The contour commands creates sectional "slices" through a surface , polysurface, or mesh at specified intervals along a specified vector.

Topo Contour

• Topographic maps, like the kind used in USGS, show elevational contours.

• Rhino allows users to create contour courves from a 3D form using the contour command.
• contour requires users to provide
  • a base point to begin contour "slicing"
  • a second point defining the vector , perpendicular to which the contour slices are made.
  • distance between contour slices.

Form to Contour

• Begin with any 3D surface, solid, or polysurface.

Solids

Base Point

• The first prompt in Rhino using the contour command is to provide base point for the slices.
• This point should lie at the lowest point on your object.

<aside> 💡 If you want an easy way to find the lowest point on an object, use boundingbox. It will create a box around your object. You can snap your base point the a lower point on the box

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• Switching views to right or front view allows us to view our object in side elevation.

Direction

• Selecting a second point defines the direction (vector) of our contour cuts.

<aside> 💡 90% of the time, we use the vertical axis as our contour vector (the Z axis)

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