Adding Curve Objects
Windows only

by Dale Fugier (Last updated:  Wednesday, December 5, 2018)

Overview

Curve objects can be added to Rhino by using the following functions found on CRhinoDoc:

  1. CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject
  2. CRhinoDoc::AddObject

For CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject, there are six overridden versions that will make curve objects from a variety of inputs, including:

  1. ON_Line: line definition objects
  2. ON_Polyline: polyline definition objects
  3. ON_Arc: arc definition objects
  4. ON_Circle: circle definition objects
  5. ON_BezierCurve: bezier curve objects
  6. ON_Curve: ON_Curve-derived curve objects

Examples

The following code samples will demonstrate three different ways of adding curves to Rhino. In these examples, we will create circle curves; but, there is no reason that we could create lines, polylines, arcs or any other type of curve.

Example 1

In this example, we define a circle, using ON_Circle, and pass the definition off to CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject.

ON_3dPoint center(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
double radius = 10.0;

ON_Circle circle( center, radius );

CRhinoCurveObject* curve_object = context.m_doc.AddCurveObject( circle );
context.m_doc.Redraw();

Example 2

In this example, we first define a circle. Then we create an ON_ArcCurve object from the circle definition. ON_ArcCurve is one of the many curve classes this is derived from ON_Curve. We then pass the ON_ArcCurve object off to CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject.

ON_3dPoint center(0, 0, 0);
double radius = 10.0;

ON_Circle circle( center, radius );

ON_ArcCurve arc_curve( circle );

CRhinoCurveObject* curve_object = context.m_doc.AddCurveObject( arc_curve );
context.m_doc.Redraw();

Example 3

In this example, we will add a circle curve the brute force way. We first define a circle. Then we allocate a new ON_ArcCurve and pass the circle definition to its constructor. We then allocate a new CRhinoCurveObject and assign our ON_ArcCurve object pointer to it. Finally, we pass the pointer to the CRhinoCurveObject to CRhinoDoc::AddObject.

ON_3dPoint center(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
double radius = 10.0;

ON_Circle circle( center, radius );

ON_ArcCurve* arc_curve = new ON_ArcCurve( circle );
if( arc_curve )
{
  CRhinoCurveObject* curve_object = new CRhinoCurveObject();
  if( curve_object )
  {
    // Set the curve to the curve object. Note,
    // curve_object will delete arc_curve.
    curve_object->SetCurve( arc_curve );
    if( context.m_doc.AddObject(curve_object) )
      context.m_doc.Redraw();
    else
      delete curve_object;
  }
}

Discussion

What is interesting to note is that the code found in Example 3 is essentially what Rhino does inside of CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject. All of the CRhinoDoc::AddCurveObject overrides are simply provided to make it easier for SDK developers to add curves to Rhino.