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[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Rails

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  • B Offline
    bocomofo
    last edited by 26 Nov 2009, 13:59

    I cant even imagine how this works...I can only presume that it is withcraft.
    Regardless of that I think it is totally amazing...now just to find a practical use for it in the rather 'boxy' Architecture I'm used to producing!!!

    Wonderful effort TIG!

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    • T Offline
      TIG Moderator
      last edited by 26 Nov 2009, 14:27

      @daniel s said:

      Amazing TIG!!!
      Thank you!!!
      How about an option to maintain height?
      ...
      Daniel S

      To do the second option you showed add a horizontal line down the centre of the profile at its topmost point.
      Make that line divided and weld into a curve [best if it has same number of segments as the path?]
      Use My tool on one 'half' of the profile and a side rail and the new 'top' rail.
      Now use My tool again on the other 'half' of the profile and the other side rail and the new 'top' rail.
      Select both groups and group, edit the new group and select the two groups inside and explode them.
      You now have the form you desired FlatToppedEEbyRails.pngFlatToppedEEbyRails.skpwith a flat top...

      TIG

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      • B Offline
        broomstick
        last edited by 26 Nov 2009, 14:36

        Like everyone, I am here to say thanks for this great script... words fail me to describe how awesome this ruby is!

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        • I Offline
          ionandre
          last edited by 26 Nov 2009, 19:20

          It's Fantastic!

          It works also on 3 closed curves.

          Thank you so much

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          • D Offline
            Daniel S
            last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 14:52

            @tig said:

            Make that line divided and weld into a curve [best if it has same number of segments as the path?]

            I tried to do that but the plugins dosenยดt like a line as a rail.
            Good tip to divide the line and then weld to make it work ๐Ÿ˜

            I also like a lot the option to make it work with closed curves.. looks like a patch tool.
            patch.jpg
            patch2.jpg
            Perhaps in a future we can have a n-sided patch tool inside SketchUp ๐ŸŽ‰

            Thanks again,
            Daniel S

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            • P Offline
              pilou
              last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 16:10

              Case 1 works if volume has orthogonal segments ๐Ÿ˜„
              Case 2 & 3 & 4 yet works! ๐Ÿ’š
              sweep3.jpg

              Frenchy Pilou
              Is beautiful that please without concept!
              My Little site :)

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              • D Offline
                Daniel S
                last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 16:23

                Yes Pilou, Iยดm showing another possible use of what can you do with this plugin... in this cases works like a patch tool using 3 curves.

                Daniel S

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                • P Offline
                  pilou
                  last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 16:37

                  Ah yes, sorry ๐Ÿ˜ณ

                  Frenchy Pilou
                  Is beautiful that please without concept!
                  My Little site :)

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                  • I Offline
                    ionandre
                    last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 20:32

                    Hey this plugin can also make very good lofts by rails ๐Ÿ˜ฎ


                    Untitled.png

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                    • T Offline
                      TIG Moderator
                      last edited by 27 Nov 2009, 20:43

                      It will 'loft' any two 'rail' curves along a profile 'curve'... That's the idea... ๐Ÿ’ญ

                      TIG

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                      • I Offline
                        ionandre
                        last edited by 28 Nov 2009, 08:23

                        Just noticed this:

                        with a simple straight line(curve) used as profile you can loft 2 closed rail curves directly (poligons) as well, but if use an arc as profile the result is a twisted loft. Why that? ๐Ÿ˜’


                        Untitled.png

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                        • T Offline
                          TIG Moderator
                          last edited by 28 Nov 2009, 09:47

                          It takes the nearest points of the rails to place / adjust the profile.
                          Split the square's edge nearest the circle at it's center.
                          It should then not twist ?

                          TIG

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                          • I Offline
                            ionandre
                            last edited by 28 Nov 2009, 18:17

                            @tig said:

                            It takes the nearest points of the rails to place / adjust the profile.
                            Split the square's edge nearest the circle at it's center.
                            It should then not twist ?

                            Thank you for the advice, however It seems no possible.
                            By the way I can ever achieve the good result with the previous method.
                            Maybe it would be nice an option to set the starting point.
                            It could work well in conjuction with tool on surface I think.

                            By the way I think your plugin is quite revolutionary.

                            thanks again.

                            Ionandre

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                            • T Offline
                              TIG Moderator
                              last edited by 29 Nov 2009, 20:07

                              Sorry, I don't think my last explanation was very clear.

