Author Topic: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)  (Read 8269 times)

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flyte

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Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« on: April 15, 2020, 01:38:37 AM »
I am looking to create a routine that will create 3D Text and then place this on the side of a Plant3D pipe. For creating text geometry, I stumbled upon the excellent TxtExp Alternative by SEANT https://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=31435.0. While this approach creates the text geometry just fine, I am wondering:

a) How would I make the generated geometry solid and extrude it to make it 3D?
b) Given that 3D geometry, how could I "wrap" it around a curved shape / the side of a cylinder, (in my case, a Plant3D pipe).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(note, I was about to post this question in the aforementioned thread above, but the site suggested that I create a new post because that one is quite old and inactive. I can move it / re-post there if necessary).
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 02:03:54 AM by flyte »

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2020, 01:56:29 AM »
I'm not exactly sure what SEANT's app produces but it looks like splines so you should be able to create a region from each character then extrude them. To get them to wrap around the pipe, make sure the solid totally intersects with the pipe and extrude another 'cylinder' that is just undersized to the pipe (the depth) you want the lettering on and subtract it from the letters that should give you a solid with a flat face and a curved face in the letters' normal directions.
Then subtract this result from the pipe to leave the imprint.

Hope that made sense :)

Just be careful with this as if you do a lot of this in a drawing it can bog it down (so many new faces and edges to deal with!), cheers.
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2020, 08:16:59 PM »
Thanks so much for the reply MickD!

So I managed to leverage that routine by SEANT to add text as a region and then extrude it. I currently have the extruded text appear at the Pipe's coordinates by getting it's Position X/Y/Z properties. So it's a start.

But I don't quite follow the rest of what you wrote. I am not sure how to properly place and wrap that around the pipe. Do you happen to have an example?


MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2020, 11:38:17 PM »
I don't have any code to hand and you can do this manually in the editor but basically, create the text 3D solid and position it along the centre line of the pipe making sure that the text solid has the outside face outside of the pipe. That is, the text solid height needs to be bigger than the pipe radius.

Make a copy of the pipe solid (probably better to create a cylinder with no wall like a pipe) and use that solid to cut the curve into the text solid using Subtract.

Move the text solid a fraction towards the centre of the pipe (depth of text 'etching' cut) then use the text solid and Subtract it from the pipe (make a copy if needed before doing the subtraction as you will lose it).

Like I said, depending on the height of the text compared to the pipe size, the text will be deformed a bit due to the cut and wrap but this can be tweaked by 'squashing' the text before creating the text solid or by working out how to scale the height more correctly with math.

here's some pics of the steps, the yellow box represents your text solid.
1 = create the pipe and text solids
2 = create cylinder just under the diameter of the pipe along the pipe centre line and use it to subtract from text solid
3 = subtract text solid leaves etching into pipe wall
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
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flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2020, 06:42:56 PM »
Thanks once again MickD - your guidance got me very close to what I need.

I have successfully been able to create a cylinder and subtract that from my extruded text. But now my problem is aligning the text to the orientation of the pipe. right now my text blindly gets written on the XY Plane, but obviously I need the text to be in the same orientation as the (Plant3D) pipe.

How would I go about finding that? I do have the start point of the pipe, and I can get the "center of gravity" point of the pipe.. would that allow me to create a vector and somehow translate my text solid such that it would be on top of the pipe properly?

Also how can I have my text solid "straddle" the center point of the pipe, so the text is more horizontally center justified, instead of the text starting at the center point? If i could somehow set the solid's center point to be the same as the pipe's, I think that would be great.

Here is a sample of what I have:

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2020, 07:31:03 PM »
Getting there! :)

It's basically an exercise in vector and matrix math from here on to move things into place.
You need to either transform and/or translate the text to the pipe or the pipe to the text. If you move the pipe you need to 'invert' it back.
Have a look into the Geometry.Matrix3d class and its methods. There are plenty of examples here as well.

I see in the Plant3d doc's that the pipe object has an ECS (entity coordinate system) which you can use to move it 'to world' and back, you then just need to adjust your text into position to suit.
You can use it to move the text to the pipe as well, just set the text up in WCS as if it was aligned to the pipe then transform it with the pipe ECS ;)

hth
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J.R.R. Tolkien

MP

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2020, 08:05:45 PM »
* cool thread to follow *
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Automation ▸ Design ▸ Drafting ▸ Document Control ▸ Client
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MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2020, 03:22:15 AM »
* cool thread to follow *

It's been a while but you don't forget it :)


Here's some code with some added comments I use to rotate and move an object from its own ucs (ECS in your case) to world to get its length, you could get the ECS from the pipe and use PlaneToWorld on the text object once you have it arranged (as if it were along the pipe say). You should be able to get some ideas from this.

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. Matrix3d mat = new Matrix3d();
  2. Plane plane = new Plane(new Point3d(0,0,0), mySolidVector); // a vector pointing away/perp to the pipe centre line vector
  3. mat = Matrix3d.WorldToPlane(plane); // create the matrix using a simple plane created by a point and a vector
  4. pipe.TransformBy(mat); // transform it
  5. double length = mySolid.GeometricExtents.MaxPoint.Z - mySolid.GeometricExtents.MinPoint.Z; // get the length
  6. mySolid.TransformBy(mat.Inverse()); //transform it back
  7. return length;
  8.  

