Avoid unification of materials in GDL

[zunino]

Is it possible to prevent elements of the same material from being unified in the cut? I am developing a GDL object for carpentry, and I would like to avoid this unification. Here is an example image:

 

[Lingwisyer]

You might be able to cheese it with Planes which are only active when the View is a Section using GLOB_VIEW_TYPE? So while the cabinetry will merge, you will have a cut line of your secondary material that you assigned to the plane.

Ling.

[Barry Kelly · Accepted solution]

Two ways I can think of to control it.

One is to use SECT_FILL before each PRISM (or 3D shape) with the same but different fills.

By that I mean you need similar fills as different attributes - i.e. empty fill, air space, 0%.

The same fill but just duplicated with a different name.

Two is to use BODY 4 after the 3D shape.

This will force it to be a surface when the body is cut, but you lose the fill if that is important to you.

Barry.

[Dave Seabury]

I get around this issue by setting up a loop, modeling the object first as SOLID and then as WIRE

FOR m=1 TO 2
    IF m=1 THEN
        MODEL SOLID
    ENDIF
    IF m=2 THEN
        MODEL WIRE
    ENDIF
    "your script"
NEXT m
END

David

[zunino]

Thank you for your reply.

However, I am new to GDL, could you explain better what the code would be like using GLOB_VIEW_TYPE?

[Dave Seabury]

GLOB_VIEW_TYPE is used to control what is happening in a given view

sense you are trying to control the section view you would use 

IF GLOB_VIEW_TYPE = 4 

I haven't used Planes as Lingwisyer has suggested, he might be a 

able to explain that better.

[zunino]

Solved. Your tip was perfect. I used SECT_FILL before each PRISM, with similar fills, but with different attributes. After understanding the dynamics of the command, it is easy to control the views in the cuts

 

 

[Lingwisyer]

I have not tried it before, I would create a Plane with the material Air at each joint. The verticies can all just be copied from those of your panels. In that way, when you take a section of your cabinetry, while the timber may get merged due to a common SECT_FILL or MATERIAL, you should still get a cut line for the Plane. Ideally you would include a GLOB_VIEW_TYPE before you generate these planes so that they are not drawn on 3D as intersecting faces often creates odd artifacts which may impact performance in addition to the increased poly count.

Regarding the  SECT_FILL solution, could you DEFINE the duplicate fills in-script to avoid filling your template with junk?

Ling.