Software

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The NonPlanar macro will triangulate 4 sided non-planar polygons (i.e. polygons that are not flat). Rendering results of these polygons can vary depending on a number of factors (including the rendering program being used), but they often don't render well, and in some cases the result of running of this macro can greatly improve the rendered output.

This macro was written primarily to allow processing of objects created by my Extrude macro, but can be used to triangulate any 4 sided non-planar convex polygon.
The illustration at right shows the o2c render of a twisted extrusion (created with my Extrude Macro). On the left is the output of the macro rendered directly, whilst on the right the output has been triangulated using this macro. The extrusion is a dodecagon shape, but without running NonPlanar macro over the extrusion neither the shape nor the twist is obvious in the rendered image.

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The macro allows you to select the polygon(s) to be processed either individually (by entity) or by group. The following options are offered:

Number of Planks. The macro will create a number of ‘planks’ stretching between opposite sides of the selected polygon(s). The more 'planks' the better the model will render (to a point).

Plank Direction. This setting determines which direction the planks run (across either the width or length of the polygon).

Triangulate Planks. If this option is enabled then the planks are split into 2 triangular polygons. If not enabled then the planks themselves will be non-planar (not ideal, but can sometimes produce results that render much better than the original polygon with only half the number of entities as if it had been triangulated).

Adjoining Sides Visible. If this option is enabled then all sides of the created polygons will be visible. If disabled then only the sides that coincide with the sides of the original polygon will be visible.

Delete Original Entity(s). If this option is enabled then the original entity will be deleted once it has been processed.

Separate Groups. If this option is selected then a separate group of ‘planks’ will be created for each polygon processed. If not enabled then the ‘planks’ from all the processed entities will be in the same group.

The NonPlanar macro has been tested in DataCAD versions 19 & 22. I believe that it should run correctly in version 14 onwards.

Spirit Compatibility: This macro is NOT compatible with Spirit

Get the macro		(Source code is publicly available in my BitBucket repository)

Version History:
v1.2.0.1 was initial public release.
v1.2.0.4 released 26 Jun 2022 allowed polygons to be selected in any viewing projection.