I find it crazy that internally Sketchup keeps track of radii and such but displays them as tessellated or segmented lines. How hard can it be? I have been using vector graphic design programs for 30 years and have yet to see a circle defined as segments.

NURBS are mathematically accurate surfaces, but are harder to create intricate models with. NURBS and polygons both have their pros and cons. [ProArchitect #004 - Mesh vs NURBS (basics of CAD geometry)] [image] Milford_Trunnions: How hard can it be? From what I understand, it’s i…

Have you looked at FormZ? [NURBS modeling with formZ]

FormZ looks cool! I checked out their website and their gallery even has characters and stuff with smooth surfaces. Wow! [1]

FormZ came out of bonzai which was around at the inception of sketchup. It really is sketchup on steroids. With FormZ you essentially have sketchup with all the extensions and plugins functioanlity but made by the company as a unified toolset. It has animation and its own version of Layout too. Q…

just spent 40 minutes looking at FormZ Layout , seems much better resolved than SU Layout … hhhhmmmm and true curves… actually I thought FZ predated SU… I thought I was weighing it up against UPFRONT long ago… but it was Mac only? or maybe 3 times the cost at the time… getting old FZ seems pretty…

Yes, it’s hard to know why one product takes off and another doesn’t…maybe it’s price? I don’t know what the market share is between the two, but it’s odd that FormZ isn’t ahead given that it has so much more functionality natively built in than Sketchup.

[image] Forestr: From what I understand, it’s impossible to convert a poly-mesh into a NURBS mesh… it’s possible but requires a NURBS kernel of course: [Subdivision to NURBS] [image] Forestr: The circle tool should make a real circle… the circle tool does create a true cir…

Kinda random pick but this shows their version of the follow me tool…more options than sketchup and probably could replace “profile builder” too. http://www.formz.com/Video/formZ/formz7_ENU/videos_html/Sweep.html

FormZ seems quite similar to SketchUp in many respects.

Why in the decade of the 2010s do we have to deal with segmented arcs and circles?

SketchUp

GSTUDIOS January 3, 2019, 10:31pm 2

Thread from Aug 2018 - there is some useful info there.

Mathematically accurate curved surfaces

Topic		Replies	Views
Circles and curves Feature Requests	138	2594	March 14, 2025
Circle not smooth because it is aproximated by line segments SketchUp	44	142441	October 29, 2018
Mathematically accurate curved surfaces Feature Requests	42	7241	September 20, 2018
Creating a perfect circle to cut on a laser cutter SketchUp	33	21605	April 25, 2016
NURBS support Feature Requests layout , sketchup-shop	2	2774	March 8, 2021

Why in the decade of the 2010s do we have to deal with segmented arcs and circles?

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