[Plugin][$] Curviloft 2.0a - 31 Mar 24 (Loft & Skinning)

[charly2008]

Probably there are many like me. Some features I can not understand completely.

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[fredo6]

@charly2008 said:

Probably there are many like me. Some features I can not understand completely.

Charly,

There are many ways to do Loft, and this is why there are many options (and there should probably be more).

1. The Spline methods on the left side:

• one if simply to link contours by straight lines
• the second is a junction by Bezier curves with mean slope. In many cases where contours are aligned this is almost a straight line too. But in other situations, it gives a curved shape.

2. The two icons in the middle are for Cubic Bezier and Catmull Splines. In most cases they give a very similar shape, though Cubic Bezier is usually nicer in the rounding. Catmull, in contrast, is more similar to what you get in Subdivide & Smooth methods.

3. The two icons on the right side of the Spline method palette: These 2 methods only apply when you have more than 2 contours. The principle is that they link the two extreme contours by B-Spline or F-Spline, using the intermediate ones as a guide for shaping. The generated surface passes through the extreme contours but not thorugh the intermediate ones

4. The vertex matching palette is about how to match vertices from one contour to the next one. I am still experimenting and will try to improve in this area. The matching can be based on:

• match vertex to vertex when there are the same numbers (first default)
• match along the curvilinear distance (second default)
• match along Cubic or Bezier profiles. The principle is that the spacing between matching vertices is function of the curvature of the contour. I found theoritical cases where this is the correct solution, but in the real world, this may be another story.

5. The geometry palette is used for 2 purposes currently:

• generate only the junctions as lines (i.e. no surface)
• make the junction as SU curves. This allows deforming the shape in a continuous way by moving the contours.
  I plan to add the possibility to construct any part of the mesh (i.e. triangles, quads, junctions only, etc....)

The best is to play with the options on a given model and see what it gives.

I agree that this is not straightforward, but keep in mind that there is unfortunately not a single solution to all lofting situations.

Fredo

PS: by the way, extremely nice models you designed!!

[charly2008]

Hi Fredo,

thank you for your detailed explanation. I'll continue to experiment with getting to know all the options. Your explanation is certainly helpful to all.

Charly

[thomthom]

I'm getting some errors:

[fredo6]

@thomthom said:

I'm getting some errors:

[attachment=0:21a7yfyo]<!-- ia0 -->CurviError.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:21a7yfyo]

Tom,

Thanks for signaling this problem.
Would you mind to post the model.

Fredo

[thomthom]

@unknownuser said:

@thomthom said:

I'm getting some errors:

[attachment=0:1k817cpu]<!-- ia0 -->CurviError.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1k817cpu]

Tom,

Thanks for signaling this problem.
Would you mind to post the model.

Fredo

It's a wee heavy - but I can post the extracted polylines.

[thomthom]

Here it is:

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CurviError.skp

[charly2008]

Hi Thomas,

i welded each line and below the result in Sketchup 8.

Charly

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[thomthom]

?

You have to weld the curves for loft to work?

[charly2008]

Yes this is my experience, otherwise you will have multiple lines.

[thomthom]

Even more odd - that unwelded needs more distance...?

[charly2008]

I must correct myself. In your example it works without welding but only if the two lines have a little more distance. Otherwise I get the same error messages. I previously thought the lines would have to be welded. now I've found that it is not so. Sorry, I am ashamed. I was back to cheeky.

Charly

[robert111]

charly how to modeling this exemple plz can you make tuto plz, il love yours objet with this plugin

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[robert111]

and for this exemple too

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[charly2008]

To all who are interested,

My mistake is based on the plugin Extrude Edges by Loft. Here welded edges or corners are required. I realized only now with Curviloft only just a double-click on the edges is necessary to complete the selection. Without the post from Thomas, I would have thought about it.

I could have saved myself a lot of time. You get used sometimes to a particular workflow or action and thought no more about it.

Charly

[jeff hammond]

@charly2008 said:

I realized only now with Curviloft only just a double-click on the edges is necessary to complete the selection.

or, adjust the max edge angle then single click (though in thom's example, the filter needs to be around 130 deg.)

[this feature comes in very handy in certain instances]
[use the tab key for even more filter options]

[charly2008]

Thanks Jeff for your tip.

[charly2008]

Hi Robert111,

i will place the tutorial here:

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=29374

Charly

[SpookyChick1013]

Hi there Fredo! I've had Curviloft in my plugin folder for quite a while, and only recently figured out how to make it work. (To Whom It May Concern; Thank you all for your tutorials!) Curviloft is an awesome plugin and extremely useful. Once I figured out how to use it, I have had no problems until just recently, (say, a week ago?) when I started getting the following error message:

I think we can safely ignore the matchbox plugin error, as MatchBox is not even installed and has not been for over 18 months (it would not play nice with other plugins so I vaped it...)and Curvi worked fine until after i downloaded and installed the latest version( Curviloft 1.0c, and LibFredo6 35c.) Curvi still works ok for the most part but I have started to get strange behavior from the orthogonal curves setting. I figured a work-around, but I was curious if the reported errors had something to do with it.

Once again, thank you so much for all of your hard work and genius! >hugz'n'cookiez, because I don't have any beer today<

[charly2008]

Hi,

a Curviloft Lamp.

Charly

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