[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

loolytoo · 10 Nov 2009, 07:51

i am a beginner and strugling a bit. if someone has some time and patience i would love some help.
Please help me install this script, i downloaded it and saved the rb file in plugins, and also the progress bar, but it dosnt work. can anyone guide me through the steps of installing properly? do i need to install another file from the zip file, there are lots more in another folder with png extentions what are they? do i need them?
Lucy

massimo · 10 Nov 2009, 09:05

Hi Lucy. Unzip the downloaded folder and put the file and the folder contained inside (see the picture below) in your SU plugin folder.
That' all.

nikkkko · 30 Nov 2009, 14:33

Hi,

I'm also having a problem at the point where I need to hit 'enter'. I usually run SU under Wine, which has been working well for me over the last year, including various ruby scripts, but when I ran into this problem also tried it under XP with the same result. I have tried removing all other scripts but with no difference.

Here's the ruby console output :

Error: #<NameError: uninitialized constant Clf_shape_bender::ProgressBar>
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:522:in exploder' C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:244:in onLButtonUp'
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method /' for nil:NilClass> C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:in draw'
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:522
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method /' for nil:NilClass> C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:in draw'
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NameError: uninitialized constant Clf_shape_bender::ProgressBar>
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:870:in transform_it' C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:288:in onReturn'
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method /' for nil:NilClass> C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:in draw'
C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:870

nikkkko · 30 Nov 2009, 14:52

Replying to my own post here...

I don't know anything about ruby, but seeing as the first line in the console output was an error concerning progressbar, I re-downloaded it and hey presto, everything works under linux/wine, (I haven't bothered tried it under windows).

Thanks for a great plugin by the way. About 80% of my work is building structures with arcs - steel frames for oval shaped cabins to be precise - and this is going to save me a ton of time.

Nick

carpediem0881 · 6 Dec 2009, 03:31

I just downloaded shape bender to add some text on a curve surface of a bowl and the button shows up in the top left corner of sketchup as well as the plugins tab.

I select my component and then try to sellect my line and curved line to follow but it will not allow me to select the lines like your videos shows.

I am wondering if I installed the plugin incorrectly or I am missing some instructions like holding down a button to allow me to select the lines.

if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Jeff

Chris Fullmer · 6 Dec 2009, 04:42

Hi Jeff, there are 2 things to remember when selecting the straight line.

1 the straight line must be drawn on the red axis.
2 the cursor "hotspot" is horrible. You often have to click to the side of the line. But it will highlight plue when you are correctly hovering over it.

The hotspot thing holds true for selecting arc also.

If that does not help, upload a test model here and I'll take a look at it. Hope that helps,

Chris

carpediem0881 · 7 Dec 2009, 23:59

@chris fullmer said:

Hi Jeff, there are 2 things to remember when selecting the straight line.

1 the straight line must be drawn on the red axis.
2 the cursor "hotspot" is horrible. You often have to click to the side of the line. But it will highlight plue when you are correctly hovering over it.

The hotspot thing holds true for selecting arc also.

If that does not help, upload a test model here and I'll take a look at it. Hope that helps,

Chris

So I tried uninstalling the plug-in and sketchup... reinstalled both and gave it another shot.
Made a line on the red axis, a arc on the red axis and a 3d rectangle to arc around the curve.
Made the 3d rectangle a group
selected the group, and activated the plugin. "please select line on red axis" appears in the bottom left corner
I then scroll over the straight line but still won;t let me select it, its doesnlt turn blue and i tried clicking on the line in numerous places. I watched your videos and did the set-up the same but nothing...

Do I need sketchup pro? or does it work with the standard program? any ideas?

Jeff

carpediem0881 · 8 Dec 2009, 00:09

I got it to work... I am just a new mac user and didn't know how to install the plugin correctly... i only drug the one file in not the folder containing all the information... thansk for your input and this sweet plugin!!!

Chris Fullmer · 8 Dec 2009, 00:11

Excellent! glad you got it working. I hope it is able to help,

Chris

carpediem0881 · 8 Dec 2009, 04:44

@chris fullmer said:

Excellent! glad you got it working. I hope it is able to help,

Chris

So after getting it to work and playing with it, i tried to bend text. and game up with some errors in the finished product. The text bends but creates holes and lines that are not in the original text images. I have attached a file... Any thoughts on my these holes and deformations to the letters happen? Is it something in my settings that i need to change or is this just what happens when you bend more complicated items?

You can see in the e there is a hole, and on other letters that I didn;t picture and the t clearly has lines that are deformed.

