Coffee Mug

Coffee Mug Tutorial
Coffee Mug
CSI-Concepts Tutorials
About this tutorial
Application: Concepts 3D / Concepts Unlimited
Description: In this tutorial we learn to draw profiles, to lathe, to shell and to join
solids and to fillet edges
Level: Beginner. Requires reading the ‘Getting Started’ section of the User Manual.
Key Tools: Line, Spline, Lathe, Shell, Blend, Extrude, Boolean Add
1
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Overview
Making the Coffee Mug can be broken down into the following processes:
1. Drawing the 2D Profiles from which to create the 3D.
Note: Only half of the mug body need be drawn as lathing the profile will generate the other
half.
2. Using the Solid Lathe tool to generate the body of the Mug from it’s profile.
3. Shelling out the body of the Mug to an appropriate wall thickness.
4. Extruding the handle of the Mug from a closed profile. We’ll use the Midplane option.
5. Joining the handle to the body of the Mug with the Solid Union tool.
6. Blending the edges of the Mug and the intersection between the Mug & Handle.
Fig 1. Profile of body to be lathed by 360 degrees and handle to be extruded either side of it’s profile
1. Setting Up
2
Coffee Mug Tutorial
• Open Concepts
• Change view to Front View (View>front). [Alternately, right-click on the drawing window
and use the contextual menu]
• Set the zoom extents of your screen by drawing a vertical line from the origin a little
longer than the height of your coffee mug. Press the ‘e’ key on the keyboard to comfortably
fit that line (and thus your model) to your screen.
• You are now ready to draw the profiles necessary to create your coffee mug.
2. Draw Profiles
• Start by drawing a horizontal line (or a construction line) to represent a base surface (the
surface on which the coffee mug sits).
• Note: A construction line can easily be generated by right-clicking and choosing construction lines > horizontal from the contextual menu.
Fig 2. Construction Lines
3
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 3. Mug & handle profiles showing centerline
Profile 1: Coffee Mug Body
• Use the line tool to draw the centerline of the mug body. This will typically start just
above the horizontal base line and extend the height of the mug. See Fig 3. You may find it
easier to draw up from the base line and adjust the line later.
• As ever, follow the prompts under the tool name in the top bar
• Note: To quickly make lines of a given length: select the line tool, then left-click where you
wish the line to begin. Click again in the direction you want at an arbitrary distance from the
first point. Then type in the line length and press return.
• You should now have a base line and the centerline of the mug body.
• Draw another line to represent the top of the mug body (as shown in Fig 4). Remember that
this line need only represent half the diameter of the mug!
• Use the tangent points arc tool to draw the base of the mug profile. This tool requires 3
points. As long as the first 2 points are entered ‘in-line’ horizontally, a centerline tangent will
be created. (A centerline tangent is critical for a smooth dished surface on the base of the
mug).
4
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 4. Tangent Point Arc .. for Mug base
• Use the Start, End, On Arc tool to complete the profile. Click at both open ends of the
profile, then click in between to determine the amount of curvature (the radius) of the arc.
Fig 5. Start, end, on Arc .. for Mug side
• Note: The radius value of the arc (in fact the defined values of any objects) can be adjusted
in the object info dialog box. Keeping the object info dialog box open allows for easy and
precise editing of any active object.
Profile 2: Coffee Mug Handle
• Use the Interpolate Spline tool to generate 2 curves that represent the inside and outside profile lines of the handle.
• Note: Splines should be made from as fewer points as can be used to describe the desired
shape. In this case, 4 or 5 points should be sufficient. To show the points of a a spline or
other entity, click edit > show points.
5
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 6. Handle profile by splines
• Be sure that the splines overlap the mug body, such that there will be no gap between the
handle and the body. (Take into consideration the curvature of the body).
• Nudging points: To adjust spline points, select the point(s) to move and use the arrow
keys on your keyboard to nudge them by the nudge distance. To enable nudging, open the
Preferences > General and set the arrow key nudge distance. Note that this value
is multiplied by a factor of ten if the Shift key is pressed.
• Close the profile using the line tool. Be sure to snap to the spline end points. If you do not,
a closed profile will not be created and the next operation (sweep in this case) will fail.
You will be sure a snap has been achieved if the word endpoint appears next to your
cursor
Fig 7. Ensure when connecting lines or curves to ‘snap’ to endpoints
6
Coffee Mug Tutorial
4. Solid Lathe the Body of the Mug
• Provided you have a closed profile (ie a series of lines / curves with no gaps), you should
easily be able to generate a lathed solid.
• Select the Lathe Solid tool from the toolbar. As ever, prompts appear under the tool
name in the top bar. Select first the curves that make up the closed profile and then the
axis about which to lathe. The tool defaults to 360 degrees of rotation and zero draft angle.
