This post is from Version 11 build 1417. The mesh symmetry function was not working then. The post said it was from 6 years ago. Here it is in 2024 ViaCad pro V14 build 1645. And the mesh symmetry function still works so terrible.

I have tried it with all the primitives that ViaCAD has, it works sometimes. But most of the time it is unusable. Not sure if you are testing this software.

I have watched Tim's video with the cow and He is tweaking the ears using the Symmetry tool and it looks like it works. But in all my testing. It is not very good.

And before anyone mentions the "Ctrl" key. I know how to use this very well to create the mesh symmetry. But this Mesh symmetry tool just does not work well.

I use Blender, Rocket 3f, Wings 3d, Rhino 7 so I do know how a good program works with mesh symmetry.

Was so hoping that this would work better.

Edited by user Monday, November 18, 2024 3:36:58 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

While unrelated to meshes, I recently learned something I'd not noticed before: rotating a thickened surface made from a smart polygon produces different behavior than rotating a surface thickened from generic curves.

I'm wondering whether subdivision modeling might work when parts of the model are rotated. But, I don't work with meshes. I'm mostly making wires, surfaces, solids, and lathed geometry.

I have not yet tried the following with circles and other shapes — or, if I did, it would have been years ago and promptly forgotten especially if in the middle of more pressing geometry efforts.

How to reproduce:

Create smart polygons or shapes.

Create non-smart shapes. (For simplicity, just teo or three curves are needed, otherwise, attach the axis to an edge of the surface at this step.)

Attach surfaces to them.

Reposition the gripper axis to be "At user location" (as opposed to in the center).

Rotate the object some arbitrary number of degrees.

Notice that a thickened plate or rectangle made from non-smart curves rotates as real plate would change angle relative to the ground or a wal, but not defirm ir reshape in the edges.

Notice that a thickened plate made from smart polygons bevels when rotated. That is to say the edges are no longer perpendicular of that's how they were at creation time.

For a fleeting moment, I visualized making inclined ladders and having constraints keep the treads attached to the angle-changed proxy ladder. But, given my past fails with constraints, the fantasy dissipated rather quickly. Some sort of animation feature would be better, I guess.



This made me think that if Tim gives a little more smarts to smart polygons, users could create staircases directly within SharkCAD or ViaCAD. With some enhancement to the Constraints tool, the user could request (tick an option box) points making treads' risers and runs self-redistribute according to known best practices for minimizing slips and falls or tumbling on regular, practical stairs as opposed to decorative, palacial staircases.

Obviously, courses in safety railing should adapt accordingly, meaning less thinking in the part of the user.


Aside:

The safety railing might be spaced by an algorithm or the user, but, consideration would need to keep pets and kids and tool-weight-overloaded workers from worming or slipping between safety courses/wires/piping/tubes.

Aside 2:

I can recall being at a few shopping malls and becoming overcome with vertigo and nausea when my mind evaluated the gap between the flooring and the lowest course too big. If felt that even I could slip through, that it couldn't have possibly passed inspection, and yet I was becoming dizzy, nauseated, and angry simultaneously.