Reverse Engineer Workflows in

In this video we are essentially going to repeat what we did in Part 1, only a lot faster and with better final surfaces! Using Freeform tools isn't generally a "precise" workflow, but for the case of a complex casting shape like this, using a freeform surface will actually produce better surface quality than using all the mesh section sketches. And as an added bonus the process is much faster!
If you want to follow along and you did Part1 just carry on with your file, or you can download the file here.
a360.co/3KDP8Ew

[@bewhitey]

Just used this method a few weeks ago on reverse engineering a B pillar car part. Learned it from an older video you had done fitting a wing to a car. Also did the the loft mesh section sketches on a 3d scanned bumper a few months ago....wish I knew the pull command at the time because that took forever! PULL FORM TO 3d SCAN! THE PULL COMMAND FOR THE WIN! (that is what this video should be called haha) Thanks so much for making these videos and opening doors in design for everyone. You are really an awesome teacher! Can't wait to see the next steps on how you finish this model. I know how I would do it but it is so interesting to see your methods because they are quite ingenious.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Awesome to hear! Those mesh sections are a bit deceiving and can work ok depending on the intended outcome of the model. Hopefully ill get the next video done in the next few days.

[@scruffy3121]

Always amazed to see someone do what takes me days to figure out within 10minutes 😂. Self teaching can be painful.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

too true lol. glad there are some nuggets of knowledge in there.

[@TomAHawk-py6vj]

This is pretty useful to me. I started engineering parts for private use without an 3D scanner and most of them were parametric and could be recreated by combining and cutting basic geometric shapes. Just had to put photos on construction planes and calibrate them. But organic parts was always a pain in the ass and it never occured to me, that it can be that much easier with better outcome using FreeForm.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

For sure. I hate to pitch freeform tools as the always solution, but the geometry is much nicer. In the next video I am planning to do this part using prismatic features and getting close to make a more manufacture ready part.

[@dormg22]

cool series and very relevant for my project, thank you.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

You're very welcome!

[@dillrepair]

regardless of what software the way you're describing this stuff has been incredibly helpful as i'm new at this. in this video the discussion is very much along the lines of the potential complications of by-hand patterning i've had to deal with in the past as far as additive or even multiplying effect of minor error depending on whether it matters or not for what you want to do. so if i'm patterning by hand for a fabric cover meant to be taught on a tubular structure, the thickness of the lines i draw and where i draw the lines on the patterning plastic i've taped down has a huge effect down the line after tracing copying and cutting things out. (in addition to the stretch of the specific material which is something you learn to deal with too and not well quantified)... one thing (of many) i'd like to be able to do eventually without having to spend 18k on exactflat software is scan a tubing structure and make a 2d pattern to cut out and sew up that will come very close. anyway thanks for these vids. subbed.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Thank you for the sub! What you are trying to say and do is tricky for sure. and yeah Exactflat is a bit "high" on price :) FWIW you can unwrap faces in Inventor and Solidworks. I think Inventor is a bit cheaper yearly. I just had to pay almost $8000 for 2 years of solidworks.... BUT there are other options. While not exactly the same there is another program called Wrapstyler. www.wrapstyler.com/software.html I have no affiliation with them and no clue on pricing, but they have several tiers which is a good sign :)

[@nicktechnick]

I've never worked with freeforms before as they feel more like doing artwork. I think years of having fully constrained work beat into me has made it hard for me to accept direct editing. This video however has really shed some light on things and has me wanting to give this a try. I'm extremely excited for the next video to see how you finish the part and turn it into a closed solid. Thank you for your videos, I'm going to go binge through them all now.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Thanks Nick! With forms when you "Finish Form" if its closed it will convert to a solid, if its open it will convert to a surface. They are a powerful tool and produce better geometry than the traditional surface tools in Fusion in most cases. Definitely worth a look! The Fusion mastery Series here has a lot of videos but they focus on specific tools or topics, while most of the other series using forms look at a project like a car,

[@nicktechnick]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign all things I'm wanting to learn. I've been using Autodesk Inventor daily for the past 10+ years doing sheet metal work for press brakes. Which is all fully constrained flanges so surfaces, freeforms, and heck even Fusion is rather foreign to me. I purchased a hobby 3D scanner for use with car parts which I've managed to figure out, but now I'm wanting to learn to work with organic shapes so your video series is going to be helpful beyond measure! Thank you so much for this!

[@mic03311]

Wow I didn't know this method! Very interesting. Thanks

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

You're welcome!

[@imacmill]

A++ video... Does anyone know if FreeCAD possesses similar tools, in particular, the 'free-form/pull' tools, and if so, what workbench(es) are they found in? Now that I think of it, I'm wondering if Plasticity has similar functionality...

