WIP -- 'Protrude' ruby from Jim Foltz

TaffGoch · 2 Oct 2008, 03:50

Jim has been working on his generator for greebles/nurnies (look it up), the "Protrude" ruby plugin.

Plugin: Protrude

This tool so easily produces geometry, that I'm sure I can only underestimate its potential uses.

The attached sample only took a couple of minutes, starting with a regular pentagon. Great fun!

Regards,
Taff

Gaieus · 2 Oct 2008, 06:51

Ha! It does indeed look fun!

watkins · 2 Oct 2008, 08:42

Dear Taff,

I should put some cream on that if I were you. It looks nasty.

Regards,
Bob

kwistenbiebel · 2 Oct 2008, 08:49

I installed it but get this error message when trying to open the 'Protrude Dialog' from the Plugins menu:

Error: #<NameError: uninitialized constant ProtrudeDialog>
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 6/Plugins/protrude.rb:6
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 6/Plugins/protrude.rb:4:in `call'

Anyone else experiences this?

Jim · 2 Oct 2008, 09:27

@kwistenbiebel said:

I installed it but get this error message when trying to open the 'Protrude Dialog' from the Plugins menu:

Error: #<NameError: uninitialized constant ProtrudeDialog>
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 6/Plugins/protrude.rb:6
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 6/Plugins/protrude.rb:4:in `call'

Anyone else experiences this?

At least one other person is having the same issue. I've uploaded a new version just now, so maybe give that a try.

kwistenbiebel · 2 Oct 2008, 09:58

wow, that's fast Jim.
Thanks, I will try it.

[EDIT]: Works like a charm !
(An extra ruby needs to be downloaded from smustard to make it work: progressbar.rb)

kwistenbiebel · 2 Oct 2008, 11:28

I love the plugin .

A quick play:

Gaieus · 2 Oct 2008, 11:32

Fantastic scene, kwist!

chango70 · 2 Oct 2008, 13:19

WOW! Fantastic plugin! This is where plugins are no longer just tools, they are becoming creative works of art! Thanks!

plot-paris · 3 Oct 2008, 08:41

phantastic plugin, Jim. real fun to use it. its almost addictive
one minor thing: when I open the prodrude dialog window, it is allways to small. I have to rescale it first to see all the buttons. is there anything that can be done about it from within ruby?

@kwistenbiebel:
beautyful render! you immediately managed to think of a practical way to make use of this tool in architecture. the image has a great, artistic feeling to it, really looks like an exhibition room in an art gallery.
which render engine did you use for that and how long did it take?

[Edit] oh, and Dave: thanks for making us aware of this great new plugin

remus · 3 Oct 2008, 11:37

I can imagine playing with this for a few hours at least

Petruscaleus · 26 Nov 2008, 16:52

Really a nice bit of ruby to toy around with...!

But there's a little problem using it on a localized (german) OS - as some of you may know we're using a comma to separate the decimal places (and a point for the thousands); but the protrude plugin can't handle that, every floating point value is truncated to the integer value.

@unknownuser said:

{"dmax"=>["65"], "7"=>[nil], "omin"=>["0"], "dmin"=>["35"], "hmax"=>["1"], "1"=>[nil], "tmin"=>["0"], "hmin"=>["1"]}
rcvd callback: "protrude()"
(values were 1,1 for hmin & and 1,7 for hmax)

If I call the 'Set Reasonable Values' function, the calculated values also use the decimal comma format - and protrude won't work, too.

@unknownuser said:

rcvd callback: "setReasonableValues()"
setResonableValues:
{"dmax"=>["65"], "00m"=>[nil], "omin"=>["0"], "dmin"=>["35"], "tmin"=>["0"], "60m"=>[nil], "hmin"=>["6"]}
rcvd callback: "protrude()"
(hmin=6,00m & omin=0,60m)

When trying values with a decimal point an error occurs:

@unknownuser said:

{"dmax"=>["65"], "omin"=>["0"], "dmin"=>["35"], "hmax"=>["1.7"], "tmin"=>["0"], "hmin"=>["1.1"]}
rcvd callback: "protrude()"
Error: #<ArgumentError: (eval):269:in to_l': Cannot convert "1.1" to Length> (eval):66:in initialize'
(eval):63:in eval' (eval):66:in initialize'
(eval):63:in `call'

The only workaround that will work is to adjust the numbers format (decimal point and comma separating the thousands) in windows itself, so SU will use the same number format as the plugin; the disadvantage is, every other program uses it as well.
Is there a (known) way to adjust the script to accept the comma values as well, or do I have to dig into ruby scripting myself...?

Regards,
Stefan

Jim · 26 Nov 2008, 21:02

Thanks for the report, Stefan. I had no idea the plugin was not working with a comma.

I am relying on the SketchUp API to process the string into lengths, and I am not directly manipulating the values. I assumed the API would handle the conversion. I will need to learn how to write the plugin to work in all circumstances.

tomot · 27 Nov 2008, 16:16

Great stuff! makes it easy to build sculptures.
After which one could add some "catmull clark or doo sabin" meshing.

It might nice to add negative stepping as well. Perhaps by adding another button. Hence one can toggle between either negative or positive stepping.

Jim · 28 Nov 2008, 13:24

@petruscaleus said:

But there's a little problem using it on a localized (german) OS - as some of you may know we're using a comma to separate the decimal places (and a point for the thousands); but the protrude plugin can't handle that, every floating point value is truncated to the integer value.

Stefan, I have sent you a revised version that I hope will solve this issue. Please let me know if I was successful, and I will release it to everyone.

@tomot said:

Great stuff! makes it easy to build sculptures.
After which one could add some "catmull clark or doo sabin" meshing.

It might nice to add negative stepping as well. Perhaps by adding another button. Hence one can toggle between either negative or positive stepping.

Thanks tomot. I think it should be no problem to have negative values for the protrusion.

CadFather · 28 Nov 2008, 16:11

fantastic plugin Jim, thanks

just reporting on some issues:

doesn't like curves, domes etc
no cutting on some faces in this shape

Petruscaleus · 29 Nov 2008, 14:51

CadFather, as the name of the function "Divide Rectangles" implies, it only works with rectangles ^^
In your simple case case it would be only one line for each L-shaped polygon to divide them in two rectangles on which Divison can be applied.
As for arcs, domes and spheres - it works fine for me scratches his head
What exactly did you try?

Jim, you already have a reply to your PM; works fine now!
A new bug report/feature request: Right now you can only taper the extrusion up to 99%, if you enter 100 no tapering is done at all. Would it be possible to allow a taper of 100%, resulting in a single endpoint (top of the pyramid) instead of a small face at 99%? Optically this is no big matter, but it would save 3 vertices, 4 lines and one face which could matter in a big model including a few hundred extrusions.

sepo · 29 Nov 2008, 16:32

Really nice plugin Jim. Thanks....

PRSS · 29 Nov 2008, 16:34

Hello everybody!

I just installed this Protrude ruby. I do get the dialog. But when I select a face and aplly
"divide" nothing happens. When I press "protrude" also nothing happens. I am using SU 6 Free.

I downloaded the older version of ruby without the option of this "divide" from Crai Library.
This works fine. But not the new one from SketchUP Plugins download. I did delete the previous
ruby and the previous folder before copying the new ruby. Nothing works.

Help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
With best regards
PRSS

PRSS · 29 Nov 2008, 16:47

Sorry!!

The 'progressbar.rb" was not there in my plugins folder.
It is working fine now after I copied it.

With best regards
PRSS