able to do the following:
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Project a logo, text or any face,wire,edge to a surface. With the projection part it is possible to create a solid or wire. I use this created solid to create a cut with the underlying solid.

Simple how to:
1. I have create a new feature which can be found in the part workbench with this icon
Part_ProjectionOnSurface.png
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"
2. Open the dialog
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3. First you have to select a projection surface
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Last edited by Kunda1 on Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: renamed thread for clarity (grammar)
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apeltauer
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by apeltauer »

4. Choose what you want to select. It is possible to choose a single edge, a wire or a face
5. I go with the faces
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6. Now you can set the extrude height and the depth you want to put the projected solid in to your face
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7. Hit OK --> You just have created a projected solid.
8. Select your face solid and your just created projected solid and make a cut.
9 DONE... :)

The source code can be found here: https://github.com/apeltauer/FreeCAD (https://github.com/apeltauer/FreeCAD/bl ... urface.cpp)

Can i commit my code to the master branch, or is their a pre 0.19 branch or something?
Is someone interested to help with a little how to video, doc, wiki text.... ???
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chrisb
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by chrisb »

Nice tool, is it always a vertical projection or does it wrap around a cylinder or sphere?

As for placing it in Part workbench: I'm not sure if it should live there with its more basic tools. I would rather expect it in something like Surface WB.

Final remark about wording: Although this is a feature in the software sense, that notion is widely used in PartDesign workbench for what is modeled there. So you might better call it something else such as a "tool" or a "new function".
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apeltauer
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by apeltauer »

It makes the projection and the extrude along the direction which is choosen. See the picture in step 2. The initial direction is the camera direction when starting the function. With the x,y,z buttons it is possible to set the direction to x,y or z.
I think the part wb would be the best place, because the tool creates a solid.
dxp.dev
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by dxp.dev »

Could we have it on the Part WB, the Surface WB and the Part Design WB ? So that we don't need to change WB to use it ?
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GeneFC
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by GeneFC »

In most cases it is not necessary to actually open a workbench to use its tools.

Many experienced FreeCAD users have created a custom toolbar to access tools from other workbenches.

Use the menu item Tools >> Customize >> Toolbars to create a new toolbar.

I am not disagreeing with your request; merely showing a quick way to get around the current situation.

Gene
dxp.dev
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by dxp.dev »

GeneFC wrote: Sat Jan 26, 2019 3:24 pm In most cases it is not necessary to actually open a workbench to use its tools.

Many experienced FreeCAD users have created a custom toolbar to access tools from other workbenches.

Use the menu item Tools >> Customize >> Toolbars to create a new toolbar.

I am not disagreeing with your request; merely showing a quick way to get around the current situation.

Gene
Nice, I didn't know that, thanks.
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TheMarkster
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by TheMarkster »

apeltauer wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:02 pm Hi all,
i want to introduce a new feature i have developed for the part workbench. The feature is able to do the following:
Thank you for this. Could you please document it in the wiki here?

https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Part_Module
openBrain
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by openBrain »

apeltauer wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:05 pm Can i commit my code to the master branch, or is their a pre 0.19 branch or something?
Hi apeltauer, nice job. AFAIK, there is no greenhouse or whatever. You just make a pull request to the main FreeCAD GH repo. ;)

Some ideas for potential improvements :
  • Constant depth regarding the projection surface average plane (would be similar to a standard extrude)
  • Get the projection direction from an edge
  • Get the projection direction from a plane (perpendicular vector)
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apeltauer
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Re: Project faces onto bended surface

Post by apeltauer »

TheMarkster wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:10 am Thank you for this. Could you please document it in the wiki here?
https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Part_Module
I will try to do the wiki this week....
openBrain wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 11:35 am Some ideas for potential improvements :
  • Constant depth regarding the projection surface average plane (would be similar to a standard extrude)
  • Get the projection direction from an edge
  • Get the projection direction from a plane (perpendicular vector)
I will see how i can bring in the improvements...
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