ArchCut for V4 Plugin (now called SectionTools in V5 WIP)

Summary: Dynamic Sectioning for Rhino4. Download ArchCut 9-January-2009 . This plugin is now added to Rhino 5.0 WIP and its name is changed to SectionTools. All commands are the same except they atrt with “st” instead of “ac”.

Critical: Download and install the latest Microsoft runtime libraries before loading ArchCut plug-ins.

ArchCut Plug-in of January 9th 2008 (works with Rhino4 SR4)

ArchCut is called SectionTools in V5. Download V5 WIP...

ArchCut Commands Toolbar updated January 9th, 2009

ArchCut Help Manual (PDF file) updated January 9th, 2009

Sectioning Examples (.3dm files) (1.3MB)

All Sectioning Animation Examples (708KB): Following are the clips included:

• Simple Section Example. Video... (124 KB)
• Load Sections from File Example. Video... (124 KB)
• Array of sections Example. Video... (96 KB)
• Update Sections Example. Video... (148 KB)
• View Sections & Make2D Example. Video... (224 KB)
• Extract Layout of Sections. Video... (109 KB)

Toolbars include all commands. You can access the ArchCutTools.tb file from Rhino menu: Tools/Toolbar Layout…/File/Open

This how the ArchCut menu looks like. Note that it shows only after ArchCut.rhp is loaded (usually after calling one of the plugin commands for the first time in a session).

Tools to import sections (names/locations), create sections, update, 2D layout and generate area report. Sections data is saved to document and are updatable when model changes.

• acCreate
• acCreateArray
• acUpdate
• acReport
• acLayout
• acNestLayout
• acView
• acClearView and acClearOneView
• acMoveSections
• acSetViewToSection
• acSetCplaneToSection
• acMake2D
• acSectionDir
• acEditSectionHatch
• acEditSectionObjects
• Research Papers
• How to Export
• How to Display Sections
• How to Delete and Rename Sections

• Contact the developer for comments and feedback and also if you like to share samples of your work.
• McNeel Technical Support
• Buy Term Papers
• McNeel tools for Rhino4
• Bugs and Wishes - Updated January 9, 2009

Flow:

 Select objects to section. Press Enter to select all visible (//Dir=CPlaneX  Replace=Yes  AutoNaming=Yes  LoadFromFile=No//)
 Place section. Press Enter when done ( Flip=No ):

Options:

 Dir: ( X_Axis , Y_Axis, Pick ) - Set section line direction.
 Replace: If a section (layer) with same name exists, then delete the content of the old one and replace with the new.
 Name=SEC: Naming format is "SEC_01", "SEC_02", etc.
 LoadFromFile: If (Yes), user gets section names and distances from a 0.0 base point from comma separated file(.txt,.dat.csv).
 Flip: Flips the direction of the section (makes difference is "Layout" view).
 SolidMode ( None  Surfaces  Hatch )
   Surfaces: If section cuts through a solid, a surface would be generated.
   Hatch: Hatch solid area with specified pattern, rotation and scale.

Notes:

 The plugin maintains "Sections Table" (ST):
   - ST is saved to the document.  That is sections data is carried from one session to the other.
   - ST keeps track of each section: layer, section plane, sectioned objects (or all visible).
 Each section plane is represented as hidden clipping plane object in the section layer, user can make visible and edit.
 Sections clipping planes are slightly shifted from actual section plane to enable the display of section curves.
   This is why using acMoveSctions command is prefered over directly moving the clipping plane.
 Section curves are given the name of the layer from which the sectioned object comes from and name of sectioned object
   (LayerName_ObjectName).  This helps sorting curves by objects when reporting.
 Section curves and surfaces take the properties of objects they come from.
 Section curves take the attributes of object they section if set to (ByObject).
 Supports sectioning through blocks

Create array of sections. User defines spacing and number of sections

Command Options:

 Dir: ( //X_Axis , Y_Axis, Pick// ) - Set section line direction
 Replace: If a section (layer) with same name exists, then delete the content of the old one and replace with the new.
 Name: Enter sections name.  Default name is "SEC".  Names take the format "SEC_01, SEC_02, etc".
 NumOfSections: Number of sections
 Spacing: distance between sections
 Flip: Flips the direction of the section
 Reverse: Reverse direction vector
 BothSides: create sections in both sides
 SolidMode ( None  Surfaces  Hatch )
   Surfaces: If section cuts through a solid, a surface would be generated.
   Hatch: Hatch solid area with specified pattern, rotation and scale.

