drawing on a sphere

Hi All!

I am using Autocad 2010. I need to draw curved lines on the surface of a sphere, but i have no idea how to achieve this? I need to sweep a profile across the surface of the sphere.

Thanks in advance!

Hi All!

I am using Autocad 2010. I need to draw curved lines on the surface of a sphere, but i have no idea how to achieve this? I need to sweep a profile across the surface of the sphere.

 

Thanks in advance!

Draw a sphere primitive, smooth the mesh, refine the mesh then use 3D poly line to snap to the mesh

Neat trick dude!

Solid Sphere

Extrude intersection shape for path.

Imprint intersection

xedges to extract path

Sweep with align to path.

Union or subtract if desired.

(you might want to bump facetres to 10 and regen on the file I attached.)

Draw on Sphere.zip

I have a .Net routine in development (AutoCAD 2009+, though not tested on 2010) that allows drawing on any face of a solid. Actually, it is more a mapping routine (compared to on surface drawing) but it may be of some use. I’ll post the DLL if anyone is interested.

sphere.dwg

Thanks guys for all the help! You guys are brilliant. Seant I would really like to explore the Net routine!

Tested only with AutoCAD 2009 32bit, but hopefully compatible with 2010 and 64bit.

Also, may be compatible with AutoCAD’s 2007 and 2008 if a copy of acdbmgdbrep.dll is available.

CsVectorMap.dll is the callable routine but keep both CsVectorMap.dll and STSClib_SolSubentSel.dll together in the same folder.

To perform a mapping operation, first:

Command: Netload

Navigate to the appropriate folder and select CsVectorMap.dll

Then:

Command: CPM

To create “canvas” border of a selected face.

[border will always be near WCS origin. The code responsible for the general shape and scale of border still needs some tweaking].

Create some geometry within the canvas border.

Finally:

Command: CVP

Select the “canvas” object, then select all the lines and curves to be mapped.

Warning: This is a beta routine and should be used with sensible caution. Save all working AutoCAD sessions, isolate pertinent geometry into its own file, then return mapped geometry back to it’s final location.

UVVectorMapping.zip

THis reply is awsome ! SEANT, you should forward this to the tutorial section, neat work

THis reply is awsome ! SEANT, you should forward this to the tutorial section, neat work

Thanks.

Perhaps when all issues have been resolved I’ll submit it for inclusion to CadTutor - Resources.

With regard to issues . . . . I will be interested to hear if it performs as expected on 64 bit and/or 2010.

This doesn’t necessarily relate to the original post but shows another potential use for the beta routine attached above.

Thanks.

 

Perhaps when all issues have been resolved I’ll submit it for inclusion to CadTutor - Resources.

 

With regard to issues . . . . I will be interested to hear if it performs as expected on 64 bit and/or 2010.

I tested it on 2010, but it gave an error after I select the curves to map to the face. The error was "Error processing curves!"

Wow. That's some impressive stuff right there. Would there be any reason for that to not work in 2008?

I tested it on 2010, but it gave an error after I select the curves to map to the face. The error was "Error processing curves!"

Damn!

Unfortunately I don’t have access to 2010 for debugging. That error message is part of my code, and it does isolate the area where the problem occurred. Even somewhat isolated, however, there is still about 100 lines hiding a potential compatibility issue. I don’t see any obvious, but I’ll continue to look.

Wow. That's some impressive stuff right there. Would there be any reason for that to not work in 2008?

Vanilla AutoCAD 2008 did not come with the necessary resource (acdbmgdbrep.dll) from Autodesk. That may not be true for some of the verticals (Architecture, Mechanical, Electrical, or etc.). The routine may run if that DLL is available.

I know this thread is a bit old but dedmin, could you clarify how you were able to get the object snapping to ignore mesh vertices on the opposite side of the sphere you are drawing the 3D polyline on?

Any advice is much appreciated... my 3D poly snapping keeps jumping around to vertices on the otherside of the sphere (and or just not snapping right).

I have already gone through numerous snapping settings and none of them seem to make much of a difference so I'm thinking maybe view settings? Couldn't find anything relevant though. I'm using AC 2011.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

Tested only with AutoCAD 2009 32bit, but hopefully compatible with 2010 and 64bit.

 

Also, may be compatible with AutoCAD’s 2007 and 2008 if a copy of acdbmgdbrep.dll is available.

I tried on A2009 32 bit and it works, on A2010 32 bit it extracts canvas, but it's unable to project curves to surface, and on all 64 bit versions doesn't work : tested on A2009 64 bit and also A2012 64 bit :

Select face of solid:  Error while acquiring Face!

Unfortunately my comp. on what I am working doesn't have 32 bit Win (tested on low capability netbook) so I can't use it at all, until Sean make dlls compatible with 64 bit versions of AutoCAD...

M.R.

Hi there Seant, have you managed to finish this off, sorry am new here and cannot seem to find it in the posts.

I would like to put shapes on a ring that i have drawn in 3d but need to get it curved on there first. i tried your initial beta version 1n 2009, but it keeps crashing my autocad.

Any help will be much appreciated

I haven't devoted much additional time to the AutoCAD 2009 version, though a 2012 - 2014 compatible version can be found here:

https://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/ACD/en/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3astsc_uvvectormap_windows32and64%3aen

The version attached to Post #8 of this thread was developed with AutoCAD 2009 on a 32 bit system. Is that your setup as well?

Unfortunately, I no longer have access to that Acad version so further debugging is not possible at this point. What happens when it crashes; any messages?

Hi there Seant, thanks again for the link to the new app, not sure if i was doing it wrong but could not get it to work even on the 2013 version i have at home, not sure if the shape i was trying to 'attach' it to was too complex. I will try again with some simplar shapes and get back to you if still stuck.

Yes I am interested on how you flatten a surface to a plane.