Chris Fullmer · 8 Dec 2009, 05:13

Sorry to say that you are just running into the glitches of the script unfortunately. But there are things you can do to help a bit.

If you are getting holes, its possible that the model is too small for SketchUp. It struggles to make small faces. Try scaling larger by 10 or 100 times. That might help.

The extra lines that come in are from SketchUp deforming geometry on top of my script deforming it. The best thing to do is to clean it up by softening those lines. Use the eraser tool and hold ctrl (or option or something on the Mac). That will soften them and they disappear. Also, some lines get hidden during the bending that should not be hidden. So you will want to find those and then un soften them.

Also, try adding segmentation to the arc. That could help. Or line up your text slightly differently with the straight line. Those kinds of things can help, when you are able to do them. Its painful though when you are working on something that does not allow you to move the geometry as it must line up with something and the bending is just not working right.

Like I always warn, this script is great, but its not perfect and its full of little glitches. So it as best you can. And it might require a bit of clean up afterwards. Good luck,

Chris

Chris Fullmer · 8 Dec 2009, 05:16

OH also, I meant to add that text is often difficult to bend because its mesh is not as clean as it looks. You might have some better luck also if you select all the geometry of the text, right click and choose "explode curve". That might help the bending.

Chris

Edwardo · 14 Dec 2009, 03:54

Great Plugin Chris!

I do have one question: is there anyway for me to take a finite length of material and bend it on a curve without stretching it?

For example: I really want to use your plugin to build this plexiglass wall. The Plexiglass is 36' long and 8' tall when flat. I want to know what it would look like if I bent it on different radii.

I drew some various arcs, and the shape bender does indeed bend my plexiglass wall to match the arc ... but it stretches it out to make it fit. Is there anyway I can use your plugin to take my plexiglass wall and match it to that arc without stretching it?

Thanks very much Chris

Chris Fullmer · 14 Dec 2009, 04:01

Yes, you can control that by figuring out how long the arc is, then scale the shape to be the same length. Then draw the line to be the same length as the shape. That should help reduce the stretching. Also, draw the line underneath the shape, and line up exatly in the middle. That might help even a little more.

Sorry its not simpler. I know it can be tricky to find the length of the curve.

Chris

jeff hammond · 14 Dec 2009, 04:34

if you'd rather not scale down the shape, this online calculator makes it pretty easy to figure out chord length etc..
http://www.handymath.com/cgi-bin/arc18.cgi?submit=Entry

[edit] actually, i think if i were wanting to do something similar as edwardo (testing the look at multiple radii etc.), i'd probably do something like:

draw an arc longer than necessary.. get its length via entity info.. draw a line the same length that's included in the group to be bent..
then draw my shapebender line underneath that one etc..
seems like the quickest way to do a bunch of tests.. after i found the right radius, i'd fine tune accordingly to do the final bend.

i dunno, just thinking out loud

[something like this]

charly2008 · 14 Dec 2009, 12:34

Hi,

Shape bender is one of the best tools. You can make so many incredible things with it. The arched roof element was also done so. There were also some holes, this I had to repair manually, No Problem. Nevertheless, it saves a lot of time.

Karlheinz

Edwardo · 14 Dec 2009, 18:28

What an awesome calculator Jeff! This is a real time saver.

Now, I just need to find a plugin that will help divide up my model into material sizes. See, the reason I've been usuing sketchup is because I do set construction and many of the designers I work for need me to break apart their sketchup drwaing into construction plans. I used to use AutoCAD ... untill I discovered Layout

Anyone out there know of a plugin where I can select a surface and see it divided up into 4' x 8' sheets? This would be a great help when ordering materials ... and it would help me quickly figure out where my seams are and where to place my toggles etc.

amonserrano · 14 Dec 2009, 22:25

Your new video is amazing... This is exactly what I need. Thank you

charly2008 · 15 Dec 2009, 15:22

I have a technical question to Chris.

Yesterday, i made this roof structure with randomly 12 objects. The objects were also evenly divided among 12 sections. This means each object belongs to one section.

Today I repeated the same with 3, 4 and 8 objects. These are also distributed to 12 sections. This means that a number of n-objects is always divided to 12 sections according to the sides of the arc. And the number of sides can not be changed.

Sorry, problem is solved! After inserting a new side value in the VCB i forgot to press Enter.

bobpineo · 16 Dec 2009, 16:47

Chris,
Just came across your shape bender script, just great thanks for sharing.
Now I wonder how I got through my days of modeling without it!
Can't wait to check out your other scripts.
Bob