TinkerCad Tip - Shape Generator The Circular Array!

[@DIYsCool]

I have just worked through some of the projects on the tinkercad site and it really upped my game. I was lacking a way to get radial spacing close to being correct. This video is exactly what I need right now. Thanks!

[@boldvoltage639]

The 140mm dimension comes from the radius going to the center of the shape - which are at helpfully lined up vertically in this case. So that leaves half the shape (which is the radius of the shape) but there is one on both sides, so that part is doubled - which is the diameter of the shape. At least for a circle shape. So it's 2 x 65 = 130, then add 2 * (half of circle size) = 2 * (10/2) = 10 and plus the 130 is 140. In case it matters, I really did try to think of a way to say it so it's not confusing. In any case, really awesome video. Thanks so much for posting it.

[@datatodatatodata]

Dear god, I wish I had seen this a few months ago! Guess I'll be watching the rest of your videos for Tinkercad very soon. 😅

[@bryanethier1910]

Excellent.That last minute sold me on Tinker

[@chucksaduck]

That whole tab of new shapes was a big help thanks!

[@criggie]

I just wish it was possible to do a text search in shape generators, or have the "star" put them into a favourites list. Or a user-defined hotkey that brings up this shape generator. I frequently want do to Bolt Circles and this is the tool for the job.

[@bertdefasko2426]

Great software and a great example. Thank You Autodesk!

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

:-)

[@Walt1119]

Great video and explanation!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[@sergeyzelenkov4588]

Именно то, что было необходимо. Спасибо! ) Я пытался вручную разместить отверстия по окружности в вершинах многоугольника 😅 Проблема: радиус данной фигуры ограничен 100мм, при попытке расширить её, окружность с фигурами строит отверстия неверно.

[@angere8]

Holy cow, I've been doing this manually. I do have a couple issues with this though. You can't make the cylinders that are part of the array any smoother (they are defaulted to 16 sides), and if you make an array with an odd number of components, it will not center correctly with the align tool. They also will not rotate correctly, because the geometric center is not the same as the center of the array for an odd number of components.

[@mariodiadamo4255]

Muy buena la explicación y el tiempo para mostrar el uso del generador de formas.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Sorry my Spanish (?) is not so good...

[@JAYTEEAU]

Thanks Joe. If I have a totally irregular shape, I group it to a circle, dupe the group, rotate by as many degrees as required then dupe again and again and again as required. I then ungroup the lot of them and delete all of the circles except 1. I guess I could make a video on that. In fact, I will. Cheers, JAYTEE

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Jaytee that’s cool and this is all about in sharing ideas!

[@knewbster]

What if you want to put a bolt hole pattern in a cylinder that was horizontal? How can you change the direction of the holes?

[@Dancopymus]

Fantastic! Thank you.

[@StanCook]

NIce Joe. I didn't understand the part about the Sides.

[@IgnoreMyChan]

_Edit: So in short, the number of sides is the resolution of the circle. Long answer:_ If you leave the sides to the default of 20, the 'circle' will consist of 20 straight lines forming a circle. That doesn't give a smooth circle, so you bump it up to 64. This is still 5,625 degrees per side so big circles will still look rough. There are shape generators that allow for even more sides, if you need absolute smoothness.

[@xKatjaxPurrsx]

Sides. So in tinkercad cylinders aren't really ideal cylinders, they're actually geometric solids. If you zoom in on them you'll notice that they're actually made out of straight sides that are anged together to form a cylinder. So if you made a cylinder in Tinkercad with 4 sides it would be a box. If you made a cylinder with 5 sides it would be a pentagonal prism. If you made a cylinder with 8 sides it would be an octagonal prism. By default it starts with 20 sides, which is still pretty faceted for a cylinder of most sizes. Joe increased it to 64 sides (The maximum allowed) to make it a smooth a cylinder as possible in Tinkercad.

[@StanCook]

Ah, got it. Thank You.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Good explanation! Since Open SCAD works this way and you set $fn=x, I forget I also need to explain sides :-)

[@Rubbernecker]

Excellent video!!!!

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Thank you very much!

[@jimjh2671]

that is very cool.. My question is how would you add hole pattern on the side of a cylinder? IE like a hexagon pattern

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Not sure I am completely tracking, yet you could create a pattern, turn it on its side, extrude it (stretch) and make it a hole?

[@deltajohnny]

Great video! 👏👏👏

[@markm49]

Very useful - thank you

[@1hellokittymeow]

Hi, this was great and awesome so easily explained! I have a question for you, are you using windows ?or are you using iOS? if you’re using iOS is it a MacBook or a iPad?

