Drawing with Line Tools in Rhino / 2D Vector Lines / Technical Lines
In this video we will be talking about one of the essential foundations of 3d modeling in Rhino - using line tools.
We’ll touch upon how to create two dimensional vector lines, how they can so very easily snap and align onto each other intuitively.
We’ll also go over exporting vector lines, which can convert into illustrator files, .DWG toolpaths for milling, laser cutting and other types of fabrication.
You’ll learn:
How you can navigate where you need to in 3D
And how to be efficient and accurate with drawing.
This lesson will be for absolute beginners.
With the only prerequisites being
That you know how to navigate in Rhino, as in Orbit, Pan, Zoom.
Let’s get started.
The line command in Rhino follow the same definition. It is a command that generates only one straight mark between two points.
The polyline command is for creating consecutive lines. This is the command we will be using because it is more versatile- especially if we first make a line and decide that we want to continue making more lines from our current endpoint.
To perform the polyline command, we can simply type in the word “polyline”, or press the polyline button in the toolbar palette. We can also do the same thing by clicking on the Curve menu and selecting Polyline.
Notice I am given further options for start point. If I now type in 0,
I will be starting my line from the origin, 0,0,0 in xy and z axis.
Spacebar is the same thing as “enter” or “return.” You press it to tell the computer that you are done typing, and you are now submitting the command. After typing in 0, I pressed spacebar to enter this information.
Please be aware that every time that I am typing in a command, I am not taking my cursor and clicking to make sure I am typing in the command prompt. My cursor is automatically in the command prompt.
It is important to be aware of what the command prompt is asking. Now that I have established the origin of my line, I can optionally enter a length, then an endpoint.
, I can type in a number, such as 5, spacebar or 5mm or 5in spacebar, and Rhino will recognize any of these units of measurement and change the length accordingly. When I type in just 5, the length is the unit of measurement for the template, so if I am in the mm template, then it would be 5 mm for example.
I can now click down to end the line. Because I am in the polyline command, when I hover, it is ready for me to set another point down to continue to make line segments. However, I am done so I’ll press spacebar. And there we go, we created our first line in Rhino.