You could use PlaneToWorld using the pipe ECS to move the text to the pipe. Something to experiment with anyway.
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

wizman

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2020, 02:08:34 AM »
Gents, To add to the manual method - imprint > explode > thicken

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2020, 11:48:26 PM »
Thanks everyone for the help and guidance thus far. I have been a bit frustrated with this and had to step away for a bit, :tickedoff: but I've got enough motivation now to drive this to completion,(with assistance of course). I make an honest attempt to follow the guidance I am given (see rest of thread), but I just can't get how to translate/rotate/orientate my text solid and cylinder (used to subtract the text) to that of the original pipe. My dilemma is that I am not well versed in the matrix3d / vector math needed to understand how to nail the positioning down. I am well comfortable in software engineering - not so much in CAD'n.

Having said that, I tried taking MickD's guidance, and also researched a number of other approaches to get some hints:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31952750/insert-a-block-at-an-angle-in-autocad-c
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/net/align-entity-3d/m-p/9398486#M65184
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/net/rotating-a-block-into-a-new-orientation-in-3d/m-p/3877703#M34708

But I am not sure how to apply those strategies with what I have. I was delighted to see @gile's response in https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/net/align-entity-3d/m-p/9398486#M65184 but I wasn't sure how to to define / select the
Quote
"3 (non colinear) source points and 3 (non colinear) destination points to be able to define the source plane and destination plane."

MickD - I tried to experiment with what you provided, but no joy. As per my previous screenshots, I can get the text/cylinder positioned OK (center point of pipe), but still not sure how the plane transformation using the different coordinate systems align my solids.

wizman - I'm intrigued by what you suggested as a manual approach. Is there a way to do this programatically? When I explode the pipe, reduces the pipe down to its primitives, but I want to retain the pipe.. not sure how to proceed manually, or implement via the API...

Again, thanks for all of the assistance thus far.. I feel I am missing some fundamentals here.. but this is proving to be a challenge!

wizman

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2020, 01:06:31 AM »
Quote
wizman - I'm intrigued by what you suggested as a manual approach. Is there a way to do this programatically? When I explode the pipe, reduces the pipe down to its primitives, but I want to retain the pipe.. not sure how to proceed manually, or implement via the API...

Hello Flyte, i'm unable to help with the programming part.  I'm sure MickD can guide you all the way into this.  You are correct, the manual way i did does not retain the pipes.  Imprinting and exploding is just a quick way to have the text as a surface which can be thickened.  But then the imprinted text is just a crude way of doing it and i assume you would want to maintain the text proportions exactly as it drape along the curved solid.  All the best!

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2020, 05:44:14 PM »
Hi Wizman, instead of doing imprint and extrude you can do double cut on text then union text to pipe :)

Flyte, what code do you have so far? I'd be happy to take a look if you can provide it and a sample drawing with the text and pipe set up in a typical scenario.
cheers.
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2020, 08:28:35 PM »
Thanks MickD.

So.. for creating the text as an entity, (i.e.: not text/mtext), i heavily rely on SEANT's solution described here (and in the OP): https://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=31435.0 and it works perfectly, (I may have grabbed a newer version of that code somewhere else.. but the premise is the same.). So I have the text... and I have the pipe.. which leads me to this code that accepts the block reference entity which is the text converted into a Region), where I want to:

1. Extrude the text region
2. Create the cylinder to be used to subtract from the text region to get the "wrap around" effect
3. Properly orientate the cylinder and text region (help needed here!)

Here is the code:

Code: [Select]
// FYI - the following are as held as member variables
//        List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> pipeProperties;
//        private Point3d position;
//        private Point3d centerOfPipe;
//        private double extrudeHeight;
//        private double outsideDiameter;
//        private double wallThickness;
//        private double pipeLength;
//        private Vector3d pipeVector;

private void CreateEnt(Entity ent)
{
// Scale the text height...
Extents3d geometricExtents = ent.GeometricExtents;
Point3d point3d = new Point3d();
double mHeight = this.m_height;
Vector3d vectorTo = point3d.GetVectorTo(geometricExtents.MaxPoint);
double y = mHeight / vectorTo.Y;
ent.TransformBy(Matrix3d.Scaling(y, point3d));

using (Transaction tr = this.m_db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
try
{
BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(this.m_db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
ent.SetDatabaseDefaults();

// Extrude this region just beyond the thickness of the pipe...
var pSolid = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
pSolid.Extrude(ent as Region, extrudeHeight, 0.0);

// Move this region to the center point of the pipe, and move it down so it is vertically center justified...
var centerJustPoint = new Point3d(centerOfPipe.X, centerOfPipe.Y, centerOfPipe.Z - (extrudeHeight / 4.0));
pSolid.TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(centerJustPoint - Point3d.Origin));

