Ribbed lines

Ribbed Lines is the simplest texture in the set and, in practice, the one that gets used most: a field of evenly spaced parallel stripes running across the face at whatever angle you choose. Ribs, fluting, reeding, louvres, corduroy — the same three parameters cover all of them. Unlike every other pattern here it has a direction, which is exactly what you want when the grip or the light has to work one way and not the other. The Style switch decides which half of the stripe is the feature. In walls mode — the default — the stripe itself is Thickness wide and everything between is the base: that is a rib, and embossed it stands off the surface as a real ridge. In holes mode it inverts, the stripe becomes the groove and the land between it is Pitch minus Thickness wide: that is fluting, and engraved it cuts fine channels into the face. Set Thickness to about half of Pitch and both modes converge on a perfect square wave, the classic reeded-glass look. Pitch is the line spacing, Angle the direction — 0 horizontal, 90 vertical — and Depth sets how far the ribs or grooves go. Ribs come out sharpest running perpendicular to the layer lines, so think about how the face sits on the plate before choosing the angle. Keep Thickness at roughly twice your nozzle width, around 0.8 mm on a 0.4 mm nozzle; Depth of 1 to 2 mm gives real directional grip, while 0.5 to 1 mm is plenty for purely visual fluting. Good for grip on handles, levers and sliders, fluted panels and furniture fronts, light-diffusing ribs on lamp shades, reeded-glass effects, heat-sink styling, and large flat walls where fine lines hide layer lines better than a smooth face.