Hi, I’m trying to create a contour on an stratocaster guitar body called the “tummy cut”
I have partly managed it using Curviloft “loft by spline” but I’m struggling to get it to curve properly at the edges. It’s a bit difficult to explain but hopefully you can get an idea by looking at my model
My questions are- am I using the right tool? And secondly, how could I use it to get the edges to curve into the contour? My working drawing is attached below. Guitar tummy cut working drawing.skp (1.1 MB)
I modeled a Stratocaster a few years ago for a demonstration at a Mini Maker Faire. As I recall, I drew the body without the tummy cut and used Follow Me to round over the edges. Then I created a separate component for the tummy cut–essentially a shape with a curved, angled face. I moved this component into position on the body then did an Intersect command to merge the two shapes. After deleting the waste, I was left with a body that had a tummy cut. I didn’t try to round over the edges in the tummy-cut area. I suppose that could be done, but I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Hope this helps.
Best,
dh
I have nothing of value to offer about using Curviloft but just love to see creative new uses for SketchUp and it’s extensions. Mayhaps there needs to be a Luthier extension for the different types of guitars. (c:
Joram:
You need to re-look at how you are using groups / components. In SU all primitive geometry is drawn on layer 0. Components / groups are used to isolate geometry so it does not stick together. Layers are used to control visibility not isolate geometry.
For example, the “tummy cut” is a group but assigned to layer 0 plus the back side curves are not in the same context. Those need to be in the same context, you could also use TIG’s extrude tools set ( [Plugin] ExtrudeTools - Full Set • sketchUcation • 1 ) to create that surface and intergrate with the rest of model.
IMHO there are too many vertices in your model and may eventually lead to model size and give you problems. If at all possible it is best to address that early in the model creation stage, correction gets painful later.
I’m as big a fan of curviloft as the next guy, but this shape is pretty easy just to do manually. See picture. You’ve got far, far too many segments on all your curves. That doesn’t necessarily make the model look better, and it causes the model to move like molasses. Anyone can use hundreds of segments to no good effect. The challenge is to see how few segments it takes to make the object look convincing. I would forget about the corner radius all around.