// Now the text region is by default oriented so that the text is laying down flat. Hard code transform to be "vertical" so the
// text region is up.
// ** how do I figure out the proper orientation of the text region to match the orientation of the pipe...??
Matrix3d matrix = Matrix3d.Rotation(Math.PI / 2, Vector3d.XAxis, centerJustPoint);
pSolid.TransformBy(matrix);


// Add this solid to the model...
btr.AppendEntity(pSolid);
tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(pSolid, true);                   

// Create the cylinder that will be subtracted from the text regoin, and move it to the center point of the pipe..
var cyl = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
var radius = (outsideDiameter / 2.0);
cyl.CreateFrustum(pipeLength, radius, radius, radius);
cyl.TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(centerOfPipe - Point3d.Origin));

// Now this cylinder and text region is simply using the default orientation. Manually hard code to orientate it, just like above,
// so that it matches the text orientation..
// ** obviouslly this is wrong and won't handle, for example, vertical pipes.. how do I align this and the text to the orientation
//    of the pipe.

Matrix3d matrix2 = Matrix3d.Rotation(Math.PI / 2, Vector3d.YAxis, centerOfPipe);
cyl.TransformBy(matrix2);

// Lots of test code here to try to orientate / align the cylinder and text to the pipe... see previous post that describes the approaches
                        // that I attempted, but couldn't figure out...

btr.AppendEntity(cyl);
tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(cyl, true);

// Subtract the cylinder from the text region..
pSolid.BooleanOperation(BooleanOperationType.BoolSubtract, cyl);
}

catch
{
this.m_isValid = false;
}

finally
{
tr.Commit();
}
}
}

Now this code got me as far as my previous screenshots show.. so if the pipe is completely horizontal.. everything looks good and it got me as far as implementing the strategy that you outlined for me in your initial reply. So I feel like the heavy lifting is done.. it is just this alignment issue that is blocking me..

I have attached a test DWG showing the pipes, (it is a Plant3D dwg...hopefully you are able to open it.. )

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2020, 07:08:28 PM »
Quote
// ** how do I figure out the proper orientation of the text region to match the orientation of the pipe...??

that's where you use WorldToPlane, you are changing the texts's and new 'cutting' pipe's world coordinates to those of the plane by multiplying the WCS vectors by the pipe's ECS vectors which will transform and rotate the text in one go.
Create a plane from your pipe in space from say its start point, its ECS x and y vectors and use that in the transformation. The ECS is a Matrix3d so you need to access its CoordinateSystem3d properties for X and Y.

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. Plane plane = new Plane(pipe.StartPoint /*or pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin*/, pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis, pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis);
  2. mat = Matrix3d.WorldToPlane(plane); // set the matrix up to use for text and cutting pipe to move (TransformBy) them 'to' the pipe ECS
  3.  

You could also play with PostMultiplyBy or PreMultiplyBy where you just use the ECS directly. It depends on if the ECS origin aligns with the pipe start point (which it probably does).
Code - C#: [Select]
  1. textCuttingSolid.PostMultiplyBy(pipe.getEcs());
  2. textSolid.PostMultiplyBy(pipe.getEcs());
  3. // do subtraction of cutting solid from text and then subtraction of cut text on existing pipe solid...
  4.  
You're almost there :)

p.s.
I couldn't open the drawing but thinking on it a bit more just use PostMultiplyBy example as it saves a lot of setup. Standard Solid3d's do not have a meaningful ECS like a 'pipe' does so I had to do more work by creating a plane from my own custom ECS.
All you need now is a simple method that takes the plant3d pipe to be etched and some text, create the cutting text and etch the pipe using the pipe's ECS to line the text to the pipe.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2020, 07:36:33 PM by MickD »
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2020, 12:33:02 PM »
Thanks again MickD.

So using the Pipe's ECS still doesn't seem to position, or orientate, the text solid or the cylinder. Given this code:

Code: [Select]
using (Transaction tr = this.m_db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
    try
    {
        BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(this.m_db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
        ent.SetDatabaseDefaults();

        // Extrude this region just beyond the thickness of the pipe...
        var textSolid = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
        textSolid.Extrude(ent as Region, extrudeHeight, 0.0);

        // Using ECS
        Plane plane = new Plane(pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin, pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis, pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis);
        Matrix3d matrix = Matrix3d.WorldToPlane(plane);
        textSolid.TransformBy(matrix);

        // Add this solid to the model...
        btr.AppendEntity(textSolid);
        tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(textSolid, true);

        // Create the cylinder that will be subtracted from the text regoin, and move it to the center point of the pipe..
        var cyl = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
        var radius = (outsideDiameter / 2.0);
        cyl.CreateFrustum(pipeLength, radius, radius, radius);
        cyl.TransformBy(matrix);
     
        btr.AppendEntity(cyl);
        tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(cyl, true);       
    }

    catch
    {
        this.m_isValid = false;
    }

    finally
    {
        tr.Commit();
    }
}

See screenshot - the pipe I clicked on is marked with the red arrow, and I put a box around where the text and cylinder ended up being positioned and oriented. Not sure what's going on here? Also note that I also tried creating the plane using the pipe's StartPoint as the first parameter as in your example, but that positioned the text solid and cylinder in a slightly different position as in the screenshot..

Is there something I missed when using this approach?

