[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

clovis · 8 Feb 2011, 08:44

HI everyone

I really appreciate all the work done for those amazing plugins , but i have some problems using Shape bender :

installation went fine but when it comes to ebnding and object it doesn t work , explanation :

I select a group (ok ) BUT THEN when it comes to select a line i have drawn on the side of that object , a window appears telling me [please select a straight line ] or [ select a line on the red axis ] .... and my line is straight And on the red axis !

could anyone help me out?

Thanks

Dave R · 8 Feb 2011, 13:08

John,

Is the line you are selecting part of the group? If so, that would explain the message. The line must be outside the group for it to work.

In this image the line is being selected. The component to be bent is above it.

clovis · 8 Feb 2011, 13:12

the line is outside the group .

Mostly sketchup tells me [ please select a line that is on the red axis ]

what may i do ??

clovis · 8 Feb 2011, 13:15

and it does not work even if my line is on the red axis ...

TIG · 8 Feb 2011, 13:32

You need three things to use the tool
A Group or Component-instance.
A Line drawn along the red-axis to determine the extent of the actions.
A Curve [e.g. an Arc] - this is often drawn to have similar extents as the Line [but not necessarily].

Preselect the Group/Component.
Run the tool and follow the prompts.
Pick the Line.
Pick the Curve.
Toggle the 'Ends' using the Arrow-Keys etc as prompted etc...

Dave R · 8 Feb 2011, 13:41

TIG beat me to it. Can you post a screen shot of what you're trying to do?

clovis · 8 Feb 2011, 13:45

@tig said:

You need three things to use the tool
A Group or Component-instance.
A Line drawn along the red-axis to determine the extent of the actions.
A Curve [e.g. an Arc] - this is often drawn to have similar extents as the Line [but not necessarily].

Preselect the Group/Component.
Run the tool and follow the prompts.
Pick the Line.
Pick the Curve.
Toggle the 'Ends' using the Arrow-Keys etc as prompted etc...[attachment=0:rnii52fu]Capture.PNG[/attachment:rnii52fu]

I EXACTLY DO AS YOU SHOW ... but Can t select the "lone line on the red axis" , as sketchup does not notice it .. always the same error message

I might try to re instal the plug in ...

TIG · 8 Feb 2011, 13:47

The Lone Line on the Red Axis must be exactly that.
It cannot be connected to other things ???
The cursor changes to a ___ to show it needs a line...

Chris Fullmer · 8 Feb 2011, 15:46

Also, it only works on the original red axis. So if you have changed your world axis, you will need to reset it. To do this, right click on one of the axis lines and choose "Reset". That should re-align it to the world axis. Perhaps that is cause of the problems. Let us know how it goes. Also, if none of this works, you can also upload your model, or a small portion of it here so we can test it. Thanks!

Chris

Gaieus · 8 Feb 2011, 16:20

I think the best is to use this plugin in and "empty" file. f you make a component of what you want to bend then align the component axes according how the plugin should work then you can right click > save as... and open the new file, you can experiment without any risk then when done, in the original model, right click again and "reload".

madib · 9 Feb 2011, 22:57

I have a question about installing shape bender on my computer. I copied the .rb and the folder into my plugin folder. Now that I start sketch up it gives me the error: Error Loading File clf_shape_bender_loader.rb
No such file to load -- progressbar.rb

how can I fix that?

cheers

TIG · 10 Feb 2011, 09:33

@madib said:

I have a question about installing shape bender on my computer. I copied the .rb and the folder into my plugin folder. Now that I start sketch up it gives me the error: Error Loading File clf_shape_bender_loader.rb
No such file to load -- progressbar.rb

how can I fix that?

cheers

The download page explains that you need to get that separately - ~6 lines down http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=147395#p147395
It's free from Smustard.com.
Put it into Plugins and restart...

clovis · 13 Feb 2011, 10:06

@gaieus said:

I think the best is to use this plugin in and "empty" file. f you make a component of what you want to bend then align the component axes according how the plugin should work then you can right click > save as... and open the new file, you can experiment without any risk then when done, in the original model, right click again and "reload".

YEP it works .... in fact , just needed an empty file ... @ Chris F. : i think the axis were changed , that was my problem !

Thanks for your help dudes!!!

Angelwing · 15 Feb 2011, 19:59

Hi Guys typical that a first post is a question

Can anyone tell me in simple terms how to install Shape Bender on a Mac.

I have previously installed make faces 1.4 and that seemed easy although I cant find where it is installed now either

Andy

TIG · 16 Feb 2011, 09:07

@angelwing said:

Hi Guys typical that a first post is a question

Can anyone tell me in simple terms how to install Shape Bender on a Mac.

I have previously installed make faces 1.4 and that seemed easy although I cant find where it is installed now either

Andy

It's pretty much the same as on a PC!
Type/Copy+Paste this into the Window > Ruby Console Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins") it returns the correct folder into which you should put any scripts etc.
Download the 'clf_shape_bender_v055.ZIP' file linked in the first post.
Extract the contents of the ZIP to a temporary location.
A good Unzip tool will ask and put the contents into a folder - perhaps on your Desktop - [usually named after the ZIP file's name - 'clf_shape_bender_v055'].
That folder should contain a script clf_shape_bender_loader.rb and a folder [clf_shape_bender] containing several support files [the main '.rb' file and several '.png' image files for the toolbar buttons etc].
Move/Copy the separate .rb file and the folder into the ../Plugins/ folder, overwriting anything already there.
Do NOT take any of the files out of the subfolder or think to put them into ../Plugins/ - it will break just things !
IF you might have moved files out of that subfolder then I suggest that you check the contents of the ../Plugins/ folder against the contents of that subfolder and remove the incorrectly located ones from ../Plugins/.......

leminilab · 2 Mar 2011, 18:51

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to model this kind of paper walls :

So I modeled the oval component (because I'm so good at modeling ) but now I'm trying to make the bend and as you can see I haven't been very succesful at it using shape bender so far...

So my question is : Can anyone help me?
Thank you so much for reding this!

Nicolas

leminilab · 2 Mar 2011, 19:06

Copy along path power!

I'll leave the message anyway in case it may help a noob like me someday (I like to think I'm not the only one to ask doh questions )!

Thanks a lot for everything!
Nicolas

DeltaCommando5 · 5 Mar 2011, 18:28

I've installed the progressbar.rb and the bender tool, and it's not showing up in the plugins menu. Why?

Dave R · 5 Mar 2011, 18:46

Did you tick the Shape Bender box under Window>Preferences>Extensions?

mitcorb · 5 Mar 2011, 19:04

Out of curiosity, what work is left to be done for Shape Bender to move out of Beta designation?

EDIT: I retract my question. I just noticed in the first post the answer.