Offsetting Meshes
Windows only

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

Problem

RhinoScript can generate a closed mesh as a result of a base mesh and an offset. Rhino’s OffsetMesh command does this task very well if you use the solidify option, but RhinoScript’s MeshOffset function does not have this option. Let’s take a look at creating a solid mesh with RhinoScript…

Solution

RhinoScript’s MeshOffset function does not have a solidify option, but you can accomplish what you want by simply scripting Rhino’s OffsetMesh command, instead of calling RhinoScript’s MeshOffset function.

The following example function will offset a mesh by scripting Rhino’s OffsetMesh command…

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' Offset and solidify a mesh object
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Function OffsetMeshSolidify(strMesh, dblDistance)

  ' Declare local variables
  Dim arrSaved, strCommand

  ' Save any selected objects
  arrSaved = Rhino.SelectedObjects

  ' Unselect all objects
  Rhino.UnSelectAllObjects

  ' Select the mesh
  Call Rhino.SelectObject(strMesh)

  ' Script the OffsetMesh command
  strCommand = "_-OffsetMesh _CapMeshes=_Yes " & CStr(dblDistance) & " _Enter"
  Call Rhino.Command(strCommand, 0)

  ' Get the results of the command
  If Rhino.LastCommandResult = 0 Then
    OffsetMeshSolidify = Rhino.LastCreatedObjects()(0)
  Else
    OffsetMeshSolidify = Null
  End If

  ' Unselect all objects
  Rhino.UnSelectAllObjects

  ' If any objects were selected before calling
  ' this function, re-select them
  If IsArray(arrSaved) Then Rhino.SelectObjects(arrSaved)

End Function

You can test the above function with the following code…

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' This procedure tests the OffsetMeshSolidify function
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Sub TestOffsetMeshSolidify()

  ' Declare local constants and variables
  Const rhMesh = 32
  Dim strMesh, dblDistance, strOffset

  ' Select a mesh to offset
  strMesh = Rhino.GetObject("Select mesh to offset", rhMesh, True)
  If IsNull(strMesh) Then Exit Sub

  ' Get the offset distance
  dblDistance = Rhino.GetReal("Offset distance", 1.0)
  If IsNull(dblDistance) Then Exit Sub
  If (dblDistance = 0.0) Then Exit Sub

  ' Call our mesh offsetting function...
  strOffset = OffsetMeshSolidify(strMesh, dblDistance)

End Sub