(See Tool bar for Lathe Solid)
• Note: Instead of clicking one line at a time, a profile can automatically be traced by rightclicking on one of the curves that make up the profile of the mug. A contextual menu
will appear: choose select chain. Provided your profile is good (ie: there are no gaps,
duplicate lines or branched lines), the entire profile will be selected. (Select Chain can be
a great time-saver when selecting profiles or testing profiles for gaps).
Fig 8. Select Chain function
7
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 9. Mug Body is (Solid) Lathed from profile
5. Next, Shell the Body of the Mug
• Select the Shell Feature tool in order to hollow out the inside of the mug.
• Enter an appropriate offset thickness for the wall of the Mug, then follow the prompts:
Click the solid you wish to shell, followed by the face(s) you wish to leave open. If Concepts is unsure which face you are selecting, it will present you with an ambiguity popup.
• Note: An ambiguity pop-up is a window that appears when you select an object, and
there is no one clear face or object that Concepts can pick. You must select the appropriate entry.
• Tool hint: Press shift if you wish to select multiple open faces. Click on the background (ie
no object if you wish to have a hollow object but no open faces). Press the option key to
keep the hollowed out section.
8
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 10. Shell tool is employed to hollow-out the Mug Body
6. Extrude Handle from the closed profile
• Next, hide the mug body. This is done by right-clicking on it. A contextual menu will
appear. Hide is at the top of this menu. Hide any other items that might complicate your view
of the 4 curves / lines that make up the handle.
• Choose the Extrude Solid tool from the tool bar. From the pull-down menu, select
Midplane. (This extrudes the handle equidistant either side of the profile)
• Enter an appropriate extrude distance (the width you wish the handle to be)
• Then, follow the prompts for the Extrude Solid tool ...
• As before, use the select chain command from the contextual menu to select the
profile. (Right-click on one curve of the profile and choose select chain).
• Provided your profile is planar and has no gaps, the extrude will automatically be generated.
9
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 11. Extrude handle from profile
• The extrude distance can be adjusted in the Object Edit dialog box
• Note that because Concepts is fully associative, changing the profile curves from which
the handle was extruded will update the shape of the handle.
7. Blend Tool to soften the edges of the Handle
• Use the Constant Blend tool to soften the 4 long edges of the handle.
• Note: Use appropriately sized blends. If the blends are too big relative to the width and
depth of the handle, the blends could fail altogether or cusp on top of other blends. (As a
guide, begin with blends approximately half the width of the thinnest part of the handle).
10
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 12. Blend edges of handle
8. Blend Tool to soften the edges of the Mug
• Again, to avoid problems, begin with a blend value just smaller than half the material thickness
of the Mug Wall.
• Be sure to blend the inside and outside edges at the top and at the bottom of the Mug body.
Fig 13. Blend Edges of Mug
11
Coffee Mug Tutorial
9. Solid Union Tool to Join the handle to the Mug Body
• Now that you have both a Mug body and handle, you are ready to join them
• Ensure that you have sufficient overlap between the two parts and that they are aligned in
the plan (top) view.
• Choose the Solid Union Tool and follow the prompts ...
• Note: Select the body first and then the handle. The order can be important in some instances as the added part loses some qualities to the (first selected) master part.
•
Fig 14. Joining the Handle to the Body
10. Lastly, use the Blend tool on the Body to Handle intersection
• Use the Constant Blend Tool to blend the upper and lower intersections between the handle
and the body of the Mug.
• Again, be sure to choose an appropriate sized blend
12
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 15. Handle to Body Blend
• Congratulations, you have now finished building the Mug!
Fig 16. The finished Mug
13
Coffee Mug Tutorial
11. Additional Notes and Comments
• If you have Concepts Unlimited, you may wish to now render the Mug with realistic materials.
See Fig 17.
Fig 17. Rendering of the Mug using Concepts Unlimited
• With Concepts Unlimited, you can also use the Model to Sheet tool to generate elevation
drawings of (and sections through) the Mug. See Fig 18.
14
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Fig 18. Drawing of the Mug using Model to Sheet in Concepts Unlimited
15
Coffee Mug Tutorial
Notices
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. CSi cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as
affecting the validity of any trade mark or service mark.
Copyright © 2006 CSI
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form by any means without the
prior written permission of CSi. The information contained in this publication is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, CSi makes no representation or warrantees with respect to the program material described within
and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further,
CSi reserves the right to revise the program material and make changes therein from time to time without obligation to notify the purchaser of the revisions or changes. In no event shall CSi be liable for any incidental, indirect
special or consequential damages arising out of the purchaser’s use of the program material.
Revision 1.0
Jol Yates (24 April 05)
Revision 1.1
Tim Olson (24 Jan 06)
www.csi-concepts.com
16