What you will make
A drop-shaped plate with a round window 4.00 mm across, cut by a circle that you can still move. A cutter is a closed drawing that the plate cuts a hole with. The window is live: move the circle and the window moves, because the plate follows its cutter. A jeweller reaches for this when a window or a seat must be placed by eye and adjusted: the place can change until it is right, and nothing is cut for good. The 4.00 here is a window: a hole for a jump ring is about 1.50 to 2.00 across, near the tip. The plate weighs 1.70 g with the window and 1.93 g without it. The picture shows the plate as it stands at step 5. At step 8 you take the circle out of the plate’s cutters, so the file you save holds the plate whole, with the circle still in the file.
About 15 minutes.
Files
- p2-09-start.blend (112 KB): open this one to begin.
- p2-09-finished.blend (117 KB): the result, to compare with yours.
Both were made in Blender 5.2.0.
Before you start
- You have done Part 0, and you have made a plate from a closed outline (Turn a closed outline into a plate, P2-08). The start file holds that plate, live, and a circle beside it, in millimetres.
- The add-on is installed, and its CAD/CAM tab is in the sidebar.
Build it
Step 1. Open the start file and save your copy
WhereThe top bar: the row of words that begins File, Edit.
DoDownload p2-09-start.blend from Files above and open it. Then choose File > Save As and save it under the name below, in a folder of yours. Open an exercise file and keep the start file safe (P0-07) shows how.
Typemy-hole.blend
You should seeThe 3D view looks straight at the front: a drop-shaped plate, grey and solid, and a thin circle to the left of it. Nothing is cut yet. The title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-hole.
It worked whenThe title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-hole.
Step 2. Open the Metal section and choose the plate
WhereThe section bar, then the Live Forms panel lower in the sidebar.
DoClick Metal, then click Plate 1 in the list of forms.
You should seeThe plate turns orange and a box called This Form opens under the list, with its numbers, its Sources, its findings and its buttons. The list of forms is the list of live things in the file. The box is for the form you chose.
It worked whenThis Form names Plate 1.
Step 3. Click the circle
WhereThe 3D view. Move the pointer over the circle.
DoClick the circle’s line once, at the place marked.
You should seeThe circle turns orange and the plate no longer does. The panel still shows This Form, still for the plate: the box stays with the form you chose, not with what is selected.
It worked whenThe circle is orange.
Step 4. Press Add Selected under Cutters
WhereThe Live Forms panel, This Form, Sources: the button under Cutters, the second Add Selected.
DoPress Add Selected under Cutters.
You should seeThe circle’s name appears under Cutters, with three small buttons. The plate has no hole yet, because the circle is beside it, not over it. The first Add Selected, under Outlines, would add an outline: a different job.
It worked whenCJ Circle is listed under Cutters.
Step 5. Move the circle over the plate
WhereThe 3D view. Move the pointer off the sidebar and into the dark area.
DoPress G, then X, then type 12, then press Enter.
You should seeThe circle slides across to the middle of the plate, and a round window opens in the plate where it lands. G starts a move, X keeps it along the X axis, 12 is millimetres and Enter drops the circle there. The weight line falls from 1.93 g to 1.70 g. The window is live: the plate follows the circle, and the circle is still only a drawing.
It worked whenA round window stands in the plate.
If it goes wrongNothing moves: the pointer is still over the sidebar. Move it over the 3D view and press the keys again.
Step 6. Hide the circle with its eye
WhereThe Live Forms panel, Sources, under Cutters: the small eye, the first button to the right of CJ Circle.
DoClick the small eye beside CJ Circle.
You should seeThe circle goes from the 3D view, and the window stays. A hidden cutter still cuts: the eye only hides the drawing. The weight line does not change. The small box at the bottom left, headed Show or Hide, is Blender’s Adjust Last Operation box: leave it alone.
It worked whenThe circle is gone from the 3D view and the window is still there.
Step 7. Bring it back with Select
WhereThe Live Forms panel, Sources, under Cutters: the wide button that carries the circle’s name.
DoPress CJ Circle, the wide button, not the small eye.
You should seeThe circle shows again and is selected, orange. The wide button is Select: it selects the source, and shows it if it was hidden. The name of the form it belongs to stays in the panel.
It worked whenThe circle shows again, orange.
Step 8. Take the circle out with Remove
WhereThe Live Forms panel, Sources, under Cutters: the small X, the second button to the right of CJ Circle.
DoClick the small X beside CJ Circle.
You should seeThe window closes and the plate is whole again, and the weight line reads 1.93 g. Remove takes the circle out of the plate’s cutters: the circle itself stays in the file, so you can add it again. It no longer shows, because the plate does not draw it in front now: it lies behind the plate’s front face, and its name, CJ Circle, still stands at the top left of the 3D view.
It worked whenThe plate is whole, Cutters reads “(none yet)”, and the weight line reads 1.93 g.
Step 9. Save your work
WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer over it.
DoPress Ctrl+S.
You should seeBlender writes your copy at once, with no question, because the file already has a name. An asterisk, *, in the title bar marks changes that are not saved, and it goes now. Save your work and get it back (P0-12) says more about saving.
It worked whenThe title bar begins my-hole and carries no asterisk.
No picture: the only change is a message on the status bar, and it fades.
Check your result
| What to read | Where | What it should say |
|---|---|---|
| The window’s place, read at step 5 | The 3D view, looking at the front | The circle’s centre is 12 mm to the right of where it began, and the window is cut where it stands |
| The plate’s weight, read at step 5 and again at step 8 | The Metal panel, under Plate 1 | Step 5: weight 1.70 g with the window. Step 8, and in the saved file: 1.93 g, the circle taken out |
| The cutter list, at step 8 and in the saved file | The Live Forms panel, This Form, Sources, under Cutters | No circle listed: “(none yet)” and the button Add Selected |
| The circle, at step 8 and in the saved file | The words at the top left of the 3D view | They name CJ Circle: the circle is still in the file, behind the plate’s front face, where the plate no longer follows it |
Try it yourself
Open your copy again. Click Plate 1 in the list, open the collection CJ Draw in the Outliner, the list at the top right of the window, by the small arrow beside it, click CJ Circle, and press Add Selected under Cutters once more. Then press G, then X, type 2 and press Enter, and watch the window follow the circle.
What you learned
- A cutter is a closed drawing. Add Selected under Cutters makes the selected drawing one, and the plate then follows it.
- The window moves when the circle moves. Select brings a source back and selects it, the eye hides or shows it without closing the window, and the X takes it out of the plate and leaves the drawing in the file.
- A window stays live until you make the plate real, a later exercise.