Boxon1 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Hi, guys, I have this problem that I just cannot solve. Arc's are just refusing to look smooth - whatever I do, they look segmented (broken). Not just arc's, but, even worse, if I use arc as a 3d molding polyline, it's even worse. There must be some setting for that, and I just can't find it. This was made in X7, PC is more that sufficient, with 4GB video card. This is driving me crazy, not to mention that client is not very happy with 3D views... Any idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Picky clients, I know you can change the amount of sections in the arch to look smoother, you may have to convert the arch to a polyline to do it. My clients just aren't that picky so I just don't do it. more info here https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00565/creating-a-custom-arch.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxon1 Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Perry, actually this client is amazing, but because of that, he deserves something that looks good. This 15ft. arch is broken into 4 crude polylines, and that is not really acceptable. Anyway, thanks for the link, I was looking for that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennw Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Perry had the answer. Draw your arc. Before you do anything else, select the arc and on the Edit toolbar select Convert Curve To Polyline. A dbx will open where you can specify the number of sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Works well for the general arch, but what about the molding poly? For some reason when I convert the arch to a molding poly it doesn't retain the curve but goes to line segments. If you have a arch you want to place molding around can you not match? I'm trying to duplicate this so I know if I ever run into it while working on a project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy1 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Perry & Glenn are correct. Since I am already aware of the segments when working with arches and solids of any kind, I always fix it before I go too far if it's necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxon1 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 Works well for the general arch, but what about the molding poly? For some reason when I convert the arch to a molding poly it doesn't retain the curve but goes to line segments. If you have a arch you want to place molding around can you not match? I'm trying to duplicate this so I know if I ever run into it while working on a project. That is my biggest problem - I have 15ft. long arch, that I made as a solid object - I don't need to play with wall and pass-trough's, because it's only purpose is to visually divide room, so it will be just a small frame nailed for upper floor joists (as shown at image). But... I have a arch segment, covered with moldings at vertical faces, these molding should follow the line of arch bottom arc, and, as a cherry, arch bottom edges are covered with a little corner molding, that should bend as arch bends. I have like 7 arc's and they should all be perfectly aligned. Now, these 7 broken polylines just look like a car crash. Now non of them is aligned, and it looks like mess. I even tried to Ray-trace that, in hope that Ray trace will smooth these arc's, but nothing. Looks like Transformer's living room... So I was certain that there must be some setting for that, like "arc smoothing level", but just can't find anything similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Johnny and Boxon, you have to Convert Curve to Polyline AND THEN Convert Polyline to 3D Molding. If you've started with a 3D Molding Polyline you'll have to convert that back to a plain polyline first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxon1 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 This is working like a charm. Maybe I exaggerated a little, made polyline with 100 segments, it is probably slightly memory heavy, but works like a charm. Perry and Glenn, you are the Kings!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermot Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 FYI, there are actually two ways to solve the problem of faceted (or segmented) arcs in Chief. The first method, which I think is the preferred method, is to adjust the facet angle. When you select a polyline based object (like a counter top, slab, or polyline solid) that has an arc, you will usually get the "Selected Arc" panel when you click directly on the curved edge. When available, you will also see controls for the "Facet Angle" and "Automatic Facet Angle". If you have an arc that appears too segmented and you would like to smooth it out, just uncheck automatic and specify a smaller facet angle. The facet angle controls are not available for all objects but when they are available they will allow you to create a smooth curve without losing the actual arc. The facet angle controls are also available for things like walls, railings, and roofs. The second method, is to convert the curved arc into a bunch of smaller straight line segments. If you select the arc segment of the polyline, you should find an edit button called "Convert Curve to Polyline". This will allow you to smooth out the curves by specifying the number of line segments you want it broken up into. 100 segments seems a bit much and you should be able to use a smaller number of segments and still get a smooth curve. Unfortunately, I don't think either of these two tools are available for 3D molding polylines (although they probably should be) so you will have to use Michael's method of first converting it to a simple polyline, convert the curve into straight segments, and then convert back to a 3D molding polyline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution Boxon1 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Solution Share Posted March 31, 2016 Dermot, thank you, this was the option that I was looking for. I am trying to do things as they should be done. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work. I tested my shallow arc (polyline solid made out of box, with lower pline converted to arc), and it did nothing. It may be that arc is to shallow (15 ft. span, 1ft bow), but I will test that from the start. On the other side, Perry's method gave instant results, in spite of the fact that 100 segments are a bit extreme. And there was no problem to turn that into one nasty 3D molding polyline... That's just the way I am - extreme all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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