sketchucation logo sketchucation
    • Login
    โ„น๏ธ Licensed Extensions | FredoBatch, ElevationProfile, FredoSketch, LayOps, MatSim and Pic2Shape will require license from Sept 1st More Info

    [Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Plugins
    1.3k Posts 331 Posters 1.7m Views 329 Watching
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • A Offline
      arjunmax09
      last edited by

      whoa!!! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ first time ever in my life i've heard that plugins can damage other pluginss.... man...now i understand... once my mirror plugin got corrupt... had to reinstall sketchup all over again... contacted other members to fix the problem but no one was able to ... .maybe that time also the mirror plugin got damaged by some other messy plugin.... anyway.. its fixed now....

      @chris fullmer said:

      ok, I just went back and tested the component spray myself. And for the 1 of 5 error, that might actually be something else. That could be that you have complex geometry and it takes a lot of processing to bend it so it is thinking. OR it could also be that you have lots of sub groups in your component and it is trying to find them all (which it is VERY slow at because I did a poor job writing that part of the script). So I woulod recommend trying a very cimple object like a box first. If that bends then you know it is working. And complex objects take a lot of time. I bent a very detailed corvette once into an s-curve. It took a few hours, but it worked (well the mesh had issues, it was not completely clean, but it did bend it pretty well).
      Chris

      hey chris... how many hours did it take to bend...any idea..??? can you just paste the pic of the corvette here so maybe we can get a tentative timing idea about the shape that we're tryin' to bend ๐Ÿ˜„

      when you fail at something....you haven't really failed...you've found one way the thing will not work out

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Chris FullmerC Offline
        Chris Fullmer
        last edited by

        Heh, I don't have a picture of it anymore. I should redo it and time it. But it took about 2 hours I think.

        And plugins don't really damage other plugins exactly, but they can interefere with other plugins. What happened is that Didier used some code from progressbar in his component Spray plugin. But he did it in such a way that it messes up the original progressbar methods that are loaded inside of SketchUp. So if his plugin is loaded, progressbar does not behave the way Todd wrote it, it behaves the way Didier changed it. But everyone that uses progressbar writes their plugins to wokr the way Todd intended - which fails if component spray is installed.

        Didier did some cool stuff, he just implemented it poorly so that it clashes with the original code. BUt it does not actually damage any other file.

        Chris

        Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
        All my Plugins I've written

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • A Offline
          arjunmax09
          last edited by

          i see... happy to know... no boxing match ๐Ÿ‘Š is goin' on 'tween plugins he he ๐Ÿ˜†

          when you fail at something....you haven't really failed...you've found one way the thing will not work out

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • J Offline
            jakinodesign01
            last edited by

            where can i download a copy of the shape bender or fredo scale plug ins?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • J Offline
              jakinodesign01
              last edited by

              @chris fullmer said:

              Heh, I don't have a picture of it anymore. I should redo it and time it. But it took about 2 hours I think.

              And plugins don't really damage other plugins exactly, but they can interefere with other plugins. What happened is that Didier used some code from progressbar in his component Spray plugin. But he did it in such a way that it messes up the original progressbar methods that are loaded inside of SketchUp. So if his plugin is loaded, progressbar does not behave the way Todd wrote it, it behaves the way Didier changed it. But everyone that uses progressbar writes their plugins to wokr the way Todd intended - which fails if component spray is installed.

              Didier did some cool stuff, he just implemented it poorly so that it clashes with the original code. BUt it does not actually damage any other file.

              Chris

              Chris am new here, where can i get a copy of the shapebender plugin?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Chris FullmerC Offline
                Chris Fullmer
                last edited by

                Hi Jessi, welcome. The plugin is at the bottom of the very first post in this thread. That is how most plugins work on this forum. So go to the first post anmd download the zip file. Unzip the contents into your sketchup plugins folder. You will also need to install progressbar from http://www.smustard.com

                Chris

                Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
                All my Plugins I've written

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • A Offline
                  August
                  last edited by

                  @chris fullmer said:

                  The plugin is at the bottom of the very first post in this thread. That is how most plugins work on this forum.

                  This takes a little getting used to and is one of the very cool things about the software that SCF uses for the forum -- you can go back and edit a post to update it, correct typos, add that little bit that you remembered just as you clicked "Submit", etc. Every other forum that I spend any time with at all, once it's posted, it's posted, the most you can do is delete and repost.

