[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Rails to Lattice

mitcorb

TIG:
Excellent concept!
Some obvious considerations: I am just going to throw these out with no disrespect intended, just food for further thought?

The profile of the lattice members will be rectangular.
Then, someone will ask if a circular or other section will be available, and this will be problematic for "pane-ing" the lattice.

And then, Lattice Deformation? requiring gradient selection techniques.

And then, discussion might ensue regarding precision, and best practices scale factor of model.
And then the question, why doesn't Sketchup have built in selectable scale factors to avoid a lot of tedious side calculation. But that's for another thread.

Thank you, again TIG.

TIG

Mitcorb

Try EEbyRailsByFace - that lets you preselect a circular [or any-shape] flat-face to use in the 'lattice' section [rails/profiles only], but you must then repeat the mesh with EEbyRails to make the 'pane' skin...

This EEbyRailsToLattice tool is limited to pushpulling the faces, so 'square' forms it has to be...

ken28875

Awesome, TIG!

Thank you!

_KN

pilou

Playing with numbers can give some funny results
Infinite possiblities

utiler

I wish I could express in words what your efforts and generousity to this community means, TIG......

d12dozr

@utiler said:

I wish I could express in words what your efforts and generousity to this community means, TIG......

+1
Well said...thanks TIG!

TIG

Here's a study made with the tool...

olishea

this looks really really tasty!

thanks infinitely! gonna have a play now. man ive been waiting for something like this for quite a while!

pilou

The new paracloud modeler by TIG

TIG

@unknownuser said:

The new paracloud modeler by TIG

I'll write that before dinner ?

Chris Fullmer

Hehe, TIG, I also used it to make that same shape last night. It was very easy to do. But I noticed a few things. The extrude by face by rails that I tried first did not ever allow me to have the triangulation. It just cleaned it up automatically, or else never even put it in place - I'm not sure which.

But this lattice one did add the triangulation, but only if I chose to use a 3d shape. If I just did a line, then it never add the triangulation.

I wouldn't mind ALWAYS having the option to keep the triangulation.

Seriously awesome stuff TIG, keep it up!

Chris

TIG

@chris fullmer said:

Hehe, TIG, I also used it to make that same shape last night. It was very easy to do. But I noticed a few things. The extrude by face by rails that I tried first did not ever allow me to have the triangulation. It just cleaned it up automatically, or else never even put it in place - I'm not sure which.
But this lattice one did add the triangulation, but only if I chose to use a 3d shape. If I just did a line, then it never add the triangulation.
I wouldn't mind ALWAYS having the option to keep the triangulation.
Seriously awesome stuff TIG, keep it up!
Chris

To get a full mesh that's triangulated use plain 'EEbyRails'.
When the mesh done don't smooth it etc.
Then you edit the mesh-group and select all, then deselect the edges [there are various tools to do this - I have my own but thomthom's selection-toys works well...].
Delete the faces - now you have the full mesh with triangles make from lines only...
The tool 'EEbyRailsToLattice' was written to do a 3D lattice or the profiles/rails rib-lines as simple separated curves - so you can use them for other things - like 'EEbyFace' using different profiles for different parts...

DIEGO-RODRIGUEZ

Tig, plugins excellent. Thank you very much for their continued contributions and new ideas.
The plugin works perfect.
I use latest version of sketchup in Spanish and windows XP sp3 in Spanish
Only I make two suggestions

**a - You can place the panels and the Mesh into separate layer or different groups?

b - could change the names of the . lingvo, add a number.
It is easier to delete files that are not used*.

example:

01 - extrudeEdgesByLoftEN-US.lingvo
02 - extrudeEdgesByLoftES.lingvo
03 - extrudeEdgesByLoftFA.lingvo
04 - extrudeEdgesByLoftFR.lingvo
05 - extrudeEdgesByLoftZH-CN.lingvo

01 - extrudeEdgesByRailsEN-US.lingvo
02 - extrudeEdgesByRailsES.lingvo
03 - extrudeEdgesByRailsFA.lingvo
04 - extrudeEdgesByRailsFR.lingvo
05 - extrudeEdgesByRailsZH-CN.lingvo

Didier Bur

Hi TIG,
Here is the french lingvo file.
You're making great progress in french, just several typos were remaining
Best regards,

extrudeEdgesByRailsToLatticeFR.zip

TIG

Thanks Didier, Pilou also just did one - I'll make a compilation of both...

TIG

New zipped set is now available [ http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=242239#p242239 ], with minor tweaks to text for lingvo files. New ES=Defisto and FR=DidierBur + Pilou. Flat faces at z=0 are now auto-reversed.

TIG

The script in the zipped set has been updated...
'Face.offset' is now reworked to be more robust and 'in class'
[i.e. now offset.rb is not needed].
Panes now get the 'back_material'.

TIG

Tip
You are prompted to erase coplanar edges if the faces can survive without triangulation divisions.
To ensure that you get 'flat' quad faces make sure that the profiles and rails are identical [perhaps copy them].
Here is one with the coplanar triangulation left in... This one had them erased before the lattice was made...

pilou

That rules now

TIG

Here's another form...