Rhino on large scale project #3 – LinkedBlock

It is #3 of “Rhino on large scale project series.”

Someone might say,

“If you’re talking about splitting files and linking them together, isn’t there also a LinkedBlock?”

…So in this article, I will write about LinkedBlock.

Shown below is the same exterior model as before.

In this case, we are using a nested LinkedBlock.

The wall part is one block.

If it is as a LinkedBlock when you insert it, double-clicking on the instance will bring up a menu like the one below.

Press OK and wait for the new window to appear.

You will see a model with just the wall part.

In addition, if you double-click on one panel,

You can edit the panels one by one.

If you want to edit the shape of the bolt, double-click on it.

In the case of LinkedBlocks, only those at the top of the hierarchy can be selected individually and their properties can be checked.

In order to read the properties of a particular bolt, you need to either double-click it repeatedly until it comes up, or you need to separate the files into folders according to the hierarchy in advance, and then remember the names of the files and open them individually.

Also, when you edit an individual object and use another LinkedBlock object as a reference, you need to delete the loaded one when you save it, because it will make reference cycling and cause duplicate loading.

Creating a file structure for the entire project with LinkedBlocks does not seem to be a very comfortable working environment.

So when can we use LinkedBlocks?

In this model, the panels could be different sizes in individual locations, and openings could be added, but the bolts are assumed to be standard material.

When you make this bolt a LinkedBlock, for example, if the length is changed from 65mm to 70mm, you can modify it all at once.

What should be a LinkedBlock and what to make into a Worksession are based on experience and need to be considered for each project.

The basic idea is to keep repetitive and standard materials in a block, and If you want to change parametrically, you need to create a separate file and then create a Worksession.

Since architectural components are often defined and constructed in different hierarchy in one project, a deeply nested LinkedBlock cannot build a model well.

If any of you are constructing architectural models using only LinkedBlocks, I would be happy to receive comments on how you are doing it.

Translation: Yukie Takasu