« Last Edit: May 11, 2020, 05:32:28 PM by flyte »

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2020, 07:00:47 PM »
It looks very close! Without knowing what the actual ECS vectors represent on the pipe you may need to experiment. Try changing the ECS vectors, what we have at the moment is the WCS Xvector aligning with the ECS Xvector but that is assuming the ECS Xvector is the pipe centreline, the ECS zVector may be that direction.

You're nearly there :) Maybe if you have time you can programatically draw some lines to represent the ECS, color each the same as the WCS (x=red, y=green, z=blue). To do this, use the ECS origin as the start point, scale the pipeEcs.Xaxis * someAmount to give it a length in that direction and the second point of the line. Do the same for each axis.

If I get time today I'll try to mock something up.

p.s.
just looking at the text at pipe, it looks like the ECS origin is at the centre of the pipe, the Zaxis is pointing along the pipe towards the top of image and Xaxis is going out from the pipe to the right. Swap the origin for pipe start point, the Xaxis with ECS.Zaxis then play with the last one to fine tune direction/rotation around the pipe.
hth

p.p.s.
sorry just re-read your last paragraph and I had the cylinder confused with the pipe.
You are creating the text along the WCS Xaxis (it seems), when creating a cylinder it creates them along the Zaxis so you will need to rotate the cylinder to the text before moving it to the pipe.
I can't find anything in the doc's to tell us just what the ECS represents on the plant3d pipe so if you can I'd draw the ECS as mentioned above, I'll be back with some code for that shortly :)
« Last Edit: May 11, 2020, 07:37:24 PM by MickD »
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2020, 08:16:14 PM »
here's a standalone sample of drawing an ECS on a pipe say, I'm using the WCS as example matrix here but you need to pass in your pipe ECS. This will give you a better idea of what's going on hopefully :)

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. // change below for AutoCAD
  2. using Bricscad.ApplicationServices;
  3. using Teigha.DatabaseServices;
  4. using Teigha.Geometry;
  5. using Teigha.Runtime;
  6.  
  7. namespace swamper
  8. {
  9.     public class Commands
  10.     {
  11.         public static void PostToDatabase(Entity entity)
  12.         {
  13.             Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
  14.             Database db = doc.Database;
  15.  
  16.             using (Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  17.             {
  18.                 BlockTable bt = tr.GetObject(db.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTable;
  19.                 BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(bt[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace], OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
  20.  
  21.                 btr.AppendEntity(entity);
  22.                 tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(entity, true);
  23.  
  24.                 tr.Commit();
  25.             }
  26.         }
  27.  
  28.         public static void DrawPipeEcsAxes(Matrix3d pipeEcs)
  29.         {
  30.             Point3d origin = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin;
  31.             // create xvec and give it length:
  32.             Vector3d xvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis;
  33.             xvec = xvec.MultiplyBy(10); // this is 10mm for me, maybe 10 inches for you??
  34.             Line xaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(xvec.X, xvec.Y, xvec.Z));
  35.             xaxis.ColorIndex = 1;
  36.             PostToDatabase(xaxis);
  37.  
  38.             // create yvec and give it length:            
  39.             Vector3d yvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis;
  40.             yvec = yvec.MultiplyBy(10);
  41.             Line yaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(yvec.X, yvec.Y, yvec.Z));
  42.             yaxis.ColorIndex = 100;
  43.             PostToDatabase(yaxis);
  44.  
  45.             // create zvec and give it length:
  46.             Vector3d zvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Zaxis;
  47.             zvec = zvec.MultiplyBy(10);
  48.             Line zaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(zvec.X, zvec.Y, zvec.Z));
  49.             zaxis.ColorIndex = 150;
  50.             PostToDatabase(zaxis);
  51.         }
  52.  
  53.  
  54.         [CommandMethod("pipetext")]
  55.         public static void PipeText()
  56.         {
  57.             // get the pipe ECS here and pass it to our draw function, we are just using the WCS matrix here:
  58.             // drawPipeEcsAxes(myPipe.getEcs());
  59.             DrawPipeEcsAxes(Matrix3d.Identity);
  60.         }
  61.     }
  62. }
  63.  
  64.  
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2020, 09:14:48 PM »
Thanks once again MickD.

As requested, here is the result of using your code to create the vectors of the selected pipe. Like before, the red arrow shows the pipe that I selected. The green box surrounds the text and cylinder that was created. The green arrows shows the start and end of the vectors that are drawn, (start point of pipe, and to origin) In the initial screenshot, they are all on top o each other, but when you zoom in, you can then see the individual vectors.

I hope this helps (?)

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2020, 09:28:30 PM »
Ah, ok. It doesn't look like the ECS is very helpful. Can you debug and let me know what the values of the ECS vectors are?
And, how far apart are the 3 new lines and are they parallel?

maybe you can ID the start points of these lines as well please, we may be able to create the ECS with these.

"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2020, 09:43:44 PM »

The green arrows shows the start and end of the vectors that are drawn, (start point of pipe, and to origin)

I don't understand why the lines are drawn to origin, did you just pass in the ECS as per function param's?

