[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta
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Hi Chris,
great tool, again...I'm working on a font stringer idea for 3D stainless steel printing and this does 90% of the basic component build beautifully, but as I need to now do this to a full character set, I'm was wondering if a few features could be added.
and this is just 'CopyRotate' version, but I have also done some test's with 'ComponentStringer' following more complex curves.
one of the steps that may be improved is after the second bend, of the 'letter' component, both ends need to be rotated back to the arc centre, I can't think of an easy way to do this and was thinking that being able to choose the arc centre as part of the parameters would be useful, or better still if "FindArcCentrePoint" could be utilized to find it's own on a multi-arc line.
another is stipulating which is start and end on both lines (it changes from character to character even though I'm using locked templates and Copy-PastseInPlace' to generate them)To be honest I'm really just throwing some quick early ideas out there for any comments
john
EDIT
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Hi Chris,
I had to do a job today using Shapebender to put text on tubes, as above, but more refined.
to my surprise, I actually had all the dialogs, option to select ends ,ect before running, I really didn't know they were there.
however, instead of making curved fonts, when I switched ends all it did was make an empty group, click again, another empty group, hit return another group.
I had outliner on, which is how I saw the groups, but suspecting it might be the problem, tuned it off, same thing.
working backward through my ruby instals, functionality returned when I removed the new VitrualWindSim ruby but without the end switching bits. because I really had a lot to do and the switching ability would speed it up, I stripped out all the rubies from my MacBook and only put what was needed for SB back in.
No extra bits, added VWS got all the whistles , but no Bells, so I just thought I'd let you know. I'll grab the Mac console log when I finish up and see if it shows anything.
john
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Very interesting. I'll try to look at the code and see if I can find anything that might conflict. Thanks for the notice,
Chris
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rather new to playing with SketchUp. I've been trying to bend a cone to a bezier curve (bezierspline + shape bender). Think .bent fishing rod'. Not being too successful. Might be easier if the straight line choice could be the centerline, but shape bender is looking for an external straight line only?
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@comedie said:
Might be easier if the straight line choice could be the centerline,?
Lines can be anywhere you want, but will effect the outcome, because it's a group you can put it's centre on a line, or directly above or below. keep your curve on the same plane as the control line, it's less confusing, even when you get use to it.... This is a sectional view to show you it's symmetrical, just in case...
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It is very helpful to make a curcular ramp or staircases...
Great plugin. -
@driven said:
@comedie said:
Might be easier if the straight line choice could be the centerline,?
Lines can be anywhere you want, but will effect the outcome, because it's a group you can put it's centre on a line, or directly above or below. keep your curve on the same plane as the control line, it's less confusing, even when you get use to it.... This is a sectional view to show you it's symmetrical, just in case...
[attachment=0:7ow9pgot]<!-- ia0 -->ShapeBender.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:7ow9pgot]Not sure why, but after watching the video I had some assumptions in my head for what was required in the setup. Line in conact with the object, and object oriented to the axis. Setup was painful (for me) and the results pretty weird at times.
Jettisoned those asusmptions and tried as you showed. Much better. Guess I should have take a step back and thought about the setup. In restrospect I should have remembered orthographic projection I did in a drafting class 25+ years back. Now it makes some sense to me.
Thanks!!!! -
it looks great! thanks!
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Help Please with Shape Bender Issue
This looks like a great plugin but I can't seem to get it to work. I installed ProgressBar.rb and then dropped in all the files for Shape Bender into /Plugin and followed your instructions on how to use it. BUT, with the group selected, and clicking Shape Bender I cannot select the straight or curved lines. The status bar at the bottom does say taht I should "Select a single line that lies on the red axis," but the cursor does not change and I am unable to select anything.
Any help is appreciated,
Ulsterhound -
Have you watched the videos in this post? http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=147395#p147395 Are you missing any of the steps Chris does?
I just installed and used it last week and it works fine.
Thanks for the great plugin, Chris!
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Notice also that the cursor "hotspot" is really poorly placed. You don't place the tip of the cursor over the line, its just below the tip of the cursor a bit. The line should highlight when you get the cursor positioned correctly.
Chris
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turn on colour by axis to see if your line is red and also make sure your clicking a 'single' straight line,
I often redraw a fresh line if I can't get it first click,
I am using it on a Mac and only get half the dialogues, but it still works.
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Thank you everyone, especially Chris.
I had not completely extracted the folder and separate .rb file, instead I had just opened the zip file and dragged them all into the /Plugin folder so it didn't create the shape bender folder.
It works great now. Thank you agian for the help and such a great Plugin.
Ulsternound
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This is indeed a very good plug-in, thank you share.
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How do you download this pluggin and make it work with sketchup 7 i have only just started using sketch up.
ps i am using windows vista -
Hi Suzi,
The plugins on this forum are generally attached to the very bottom of the first post (by the author). As for installing them; simply extract the files/folders from the archive directlyunder your C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\Plugins folder (this is for my XP). Make sure NOT to let Windows create a separate subfolder of all the extracted files but copy them directly above.
When it is a single file with a simple rb extension, you just need to save it above.Restart SU and enjoy. (And welcome)
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why wont it let me select the line even though its on the red axis?
I have tried redrawing the line several times but it still wont let me select it. -
Perhaps you changed the model axis? Try right clicking on the red axis line and choose "Reset" if the option is available. Then redraw the line on the new red axis.
Chris
PS: I just used this script in a real project for the first time. It only took me a year to actually put it to use!
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You put this gift out without any personal need?
You live up to Pilou's statement "Is beautiful that please without concept"
EDIT
Uh, I meant the act of giving.
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