Advanced Custom Rail with Multi-Rail Sweep
Learn advanced techniques for making even complex rings accessible with History.
With a Ring Rail and an Outer Rail, select a Profile Placer shape for the 3- and 9- o’clock positions on the ring. Using these curves, the Gem Profile of the center stone, and the Split and Blend tools, draw the shape of the ring flat (planar) as seen in Looking Down. Also create two Arc Direction curves representing the taper of the ring in the Side View viewport. Using Advanced Custom Rail, set up the four rail curves to be used in Multi-Rail Sweep. Place surface in Looking Down and use the Center Line tool to create central rails on which to place profiles. Repeat Advanced Custom Rail using
these curves. Turn your existing profiles into profiles for this pair of rails using MSR > Select Rail Curve, and add two or more profiles. Adjust Edit Points to sweep with Multi-Rail, and use history in Profile Placer to vary the ring.
Icon Key:
1. Place a Ring Rail
Select a size for this ring using the Ring Rail tool from the Tools menu. Click the green arrow to place it in the viewports.
2. Place & Center Gem
Use the Gem Loader tool found in the Gems menu to place an 0.6 CT pearshaped diamond. Center the gem using Center Object in the Utilities menu. Next, Select the gem and choose MSR. Click and drag the Z handle to locate the gem in the desired position above the rail.
3. Place an Outer Rail
Open the Outer Rail tool to select the shape of this ring in the Through Finger view. Click the yellow profile to open the Browser and select a shape. Click “Start” to add it to the viewports, and adjust the Viewport Control Handles to the desired size for this rail. Press Enter when done.
4. Gem Profile
To create a shape for this ring in the Looking Down view, select the gem and input it into the Gem Profile preview window. A profile in the shape of the gem will appear with handles along the girdle of the gem. Don’t move the handles, as we’ll use this curve as-is. Just press Enter to end the command.
5. Project to CPlane
The Project to CPlane command found in the Transform menu will take any curve in space and “project” it so it is planar (or, flat) against the grid in a viewport. Select the Gem Profile curve in the viewport where it already looks correct (Looking Down, here) and choose this command. Press Enter to see the results.
6. Split with Point
We will use this curve to help us create the shape of the ring. To begin to set up for this, select the curve and run the Split command. From the Command line, select the “Point” option. Move your cursor along the curve and left-click roughly at the 12, 10, 8, and 4 o’clock positions. Delete the remainder to create the shape where the shank will “hold onto” the gem.
7. Place Profiles
Start up Profile Placer and input the inside rail into the preview window. Select a profile shape for the 3- o’clock position (#22 used here) and scale using handles or the builder menu. Mirror it in the builder.
8. Offset “Rails”
To represent the thickness at the top of the ring, select the green and red “rail” curves and offset each one about 1 mm (or, the thickness you want at the top of the ring) in the Looking Down viewport.
9. Create a “Cue” for Blend
Here’s a trick to help you create “cue” lines to assist you with creating the Blend shape for the rails: After placing the first point of a curve of a line, snap the cursor (without clicking) to a line that is angled the way you want the curve angled and
press the Tab key (above, left). This locks the curve or line into that angle as you continue drawing. Use this trick on the angle of the profile: after placing the first point, snap the cursor to the Near O-Snaps on the profile angle and press Tab. Then, draw the line past the end of the profile.
10. Mirror “cue”
Mirror this “cue” to the four corners of the profiles, making sure they all touch on the End O-Snaps. If they don’t (i.e. profiles are not centered) and you don’t want the profiles centered, draw these “cue” curves again by repeating Step 9.
11. Blend, Join, Rebuild
If you wish, use Blend Handles for more control over the the curve before placing it. Blend between “cue” and curve located at the top of the stone (in Looking Down). Adjust Blend Handles to perfect the shape of the curve, and press Enter to end the command. Join all three curves and Rebuild the line with
the fewest number of control points possible while still retaining its shape. Alternatively, you may draw these shapes using the Interp Curve or Curve tools. It takes a little more skill (or, trial and error if you’re like me!), but yields any shape you may want for the ring!
12. Repeat & Fillet
Repeat steps 10 and 11 for the two sets of curves on the opposite side of the shank. Use Fillet before joining and Rebuild to smooth out the “kink” or sharp point created at the point of the pear-shaped stone. Fillet with a radius of about 0.35 mm so it is smooth enough. Then complete step 11: Join and rebuild.
Why Rebuild?
Rebuild is a great tool to run before tools such as Advanced Custom Rail and Curve from 2 Views with History, because it makes a polycurve into a single Nurbs curve and redistributes control points evenly along its length. When the curve is used to produce another curve, as when using these two tools, and that curve or its original is used to create a surface, as when using Sweeps, Rebuilding it first will produce a more successful resulting curve from the original, that can, in turn, produce more stable surfaces that cannot be “Exploded” as easily; which means they can be swept more successfully. Remember not to Rebuild AFTER running Advanced Custom Rail, Curve from 2 Views History, or Sweep History, as Rebuild creates a new curve and so will break History.