Also, try using pipe start point as line start points (may need to pass this in as param to function). Whatever you use the lines should only be 'a' units long where 'a' is the amount you multiply the vector by....
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2020, 11:46:32 PM »
Here are the values from the debugger:

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. origin   {(-1986.9832609598,4489.18265730619,0)} // Point3d origin = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin;
  2. pipeEcs   {((0.999997248002804,0.00234605771834044,0,-1986.9832609598),(-0.00234605771834044,0.999997248002804,0,4489.18265730619),(0,0,1,0),(0,0,0,1))}
  3. xvec   {(9.99997248002804,-0.0234605771834044,0)}      
  4. yvec   {(0.0234605771834044,9.99997248002804,0)}       
  5. zvec   {(0,0,10)}      
  6. this.position   {(-1986.983261,4489.182657,0)} // this is the pipe's start point.      

Hr.m.. very strange that the pipe's start point (this.position) isn't exactly the same as the pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin (or is that normal?)
« Last Edit: May 12, 2020, 12:04:49 AM by flyte »

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #21 on: May 12, 2020, 12:08:14 AM »
Thanks for that, I came up with a workaround to save us both some time :)

The code below uses a line as your pipe and you will need to change things where commented.

This is fiddly stuff and only by trial and error does it finally click into place, I haven't done this stuff for a while :roll:

Anyway, this will draw the axes on the pipe (hopefully), when it does you know that you can use the code for your text etc, get this working and we'll tackle the text.

Code - C#: [Select]
  1.  
  2. using Bricscad.ApplicationServices;
  3. using Bricscad.EditorInput;
  4. using Teigha.DatabaseServices;
  5. using Teigha.Geometry;
  6. using Teigha.Runtime;
  7.  
  8. namespace swamper
  9. {
  10.     public class Commands
  11.     {
  12.         public static void PostToDatabase(Entity entity)
  13.         {
  14.             Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
  15.             Database db = doc.Database;
  16.  
  17.             using (Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  18.             {
  19.                 BlockTable bt = tr.GetObject(db.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTable;
  20.                 BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(bt[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace], OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
  21.  
  22.                 btr.AppendEntity(entity);
  23.                 tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(entity, true);
  24.  
  25.                 tr.Commit();
  26.             }
  27.         }
  28.  
  29.         public static void DrawPipeEcsAxes(Matrix3d pipeEcs)
  30.         {
  31.             /**
  32.              * Note: all points used/aquired are in WCS, this is why we need to
  33.              * transform some of them to our pipe
  34.              */
  35.             // get a vector from the WCS origin to ECS origin to use in displacement later
  36.             var ovec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin.GetAsVector();
  37.             Point3d origin = new Point3d(ovec.X, ovec.Y, ovec.Z);
  38.             // create xvec and give it length:
  39.             Vector3d xvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis;
  40.             xvec = xvec.MultiplyBy(10); // this is 10mm for me, maybe 10 inches for you??
  41.  
  42.             // NOTE: each of the ECS vectors are directions relative to WCS, we need to move them to the object with TransformBy()
  43.             Line xaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(xvec.X, xvec.Y, xvec.Z).TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(ovec)));
  44.             xaxis.ColorIndex = 1;
  45.             PostToDatabase(xaxis);
  46.  
  47.             // create yvec and give it length:            
  48.             Vector3d yvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis;
  49.             yvec = yvec.MultiplyBy(10);
  50.             Line yaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(yvec.X, yvec.Y, yvec.Z).TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(ovec)));
  51.             yaxis.ColorIndex = 100;
  52.             PostToDatabase(yaxis);
  53.  
  54.             // create zvec and give it length:
  55.             Vector3d zvec = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Zaxis;
  56.             zvec = zvec.MultiplyBy(10);
  57.             Line zaxis = new Line(origin, new Point3d(zvec.X, zvec.Y, zvec.Z).TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(ovec)));
  58.             zaxis.ColorIndex = 150;
  59.             PostToDatabase(zaxis);
  60.            
  61.         }
  62.  
  63.  
  64.         [CommandMethod("pipetext")]
  65.         public static void PipeText()
  66.         {
  67.             // get the pipe ECS here and pass it to our draw function, we are just using the WCS matrix here:
  68.             // drawPipeEcsAxes(myPipe.getEcs());
  69.             Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
  70.             var entResult = ed.GetEntity("Select an entity: ");
  71.             if (entResult.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
  72.  
  73.             var db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;
  74.             using (Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  75.             {
  76.                 var pipe = tr.GetObject(entResult.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead, false) as Line; // as 'myPipe' for your task
  77.                 if(pipe != null)
  78.                 {
  79.                     // replace my 'pipe' stuff with the comments at end of line, it just might work ;)
  80.                     var pipeXaxis = pipe.StartPoint.GetVectorTo(pipe.EndPoint).GetNormal(); // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis
  81.                     var pipeZaxis = pipe.Normal; // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Zaxis
  82.                     var pipeYaxis = pipeZaxis.CrossProduct(pipeXaxis); // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis
  83.  
  84.                     // create the new pipeEcs for use in tranformations:
  85.                     var pipeEcs = Matrix3d.AlignCoordinateSystem(
  86.                             // from WCS
  87.                             Point3d.Origin, Vector3d.XAxis, Vector3d.YAxis, Vector3d.ZAxis,
  88.                             // to ECS
  89.                             pipe.StartPoint, pipeXaxis, pipeYaxis, pipeZaxis
  90.                         );
  91.  
  92.                     DrawPipeEcsAxes(pipeEcs);
  93.                 }
  94.                
  95.                 tr.Commit();
  96.             }
  97.         }
  98.     }
  99. }
  100.  
  101.  
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #22 on: May 12, 2020, 12:10:16 AM »
Here are the values from the debugger:

