Paraplex

Solid modelling

solid-modelling · by Paraplex

Model 3D objects from editable shapes: extrude an outline, shape its bevel, cut and join solids, engrave or emboss a stamp, finish in acrylic. Coins, cards, locks, switches, chunky logos and titles. Load before reaching for a generated model.

Solid modelling

A solid in Paraplex is an outline with a depth. It stays a drawing: its anchors, its depth, its edge and its color can all be changed later, and every one of them can be keyed. Reach for this before generate_model: a generated mesh cannot be edited, restyled or recolored part by part.

1. The outline

  • A box or a pill: add_panel, then set_corners (radius 0.5 is a pill or a disc).
  • A disc, a triangle: add_shape ellipse or triangle. A ball, a can, a cone, a ring: add_shape sphere, cylinder, cone, torus (these are solids already; they take no bevel).
  • Anything else: draw_vector with an SVG path. Two subpaths with fill-rule evenodd make a hole (a ring, a keyhole, a letter's counter): cheaper than a boolean, and it bevels as one piece.
  • Flat outlines can be combined first with combine_paths (union, subtract, intersect, exclude, or divide into a layer per region). Curves come back as corners, so keep it for straight-sided or small pieces.
  • Type: add_text depth "3d". Text is not a part a solid boolean takes; for a word cut into a block, convert it to paths in the layer menu first, or lay it on the face as its own thin 3D text.

2. The depth and the edge

  • set_property thickness (0 to 0.2, a share of the shorter side) gives the depth. A chunky mark is 0.2 with a full bevel; a card is 0.02.
  • set_property bevel (0 to 1) rounds the edge. It carves inward, so the outline keeps its size, and it adds its own thickness to both faces: a layer laid on a bevelled face must sit in front of it by the bevel as well as by half the depth.
  • The edge has a shape: bevelProfile round (the default), chamfer (one flat cut: a chiseled title, a faceted gem), cove (scooped: a picture frame, a classical letter) or step (one square ledge: a button on its collar, a coin's raised field). bevelScale (0.25 to 4) carves further in; bevelDepth (0.1 to 4) runs deeper; bevelSide front or back leaves the other edge square (a sticker, a keycap).
  • set_property detail lowers the segment counts for a faceted, low-poly edge.

3. Joining and cutting

  • combine_layers makes one solid of several: union, subtract (the others cut out of the first), intersect. The parts stay editable and can be keyed; the solid follows. smoothing melts them together like clay.
  • stamp_layers is the coin maker: mode engrave cuts each stamp a set depth into the base's face, emboss raises it. The stamp keeps its own color and material, so an engraving can be bright in a dark body. Give the base its depth and bevel first; place each stamp over the face in x and y only.
  • Overlapping solids already look joined. Use a union only where the seam must vanish, or before a subtract.

4. The finish

  • set_appearance cast-acrylic: opaque under a clear coat, a rounded edge. A gradient is drawn across a whole solid, walls and all, so for a deep face inside bright walls keep the body in the bright tone and lay a plate on it: the same outline drawn in by the edge's width, thickness near 0, no bevel, the deep gradient, a hair in front of the face. Deep face, bright walls, a bright line round the edge: the look of a chunky 3D mark.
  • set_appearance acrylic or glass for clear tinted pieces; chrome or gold for a coin; set_material glossy with a low roughness for candy plastic.
  • A solid needs light to read. set_scene_look environment "gradient" with stops of the piece's own palette, brightest at the bottom, lights walls from below; studio-soft suits metal. Keep toneMapping "none" when flat UI in the same frame must keep its exact colors.
  • A card that turns over to a different back needs a thin plate of that color just behind it, for the same reason.
  • A combined or stamped solid wears each part's fill and finish, not its gradient or picture: give the base the coin's own tone and the stamp the bright one.

5. Recipes

A coin. add_shape ellipse, 0.26 across; thickness 0.1; bevel 1. A rim: draw_vector a ring (two circles, evenodd) at 86% of the disc; a glyph: draw_vector a plus, an arrow, a percent sign at 50%. stamp_layers base the disc, stamps the rim and the glyph, mode emboss, depth 0.008. add_group them and key the group's rotation.x and rotation.y through whole turns for a tumble.

An engraved seal. A cylinder or a thick ellipse, cast-acrylic or gold; the logo as a path over its face; stamp_layers mode engrave. A second, larger ring embossed makes its border.

A bank card. add_panel 0.76 by 0.48, set_corners radius 0.11, thickness 0.02, bevel 0.2, a gradient across the face. On the face, a hair in front: a chip (a small rounded panel), the mark, the name and the last four digits as text. Group them and turn the group.

A padlock. The body: draw_vector a rounded rectangle with a keyhole as a second subpath (a circle over a narrow trapezoid), thickness 0.2, bevel 1. The shackle: a U drawn as an outline (outer arc, down, across, inner arc back), half the body's depth, behind its top edge. Key the shackle's position.y and rotation.y to open and close it.

A switch. The track: a flat pill in the accent's gradient. The knob: an ellipse, thickness 0.12, bevel 1, bevelProfile step, with a check embossed on its face. Key the knob's position.x across the track and the track's width with it.

A chunky mark. Each piece of the logo as its own path, thickness 0.2, bevel 1 with bevelScale 0.25 to 0.5 (a narrow rounded edge, a wide flat face), cast-acrylic in the bright tone; on each, a face plate as above in the deep tone. Group them, rest the group at rotation x −30, y 32, z −6 so the face looks up and right and the walls show, and bring it in with a turn and a half round y that eases out.

A chiseled title. add_text depth "3d", a heavy weight; bevel 1, bevelProfile chamfer, bevelDepth 2; metal or cast-acrylic. Keep bevelScale at 1 on type: a wider cut folds thin strokes.

6. What it cannot do yet

No lathe (a profile spun round an axis), no sweep of a section along a path, no free sculpting of a surface. A vase, a bottle or a cable wants generate_model, or a cylinder, cone and torus stacked. Say so rather than faking it with many slabs.