                  I hope this helps,
                  August

                  โ€œAn idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.โ€
                  [floatr:v1mcbde2]-- Charles Dickens[/floatr:v1mcbde2]

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • A Offline
                    August
                    last edited by

                    @chris fullmer said:

                    ... plugins don't really damage other plugins exactly, but they can interefere with other plugins. What happened is that Didier used some code from progressbar in his component Spray plugin. But he did it in such a way that it messes up the original progressbar methods that are loaded inside of SketchUp. So if his [Didier's] plugin is loaded, progressbar does not behave the way Todd wrote it, it behaves the way Didier [accidentally] changed it. ...

                    It might help your understanding to have a little more behind-the-scenes, under-the-hood perspective.

                    The most likely cause of the problem is a variable name conflict. When someone adapts code for a different purpose, usually they change all the function and variable names to ensure that their new code uses unique names. The most likely cause of the problem is that somewhere in the block of code there was a variable or two that Didier missed and didn't rename, and possibly Todd's code has some presumptions where he uses the same name and is assuming that if that variable already exists, it means that his code created it and therefore is in the middle of what it's doing instead of being at the beginning.

                    It really could be a very wide range of things. I'm just offering a suggestion to give the flavor of the problem and of how hard it could be to track down, not to point at anything specific.

                    The point is that when either of the scripts are loaded by themselves, there is no problem, it's only when they are both installed that they trip over each other.

                    I hope this helps,
                    August

                    โ€œAn idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.โ€
                    [floatr:v1mcbde2]-- Charles Dickens[/floatr:v1mcbde2]

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • D Offline
                      driven
                      last edited by

                      @chris fullmer said:

                      '' So if his [Didier's] plugin is loaded, progressbar does not behave the way Todd wrote it, it behaves the way Didier [accidentally] changed it. ...

                      @august said:

                              ''The most likely cause of the problem is a variable name conflict.    August
                      

                      Cat among the pidgins here,

                      as you may be aware, I've had problems with ShapeBender and VWS clashing on the Mac, so (considering this CompoSpray discussion) I ran both through my editor looking for the words 'ProgressBar' and it was indeed in 7 of the VWS rubies, and as it does not require"ProgressBar.rb" I renamed all to vwsProgressBar and the problems have disappeared...

                      I then got to thinking that I have CompoSpray installed through SCFPowerToolbar but haven't had any problems from it, so I did a test, and it 'CS' wasn't working??? I don't actually have it as a separate ruby and it's encoded and called "cd_power_m.rb" which fails to load due to a line code error on the Mac, so can't hurt anything....

                      to make long story, longer. I removed all references to "cd_power_m.rb" from SCFPB and download CompoSpray and installed it, and now all of them work together properly...

                      maybe others have two copies of CompoSpray, the SCFTB one of which has a code error??

                      hope that helps someone....

                      john

                      NB. pidgin |หˆpijษ™n| noun [often as adj. ]
                      a grammatically simplified form of a language, used for communication between people not sharing a common language.

                      learn from the mistakes of others, you may not live long enough to make them all yourself...

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Chris FullmerC Offline
                        Chris Fullmer
                        last edited by

                        Hehe, man that sounds confusing. But it is probably accurate soemhow. Todd had looked over Didier's code and found the error. Didied fixed it at some point. But I think that he might have released a new version since then and possibly reverted back to a tainted file. That is my best guess. So since that toolbar you have installs its own version of CompSpray it probably grabbed a version before Didier added his neat timer interrupt (which is the thing that breaks progressbar in his script).

                        Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
                        All my Plugins I've written

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • J Offline
                          jamma-pcb
                          last edited by

                          And could anyone provide a step by step instructions to this plugin.

                          So far

                          I have a group which has a straight circlular springy tube. I have a seperate line path of multiple bends for piping.

                          For some reason It just wont work.

                          Oh by the way if you change the AXIS make sure you reset it before using this plugin. Otherwise all you will get is "please select line on red axis"

                          springtube.jpg

                          Version SU 7.1

                          Anyone got any ideas

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • C Offline
                            Click Draw
                            last edited by

                            Hi there,

                            Right in Chris's first post of this script there is a video.

                            Cheers,

                            Jeff

                            Have I mentioned how much of a laugh I get out of some of the Signatures on here!