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. origin   {(-1986.9832609598,4489.18265730619,0)} // Point3d origin = pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin;
  2. pipeEcs   {((0.999997248002804,0.00234605771834044,0,-1986.9832609598),(-0.00234605771834044,0.999997248002804,0,4489.18265730619),(0,0,1,0),(0,0,0,1))}
  3. xvec   {(9.99997248002804,-0.0234605771834044,0)}      
  4. yvec   {(0.0234605771834044,9.99997248002804,0)}       
  5. zvec   {(0,0,10)}      
  6. this.position   {(-1986.983261,4489.182657,0)} // this is the pipe's start point.      

Hr.m.. very strange that the pipe's start point (this.position) isn't exactly the same as the pipeEcs.CoordinateSystem3d.Origin (or is that normal?)

I think that is just formatting by the debugger for output, it's close enough :)
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #23 on: May 12, 2020, 12:35:33 AM »
this works for me to transform some text from WCS to pipe ECS. Note that I'm drawing text along WCS x axis and my pipe x axis goes from start to end point, you may need to swap these around to suit your pipe ECS but the framework is there.
Sample dwg attached as well for test. Note that I created the line by setting up a ucs first (depicted by the drawn axes) then created the line, this gave me the line's 'normal' in the direction I wanted and was used to create its ECS.

Code - C#: [Select]
  1.             var db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;
  2.             using (Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  3.             {
  4.                 var pipe = tr.GetObject(ent1Result.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead, false) as Line; // as 'myPipe' for your task
  5.                 if(pipe != null)
  6.                 {
  7.                     // replace my 'pipe' stuff with the comments at end of line, it just might work ;)
  8.                     var pipeXaxis = pipe.StartPoint.GetVectorTo(pipe.EndPoint).GetNormal(); // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis
  9.                     var pipeZaxis = pipe.Normal; // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Zaxis
  10.                     var pipeYaxis = pipeZaxis.CrossProduct(pipeXaxis); // myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis
  11.  
  12.                     // create the new pipeEcs for use in tranformations:
  13.                     var pipeEcs = Matrix3d.AlignCoordinateSystem(
  14.                             // from WCS
  15.                             Point3d.Origin, Vector3d.XAxis, Vector3d.YAxis, Vector3d.ZAxis,
  16.                             // to ECS
  17.                             pipe.StartPoint, pipeXaxis, pipeYaxis, pipeZaxis
  18.                         );
  19.  
  20.                     DrawPipeEcsAxes(pipeEcs);
  21.  
  22.                     // rotate the text to the 'pipe':
  23.                     // open text for write, we need tomove it:
  24.                     var textEntity = tr.GetObject(ent2Result.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForWrite, false) as Entity;
  25.                     if(textEntity != null)
  26.                     {
  27.                         textEntity.TransformBy(pipeEcs);
  28.                     }
  29.                 }
  30.  
  31.                 tr.Commit();
  32.             }
  33.  
« Last Edit: May 12, 2020, 12:55:49 AM by MickD »
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

  • Newt
  • Posts: 26
Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2020, 01:47:30 AM »
We are getting closer!

So taking your framework, and adjusting it to work with the Pipe (myPipe), and then transforming the text solid with your calculated pipeEcs gives me the text solid in the proper orientation of the pipe. See screenshot - "test1" and "test2" are rendered at the start point of each pipe and it is in the direction of the pipe. I will need to tweak to then move the text to the center point, flip it so that the text is vertical and justified. This is a great win!

But applying that same pipeEcs to the cut-cylinder doesn't appear to properly orientate that. See second screenshot (I manually deleted the cylinders in the first screenshot so you could easily see the text on the pipe).

The code I used to create that pipeEcs is exactly what you instructed me to do in your comments. The resulting code is, (and slightly modified to accept a Pipe as a parameter) is:
Code - C#: [Select]
  1. private static Matrix3d GetPipeEcs(Pipe myPipe)
  2. {
  3.     var pipeXaxis = myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis;  // pipe.StartPoint.GetVectorTo(pipe.EndPoint).GetNormal();
  4.     var pipeZaxis = myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Zaxis;  // pipe.Normal;
  5.     var pipeYaxis = myPipe.Ecs.CoordinateSystem3d.Yaxis;  // pipeZaxis.CrossProduct(pipeXaxis);
  6.  
  7.     return Matrix3d.AlignCoordinateSystem(
  8.         // from WCS
  9.         Point3d.Origin, Vector3d.XAxis, Vector3d.YAxis, Vector3d.ZAxis,
  10.         // to ECS
  11.         myPipe.StartPoint, pipeXaxis, pipeYaxis, pipeZaxis);
  12. }
  13.  