Updates all sections to reflect modified objects.

Notes:

 The command uses section plane and the list of sectioned objects (or all visible) to update sections.
 User can edit the following and will be updated using the command:
   - Sectioned objects (the model)
   - Section layer name through layer table
   - Section plane - hidden in section layer. user can make it visible and move.

Creates a .csv file that lists sections, SUM area of closed curves, SUM perimeter and SUM of surfaces area sorted by sections and names (Sample Report )

Flow:

 (Dialog) ask to select sections.
 Placement point. Press Enter to project in-place ( Grip=Center  ApplyToAll=No ): Grip
 Grip <Center> ( Center  Min  Max ): Min

Options:

 Grip <Center> ( Center  Min  Max ): Base point relative to section bounding box.
 ApplyToAll: if (Yes), Grip and placement point are applied to all sections.
 ShowSolids: Option to show solid areas (trimmed surfaces)
 PlotWeight: Line weight of section curves.
 ShowHatch: Option to show hatching of solid areas.

Notes:

 Creates new layer for each layout. Layer name looks like: "SectionName"_Layout.
 It maps sections to world_xy_plane.
 Calling (acLayout) deletes old layouts and place new ones.
 Projecting in place ensure layouts to properly overlap.
 Layouts dynamically update when sections change and update command is called.

Flow:

 (Dialog) ask to select sections.

Options:

 ShowSolid To show sections surfaces.
 Arrange To arrange sections horizontal or vertical.
 Spacing to dfine sepacing between sections.

Notes:

 Creates layouts and put in current layer with name tags.
 All layouts are placed in the +,+ quarter along the world x-axis or y-axis (next to one another).
 Layouts created by this command are //not updatable with acUpdate// command.

Flow:

 Select sections and assign them to viewports.

Notes:

 In the following example, section is added to the perspective view
 For hidden-lines view try the new Rhino4 [[TechDraw|TechnicalDrawing Plugin]]

Flow:

 Deletes selected sections from all viewport.

Flow:

 Select a viewport to delete selected sections from.

Flow:

 Move sections and update sections curves.

Flow:

 Sets a selected view to the selected section plane.

Flow:

 Sets the construction plane of a selected view to the selected section plane.

This command is similar to Rhino Make2D command except that it takes into account clipping planes.

Make2D]].PNG

Flow:

 Extracts 2D curves of visible objects in a view.  It takes into account active clipping planes in the selected view.

Notes:

 Currently clips only polysurfaces and surfaces (not meshes and curves)
 If You would like to extract a section with all back visible objects, follow the steps:
   Call **acSetViewToSection** and select a view for that section.
   Call **acView** to activate section clipping planes in that view
   Call **acMake2D** to extract curves.

Flow:

 Flips selected sections direction.

Enable editing hatch patterns, rotation and scale for sections.

Flow:

 (Dialog) to select sections, then for each (or all) selected sections, you can change hatch options.  There is a preview available.

Options:

 All: To apply same hatching options to all selected sections.

Enable editing list of sectioned objects.

Flow:

 (Dialog) to select sections, then select new set of objects for each (or all) selected sections.

Options:

 All: To apply same object list to all selected sections.

Macro: SelLayer Export

* You can select one or all layers and export to any supported file format.

• To export sections or their layouts, use the above macro (copy and paste to command line)

Macro: PrintDisplay State=On Enter

* Section curves are assigned a print width = 0.5 (default=0.13) to appear thick.

• To be able to view the thicker section curves, use the above macro (also available in the toolbar).

• Delete: Delete layer of the section.
• Rename: Change layer name.

• Add sections hint (location and direction) to sections layer.
• Add slice-type section that has thickness.
• Enhance reporting and area calculation.
• Add ProjectNormal to option to Layout.
• EditSection command to change setting.
• Single color linework for sections.
• Bug: when set view to section and then cplane to section it looks like the cplane rotation is rotated incorrectly.
• Partial section or section that follow a polyline. Currently this is not possible with the current Clipping Planes of Rhino. They are like infinite planes that look one direction or the other. Maybe supported in V5.
• Add clipping planes support for rendering with VRay, Maxwell and Brazil. I contacted all renderers developers about this bug. Feel free to contact rendering developers directly. If there are enough requests, they will probably get this bug resolved sooner!
• Bug: Sections curves disapperar when unlocking the section layer when zooming out. This is a display bug and will not likely be fixed until V5.
• Can't find your wish/bug? Please contact the developer .