Surface thickness - in Rhino

[Willallison]

Ok - onto my next Rhino problem - you guys should work on commission!

How do you go about making a surface a given thickness? Say I import a hull model (incidentally is the best way to this as IGES surfaces?) anyway - so the sides are say 50mm thick and the bottom is 75mm. Then I model the cabin - sides say 50mm thick again...
What to do?

[BrettM]

Um.. Offset, Extrude Solid...You don't always need to model both sides. Most stuff normally only come off one side. Your not having 50mm cabin sides on 01 are you?

[SailDesign]

Will,
What Brett said, essentially, although I'm not sure why he is extruding stuff.... ;-P
Just offset the hull, trim back to centreline if needed, and join it all up with a little skinny surface at the sheer. Deckhouse similar.
Unless you _need_ the inner surface, I usually delete it after trimming anything against it that needs it (bad grammar, good practice )
Steve

[BrettM]

I mentioned extrude for things like plates with a hole in them. You can then fillet the edges easily if required. Perhaps not so applicable to a cabin top but easily applied to a bulkhead.
Brett

[Willallison]

Thanks guys - I'll get back to you in a couple of years when I've nearly got the hang of all this!!

[Polarity]

Hi Will

A variation on a theme - if applicable - is to use "offset surface" and the "solid" option (type "s" when it prompts for thickness). That would create a bowl from half a sphere in one go for example.

Paul

[Willallison]

hmm - seems to make sense - thanks Paul.....
I'm really struggling with Rhino at the moment. I've done the tutorials a couple of times, but just can't seem to get the hang of it. I have a new computer arriving at the end of the week - hopefully it will be smart enough to help me out!!