Rhino
Rhinoceros
(typically abbreviated Rhino, or Rhino3D) is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software developed by Robert McNeel & Associates; an American, privately held, employee-owned company, that was founded in 1980. Rhinoceros geometry is based on the NURBS mathematical model, which focuses on producing mathematically precise representation of curves and freeform surfaces in computer graphics (as opposed to polygon mesh-based applications).
Rhino is a NURBS modeller which has several advantages to mesh modeling. NURBS models use mathematical expressions to make surfaces, rather than meshes which express surfaces via a network of exact points in space, which by definition invloves segmentation. NURBS surfaces do not need to segmentation, and express themselves exactly. They are currently one of the only ways to express a true curved surface in CAD without segmentation.
To begin the workshop we drew a curved shape in rhino, using control points to express the direction and amount of inflection in the curves. You add and remove control points to add more inflection points or to more exactly control the path of the curve. Because Rhino only remembers the co-ordinates of the control points, only a very small amount of data is used in saving the file.
We then drew a network of three curves in the horizontal plane, stitched together by three more curves vertically (shown in red). Rhino was then able to interpolate various other curves in the vertical plane (shown in black) and use all of those curves together to create a NURBS surface. The surface is perfectly smooth and infinitely scalable without any loss of resolution. It is the equivalent of a vector image whereas a mesh is equivalent to a raster.
By moving the control points the entire surface changes, but with very little saved data or computing power needed by rhino.
We then drew a simple 2D pattern (shown on the right in the background) which we then stamped onto our rhino surface using a simple operation. This technique is very useful for modeling panels and openings, as well as surface details. This operation would take a very large amount of computing power if it were to be attempted witha mesh, but the NURBs surface can easily do it due to its mathematical nature, the computer can very easily solve for the intersections on the surface because they exist as equations.