                              As explained in the Tool's notes... if the Profile touches a Rail then that fixes the Profile's 'snap-point' on that Rail: it is the safest way to fix what's made - otherwise you can be surprised - like this 'twisted' extrusion. ๐Ÿ˜•
                              So it if touches both Rails then that fixes the Profile without twists - sorted. ๐Ÿ˜„

                              But like in your case - if the Profile doesn't touch Rail-1 then the snap-point for the Profile on Rail-1 is taken as the point nearest to the end of the Profile - unfortunately in your case Rail-1 [the square] has 4 points that are all 'nearest' to the centred Profile's start [this is after the Rail is sub-divided into parts to match the Circle]. Therefore the Tool guesses at the start of Rail-1...

                              Next, as in your case - if the Profile doesn't touch Rail-2 then the snap-point for the Profile on Rail-2 is taken as that point nearest to the end of the Profile; however, in your case it's a circle so all of its Vertices are equidistant from the Circle's center [the Profile's other end] ! So in this case it takes the snap-point as the one nearest to Rail-2 - and that's the bottom of the circle...

                              Now the Profile is snapped to that point and a point on Rail-1 - which can be guessed as any of 4 points - giving a 4:1 chance of a twisted extrusion being made...

                              โ˜€ Simple fix... the Profile's path is not change if it is relocated... So Move the Profile so that it's end is very near to the bottom Vertex of the Circle-shaped Rail... Pick that, then Pick the Circle-shape as Rail-1 then Pick the Square-shaped Rail... It should make an non-twisted extrusion.

                              Another way is to Divide the four edges of the Square-Rail into halves [so it then has 8 segments], then Move the Profile so it snaps to the Square's edge's mid-point that is nearest to the bottom of the Circular Rail, and then Weld the Square's 8 segments into a Curve... Run the Tool, Pick the Profile, the Pick Square-Rail, then Pick the Circle-Rail... Again it should make an extrusion that's not twisted...

                              TIG

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                              • X Offline
                                xrok1
                                last edited by 29 Nov 2009, 20:59

                                Tig, would it be possible to make your plugin so one could lasso select the rails, eliminating the need to weld them ahead of time? i ask because it seems the weld script is kind of finicky and sometimes requires some effort to get the desired results.

                                โ€œThere are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.โ€

                                http://www.Twilightrender.com try it!

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                                • T Offline
                                  TIG Moderator
                                  last edited by 29 Nov 2009, 22:56

                                  Why is Weld so difficult - select the edges, weld them [answer No to any prompts], done ?

                                  You'd need to select the edges with your method anyway - my plugin needs three curves - therefore weld some edges to make one if you need it... โ“

                                  TIG

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                                  • X Offline
                                    xrok1
                                    last edited by 30 Nov 2009, 04:27

                                    weld doesn't always work, sometimes i have to do some creative things to get it to work, ie allow it to make a face then delete or explode parts of the curve then weld!

                                    โ€œThere are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.โ€

                                    http://www.Twilightrender.com try it!

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                                    • J Offline
                                      jeff hammond
                                      last edited by 30 Nov 2009, 06:12

                                      @xrok1 said:

                                      weld doesn't always work, sometimes i have to do some creative things to get it to work, ie allow it to make a face then delete or explode parts of the curve then weld!

                                      yeah, i get that too.. especially if i'm far along in a model and have used a lot of rubys prior to trying to weld.. i just save the file then reopen it.. weld seems to like the fresh start ๐Ÿ˜„

                                      dotdotdot

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                                      • I Offline
                                        ionandre
                                        last edited by 30 Nov 2009, 09:54

                                        Ok, now I have clear how it works. thanks.
                                        Best option for me is to divide polygons in two welded halves. It doesn't take too long.
                                        Moving profile can be an option for a different result. I mean the extrusion is good but with a different form.
                                        By the way for what I have experimented until now, the last version (3.0) of the weld tool always work for me. I did notice some problem only with old version of this plug-in.

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                                        • T Offline
                                          TIG Moderator
                                          last edited by 30 Nov 2009, 09:57

                                          I you are trying to weld bits of curves together into one bigger curve then right-click context menu explode-curve first so that weld has raw edges to work with.

                                          Weld will sometimes make curves with unexpected vertex order - another fix for that is to select the curve and groups it then explode the group, often that will sort it out. Again if the curve has no edges using edit-cut and imemdiately paste-in-place can reorder the vertices correctly...

                                          If you think about it EEbyRails using some weld type algorithms to sort vertices for mesh-making, these can occasionally [mercifully very rarely!] go wrong too. If the model's data-base is a little confused picking separate edges for EEbyRails would produce as much flakiness as welding them into curves first off ! ๐Ÿ˜’

                                          For the foreseeable future EEbyRails will require three curves to work (or two if rail1==rail2)... ๐Ÿค“

                                          TIG

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