and the subsequent calls:

Code - C#: [Select]
  1.    
  2. using (Transaction tr = this.m_db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  3. {
  4.     try
  5.     {
  6.         BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(this.m_db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
  7.         ent.SetDatabaseDefaults();
  8.  
  9.         // Extrude this region just beyond the thickness of the pipe...
  10.         var textSolid = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
  11.         textSolid.Extrude(ent as Region, extrudeHeight, 0.0);
  12.  
  13.         // Using ECS
  14.         textSolid.TransformBy(pipeEcs);
  15.  
  16.         btr.AppendEntity(textSolid);
  17.         tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(textSolid, true);
  18.        
  19.         // Create the cylinder that will be subtracted from the text region, and move it to the center point of the pipe..
  20.         var cyl = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
  21.         var radius = (outsideDiameter / 2.0);
  22.         cyl.CreateFrustum(pipeLength, radius, radius, radius);
  23.         cyl.TransformBy(pipeEcs);
  24.         btr.AppendEntity(cyl);
  25.         tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(cyl, true);
  26.     }
  27.  
  28.     catch
  29.     {
  30.         this.m_isValid = false;
  31.     }
  32.  
  33.     finally
  34.     {
  35.         tr.Commit();
  36.     }
  37. }
  38.  

Any ideas on why the cylinder didn't orientate like the text solid did?

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #25 on: May 12, 2020, 02:28:33 AM »
Cool!

Yes, you will need to tweak the text position algorithm to suit pipe sizes etc.

Your cylinder is created in WCS and the normal to extrude along is probably the ZAxis.
You can either rotate your cylinder to the text first then transform it to the pipe or you can create a circle at the text start point, set the normal to Vector3d.XAxis (to extrude along text xAxis) and Extrude() with a height to be just longer than the text. Extrude will need and use the region (created from the circle) normal as the extrusion direction ;)

to create the region: (you may be able to just 'circle as Region' but I use the collections incase I want to make things like pipes, RHS etc.)
Code - C#: [Select]
  1. DBObjectCollection colPoly = new DBObjectCollection();
  2. DBObjectCollection colregion = new DBObjectCollection();
  3. Region region = new Region();
  4.  
  5. var diameter = myPipe.Diameter; // or similar
  6. Circle circle = new Circle(new Point3d(),Vector3d.XAxis,diameter); // create circle at origin
  7. colPoly.Add(circle);
  8. colregion = Region.CreateFromCurves(colPoly);
  9. region = (Region)colregion[0];
  10.  

I'd create and subtract the cylinder and text before transforming the 'etching' text to the pipe.
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #26 on: May 12, 2020, 02:33:39 AM »
p.s. do as much tweaking of text and cutting cylinder in WCS before moving the cutting text to pipe, it's easier on your brain ;)
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

  • Newt
  • Posts: 26
Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #27 on: May 13, 2020, 09:51:40 PM »
...closer still...

Quote
You can either rotate your cylinder to the text first then transform it to the pipe
I couldn't figure this out, .. I could move it to the start point of the pipe just fine, but couldn't figure out the transform / rotation to get it to align with the pipe. So then I tried:

Quote
or you can create a circle at the text start point, set the normal to Vector3d.XAxis (to extrude along text xAxis) and Extrude() with a height to be just longer than the text

Which led me to this code:

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. var textSolid = textConverter.ConstructTextSolid();
  2. if (textSolid == null)
  3.         return;
  4.  
  5. textSolid.TransformBy(pipeEcs);
  6.  
  7. btr.AppendEntity(textSolid);
  8. tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(textSolid, true);
  9.  
  10. // Create the subtraction cylinder...
  11. var pipeStart = pipe.StartPoint;
  12. var pipeVector = pipeStart.GetVectorTo(pipe.EndPoint);
  13. double pipeRadius = outsideDiameter / 2.0;
  14.  
  15. var circle = new Circle(pipe.StartPoint, pipeVector, pipeRadius);
  16. btr.AppendEntity(circle);
  17. tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(circle, true);
  18.  
  19. var regs = new DBObjectCollection { circle };
  20. var regions = new DBObjectCollection();
  21. regions = Region.CreateFromCurves(regs);
  22. var reg = (Region)regions[0];
  23.  
  24. var cyl = new Solid3d
  25. {
  26.         RecordHistory = true,
  27.         ShowHistory = true
  28. };
  29. cyl.Extrude(reg, pipeLength, 0.0);
  30.  
  31. btr.AppendEntity(cyl);
  32. tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(cyl, true);
  33.  
  34. textSolid.BooleanOperation(BooleanOperationType.BoolSubtract, cyl);
  35.  
  36. // erase the circle - is this needed??
  37. if (!circle.IsWriteEnabled)
  38.         circle.UpgradeOpen();
  39. circle.Erase();
  40.  
  41. tr.Commit();

and I got interesting results. So the "cylinder" did seem to get created in the proper orientation as the pipe (yay!) See first screenshot.. the red arrow points to the pipe, and the green arrow points to the cut-cylinder solid.

