[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Loft

magnato

Thanks for amazing new plugins TIG! I have been playing with them for some days now.

Lately I have been trying Extrude Edges by loft, and I thought I did not get the same result every time. I made an experiment: I did the same procedure 12 times in a row using the plugin. I drew one circle along the red axes and copied the circle copying&dragging it upwards the blue axes 3time the radius. Then I used the Extrude Edges by Loft plugin, clicking on the circles in the same order every time. I chose no to all the questions and took every shape as it.

I was hoping to get at straight shape sooner or later and the 12.th time I got the shape I was looking for. Now, is there any type of random function at work here? Is there a way to get the same straight shape every time by modifing the plugin somehow, or even decide how much the shape should twist every time you use the plugin. That would be an awsome feature!

Tx,
Magnar

extrude by loft.jpg

TIG

If you add a small piece of edge off one of the nodes of each of the two the 'circles' then that should 'split' the curves to force a 'start/end' to the two of them - then the EEbyLoft 'twist' will become predictable as it will be made 'End to End'...

magnato

Like this, a simple line between the two circles. Yes, thats works very nice! Thanks a lot!

Magnar

loft straight curves.jpg

TIG

Or... if you 'angle' the line then the extrusion should 'twist' to match ?
It could also be two separate lines splitting the two loops...

tomot

WOW... a thing of beauty! ...Nice job TIG

I was wondering if its possible to include a Straight line in the "Extrude Edges by Rails" ruby. I have been faking it by drawing a curve with very little radius up to now. Cheers!

magnato

I made some other exaples with five curves. Also in this example it seems to be a good idea to add a line to split the curves to force a 'start/end'. By spliting the curves with a line I found it possible to control the outcome every time. Intersecting the curves with a plane did not have any effect, I had to use a line to get the desired effect. Without splitting the curves the outcome seems to be unpredictabe. Is there a way to add anything to the script of the plugin to split the the curves ?

The form at the left is made with a line to split the curves. The other two are not. To the right the output changed every time even when using the exact same curves.

TIG

@tomot said:

WOW... a thing of beauty! ...Nice job TIG
I was wondering if its possible to include a Straight line in the "Extrude Edges by Rails" ruby. I have been faking it by drawing a curve with very little radius up to now. Cheers!

Draw a straight line to desired length and add an extra line on the end [at an angle so you can see the node easier later].
To make a single line curve for use with the EEby... tools...
Use RickW's weld ruby script tool to weld the two lines into a curve of two segments.
Draw a short line coming off that one node in the curve to split the curve into two pieces.
The curve is split into two pieces - each a straight line but still a curve.
Erase the unwanted piece of curve and the temporary splitter-line.
Don't erase the splitter-line first because the curve might re-heal back into a two segment one !

magaledon

Hello! Where can I download this plugin??

THanks!!

TIG

@magaledon said:

Hello! Where can I download this plugin??
THanks!!

With most plugins the first post in its topic has the files linked for download - in this case because it's part of a comprehensive zipped set of extrusion tools, there is a link at the end of the first post in this topic which takes you to another page that has the link to download them all in one go...

EscapeArtist

If it wasn't for guys like you making these great plugins I would've quit using SU a long time ago. Awesome addition to the plugin family. Thanks!

Ben Ritter

TIG, I keep getting bug splats. Trying to do 2 meshes on 3 circles. Each circle has a line attached to it.

TIG

@ben ritter said:

TIG, I keep getting bug splats. Trying to do 2 meshes on 3 circles. Each circle has a line attached to it.

Can you post an example image or skp...

xrok1

@tomot said:

WOW... a thing of beauty! ...Nice job TIG

I was wondering if its possible to include a Straight line in the "Extrude Edges by Rails" ruby. I have been faking it by drawing a curve with very little radius up to now. Cheers!

Tomot after you draw a curve then use the move tool to move the center of the arc back into line with the ends.

forest19901211

fantanstic

szastoupil

Hi. I'm having trouble getting the plugin to work with my model. I have a set of curves I want to join, but I'm not able to select the curves. I tested the install using the arc tool with success. In my model I created the "arcs" by stretching/scaling a circle. I believe I exploded the shape along the way. There must be something fundamental that I missing that is required for the plugin to work. Any thoughts? My file is attached.

aphrodite.skp

Rich O Brien

There was a few small errors in your model that prevented using this tool successfully.

First your 's were exploded, which prevented being able to select them as profiles. If in the future you need to turn exploded curves back to curves use this plugin to 'weld' them back together.

Also some of your 's didn't touch your 'rails' which would give you an unnecessary twist in your mesh.

I used Fredo's Bezier Tool to create the profiles that matched those in your reference drawing. Make sure you read all of the first post in Fredo's thread for instruction in how to install.

See the attached file, in it I used TIG's EEbyR tool to create the mesh, it probably doesn't suit but it may help? If you've further queries please post back.

aphrodite.skp

TIG

Thanks rclub24...
As you say, firstly in the case of most of the EEby.. tools the profile[s] and rail[s] must be 'curves' [probably better thought of a 'polylines' - as they are not necessarily what many think of as 'curves' ?] - you can easily use weld.rb to fix them if they are not !
Secondly use the EEby.. tool that's best suited for what you want to make - here it's EEbyRails not EEbyLoft ???***
Read the tools' guides, look at what other exciting things users are doing with these tools, and above all keep experimenting [and asking when in problems]...
In passing... your model has some problems - Layer0 and another is "off" - don't put geometry on separate layers - model on Layer) and then put groups/component-instances on layers to control visibility - it doesn't separate geometry so you can't weld the 'hoops' into a curve because they are split by geometry on layers that are not visible !!! Though I suspect EEbyRails is what you want NOT EEbyLoft anyway*** ???

Rich O Brien

@TIG

it's always a pleasure to try explain the best way to utilise your toolset. Anytime you post solutions you clearly explain the merits of exploring different approaches. Still find it hard to understand the terminology you guys use at times. But that's half the battle!

Cheers,
Rich

lildavido

Hi there,

I have tried all the suggestions with the copy pasting , and the line to start and stop.
But i am encountering problems with the loft tool. As it keeps twisting sometimes but sometimes it works., but now i cant seem to find any faces.
When i try and loft it , it makes 0 faces. here's the skp file. and what i want to achieve.
Basically making a curved truss . As shown on the left.

Thanks for your help. its a weird prob...

an image of the problem

the skp file

TIG

Here's v1.7 with a 'Quad Face' option [smoothed diagonals] added to complement thomthom's Quad-Tools.
See here for notes and link to the zipped toolset http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=231016#p231016