Developer: RhinoScript
Summary: Demonstrates how to create a box frame with RhinoScript.

Can the box on left be made into the frame on the right? It seems like a very simple operation, I thought maybe someone out there had already released such a script.

The following sample code should do what you want.

Download BoxFrame

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 ' BoxFrame.rvb -- November 2009
 ' If this code works, it was written by Dale Fugier.
 ' If not, I don't know who wrote it.
 ' Works with Rhino 4.0.
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 Option Explicit
 
 Sub BoxFrame()
 
   ' Local constants
   Const X = 0
   Const Y = 1
   Const Z = 2
   Const TOL = 0.01
 
   ' Local variables
   Dim box_points, box_object, box_center, box_plane
   Dim offset(2), dist(2), pfact(2), nfact(2)
   Dim xform(2), boxes(2)
 
   ' Prompt the user to define a box    
   box_points = Rhino.GetBox()
   If IsNull(box_points) Then Exit Sub
 
   ' Calculate half distances between corners    
   dist(X) = Rhino.Distance(box_points(0), box_points(1)) * 0.5
   dist(Y) = Rhino.Distance(box_points(0), box_points(3)) * 0.5
   dist(Z) = Rhino.Distance(box_points(0), box_points(4)) * 0.5
 
   ' Define axes offsets
   offset(X) = Rhino.GetReal("Thickness in X direction", 1.0, TOL, dist(X) - TOL)
   If IsNull(offset(X)) Then Exit Sub
 
   offset(Y) = Rhino.GetReal("Thickness in Y direction", 1.0, TOL, dist(Y) - TOL) 
   If IsNull(offset(Y)) Then Exit Sub
 
   offset(Z) = Rhino.GetReal("Thickness in Z direction", 1.0, TOL, dist(Z) - TOL) 
   If IsNull(offset(Z)) Then Exit Sub
 
   ' Do this for performance
   Call Rhino.EnableRedraw(False)    
 
   ' Calculate increasing scale factors
   pfact(X) = (dist(X) + offset(X)) / dist(X)
   pfact(Y) = (dist(Y) + offset(Y)) / dist(Y)
   pfact(Z) = (dist(Z) + offset(Z)) / dist(Z)
 
   ' Calculate decreasing scale factors
   nfact(X) = (dist(X) - offset(X)) / dist(X)
   nfact(Y) = (dist(Y) - offset(Y)) / dist(Y)
   nfact(Z) = (dist(Z) - offset(Z)) / dist(Z)
 
   ' Some stuff need for the scale transformation 
   box_center = Rhino.PointDivide(Rhino.PointAdd(box_points(0), box_points(6)), 2.0)
   box_plane = Rhino.PlaneFromPoints(box_points(0), box_points(1), box_points(3))
   box_plane = Rhino.MovePlane(box_plane, box_center)
 
   ' Define scale transformations
   xform(0) = Rhino.XformScale(box_plane, pfact(0), nfact(1), nfact(2))
   xform(1) = Rhino.XformScale(box_plane, nfact(0), pfact(1), nfact(2))
   xform(2) = Rhino.XformScale(box_plane, nfact(0), nfact(1), pfact(2))
 
   ' Create the box
   box_object = Rhino.AddBox(box_points)
 
   ' Create the boxes to difference
   boxes(0) = Rhino.TransformObject(box_object, xform(0), True)
   boxes(1) = Rhino.TransformObject(box_object, xform(1), True)
   boxes(2) = Rhino.TransformObject(box_object, xform(2), True)
 
   ' Do the difference
   Call Rhino.BooleanDifference(Array(box_object), boxes, True)
 
   ' Enable redraw
   Call Rhino.EnableRedraw(True)    
 
 End Sub
 
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 Rhino.AddStartupScript Rhino.LastLoadedScriptFile
 Rhino.AddAlias "BoxFrame", "_NoEcho _-RunScript (BoxFrame)"