Drop group or component to surface below?

JClements · 8 Jul 2010, 04:40

Trying to find a script which I think drops a group or component (or selection?) straight down until it intersects a specific surface below.

Thanks, John

autarchos · 8 Jul 2010, 04:45

try this one:

(www.smustard.com)

JClements · 8 Jul 2010, 06:06

Thank you, Pete.

This will do the trick.

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 06:23

Only issue is that the components stop on hidden entities. I have a WIP plugins that fixes that if you run into that problem.

Gaieus · 8 Jul 2010, 06:36

Also, that plugin will drop (and stop) the components/groups at their origin so on a sloped surface, they will either merge or float. See example below (component axes displayed however faintly they can be seen).

Another thing is that when undoing, you have to undo them one by one. Nevertheless I keep using it and find it extremely useful when populating terrains with entourage and such. Still I sometimes miss a thing or two as you can see with one of the benches sunk into the ground here (and after hours of rendering).

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 06:43

I believe SmartDrop will align the bottom to the surface: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=3474
But it also suffers from stopping at hidden entities.

Gaieus · 8 Jul 2010, 06:52

Well, nned to check out, thanks.

And the credits ("thanks...") also remind me to purchase Tavi's randor (and when I am at it, also his stereo) plugins...

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 07:12

randor and stereo plugins? what's this?

Gaieus · 8 Jul 2010, 07:19

randor will randomly scale and rotate objects. Stereo creates two cameras slightly apart from each other so that you can export/render two images and combine them into those 3D images to be watched with those fancy red/green glasses.

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 07:25

is randor different from the random scale and rotate plugin Chris got?

Gaieus · 8 Jul 2010, 07:38

I will check.

Gaieus · 8 Jul 2010, 07:41

Hm... Even Chris mentions randor here.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=139970#p139970

anyway, I have downloaded and will check out...

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 09:18

hm.. I've not tried that one. Does it deal with hidden entities?

CadFather · 8 Jul 2010, 09:45

yes, it drops the component only to the next visible entity

.

CadFather · 8 Jul 2010, 09:45

Jim's Mover script drops components pretty well too.. (press CTRL)

.

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 10:01

Also if the entity itself isn't hidden, but on a hidden layer?

CadFather · 8 Jul 2010, 10:17

no not in that case

Chris Fullmer · 8 Jul 2010, 17:48

I have been meaning to write a smart drop plugin too that drops to a specified group. I normally want to drop trees down onto a ground plane, and that ground plane is always in a group. So I've meant to write one that will let you select what to drop and then select a group to drop onto. Have not gotten around to it yet though.

And my rotate and scale multiple is essentially the same thing as randor. I was not aiming to re-write that plugin when I started it. I was just supposed to scale multiple components at the same time, based on each one's location. But then it kept evolving and turned into scaling and rotating randomly.

Chris

thomthom · 8 Jul 2010, 21:33

@chris fullmer said:

I have been meaning to write a smart drop plugin too that drops to a specified group. I normally want to drop trees down onto a ground plane, and that ground plane is always in a group. So I've meant to write one that will let you select what to drop and then select a group to drop onto. Have not gotten around to it yet though.

Ditto!

onzki · 11 Aug 2022, 01:45

@autarchos said:

try this one:

(www.smustard.com)

Hello everyone! I know this is an old thread, but still in demand feature lol .. The link no longer available, anybody knows an alternative? Thanks!