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Author Topic: Parameterising Windows with RailClone  (Read 111712 times)

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2016, 06:47:55 PM »
Hi Stef,

Check out my answer to Florian's post earlier in this thread. It doesn't mention sliding windows but it is about how to create sequences on the X axis as well as the Y which I think is what you need here.

Your expression is correct but because the first default, bottom, or top segment always offset by the left side of the array, these segment are not at position 0. Instead you could try if(XSplinePosition < 0.5,1,2) to detect if the segment is in the first half of the window.

I hope that helps, let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Many thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Sbaur

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2016, 08:47:27 AM »
Hi Paul

I tried:
if(XSplinePosition < 0.5,1,2)
and it works. Hurray!  ;D

I will definitely check the sequence tutorial, since im going to create more and more complicated windows.

So thank you very much once again.

Kind regards
Stef

HP3623

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #17 on: February 15, 2016, 03:46:13 PM »
Thanks, for the tutorial. Was definitely something I've missed in the existing ones.

I tried to do something similar keeping in mind the "rules" mentioned in the tutorial. But there is one issue, regarding the default section. I would like to keep the glass separated from the window geometry. But when I try it this way, the whole style failes and look really arkward. I even tried to set the glass section to exactly the same sizes which it would have when it was part of the window geometry, but that didn't work either.

Would be great if you could give me a tip.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 04:52:27 PM by HP3623 »

TL1895

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #18 on: February 15, 2016, 04:19:18 PM »
+1 for an alternate method that keeps the glass pane geometry as a separate segment...good idea

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2016, 08:16:07 PM »
Hi!

Thanks for contacting us. This can be achieved by editing the process explained in the tutorial slightly:

- Slice the object as normal (except for the glass) and add the pieces in exactly the same way as the tutorial. The only difference is that the segments used for the horizontal bars (not the top and bottom though) should have the pivot aligned to the bottom of the tallest segment to ensure they align correctly.



- For these segments, in RailClone change Alignment > Y to Pivot.



- Finally, add the glass to the default Input as in the tutorial, but adjust the segment's Padding values so that the glass overlaps the surrounding frame. For the left, Right and Bottom this is straightforward but due to the negative padding on the bottom you'll find the glass is no longer tall enough to fill the void. To fix this, wire the existing Pane Height parameter to a new Arithmetic operator set to Add. Wire a Constant node to the second input and use this value to increase the height. Edit both the Constant value and the Top padding until the glass overlaps the correct amount without pushing the row above out of alignment



In this example I've hard coded the values but you could add parameters and expressions to help calculate them automatically if you prefer.

I've attached a file to demonstrate this approach. I hope that helps but please let me know if you need anything else.

Many thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Jens Andersen

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #20 on: March 11, 2016, 11:56:54 AM »
Hi Poul

Thanks for a great tutorial, as others said, making it more intuitive for us with lacking math skills, would be great for the future development of RailClone  ;)

I'm editing the base window segments from your tutorial to fit my project better, but could you point me towards the needed tutorial/help file for adding simple "mutins" to this already complicated setup? - I'm doing a renovation project of a great looking building from around 1700.

As a bonus, I'd like to be able to distribute hasps and hinges on the side of the frames. Is this also possible?

Cheers and have a great weekend  :)
« Last Edit: March 11, 2016, 11:58:56 AM by TG2532 »

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #21 on: March 11, 2016, 03:14:54 PM »
Hi!

Do you have an image, or even better a model, of the style you're trying to create? I can help create it exactly then.

Thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Jens Andersen

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #22 on: March 12, 2016, 10:17:23 PM »
Here are some images of the look I'm going for:

Layout:


Details:


As you can see the windows differ in number of mullions and mutins depending of the window size.

If you have the time Paul, expanding on the tutorial's current RC Style, to add simple mutins would be perfect. Im fine with the mutins not being extruded from the frame, but just "overlapping". I could then just swap the geometry, when I complete the specific look I need.

Also, placement of hasps could just be a simple box object, so I could replace that box with say, a group or attached hasp object (just adjusting pivot I guess).

Allowing the options to add mutins and custom hasps/handles, would make your setup capable of almost all window types. That's some powerful stuff right there!

Man it would save us lots of time :)

Again, I'm not trying to get you to do all the work for me, but I figured adding these extra "features" (hasps and mutins) to the current available RC Style, would benefit a lot of the users here.
Your support is very much appreciated. Keep up the great work Paul!

