Extension Creator group

medeek

Version 4.5.8 - 05.30.2026

Added a curved stair option into the stair module.
Added two new parameters for curved stairs into the draw and edit menus: Inside Radius, Curve Direction.
Enabled treads, risers and framing (primitive) for curved stairs.

HornOxx

Hi All - I need recommendations for two plugins.

#1 Is there a tool that can evenly distribute any randomly given number of groups (or components) between the first and last component?
#2 Is there a physics tool (similar to Sketchy Physics) that works with SkUp 2025 or later?

TIG

The EXTG and PROP terrains must have the same overall footprint.

When you have the skirt fitted onto a simplified EXTG group
it should still report as 'solid' in Entity info,
copy that group to one side and edit that copy.
Draw three Guide lines to help locate a new skirt later, on the group's axes.
Delete the top terrain, but keep the vertical skirt and bottom face.

Next copy the PROP group to one side and edit the copy.
This time delete the skirt and bottom face, but keep the terrain geometry.
Exit the edit and select the EXTG-copy group and Edit>Cut it to the clipboard.
Reopen the PROP-copy for editing.
Edit>Paste-in-Place.
The EXTG-copy skirt group in now inside the PROP-copy terrain group.
If the skirt-group doesn't line up with the terrain's axes, then Move it into place
using Shift to restrain the movement in the Red/Green axes only.
The guide's intersection should help with this relocation [if needed].
Explode the skirt-group so that the PROP-copy now contains only geometry.
Erase any Guides left behind too.
The PROP-copy should now contain its terrain top and skirt/bottom copied from EXTG.
Exit the edit and check the PROP-copy in Entity Info - chances are it won't be a 'solid'.

We now need to make it a solid...
Use Thomthom's SolidInspector2 on the PROP-copy to see where the errors are reported.
They will be highlighted in Red.
Fix the ones that it reports as 'fixable'.

If there are other 'non-auto-fixable' errors - e.g. complex holes or inner faces -
then you need to dip in and out of SolidInspector2 and the model itself
[into PROP-copy group > edit] and manually fix these issues in turn.
Use pan/zoom to position yourself over the issues that need fixing...
It's best to have sun/shadows on so you can see holes more easily and the Default-materials showing,
with the back-material being set to a distinctive color - e.g. bright green.

These might be 'flaps' or 'shelves' that need deleting, missing faces that need healing by drawing
over edges to force a face to form, or adding diagonal lines to triangulate geometry and force
facets to form [it's best to triangulate resistant faces to infill facets,
even if the larger hole's perimeter appears 'planar'.]
As you do this you might accidentally form internal 'partition' faces and you'll
need to delete those too using a section plane to look inside the form can help in this regard.

Remember that a manifold solid can only contain edges and faces.
That is no nested groups or components.
Every edge must support exactly two faces.
That means -
No 'faceless' edges [i.e. stray lines].
No edges with only one face [e.g. flaps, shelves or hole-perimeters].
No edges supporting three or more faces [e.g. two 'boxes' sharing a common edge for 4 faces].
Faces should be consistently oriented 'outwards' with the back-face materials 'inside' the form.

Once you have a solid form reported in Entity Info you are good.
Replace PROP with PROP-copy and try CutNFill again on these simplified forms -
the skirts should now match so that hurdle is avoided...

medeek

The curved stair primitive is relatively easy to create, it is all the details that are going to be fun.

TIG

I've looked at it and the differences between the PROP[osed] and EXT[istin]G groups are so tiny in many cases,
that you are unlikely to be able to do a solid/subtraction that results in a solid group afterwards.
So it'll report a 0 volume.
It's a limit of SketchUp - not CutNFill itself.

To prove this to yourself try and do a solid > subtraction and see the non solid result ?
It's just like CutNFill's - a woeful non-solid with many missing facets.
Try and making a much more simplified version of the two, with sensible differences -
sites are not worked to mm so don't ruin SketchUp's chances of success with very tiny differences...

There are some paid extensions to help with this - e.g. Skimp
Skimp has a 5 day free trial - you will need it to reduce the 2 forms by a significant factor
[e.g. 33% twice], then make the resultant simplified solids [components] back into groups again
and then remake their matching skirts to suit in CutNFill too because the simplification will ruin the existing ones.
After that you might have change of a solid > subtraction result ?

TIG

After a hiatus of 14 years, here's v1.4
Please re-read the edited usage in the first post in this thread:
https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/133971/plugin-texturerandomizer
Download it from the PluginStore page or ExtensionStore dialog within SketchUp.
https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TextureRandomizer
NOTE how the code and interface was revisited by myself and raumstaerke.de , who added a single dialog for settings using AI.

Rich O Brien

@jo-ke said:

I need a path in the middle and two rails (special profile) left and right, to follow the path.

With Curviloft the profiles can be offset from the path...

Profile offset from Path using CurviLoft

That does mean you need to do each side as a separate operation.

Or with ProfileBuilder 3 (or above) you could make an Assembly with a mix of Profiles and objects like bolts to do it in one sweep.

TIG's Extrusion Tools would do it too similar to CurviLofts approach.

medeek

Larry Belk has been asking me for a few weeks now to attack curved (not spiral) staircases. I will readily admit I know very little about how to construct these types of specialized staircases and based on my quick survey of Youtube videos showing their construction there are many ways to actually build them.

Rather than focus on the supporting structure (ie. curved walls or twisted stringers) I think it would be more beneficial to focus on the primitive that generates the staircase and then the risers and treads. My feeling is that each curved tread can be adequately modeled with arcs consisting of only four edges, thoughts?

HornOxx

@Rich-O-Brien said:

I've zero knowledge of CapCut but are Effects only exposed to paid versions?

️
...as is the case with many free software versions, CapCut Free comes with a limited range of effects (transitions, text effects, etc.). The features that are only available in the Pro version are clearly marked as such.
Regardless, CapCut Free can rightly be called a full-featured app because everything you need is included.
Personally, I love this because it avoids that unbearable “PowerPoint” urge—so common among many users—to make everything fly, scroll, or dissolve in some silly way! —Here, too, the rule applies: Less is usually more!

Rich O Brien

I’m glad you’re safe my friend.

Extension Creator

Posts

Member List