[@seafax]

Definitely like to see examples of using the javascript in tinkercad.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Likely in June you see an episode with the SVG javascript, and I debating how far I want to go with this as coding episodes typically don't get many views as while I code Java, I am also far from worlds best which assuredly bring the wrath of the semicolon semaphore hecklers :-)

[@ZOIMIBiIE]

What if I need a circular array of spheres? I’m trying to basically make a cylindrical shape, with a line of dimples going around the outside.. this function would be perfect, but it doesn’t do spheres

[@LumberGaming]

Do you have the design link?

[@samuelwhipp7129]

Great tutorial! Thank you brother!

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Your welcome Brother!

[@jaredsayrc4947]

i need to figure out how to edit a Already STL file

[@jamesc.7988]

Thanks for the video! It has definitely helped but I can't figure out how to rotate the cylinders so instead of standing up, they are laying on their side and pointed towards the center of the ring. Is there a simple way to accomplish this that I am just missing somewhere?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Just click on the object and there will be two sets slightly opage arrows, one set for left and right with the other for up and down, just click and rotate...

[@jamesc.7988]

@@DIY3DTECHcom Thanks for the response. I am familiar with the rotation arrows but rotating horizontally or vertically rotates the entire array. I will try to explain what I am attempting to do and hopefully provide more clarity than confusion. I have an octagon laying on its side so that the 8 sides are facing outward, across the X and Y planes. I created an 8 column circular array and am trying to rotate it so the bottoms of each colum touches the octagon sides. I then want to convert the circular array to a hole and merge the pieces together, leaving the octagon with 8 circular recesses in its sides.

[@ericcxxxx]

new ver you can find it that way

[@CatLife0]

I'm having trouble with trying to make a rounded bevel on the inside edge of a tube like the tall piece in your video. I can use the tube shape with the option to round the end edge on the outside but the inside edge is still square. Any ideas how to do the inside edge?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

This is hard in ThinkerCad (easy in Fusion 360). The only way to do it fake it with a torus (to get an inverse use it as a hole on a circle....

[@1607rosie]

Even I was curious can you rotate the figure in any orientation when you do a pattern copy. For example when you pull in a cylinder can you size your cylinder then flip,it on its side going from a pistol cylinder to cylinders like on a radial engine. Do you know what i mean. I've been playing with tinkercad taking a break from inventor.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Wow that is big switch (Inventor to TinkerCad!) However no, I believe can only be done in one plane, not 100% sure I have been spending most of my time in Fusion 360....

[@1607rosie]

@diy I went back to inventor today just to try and played with making a crude radial engine. The thing about tinkercad it's easy to grasp what's available . And fun to play with. In ventor has so many options. And very powerful. But love your platform I. Going to peruse your channel. I'd like to see your java script video on building shape generators

[@scottsound4711]

Very good.. But how do I cut the circle into 8 triangles so I've got 8 parts?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

In TinkerCad you could (1) do it manually or (2) write some java script. I don't do too much any long with ThinkerCad as its big brother fusion 360 makes things like your asking super easy!

[@crispychicken2743]

Found it to great. Having hard time importing to slicer to USB. G code to printer .

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Thanks for commenting and you are welcome! :-)

[@justinlee3438]

Is there a way to use circular array so that they form a circle horizontally?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Sorry not that I am aware of in Thinker cad but in fusion yes...

[@chackokhan]

Thanks for this Tinkercad Tip. I’ve been wondering if it had an Array function. Very handy to make gears & such now too. Is there a way to array custom imported objects? Or would I have create them solely thru Tinkercad.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Well sort of, I did a video it on a while back (or at least I think I did) on using shapes in either java or java script wrapper inside of tinkercad. Its been a while, however if you want to do gears, I suggest using its big brother Fusion 360...

[@ratstarone]

Great job

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Thanks!

[@parnilsson8283]

Excellent. Thanks

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Your welcome

[@theBoonarmies]

absolute life saver

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Thanks!

[@amelliamendel2227]

Has anyone figured out how to get the favorites to work?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Not sure what your asking?

[@Joao-be2gl]

great!!!!!!!

[@mythalan1]

Try it with 5, it wont align, why

[@Just_An_Idea_For_Consideration]

Yes - interested in coding

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Be sure to check out our Open-SCAD channel at OpenSCAD-KZbin.DIY3DTech.com

[@stixstudios3380]

Excellent, thanks.