COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Workshop 1 Notes, Week of September 2, 2012

Initiating a drawing in Rhino and Graphics Primitives

1. Opening Rhino :

Programs/Architecture and 3D Modeling/Rhinoceros 4.0/Rhinoceros 4.0

2. Opening and saving a new file :

Opening Rhino will automatically generate a new file. Choose File / Save and choose the directory where you want it to be saved to.

The file will open with 4 viewing windows –each show a different views of model space (Top, Perspective, Front, Right)

Use Zoom Extents (small magnifying glass icon) to see all elements of drawing. Hover over the icon to see additional options for this command.

Double click on any of the viewport titles to maximize the view. Double click again to return to the four viewing windows. Left clicking on the mouse will activate the current view. A right click will display options for each viewport.

You can also change the view type by selecting Set View here.

3. Turning on standard tool bars (should be on by default):

Select: Tools / Toolbar Layout  and each of the following should also be selected on by default: Standard, Main1, Main2.

To save a customized toolbar collection, click on the check box for each toolbar and File / SaveAs to save the .tb file to your folder.

4. Establishing scale units:

• To bring up the Rhino Options window, click on: File / Properties
• Select: Units
• Model Units pick: feet, meters, etc.
• Under Distance Display, select Feet & Inches
• Display precision by default is set to 1.00.

5. Establishing Reference Grid:Setting a Grid to scale units:

• To bring up the Rhino Options window, click on: File / Properties
• Select:Grid

6. Drawing graphic primitives (all tools in Main1 and Main2 tool palettes, screen-right)

a) COMMAND PROMPT: type in the tool in the command prompt. This will bring up additional options per tool. Click on the option or use the shorthand key (underlined) to modify the tool accordingly. To use the default dimensions/controls, use the right mouse button. NOTE: Pressing the spacebar or rightclicking is equivalent to "Press Enter".

To see a full list of all command prompts, go to Help / Command List...

b) ICONS: For any icon with a triangle in the lower right hand box ( ), click and hold down left mouse button over the icon to see tool subsets. Click/drag on this new window to tear away the linked window. Hover over any icon to see options for a left/right mouse button click.

• Polylines and lines (line through points, etc.)
• Circles (can be drawn by selecting method center, edge, etc.)
• Arcs (can be drawn using similar methods as circle)
• Polygons (can be drawn using similar methods as circle)
• Points (single, multiple, extract, etc.)
• Curves (control point curve, interpolate curve, etc.)
• Exact values may be entered in the command prompt.

TIP: You can use the spacebar or right click on the mouse to select the previously used tool. (i.e. to quickly draw points or circles successively).

7. Using the Status Bar for Snapping and Ortho controls:

• Snaping to the grid: select the grid Snap toggle pane on the status bar at the bottom of the screen to turn grid snap on [in bold] or off. The points on the grid will constrain drawing ability. F9 on the keyboard quickly turns this mode on/off.

• Snapping to other points: Select Osnap toggle pane on the status bar to turn object snap on [in bold] or off. This will bring up various options for object snapping. Check off your desired snaps. Pressing the Alt key will temporarily suspend object snaps.

An alternate and more detailed way to do this will be explored in the next workshop. is to select the icon in the standard toolbar (towards the top of your screen) to see other methods of object snapping.

• The Ortho toggle pane locks the cursor's direction of travel. Additional directional locks will be explored in the following workshops. F8 on the keyboard quickly turns this on/off.
• The Planar toggle pane limits successive picked locations to the same construction plane elevation as the previous location.

8. Deleting objects:

Select object(s) to be deleted. If objects are overlapping, the selection menu window will appear to specify object. Toggle through the menu to find the desired object. Then use the delete button on keyboard.

9. Using the view icons in the standard toolbar at the top of your screen:

Pan View (Arrow): allows view to be repositioned allow a vector.

Rotate View: may be used to move about the construction.

Zoom in , zoom out

Window Area: defines view window for zooming in

Fit view: returns to window what has been constructed in the model space.

Zoom selected objects

Undo view changes. Press and hold left mouse button to see additional tool subsets.

Change View Layout. Press and hold left mouse button to see additional tool subsets.

Set View (front, top, etc.). Press and hold left mouse button to see additional tool subsets.

10. Saving file

Rhino provides a few ways to save a file:

File / SaveAs: saves file to desired location.

SaveAs Template: saves current model as a template file.

SaveSmall: saves geometry objects without render or analysis meshes (good for reducing disk space, or for emailing, etc.)

IncrementalSave: If you would like to save iterations of model, this will save sequentially numbered versions. Edit / undo / redo will allow you return to previous work, but is of limited value.

To turn automatic Autosave on: To edit this setting, go to Tools / Options. Under Rhino Options, select Files and under Autosave, adjust accordingly. Rhino autosaves every 20 minutes, but this can be adjusted here.

11. Choosing Layers:

Click the colorful pie wedge icon on the top toolbar to bring up the layers window. You can dock it anywhere on the screen. Double click on a layer to make any layer active, and turning the lightbulb icon on/off will control visibility of that layer. Using layers allows parts of the model to be turned off or on and will be useful for assigning attributes, such as assigning colors of lines or linetypes.

12. Adjusting Colors of Viewport, Selected Objects, etc.

Go to File / Properties, or Tools / Options, and select Colors to bring up options to set background colors, selction colors, etc.

13. Aliases for the command prompt:

If you prefer to create shortkeys for the command prompt (for example, typing in"C" instead of "Circle" and "L" for "Line"), this can be done under Aliases in the same window. You can import your own .txt file to define shortkeys. Some predefined ones can be found online.