Make a head real, alone and as a prototype

WhereThe top bar: the row of words that begins File, Edit.

DoDownload p4-09-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-ring-forms.blend

You should seeThe 3D view shows a ring from a little above: a band with a pale round stone held in four claws over its thick top. If your sidebar is shut, you open it in step 2. The title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-ring-forms.

It worked whenThe title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-ring-forms.

WhereThe sidebar: the CAD/CAM tab, the section bar, Setting, then the Head Builder panel. If the sidebar is shut, press N with the pointer over the 3D view. Scroll down to the two buttons under Make 1 Head.

DoCheck that the words at the top left of the 3D view name the stone, then press Make Real, the left of the two buttons.

You should seeA grey box under the buttons that begins “CJ_Gem_Round_5.00x5.00: one closed body, 21.83 mm3, 0.34 g in 18ct yellow”. A closed body is a solid whose skin has no hole in it, so a printer or a caster can use it. 21.83 mm3 is its volume, cubic millimetres, and 0.34 g is its weight, at the add-on’s 15.5 g per cm3 for 18ct yellow. The time that ends the sentence differs on your computer. In the picture, the words marked 3 are the start of that sentence. The start file opens with the stone selected; if the words at the top left of the 3D view do not name it, click a claw: that selects the head, and Make Real works from the head too.

It worked whenThe grey box under the buttons reads “one closed body”.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer over it.

DoPress Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe live head comes back and the real one goes. The prototype in step 9 is made from the live head, so the live head must be there. One Ctrl+Z takes back Make Real only.

It worked whenThe stone’s head is back and the grey box has gone.

WhereThe section bar, Metal, then the Live Forms panel.

DoClick the band’s row, CJ_Shank_DShape_M, in the list, then press Make Real.

You should seeThe band is an ordinary object (no longer a live form), and the panel’s list no longer holds its row. A live band follows its own numbers, and Prototype will not take one: with the band selected it still says “Select a shank with the head for the prototype”. This Make Real is the one under This Form, not the one of step 2. The first picture marks the band’s row in the list, and the second marks the button after the row is clicked.

It worked whenThe band’s row has gone from the list in Live Forms.

If it goes wrongPrototype says “Select a shank with the head for the prototype” with the band selected: the band is still live. Do this step first, then select the band and the stone again and press Prototype.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer off the sidebar and into the dark area. The band is selected.

DoPress Tab, then press A.

You should seeThe band turns orange all over: every face is selected. Edit Mode is where a mesh’s faces are changed, and A selects all of them. The next step cuts the band’s four-sided faces into triangles. Prototype tests that head and band make one closed body, and the band’s four-sided faces are not quite flat, so its test would miss by a hair.

It worked whenThe words at the top left of the 3D view begin Edit Mode, and the band is orange.

If it goes wrongNothing moves and the keys type nowhere: the pointer is still over the sidebar. Move it over the 3D view and press the keys again.

WhereThe header, the row of words along the top of the 3D view: the menu Face.

DoOpen Face, choose Triangulate Faces, then press Tab.

You should seeNo change you can see: every four-sided face is now two triangles. The words at the top left of the 3D view say Object Mode again. The band’s shape is the same, and so is its weight.

It worked whenThe words at the top left of the 3D view no longer say Edit Mode.

If it goes wrongPrototype says “Head with shank is not the body”: the band still has four-sided faces. Select the band, press Tab and A, do this step again, then select the band and the stone and press Prototype.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer off the sidebar and into the dark area.

DoClick the band, on its front face at the right of the ring, then hold Shift and click a claw, at the point in the picture, clear of the pink marks.

You should seeThe band and the head are both outlined in orange, and the head is the brighter: it is the active object, the one the words at the top left of the 3D view name. A click on a claw selects the head (Drag a number on the model, P4-02, step 2); a click on the stone would select the stone alone. The head’s pink marks show again: leave them alone. Prototype reads the selected head and the selected band.

It worked whenThe words at the top left of the 3D view name the head, and the band is outlined too.

If it goes wrongOnly the band is outlined: the second click missed the head. Hold Shift and click a claw again; if the stone is outlined instead, you clicked the stone: click a claw.

WhereThe Head Builder panel, in the Setting section: the right of the two buttons.

DoClick Setting in the section bar, then press Prototype. Wait: it makes three bodies.

You should seeThe grey box reads “Prototype: the feet run 0.40 mm into the shank, parted at the foot plane”, then the head’s volume, 21.83 mm3, the band’s, 465.81 mm3, “the outside unchanged” and “nothing flagged”. The add-on calls the band the shank. In the picture, the words marked 2 are the start of the sentence. The claw feet ran into the band, the two were fused into one body, and the pair was parted again at the foot plane. The sentence is long: its last words may be cut off, and the box is read again in the Check table.

It worked whenThe grey box begins “Prototype: the feet run”.

WhereThe section bar, Check, then the panel Reports & Checks: open its panel Head and Shank and scroll down to the box Both forms.

DoClick Check, open Head and Shank by its title, and read the box Both forms.

You should seeA line that reads “Head, shank and one-part body”: the file holds the three bodies. The head and the shank are the production pair, each one closed body. The one-part body is the whole ring fused as one piece, for the prototype print: the add-on keeps it in its own collection, shut out of the 3D view so that it does not stand over the others. Part a ring into head and shank (P4-10) uses these three.

It worked whenThe box Both forms reads “Head, shank and one-part body”.

WhereThe 3D view. The picture shows the head lifted off the band, for this picture only.

DoLook at the picture.

You should seeThe head’s four claws end in four flat feet, all at the height 11.66 (read up from the grid, in millimetres). That is the foot plane: the level where Make Real and Prototype cut the claws. The head’s lower rail, the second rail, ends higher: its underside stands at 12.01, 0.35 above the feet. The upper rail, the seat rail, ends at 13.41. So the cut falls across the claws 0.35 under the second rail, and touches no rail. The panel says the same in its own words: the foot plane stands 3.02 under the girdle’s lower edge, and the second rail’s underside 2.66 under it. The claw feet in the band are the part of the claws that ran into it: they run 0.40 mm below the cut. The band’s crest, its top, stands at 11.55, so the foot plane clears it by 0.11. The head is 21.83 mm3 and the band 465.81 mm3, and the fused body is 487.64 mm3: the pair adds up to the one body.

It worked whenYou can see the head’s four flat feet at 11.66, with the second rail 0.35 above them, and four feet standing in the band.

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-ring-forms and carries no asterisk.