Option Optic3D > Features > 3D Surfaces > Marking on the side of a 3D surface

Due to the nature of the projection on an .STL and to a degree even the true to length wrapping on a predefined surfaces, when projecting an object on a 3D surface at the side, it will come to distortions, as the angle to the surface gets too extreme. Some distortions can be countered pre-emptively, for example using Radial Text for text entities on curved surfaces.

Another approach would be to project from above, export the 3D vectors via CCI, and then rotate the vectors to the desired angle, see example below:

When placing a square on the side of a sphere, the angles and lengths get more and more distorted the farther down it gets from the top, as the angle to the surfaces gets smaller:

square_on_sphere_side square_on_sphere_side_projection

Figure 506: Square at the Side of a Sphere, distorted

In order to optimize the marking, the square can be placed on top of the sphere, as then the projection happens with much less extreme angles:

square_on_sphere_top square_on_sphere_top_projection

Figure 507: Square at the Top of a Sphere

With the CCI command to export the transformed vectors, the 3D vectors can now be saved as a separate job, which in turn includes all the 3D information from the projection.

This new job can now be opened in SAMLight; rotated and transformed to match the coordinates as if it were placed at the side. Please note that at this point the 3D surface needs to be disabled.

square_on_sphere_side_rot

Figure 508: Square at the Side of a Sphere

The resulting square is much less distorted when projected from above and placed on the side afterwards. Please note that the sphere in the background is only to display the square at the same place; in the new job, the 3D surface is not needed any more.