As a designer of custom gates, I am currently looking for a way to program certain elements of my designs in order to facilitate the work. I already have a very good base with the families of parts that allow me to program the chassis as well as many other things on my creations, but my problem is in the accessories I want to add.
I would like to draw scalloped sheets that adapt to the shape of my gate. For everything straight or at an angle, I have no problem, but it's when I want to make curved or CDG shapes that it gets messed up. Impossible to have a satisfactory result, the gap between my semicircles varies throughout the curve.
I have tried several solutions, linear and circular repetitions with occurrences to vary, repetitions driven by a sketch and by a curve, the results are not satisfactory.
There would have been only the scalloped sheet metal to do by hand depending on the shape, it would still have been manageable, but I also have to adjust the length of the bars, the position of circles, volutes and points, and there, it starts to take a lot of time.
I'm attaching some screenshots to make it all more concrete (see how the result is worse when you increase the size of the shape)
I hope someone will have a trick to solve my problem and thank you to everyone who took the time to think about it.
To be carried out "by hand", the procedure is relatively simple. If the goal is to automate it, that will be another matter... At the beginning, there is a body to be repeated (festoon). The repetition (in 12 copies in the illustration) must respect a constant horizontal interval, and follow a curve "vertically". All you have to do is exploit these two properties in a sketch.
Generation of festoons: 1- In a 2D sketch (eCurve): - build the curve to follow; - Define a sketch repetition of a vertical line, with the appropriate number of copies and interval. - Construct, still in this sketch, the points located at the intersection of the curve to be followed and the vertical lines... 2- Use the "Sketch-driven repeat" function to reproduce the body to be repeated (festoon), using the points of the eCurve sketch. Be careful when choosing the reference point which must be located on the curve to be followed (see attached images).
The procedure is to be reproduced for vertical uprights, by copying the curve to be followed by translation and by horizontally shifting the series of vertical lines by half a step. Always be careful for the reference point.
Grouping the two repetitions in the same function does not give a satisfactory result, because of the reference point and the unsuitable number of repetitions.
Your solution is very interesting and indeed solves the problem with a very small number of operations. I preferred to start with a very large gate base, to draw each accessory so that they adapt to my gap between bars and my curve. Once I have adjusted the width of my gate, I will only have to remove the excess accessories with the "Remove/Keep Body" function. It's more barbaric and it takes longer to create the basic models, but it seems faster to use, and it allows me to orient certain elements tangent to my curve, such as the volutes.
I am still keeping your method aside, it could well be useful to me in the future. Thank you for taking the time to think about it.