In the second screenshot I deleted the pipe so you can the see just the text solid and cut-cylinder solid.

But as you can see from the third screenshot, the text solid didn't seem to have the cylinder subtracted from it, and I have no idea why..

I think we are very close!

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #28 on: May 13, 2020, 10:18:29 PM »
looking good :)

I have no idea why it's not doing the subtraction, all I can think of is maybe you need to Commit() a transaction each time you add the new entities to the db, use my PostToDatabase code for each entity instead perhaps?

Maybe you need to UpgradeOpen the text object as well although you'd think it would cause an exception trying to work on a readonly entity...
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

  • Newt
  • Posts: 26
Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #29 on: May 15, 2020, 12:28:03 AM »
So I'm not sure what is going on. I tried what you suggested by committing everytime I add the entity to the DB by using the PostToDataBase method, but I have the same results. However, when I do my original approach of creating the cut-cylinder, (which I can't figure out how to orientate it to the pipe), it successfully cuts the text as we saw in an earlier screenshot, (now included in this post as the first screenshot)

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. //
  2. // This method of creating the cylinder works (i.e.: properly gets subtracted from the text), just like we see
  3. // in the earlier screenshots. But, like before, I have to manually orientate this to the pipe and is currently
  4. // hard coded to be completely horizontal..
  5. //
  6.  
  7. var pipeStart = pipe.StartPoint;
  8. var pipeVector = pipeStart.GetVectorTo(pipe.EndPoint);
  9. double pipeRadius = outsideDiameter / 2.0;
  10.  
  11. var cyl = new Solid3d { RecordHistory = true };
  12. cyl.CreateFrustum(pipeLength, pipeRadius, pipeRadius, pipeRadius);
  13.  
  14. // Move it to the center of the pipe...
  15. cyl.TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(pipe.CenterOfGravity - Point3d.Origin));
  16.  
  17. // And rotate it so it is horizontal... (this is bad.. why can't I use the vector or something
  18. // that was done with the text solid to move + rotate this to the proper spot?
  19.  
  20. Matrix3d matrix2 = Matrix3d.Rotation(Math.PI / 2, Vector3d.YAxis, pipe.CenterOfGravity);
  21. cyl.TransformBy(matrix2);
  22. PostToDatabase(cyl);
  23. textSolid.BooleanOperation(BooleanOperationType.BoolSubtract, cyl);
  24.  

But it doesn't work with this approach to creating the cylinder, (although it does orientate it to the pipe just like the text solid is)

Code - C#: [Select]
  1. var circle = new Circle(pipe.StartPoint, pipeVector, pipeRadius);
  2. PostToDatabase(circle);
  3.  
  4. var regs = new DBObjectCollection { circle };
  5. var regions = new DBObjectCollection();
  6. regions = Region.CreateFromCurves(regs);
  7. var reg = (Region)regions[0];
  8.  
  9. var cyl = new Solid3d
  10. {
  11.         RecordHistory = true,
  12.         ShowHistory = true
  13. };
  14. cyl.Extrude(reg, pipeLength, 0.0);
  15. PostToDatabase(cyl);
  16.  
  17. textSolid.BooleanOperation(BooleanOperationType.BoolSubtract, cyl);
  18.  
  19. erase the circle - is this needed ??
  20. if (!circle.IsWriteEnabled)
  21.         circle.UpgradeOpen();
  22. circle.Erase();
  23.  

Which results in the second screenshot in this post..

BUT.. then I looked more closely at the screenshot... maybe it did work? Why is the text appearing as solid on top of the pipe, but only as wireframe inside the pipe? If the subtraction didn't work at all, wouldn't we see the test inside the pipe be solid as well? I tried not subtracting and took a screenshot, (I manually deleted the cylinder so you can just see the pipe), and the text indeed is solid! (See 3rd screenshot).

So maybe the subtraction did work after all.. but it left the outline of the text there for some reason??

MickD

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  • (x-in)->[process]->(y-out) ... simples!
Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #30 on: May 15, 2020, 01:31:26 AM »
maybe a regen might work.

I've never really worked with Record/ShowHistory, maybe the ShowHistory is leaving the wireframe for you??
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #31 on: May 15, 2020, 01:39:28 AM »
It seems that setting ShowHistory to true may be what is confusing the output, from the doc's:
Quote
Returns whether items in the history should be drawn when the sysvar SHOWHIST is 1.
Try setting SHOWHIST to 2 after running the method.

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjbxXeFYknw
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

flyte

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #32 on: May 19, 2020, 10:46:07 AM »
Thanks once again MickD. I think I've finally got it. Now I just need to tweak the text placement. Your assistance was very much appreciated!

MickD

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Re: Creating 3D Text and Wrap it Around a Pipe (Cylinder)
« Reply #33 on: May 19, 2020, 05:30:42 PM »
Thanks once again MickD. I think I've finally got it. Now I just need to tweak the text placement. Your assistance was very much appreciated!

Noice!

It was good to think about this stuff again, it's been a while :)
"Short cuts make long delays,' argued Pippin.”
J.R.R. Tolkien