[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Rails

kostas_designer · 17 Nov 2009, 07:46

A force of SU nature!!
Really cool!
Great job, Tig!

Here is some first trying:

TIG · 17 Nov 2009, 11:17

Humhum
Seems we must have possibility to reverse rails before apply the plug!
[attachment=0:1pr20x36]falsebug.png[/attachment:1pr20x36]

I am looking how to fix this within the script - to fix it manually for now use scale -1 on the profile about the profile's centre...

pilou · 17 Nov 2009, 11:25

Humhum
Seems we must have possibility to reverse rails before apply the plug!

false_bug.skp

pilou · 17 Nov 2009, 11:38

The curious thing is that the Rail2 is a "straight line"
So must be divided , then welded
But result seems no reproductible and gives some nusty result

PS A multi-profils along Rail1 rail2 will be sweet too

mitcorb · 17 Nov 2009, 12:17

Pilou:
I had similar results with the construction points on several attempts. Once, with rails made by Freehand tool and once with profile and rails made by Welded segments for profile and rails and once by smoothing out the profile with added arcs and Welding.
Since TIG said the script was mostly stable, I figured that there would be some of this to happen.

TIG · 17 Nov 2009, 12:30

@mitcorb said:

Pilou:
I had similar results with the construction points on several attempts. Once, with rails made by Freehand tool and once with profile and rails made by Welded segments for profile and rails and once by smoothing out the profile with added arcs and Welding.
Since TIG said the script was mostly stable, I figured that there would be some of this to happen.

Can you all give as much info about the failures as possible [PM me small skps if appropriate] Ruby Console messages etc - I want to debug this glitch

mitcorb · 17 Nov 2009, 15:33

TIG:
Thanks for the Example skp.
I will try to provide you with examples as time permits. And I have been observing the Ruby console.
My last experiment was with Polyline Divider as the profile and rails from Fredo's Bezier collection. I got the mesh ok, but of course, the math complexity reversed and crisscrossed the beginning and ending copies of the profile causing an oblate spheroid bulge(same shape as an American football) and wings like Pilou's harlequin flying fish. However, there was no comment in the console.
Unfortunately the file is saved on my home machine. I will have to send it later.

jeff hammond · 17 Nov 2009, 16:49

hey TIG
here's a problem i've run into sometimes in an instance where it seems it should work. i'm only getting partial results in this case.
any ideas?

railQ.skp

pilou · 17 Nov 2009, 17:19

With the Jeff curve
I have black crosses in the v7
and a false surface in the V6

jeff hammond · 17 Nov 2009, 17:26

using that same file, here's another weird thing i can't figure out. (a video's probably easiest for me because i don't have to type as much )

(at first, it shows the problem i was previously talking about)
after that, i copy/move the profile and each rail the same amount along the red axis.. then end up with entirely different results.
?

[flash=640,385:lwa8fguo]http://www.youtube.com/v/LN5Q9KjU9m0&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash:lwa8fguo]

jeff hammond · 17 Nov 2009, 18:20

here's another question/problem i'm seeing..

it seems like the grid should line up according to the corresponding segments of the two rails (the 2rails being at the top&bottom of this picture)
.

like this, there's a kink being created in the surface along the left edge (which is somewhat visible in the inset picture..the surface drops down prior to rising because it appears the grid line is in the wrong place).. i guess i could make the surface bigger than needed and trim away some of the outer edges but that's not really optimal.. if it's fixable, i think it's worth fixing.

thanks a ton for figuring all this stuff out

TIG · 17 Nov 2009, 19:33

These problems seem to relate to the way the vertices in the the curves are ordered. They are reordered by the script before making the mesh... BUT obviously not well enough in some cases.

If you explode the three curves in your railQ.skp in turn and then immediately weld them back into new curves they make the mesh perfectly... So my re-order and weld's must vary somewhere...

I'll look at the ordering algorithms etc and release an update asap...

Daniel S · 17 Nov 2009, 20:38

Amazing TIG!!!
Thanky you!!!

How about an option to maintain height?
In your script shape curves scale in both the height and width dimensions. It will be great to have an option to remove the association between the height scaling from the width scaling for some models.

As an example: here is what your script make:

And here with Maintain height:

Daniel S

jeff hammond · 17 Nov 2009, 21:10

@tig said:

These problems seem to relate to the way the vertices in the the curves are ordered. They are reordered by the script before making the mesh... BUT obviously not well enough in some cases.

didn't even realize vertices were in a particular order .. is the grid example something to do with the order as well or something different?

daniel, that's going into a different territory in that the profile changes as it moves along the rails (the halfcircle doesn't remain the same in terms of shape).. if something like that is possible in SU then i have another request that's similar though different.. i'll hold off on asking for now

Panga · 18 Nov 2009, 13:00

Thanks a lot for this new tool, it'll be very usefull !!

pilou · 18 Nov 2009, 13:26

When you want draw a "straight" curve line with some number of segments for fit with other curves for The TIG Plug
Draw a line, Right Click Divide then Weld = some painful

A more quicky trick
Draw a polyline of 1 segment by the BezierSpline of Fredo6
Then Right Click / Convert to Segmentor and enter the number of segments
Et voilà

It's a pity than we can't draw an arc circle "Straight" or scale it to 0 or Bulge =0 !

MALAISE · 18 Nov 2009, 19:29

TIG some Champagne ?
Amazing tool made by TIG
MALAISE

xrok1 · 18 Nov 2009, 19:35

great plug thanks!
maybe you could combine this with edges by edges then have the option to pick just 1 rail or 2? one more function, one less plugin!

xrok1 · 18 Nov 2009, 22:28

Jeff, i found that if you explode the rails then weld them again that the problem is fixed. at least for me.

TIG · 18 Nov 2009, 22:38

@xrok1 said:

Jeff, i found that if you explode the rails then weld them again that the problem is fixed. at least for me.

This is the temporary fix... I'm incorporating this into the code so the glitches don't happen... However that makes new glitches which I'm now fixing.............