Terrafold

Chapter 4

From flat to solid

Now you build real things. This chapter starts the garden project with a small shed, then makes a planter and a pot for the patio. Along the way you meet the tools that turn flat shapes into solids: Push/Pull, Offset, Move, Rotate, Scale and Follow Me.

The shed

Step 1: the floor plan

  1. Press R for the Rectangle tool.
  2. Click a first corner on the ground. Where exactly doesn't matter for learning; the project files have the shed 8.6 m along the red axis and 12.6 m along the green one, and you can always move it there later.
  3. Move the pointer up and to the right, type 2.4m,1.8m and press Enter.

Step 2: the walls

  1. Press P for Tools ▸ Push/Pull.
  2. Click the rectangle and move the pointer up.
  3. Type 2.1 and press Enter. The rectangle becomes a box 2.1 m high.
Push/Pull under way: the face follows the pointer and the sides are drawn as it goes, until you click or type the distance.
Figure 4.1 Push/Pull under way: the face follows the pointer and the sides are drawn as it goes, until you click or type the distance.

Step 3 and 4: a pitched roof

  1. With the Line tool (L), draw a line across the top face from the Midpoint of one short edge to the Midpoint of the other. The top face splits in two.
  2. Press Space for the Select tool and click that line.
  3. Press M for Tools ▸ Move. Click the line, move straight up (the blue axis; press Up to lock it), type 0.6 and press Enter.

The two halves of the top face fold into a roof, and the end walls grow into gables.

The shed in four steps: the floor plan (its back shows from above), Push/Pull 2.1 m, a line from midpoint to midpoint, and that line moved up 0.6 m.
Figure 4.2 The shed in four steps: the floor plan (its back shows from above), Push/Pull 2.1 m, a line from midpoint to midpoint, and that line moved up 0.6 m.

Step 5: the door

  1. Draw a rectangle on the front wall, starting at the bottom edge: 0.9m,1.9m. It splits the wall face.
  2. Push/Pull it 5 cm into the wall: click it, move inwards, type 0.05, Enter.

Step 6: a window with a frame

  1. Draw a rectangle on the side wall, 0.7 m by 0.6 m.
  2. Choose Tools ▸ Offset (F), click the window face and move inwards. Type 0.05 and press Enter. A second outline appears 5 cm inside the first: the frame.
  3. Push the inner face (the pane) 3 cm in.
The finished shed: a door pushed in, and a window whose frame came from Offset.
Figure 4.3 The finished shed: a door pushed in, and a window whose frame came from Offset.

Offset copies the outline of a face at a constant distance, inwards or outwards. Use it for frames, rims, kerbs, borders and wall thicknesses.

A planter for the patio

Now a tapered planter, 50 cm square. You meet Scale here.

  1. Draw a 0.5m,0.5m rectangle near the house, and Push/Pull it up 0.5 m.
  2. Select the top face. Choose Tools ▸ Scale (S). Grips appear around the selection.
  3. Hold Ctrl to scale about the centre, drag a corner grip outwards, type 1.2 and press Enter. The top grows by 20 % and the sides lean outwards.
  4. Offset the top face 4 cm inwards for the rim.
  5. Push the inner face down 0.4 m: the planter is hollow.
The planter: a box, its top scaled by 1.2 about its centre, then offset and pushed down.
Figure 4.4 The planter: a box, its top scaled by 1.2 about its centre, then offset and pushed down.

Scale takes a factor (1.2), a factor per axis (2,1,1), or a length. A negative factor mirrors.

A round pot with Follow Me

Follow Me sweeps a face along a path. With a circle as the path it makes a turned shape, like a pot or a column.

  1. Draw a circle on the ground (Draw ▸ Shapes ▸ Circle, C) with a radius of 0.2m.
  2. Draw the pot's profile standing on the circle's centre, in a vertical plane: from the centre out to 18 cm, up and out to 25 cm at a height of 45 cm, and back to the axis. Lines that close the loop make a face.
  3. Select the circle's edge (a circle is one curve: one click selects it all).
  4. Choose Tools ▸ Follow Me and click the profile. It sweeps around the circle.
  5. Erase the circle face left on the ground.
Follow Me: a profile standing at the centre of a circle (left) sweeps around it into a pot (right).
Figure 4.5 Follow Me: a profile standing at the centre of a circle (left) sweeps around it into a pot (right).

Move, copy and arrays

Tools ▸ Move (M) moves the selection from one point to another. It is also how you copy:

  • Press Ctrl (Option on macOS) once while moving to make a copy instead.
  • Right after a copy, type 5x and press Enter: you get five copies, each the same distance further on. Type /5 instead to spread five copies evenly between the original and the first copy.
  • You can still type a new distance afterwards; the array keeps its count.

Tools ▸ Rotate (Q) works the same way around a centre: click the centre, a starting direction and an end direction, or type an angle such as 45. With Ctrl it rotates a copy, and 6x makes six copies around the centre.