Repeat a cell you draw yourself

WhereBlender’s top menu bar, File > Open, then File > Save As.

DoOpen p10-12-start.blend. Then choose File > Save As and give the file a name of your own, so that the start file stays clean.

You should seeTwo closed curves on the grid, seen from above. The large oval is your outline. The small curve to its right, “My Cell”, is a four-petal shape, a quatrefoil, 1.50 mm across: this is the cell you will repeat. It is small: zoom in on it to see its petals.

It worked whenBoth curves are in the 3D view.

WhereThe sidebar at the right of the 3D view (press N with the pointer over the 3D view if it is shut), the CAD/CAM tab.

DoClick Flow in the section bar, the small word buttons at the top of the tab. Then click the words Flow on Surface once, to fold that panel.

You should seeThat panel shuts up to its title, and the Pattern Builder panel moves up, with Make Pattern in it.

It worked whenYou can read Make Pattern without scrolling.

WhereThe 3D view, then the Pattern Builder panel.

DoClick once on the oval’s line, at its right-hand end, then press Make Pattern.

You should seeThe oval fills with metal and rows of hexagon holes. The panel’s first line, which wraps over several rows, stands under the words “Pattern 1” and gives the count of cells. Where the line says “house default”, it means the add-on’s starting number. The status bar at the very bottom says the count too, but its message fades, and the panel keeps the same figure.

It worked whenThe panel’s first line begins “97 cells”.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, the family buttons: the first button of the third row.

DoPress Your Own …. If the panel has moved, scroll the sidebar up with the mouse wheel, or slide two fingers on the touchpad.

You should seeThe holes go and the plate turns solid. Nothing is wrong: the add-on does not know yet which curve you mean, and the panel says so under the family buttons: “Your cell: none yet. Draw a closed curve, select it and press Use Curve as Cell.” The button Use Curve as Cell stands under that line. Three new rows stand under Margin (mm): Pitch Across (mm), Pitch Up (mm) and Lattice Angle (deg).

It worked whenYour Own … is lit, and the panel says “Your cell: none yet”.

WhereThe 3D view. The small curve to the right of the plate is My Cell: zoom in on it with the mouse wheel if you need to.

DoClick once on the line of My Cell.

You should seeAn orange line round the small curve. The panel keeps its buttons, because the file holds just one pattern: the buttons still act on it.

It worked whenThe words at the top left of the 3D view end in “My Cell”.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, the button under the line “Your cell”.

DoPress Use Curve as Cell (marked 1).

You should seeThe holes come back, in your shape, and the line now reads “Your cell: drawn (My Cell).” The cell’s size is your curve’s own, so these cells are 1.50 mm across at their tips, with the panel’s Rib (mm) of 0.400 between them: a rib is the bar of metal between two holes. Scroll the sidebar up: the panel’s first line, above the family buttons, counts the cells.

It worked whenThe panel’s first line begins “103 cells”, and the plate’s holes have four petals.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, the fields Pitch Across (mm) and Pitch Up (mm). Scroll the sidebar with the mouse wheel if you cannot see them. A pitch is the distance from the middle of one cell to the middle of the next: Across along a row, Up to the next row.

DoClick the middle of each number once, type the new one, press Enter, and look at the plate. Go down the table.

You should seeBoth fields read 0.000 at first: at 0 the add-on takes the curve’s width plus Rib (mm). As you type, the holes stay one size and stand further apart.

It worked whenBoth fields read 2.400, and the panel counts 61 cells.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, the field Lattice Angle (deg): the angle between the two directions the cells repeat in.

DoClick the middle of the number once, type the new one, press Enter, and look at the plate. Go down the table.

You should seeAt 90 the rows stand square. Lower it and each row slides along the one before.

It worked whenLattice Angle (deg) reads 60.000, and the panel counts 71 cells.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, the field Pitch Across (mm).

DoThis step brings the cells too close on purpose, to show you the panel’s words. Type each number, press Enter, and read the panel’s first line. The plate is not harmed.

You should seeThe plate follows each number, and the first line changes.

It worked whenPitch Across (mm) reads 2.400, and the panel’s first line begins 71 cells.

WhereThe Pattern Builder panel, near its foot. Scroll the sidebar with the mouse wheel if you cannot see it.

DoPress Make Real.

You should seeThe plate looks the same. Make Real cuts the cells into an ordinary object, “Plate 1 real”. The live plate that made it, the one whose numbers could still change, stays in the file, hidden. Leave it. The panel changes to the words “Made real: Plate 1 real” and a Remove Pattern button: leave that alone too.

It worked whenThe words at the top left of the 3D view end in “Plate 1 real”.

WhereThe 3D view, with the pointer over it.

DoOrbit the view lower, until you look across the plate as in the picture. Then press Ctrl+S to save your copy.

You should seeFlat, even metal, with your four-petal holes going right through.

It worked whenYou can see the wall of each hole, and your copy is saved.