Your first model

In this walk-through you’ll make a small pavilion: a solid block with a round opening through it. Along the way you’ll use the command bar, options, the gumball and a live boolean, a result that remembers what it was made from.

It takes about ten minutes. Sizes are in millimetres, the unit new models start in.

1. Draw the plan

1. Click in the Top viewport to make it the one you work in.

2. Type Rectangle (or rec) in the command bar and press Enter.

3. The prompt asks for the first corner. Click the Center option, or type c and Enter, so the rectangle grows from its middle.

4. Click the grid’s origin, where the red and green axes cross, for the centre.

5. For the corner, type 4000,3000 and press Enter. You get a rectangle 8 m by 6 m, centred on the origin.

Tip

Typed values and clicks are interchangeable everywhere. Turn on Grid snap in the command bar to land clicks on the grid.

2. Pull it into 3D

1. Type ExtrudeCrv and press Enter.

2. Click the rectangle to select it, then press Enter.

3. Check the options in the prompt: Solid should say Yes, so the ends are closed. If it says No, click it to switch.

4. Type 3000 and press Enter. The rectangle becomes a block 3 m tall.

Look at the Perspective viewport: right-drag to orbit around the block, and use the wheel to zoom.

3. Make the opening

1. Back in Top, type Circle (or c) and press Enter.

2. Click the origin for the centre, then type 1200 and press Enter for the radius.

3. Run ExtrudeCrv on the circle as before. This time click the BothSides option, then type 2000. You get a cylinder that pokes out above and below the block.

4. Type BooleanDifference and press Enter. Select the block and press Enter, then select the cylinder and press Enter.

The block now has a round hole through it.

4. Change your mind

The difference you just made is a live boolean: Curva kept the block and the cylinder inside the result.

1. Select the pavilion and type EditBoolean. The cylinder you cut with appears again.

2. Click the cylinder. A gumball appears on it: arrows to move, arcs to turn.

3. Drag the red arrow to slide the cylinder along. The opening follows as you drag.

4. Run EditBoolean again to hide the cylinder.

To make the result a plain solid that no longer remembers its inputs, use BreakBoolean.

5. Put it on a layer and save

1. In the Layers panel, add a layer and name it Pavilion.

2. Select the pavilion, type ChangeLayer and choose Pavilion when Curva asks which layer.

3. Press Ctrl + S. Curva asks where to save: in version 0.4.2, type a full path in the command bar, such as C:\Users\you\Documents\pavilion.curva. From 0.4.3, your system’s own save window opens instead.

   Curva files end in .curva, and they keep everything, live booleans included.

Where next

• Undo anything with Ctrl + Z.
• Send it to Rhino: Export writes a .3dm file. Live booleans arrive in Rhino as plain solids.
• Coming from Rhino? See what’s the same and what’s different.