I have looked around but havent found a solution.
If I haven’t looked for the right keyword/meta please point me in the right direction.
I am trying to model the footprint of an object/tool in another shape (a blank cube would be just fine).
My goal is to create some foam inserts for tools to put in toolboxes. please see example in the below link. https://www.google.fr/search?q=foam+insert+toolbox&tbm=isch
I know of the “substraction” tool, however in the case A - B would work fine for a sphere I would put half in, if you put the object B further down, then you won’t be able to take it back.
So the request is : how to create a footprint of an object B into an object A and then being able to pull it out.
I would place the tools on a face representing the top of the foam. Position the tools so they pass through the surface at their widest point. Then intersect them with the face and use Push/Pull on the inner faces to make the cavity. You’ll likely need to do some editing after the intersection to remove some unneeded edges and possibly add some edges to simplify the cut outs.
Thanks a lot for your answer.
This would work in hunderds of situation !
Would you have some sugestions to keep the “3D” shape of the below surface ?
I agree for this pair of plier, this would work just fine. A couple of notches here and there to make it easy to take it out.
But in some cases, I would like to keep the “3D” shape (or organic shape, let’s say !) of the faces below.
To give an example : let’s say I would like to put a SLR camera with its lense entirely (not half way) in a block of foam. For the body of the camera, the bottom can be flat, no problems ! But for the lense I would like to keep the shape, so it would be supported.
For the lens, I would draw a cylindrical shape that it would fit in. Think the internal size of its lens case. Place it so half of it is in the foam and do the subtraction. Then pull the face around the recess up. Remember you can add to the thickness of the foam as easily as you can cut the recesses.
Edit: If you want to get closer to the shape of the lens, intersect a face with it, clean up as needed and then use Follow Me to create the shape to cut into the foam.
Thanks for both those advises : pull up the face once the intersect is done and the follow-me for the cylindrical items.
This should cover for 90% of the usages.
The last 10% would be the exotic items.
exempli gratia for the sport : say I would like to make this footprint of a drone (DJI phantom or parot bebop). The intersect of the largest/widest part is not always at the same height. There is no symetry. etc. Many compications that would make it difficult to make a footprint.
don’t get me wrong, the ideas you gave me are great and will cover the great majority of my needs.
But out of intellectual curiosity, if I have a 3D model of any object with random shapes … would ou think of a way to create the footprint “exactly” to the 3D shape (oh my english is so bad, sorry !)
Be creative. You could make multiple intersections. Start by pulling the face of the foam up a little and run Intersect Faces. Extrude the face a little leaving a recess and run Intersect Faces again. Rinse and repeat. This will give you a stepped recess but you could join the resulting contours if you want to create smoother terrain. The Sandbox tools could be useful for this.
