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VScad3 Geometric Entities
2.4.5 Surface mode continued.
"Geometry..." continued :
"Cylindrical" : The "Cylindrical Surface" dialog allows a cylindrical surface mesh to be created. A cylindrical surface is basically a cylindrical grid of angle-Z points with a varying radius at each point (vertex).
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The "Polar Angle" field specifies the minimum and maximum polar angle of the surface (in degrees counter-clockwise). The "Polar Steps" setting determines how many vertex points (radials) will be used along the arcs. The higher the number, the smoother the arcs (and the denser the surface).
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The "Z Range" field specifies the minimum and maximum Z values for the surface. The "Z Steps" setting determines how many vertex points will be used along the Z direction.
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The "Cylinder Radius" field specifies the radius value for each vertex. The number of cylinder radius points must be equal to the number of Polar Steps times the number of Z Steps (there must be exactly one radius value for each vertex). To generate radius values automatically for a constant-radius (smooth) cylinder, set the "Radius" value and click on "Generate". The "Polar Steps" and "Z Steps" must be set greater than 1 (and the radius must be greater than 0) for the Cylinder Radius "Generate" button to function. The radius values can also be loaded from a simple ASCII ".dat" file containing one column of numbers. Use the Cylinder Radius "Load From File..." button to load such a file.
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In the "Vertex Color(s)" field, enter the vertex colors as RGB (red, green, blue intensities - one color per line). Minimum intensity is 0 and maximum intensity is 255. If there are more vertices than colors, then the color sequence is repeated as needed. If only one color is specified, then the entire surface will be that color. The Vertex Colors "Load From File..." button allows a simple ASCII ".dat" file containing 3 columns of R,G,B (Red, Green, Blue) values to be loaded and used as the colors.
- The "Center" field specifies the X,Y coordinate where the center of the cylindrical surface should be placed within the model. The Z coordinates are determined by the min/max values entered in the "Z Range" field.
- The "Import Data" button can be used to load a VS3D relief surface (".vs3") file. When loaded, all fields in the Cylindrical Surface dialog are set accordingly. In most cases, however, it may be useful to manually set the min/max Polar Angle and min/max Z Range to the desired values after importing data. This can be useful for viewing a sculpted surface on a cylinder.
- Click on "Ok" to create the surface with the chosen settings.
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