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J Offline
                              jamma-pcb
                              last edited by

                              For some reason it doesnt work... Maybe something is wrong with the shape.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • J Offline
                                jamma-pcb
                                last edited by

                                ok its all working now. Thanks

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • D Offline
                                  driven
                                  last edited by

                                  @jamma-pcb said:

                                  For some reason it doesnt work... Maybe something is wrong with the shape.

                                  some pointers,

                                  draw your line the same length as your arc line

                                  move your group so the line is centroid to it, edit group with move/copy and scale to match line length, remove at least one end, exposing the line

                                  rotate your arc line (or copies) until it lies on the red plane and has both ends are parallel to the blue plane

                                  off plane and off parallel will give less accurate 'real material' bends, but you may want that, so play around with copies of the arc line

                                  john
                                  First line centroid to tube...play around with line lengths, positions and arc segment counts as well

                                  learn from the mistakes of others, you may not live long enough to make them all yourself...

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • S Offline
                                    sbolduc
                                    last edited by

                                    Hey,

                                    I'm having some trouble with the selection of the line lying on the red axis, following the selection of the grouped shape to be bent. Any suggestions?

                                    Thanks!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Chris FullmerC Offline
                                      Chris Fullmer
                                      last edited by

                                      Well it sounds like you've got the basic idea. Probably the best thing to do at this point is to upload a small model that shows what you're trying to do and I'll take a look at it to see what might need to change.

                                      Chris

                                      Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
                                      All my Plugins I've written

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • A Offline
                                        August
                                        last edited by

                                        @driven said:

                                        draw your line the same length as your arc line

                                        Not necessary, but you do need to allow in your planning for the fact that your guide line will be stretched or shrunk to match the target line, and your shape along with it.

                                        @unknownuser said:

                                        move your group so the line is centroid to it, edit group with move/copy and scale to match line length, remove at least one end, exposing the line

                                        Not necessary, and may not be what you want. If the guide line is centered, some parts of the shape will be compressed and some stretched, depending on what side of the guide line they start out on, but the guide line can be some distance from the shape. You just have to visualize the results properly so that you are not surprised.

                                        @unknownuser said:

                                        rotate your arc line (or copies) until it lies on the red plane and has both ends are parallel to the blue plane

                                        Neither part is necessary.

                                        See the attached image for a Target line that is in the Blue-Green plane with a guide line that is parallel to the Red axis, perpendicular to the plane of the Target line.

                                        @unknownuser said:

                                        off plane and off parallel will give less accurate 'real material' bends, ...

                                        I agree that to simulate bending of a solid material you may want to follow the rules you outlined like having the Guide Line and Target Line the same length and for the Guide Line to be centroid to the shape.

                                        But for a wide variety of problems that Shape Bender solves, and for an even wider variety of ways to play with it, it has nothing to do with trying to simulate bending a solid material.

                                        I hope this helps,
                                        August


                                        The Axes are marked since SU does not export them.

                                        โ€œAn idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.โ€
                                        [floatr:v1mcbde2]-- Charles Dickens[/floatr:v1mcbde2]

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • M Offline
                                          MarkEMark
                                          last edited by

                                          Hi All:

                                          I am trying to use Shape Bender to bend 2 flanges on a metal bracket that joins an engine mount to a wooden fuselage of an airplane.

                                          I have drawn the bracket as shown on the plans (attached). The bracket has 2 'ears' on the top and bottom of the bracket that are bent 90 degrees to wrap around the front end of the fuselage. I want to just bend the 'ear' parts, and not the larger rounded portion of the bracket which is the attachment point for the engine mount. I have removed the holes on the side portion of the bracket that will be used for the attachment to the wooden fuse sides, as I wish to place them after bending.

                                          My concern is that in the bending process with this plug in is that the entire front of the bracket gets bent 90 degrees and not simply the 'ear' portions. Can someone show me how this might work, or is there another script that would do this better?

                                          Thanks so much for the help!

                                          Mark


                                          My Pietenpol Build.skp

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • TIGT Offline
                                            TIG Moderator
                                            last edited by

                                            This is best done manually...Capture.PNG

                                            TIG

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 18
                                            • 19
                                            • 20
                                            • 21
                                            • 22
                                            • 63
                                            • 64
                                            • 20 / 64
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Buy SketchPlus
                                            Buy SUbD
                                            Buy WrapR
                                            Buy eBook
                                            Buy Modelur
                                            Buy Vertex Tools
                                            Buy SketchCuisine
                                            Buy FormFonts

                                            Advertisement