13. Create Side Profiles
The Advanced Custom Rail tool can use a Side Profile that assigns the shape of the ring in the Side View viewport. Turn on Project to make sure these are drawn planar (flat) in this view. We will draw 3, as we’ll be using three separate instances of this tool. Use Arc Direction from one
end of the gem down past the base of the finger rail to create the width and bend/taper you want for this side of the ring. Repeat on the other side of the ring. Then, using the Line tool with the “Both Sides” option, start a line at F4 and draw it past the gem and base of the finger rail.
14. Start Tool
To run Advanced Custom Rail for this example, two “Shape Curves” that will create a single rail must be selected together. These are color-coded above, and the pairs are, as seen from Looking Down, outside top / inside bottom; and inside top / outside bottom. Select one pair only and start up this tool.
15. Select “Outside”
With Advanced Custom Rail running, you will see the rail in the shape of the two selected curves following the finger rail. Select the “Outside” option in the Command line and select the Outer Rail you placed in step 3 when prompted to do so. The second rail will appear.
16. Select “Side Profile”
While still in the Advanced Custom Rail tool, select the “Side Profile” option and choose the Side Profile curve on the side closest to the resulting curve (color-coded above left, in blue). This will affect the outside AND the inside shapes. Click and drag the handles to get the desired results and press Enter to end the command.
17. Repeat for another rail
Repeat steps 14 – 16 with the opposite pair of curves selected. Run the “Outside” and “Side Profile” options (use another arc for Side Profile) to create the third and fourth rails for this muti-rail sweep. (All Planar curves are hidden, above). Here are your four rails for the mult-rail sweep tool … but we’re not done with this tool yet!!
18. Prepare for Profiles
We’re next going to prepare to create 2 rails, centered on these four, on which to place profiles. Use the Surface menu tool Plane in the Looking Down viewport to create a surface planar to the shape curves.
19. Center Line Tool
With the plane in place, you have all the components needed to use the Center Line Tool. Input the plane and one set of shape curves into this tool and click “Create” to draw the central line. Repeat with the other pair of curves, creating two lines: each one central to the original shape curves. (All other curves are hidden, above)
20. Repeat Custom Rail
Using the central curves as Shape Cuves, repeat the Advanced Custom Rail tool one last time using the “Outside” and “Side Profile” options as before. This time, the Side Profile is the central straight line. (New central curves purple, above.)
21. “Select Rail” Option
Select one of the existing profile shapes and press F6. Select the “MSR” option from the menu to “re-awaken” the profile within the Profile Placer tool. It’s still associated with the inside finger rail, so we need to correct that. To begin, use “Break
Mirror” to cancel its mirrored relationship with the other profile. Then, click the Command line option “Select Rail Curve” while the handles are visible and make certain the sub-option “Keep Existing Location” is set to “Yes”!! Press Enter, and the profile will become associated with the new rail.
22. “Select Second Rail”
Also use “Select Second Rail” and select the newest outside rail, created in step 20, as the second rail curve. Repeat both steps for the other existing profile: do NOT use Mirror, as the rails aren’t perfectly symmetrical.
23. “Add” Profiles
The first time around, we’ll keep the same profile shape to make it a little bit easier on Multi-rail sweep. Then, with History, we’ll start to have fun with this ring’s surface shape!! While still running Profile Placer, click the “Add” option to add another profile to the rails. Position it close to the end of the rails, beside the gem. Scale
down the width with the Builder menu slider or Viewport Control Handle so it is appropriate for the ring’s design. With one profile set, “Add” another one and position it beside the gem on the other side of the rails. If you wish, place a final profile at the very bottom of the ring, in the 6 o’clock position on the rail. (Again, planar curves are hidden in the above two illustrations.)
24. Adjust “Edit Points”
While still in Profile Placer, click on EVERY profile you’ve placed and select the “E” handle to access its Edit Points. Click and drag the points for EACH profile so they align with the rails that are closest to them: touching if possible. Keep the “Mirror” option on for best results. With all profiles set, you are ready to sweep!
25. Multi-Rail Sweep
With nothing else selected, start-up Multi-Rail Sweep. Do NOT select the rails that the profiles are on, as these were merely created to get the profiles centered. The other four rails created with Advanced Custom Rail are the ones to sweep. Select the pair of inside rails first; then select the outside pair, working in sequence “around” the future surface shape. Select profiles in order, and the surface will appear
26. Profile Cap
If you wish, add a Profile Cap to both of the end profiles. As long as you don’t Join them to the remainder of the surface, they will change to follow the profiles around with History when you adjust the surface in the next step (results of Step 27 shown in the illustration above).
27. Change with History
To change this model with History, you have a few options. When using any of these, don’t click in the viewports until History is done “catching up”! (1) Change the profiles to new shapes. As you do so, be certain to adjust the Edit Points on the new shapes, as explained in Step 24, so they can keep up with your changes. (2) MSR Profiles. It’s fine to MSR the profiles, but you may find that the surface “Breaks”. If it does, try (3) below, as well. It may also be necessary to add profiles and re-sweep surfaces (Step 25). (3) Edit Rails. Turn on control points for flat curves from which rails were created, and or move/rotate / scale them to change Advanced Custom Rail curves and therefore surface. Or, select the outside rail, select F6, and Edit Outside Rail.
Nice Job .........!!!!!!
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