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Thanks! At the current time Plasticity, nor FreeCAD offer SubD/freeform style modeling to the best of my knowledge. FreeCAD has solid and surface modeling as does Plasticity. FreeCAD is a parametric modeler, similar to Fusion360, while Plasticity is a direct modeler meaning there is no history, constraint system(after curve creation) or sketches. Freeform modeling is available in Rhino, SolidEdge as well as other CAD packages but there are pros and cons to each option. SolidEdge freeform modeling is limited in my view and doesn't have the same level of working directly on mesh bodies as Fusion. Rhino has a pretty robust toolset but the UI/UX is where it falls down for me. I think it could be a really great asset. Tsplines that is in Fusion 360 used to be available in Rhino until Autodesk purchased it some years ago. Now it is built into Fusion 360 and Inventor(although slightly different implementations for some reason).

[@imacmill]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Thanks for the reply. I am very familiar with freecad, and use it regularly for hard-surface modeling, but I've recently delved into reverse engineering scans I've made of various parts of my Vespa scooter's fairings. These scans are curvy as all-get-out, and I'm struggling to reverse engineer them, in either FreeCAD or Plasticity, even using the techniques you provided in other videos wherein you REed a car fender. I sure wish FreeCAD and Plasticity had a NURBS surface equivalent of Blender's 'shrink wrap' and 'clothe simulation' tools, whereby I could import a point cloud/mesh, place a flat NURBs surface above it and tell the software to 'drop the surface down onto' the mesh and form-fit the surface. I should note that FreeCAD's 'Mesh' workbench has a tool that lets me create splines on a mesh, but it is, in a word, crap. Edit again: I think FreeCAD has a cross-section tool that I tried a long time ago and wasn't impressed. I think I'll look into it again.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@imacmill yeah the issue with most mesh curve tools is that the end curve is "nasty". Not something you would ever use in a true design. What is your end goal with the parts from your scooter? Are you just trying to learn how to model them or do you have plans to modify the design? I like the freeform in fusion because you snap your form to the mesh but still keep a smooth surface. It could be done in blender if you are ok with that workflow and your end goal is to 3d print the parts. That way you could directly push/pull on the scan :)

[@imacmill]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I am creating hand guards for my scooter (basically, 'scoops' that block wind from my hands), and I am experimenting with ideas on how best to mount them to the handlebars. I have limited options in this regard, but the path I'm going down is making a hinged 'collar' that wraps around the fairing that leads up to the hand-grips, and that section of the fairing has complex curves. I've already created the basic collar from scans I made of the fairing (resulting in STL and/or OBJ files), but because I'm using Plasticity to create the 'scoop' part (because I find Blender's NURBs surface tools hard to use), I would like to convert my poly-based collar to NURBs (a STEP file) that Plasticity can use, other than just importing it as a dummy OBJ that can't be used in any operations. I can actually do this already from within FreeCAD (import poly OBJ, use mesh tools to make it a solid, then export as STEP, but the resulting STEP is just a crap-load of NURBs triangles, and that absolutely clobbers Plasticity, CPU-wise, so not a good solution). I am experimenting with FreeCAD's cross-sections tool now to see if I can coerce the poly-based collar into a NURBs surface...not hopeful.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@imacmill If you can remesh that in blender or another program to a quad mesh, its a bit easier to turn it into a clean model in Fusion. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYO7l2eHrrJ2g8U as far as the handguards I understand. I run various styles on my bikes. Some bikes have a plastic arm that mounts to the bar just inside of the clutch or brake master. others i run for supermoto actually mount closer to the triple clamp and also go into the end of the handlebar. MotoGP bikes might offer up some inspiration. They run a lever guard( to prevent the front brake or clutch from being pressed int accidentally) that only mount in the bar end. I did a quick search and found some companies make them. Zuwepo was one on amazon that listed a bar end hand guard. www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/barkbusters-aero-gp-lever-protector

[@WagaTouso]

Cool video. In this reverse engineering series, would it be possible to also reverse-enginner a computer mouse?

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

I don't have a scan of one sadly but we could certainly model one. I had thought about modeling the MX Vertical mouse I use. Is there something specific you would want to see with the mouse?

[@WagaTouso]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign no, it is just because i have been trying to find the 3d model of a mouse but i didn't manage to, all i had was a picture and a drawing so it made it more difficult. The mouse is "boxy" so it's a little easier, but i didn't manage to get a good copy with the forms space.

[@WagaTouso]

prosettings.net/wp-content/uploads/zaunkeunig-m2k.png

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@WagaTouso if you have some pics or a model number feel free to email me [e-mail] or let me know the model here and ill se if i can't incorporate it into some future vids.