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Trace Tool?

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  • 3 Offline
    3eighty
    last edited by 27 Sept 2009, 23:29

    This is new to me so I thought I'd ask you all...When you bring a background picture in to trace it, what tool is best used to trace???

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    • S Offline
      smokinbakin
      last edited by 27 Sept 2009, 23:49

      I would just use the standard line line tool. I can not thing of anything much better.

      "Set your goals low, and hope you don't get lower"

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      • E Offline
        ericschimel
        last edited by 29 Sept 2009, 13:11

        You could also use the freehand tool, depending on how complicated your picture is...

        -Eric
        http://plugin.sketchthis.net
        Sketchup Kitchen Design Plugin
        Custom Models

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        • J Offline
          jwlyon1
          last edited by 29 Sept 2009, 13:43

          Freehand tool + wacom tablet = win!
          That's the best way I've found to trace things. Obviously, hard edged shapes are easier with the line and rectangle tools, but for curvy wonky shapes, freehand tool is the best choice!

          Macbook Pro/ iMac
          OSX 10.7.2 Sketchup 8
          rogue-z is here!

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          • J Offline
            johnsenior1973
            last edited by 29 Sept 2009, 15:11

            The best tool to use is the Cubic Bezier Curve. It's one of the options on Fredo06's Bezier Spline plugin. It's so much better than the Freehand tool it is untrue.

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            • J Offline
              Jean Lemire
              last edited by 29 Sept 2009, 15:25

              Hi folks.

              I use the Line Tool and the Arc Tool. The Arc Tool is nice because of its "tangent" inference that helps in producing nice smooth curves having different radiuses or curvature. I also edit the number of segments in each arc to avoid generating huge models, especially if the contour is to be lathed. For example, I often use only 4 segments for an arc with a large radius (little curvature). It also depends on the relative size of the arc. For a very small arc that will not have a major visual impact, I will use a small segmentation, even for an arc with a small radius (lots of curvature).

              I also disable "length snapping" in the Model Info --> Units to avoid unnecessary snaps.

              Just ideas.

              Jean (Johnny) Lemire from Repentigny, Quebec, Canada.

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              • F Offline
                fredo6
                last edited by 3 Oct 2009, 15:09

                @3eighty said:

                This is new to me so I thought I'd ask you all...When you bring a background picture in to trace it, what tool is best used to trace???

                If you're bothered by the inferences of the Line and Arc tools especially if you draw over a curved surface, you can also use the Freehand tool on Tools On Surface 1.5, which works both in auto-sampling and in Polyline mode. There is a small video showing an example:
                [flash=425,344:3eudzt7g]http://www.youtube.com/v/mdqsYAbUfTE&hl[/flash:3eudzt7g]

                If your problem is more to smooth contours, you can use the F-Spline tool of BeziereSpline. unlike the Cubic Bezier, you have a better control on the overall number of segments of the curves (Cubic Bezier can only set the number of segemnts between control points)

                Fredo

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                • 3 Offline
                  3eighty
                  last edited by 3 Oct 2009, 19:55

                  Thank you to you all..Fredo> Wow! Great video and tool.. 👍

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