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2016, 06:57:17 PM »
Hi,

Thanks that's much clearer. As you suggest I've extended the existing style.



It uses more or less the same approach as shown in the tutorial and the previous posts. The trick is to create the patterns of mutins and mullions using Sequence operators. The node tree looks quite complicated but this is mainly due to the large number of segments required to parameterise a complex window like this. It is essentially a case of making sure the segments are wired in the right order to recreate the desired pattern, though with so many pieces needing to be kept in sync this can take a bit of working out!

I've also added a couple of other generators to illustrate how these can be used to add handles or hinges. To do this I've added some boxes to the Evenly Input and used a multiple of the evenly distance to that these elements only appear on the Mullions. There may be a few window sizes where the X Evenly columns are not perfectly aligned, but assuming that your windows will normally be multiples of the same or a similar mullion distance this should work for most cases. You can also get around this by adjusting the Generator's Adjust to End property.

Like I say, the graph looks a bit confusing so please let me know if you have any further questions.

Many thanks!

Paul.

ps. You might notice some of the segments are slightly misaligned. This is due to modelling a few sections a bit too fast :) when you replace them with your geometry the style should be fine.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2016, 07:02:35 PM by Paul Roberts »
Paul Roberts
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Jens Andersen

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #24 on: March 14, 2016, 11:45:08 PM »
Wow, looks great Paul. Also works well in file you've attached. Thank you very much for all your effort.

I wanted to follow along with your tutorial by slicing my own window model, but I run in to problems immediately. I suspect the problem lies with my model's xform, pivot, units, created in a different view or something like that.

Is there a best practice to completely reset a model before slicing starts?

I've made my model in a different file, might even be in the left view and in cm. Then merged it, rotated it to sit like your's. I've  tried resetting Xform, creating a new box, turning that to poly, attaching my model to it, delete box segment, reset pivot, again Xform etc etc. No effect.

It's like my "Bottom Side" segment won't scale, even though I set the array to "scale" instead of tile - as in the tutorials 6min15sec mark - and tried all the "Alignments" types. However, it works fine if I create a new simple frame and follow the tutorial.



As you can see, I've also tried replacing your geometry with my own sliced up segments, but the "scale" result seems to be the same + your naming convension needs some love, so I've kinda given up on the replacing approach ;) Maybe I'm just too tired and doing something obviously worng...

Lastly, I'm getting a buggy behavior with the RailCloneSlicer script. The "bottom" and "top" row slicers doesn't update its position in the viewport. I have to untick and tick them to see the placement every time i change the value in "pos".

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #25 on: March 15, 2016, 10:16:44 AM »
Hi,

before I write a more thorough answer to address your questions I wonder if you can upload your file so far so I can take a closer look at what's going on. If you'd prefer not to post it publicly please feel free to send it to support@itoosoft.com.

I'll write a more detailed response soon and double check the script too.

Thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #26 on: March 15, 2016, 03:11:59 PM »
Hi,

Please find an attached version of my file with updated segment names, hopefully it's a bit clearer. Also could you let me know what version of Max you're using? I can't reproduce your problems so far with the slicing script.

Many thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Jens Andersen

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #27 on: March 15, 2016, 04:15:43 PM »
Ah, I've just send you an email with the model. Should've pressed refresh here before I did :)

Thanks, I'll give the new Style a try with my segments.

I experienced the Slicer problems in max 2016 SP2. I'll install SP3 now and see if that does anything.

****EDIT****
Going through my slices again, I'm finding "free floating" verts several cm away from "the real" geometry! It seems like things are actually starting to scale correct, now I'm cleaning up the segments for stray verts (weird slicing I guess). And your new naming convention is helping a lot!
« Last Edit: March 15, 2016, 05:51:08 PM by TG2532 »

Paul Roberts

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #28 on: March 15, 2016, 07:23:05 PM »
Hi!

Glad to hear it's all starting to make sense. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers!

Paul
Paul Roberts
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Visualimo

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Re: Parameterising Windows with RailClone
« Reply #29 on: April 13, 2016, 03:27:26 PM »
Fist of all, many thanks for this tutorial !

I tried to test this tutorial and I have a problem with the start of the defaut, start & evenly sequence of the array.
I directly load the original end max file but I get the same error (as an attachment).

RC 2.6 & 3ds max 2013

Would be great if you could help me  :)