[Plugin][$] Vertex Tools

thomthom · 15 Aug 2010, 01:17

Yea - I have been thinking that some way of controlling the make planar would be good. But I've so far not worked out what kind of UI implementation it'd be.

I think that when I get the manipulating gizmos working I'd might make sense to have virtual plane to manipulate. You can see what I'm talking about when I release the next UV mapping plugin.

EarthMover · 15 Aug 2010, 13:21

Great work Thom! Been away for a while and came back to a real gem. I have a simple request.

In Max if you select a bunch of verts, you can hold CTRL and click on the Edge button and it will select all the edges connected to those verts instead....and the same for polygons. Could you do something similar in your Vertex Tools? I would like to be able to utilize the "ignore backfacing" and freehand selection features for edges and faces also.

Thanks again bro...really a well polished plugin!

thomthom · 15 Aug 2010, 13:27

When you exit vertex mode while having vertices selected, that vertex selection will be transfered back to SU. In the same manner than existing SU selection while activating vertex mode will make vertices selected.

EarthMover · 15 Aug 2010, 13:42

Not sure I understand. So if I would turn on ignore backfacing and use freehand selection to select a group of of vertices and I want to extend the selection to connected edges or faces....how would I do it?

Ideally these tools (Freehand selection and ignore backfacing) should be a part of native sketchup. It always baffled me as to why they were not.

thomthom · 15 Aug 2010, 14:05

When you exit vertex mode, the edges and faces which have all their vertices selected will be selected in SU's native selection.

Gaieus · 17 Aug 2010, 00:57

@thomthom said:

When you exit vertex mode, the edges and faces which have all their vertices selected will be selected in SU's native selection...

...so just go on adding items as you generally do (holding the Shift key).

pep75 · 23 Aug 2010, 17:15

Today I bought the Vertextools plugin and I really needed it. Sketchup is becoming a "real" modeller. But there's something I don't know how to solve. And it should be possible! I've made a selection of vertices and I want them to narrow a bit, but only along one axis...So the height will stay the same and the width will be scaled. But I can't!!! Pleaaaaasssse Help me Out! I'm getting frustrated!!

THANKS!!!

thomthom · 23 Aug 2010, 23:19

Non-uniform scaling - that is unfortunately missing from the initial release. It's scheduled for a later release when I get the gizmo's added.
I'm sorry it doesn't help you right now.

pep75 · 24 Aug 2010, 07:00

But nevertheless, it's a huge step forward....It's a great script already...

Thanks!

thomthom · 24 Aug 2010, 07:11

Yes - it's a step. This first release has the basic functions. The next releases will add more control and more fun stuff. Had to pace the release otherwise it'd just end up as vapour-ware.

Bob James · 19 Sept 2010, 06:31

I've now had a chance to give Vertex Tools a try on my "problem" Google landscape. (See my post on the Thea Forum under "Work In Progress")

What a great tool Thomas By the time I've gotten a little more experience with it I'm sure it will solve my terrain modification task.

This task became necessary when I tried to put our facilities on the actual Google Earth landscape. It turned out that the Google landscape does not take into account even major modifications taken when the facilities were built in circa 1980. So, to allow me to place my models on the terrain I must modify the Google Earth landscape to match reality.

Why? Because I plan to use renders of the models in their "natural environment".

For anyone that needs some really handy mesh adjustment tools without getting into the middle of Bryce or the like, plunk down the very reasonable $20 USD for ThomThom's Vertex Tools.

thomthom · 19 Sept 2010, 08:48

cheers!

EarthMover · 19 Sept 2010, 14:26

Thomas, I remember seeing somewhere that you were able to assign contextual shortcuts to Move, Rotate and Scale for when vertex tools was open and have them the same keyboard shortcuts for the native tools. I can't seem to make it work. Any help?

Also, in a future release, would it be possible to have the transform tools select the vertex if nothing is selected, similar to the native SU transform tools? And perhaps a deselect all button?

thomthom · 19 Sept 2010, 15:03

@earthmover said:

Thomas, I remember seeing somewhere that you were able to assign contextual shortcuts to Move, Rotate and Scale for when vertex tools was open and have them the same keyboard shortcuts for the native tools. I can't seem to make it work. Any help?

Under the Tool->Vertex Tools menus you find Move, Scale, Rotate and Select - if you reassign your shortcuts to these, then they will activate the appropriate tools inside and outside vertex mode.

@earthmover said:

Also, in a future release, would it be possible to have the transform tools select the vertex if nothing is selected, similar to the native SU transform tools?

Possible. For the next revision I'm looking into the UI. For instance I'm adding manipulator gizmos. While I do that I can also revise how the tools work with nothing selected. It would fit in with SU's behaviour.

@earthmover said:

And perhaps a deselect all button?

Toolbar button?

xrok1 · 19 Sept 2010, 18:07

will we see a new release soon?

thomthom · 19 Sept 2010, 18:51

Sounds like a good feature.

EarthMover · 19 Sept 2010, 18:56

Thanks.

Regarding the deselect, I was thinking that if you could hover select with the transform tools that it would be useful to quickly clear the selection without having to access the right click menu, but I guess it would be irrelevant if it acted as the native tools and allows you to manipulate a vertex and then release the selection. So simply, I was just looking to have the vertex move tool be able to utilize it's soft selection to bounce from vert to vert if all verts are deselected, in the same way the native move tool does.

See here - http://www.screencast.com/t/OTRmZGM1MjA

EarthMover · 19 Sept 2010, 19:04

I've been playing with vertex tools most of the afternoon and wanted to say thanks again. Well worth the $20, as I've been telling all my designer friends who use sketchup.

In the future, any plans to add a collapse vert or target weld?
Also, possible to add scaling from center with the shift key, similar to native sketchup?

Looking forward to the gizmo.

thomthom · 19 Sept 2010, 19:18

@earthmover said:

In the future, any plans to add a collapse vert or target weld?

Yes.
I should put up a list of what I have on my todo list.

@earthmover said:

Also, possible to add scaling from center with the shift key, similar to native sketchup?

Scaling needs much better options than it currently has. Doesn't even let you scale non-uniformly.

But the gizmos should be a great improvement to manipulation control. I have another plugin in the works which will act as prototype for the gizmos.

Bob James · 21 Sept 2010, 05:11

@unknownuser said:

would of been sweet if i could've made the plane then chose (either via a single vertex or some other kind of input) which height the plane would be leveled at..

other uses might be for cutting a level tract in the side of a hill for instance..

i dunno, not that important but just an idea.

+1
I spent a lot of time on my current project using Vertex Tools doing just as Jeff described: make planar, create a reference plane for rotation of the sloped plane, rotate the plane. Jeff's idea would have been really useful

I also had considerable difficulty making the move tool move in the direction I wanted to go. Operator error?? I tried the up arrow key, but that doesn't seem to have any effect. Guess I need some guidance TT.