[Plugin] Flattery papercraft tools

TIG

OK I extracted the files for the 11th time to get the error but this time it extracted fine!
BUT the files dont show up when I look in the plugins folder. So I open 7 zip to extract them again but 7 zip shows them in the plugins folder.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY COMPUTER!

I think you have a Compatibility Files issue with Vista - it tucked them away in a Compatibility folder to protect you!
Look in the top bar of the Plugins folder window are there any weird folders or icons there...
Vista can be a pain when it decides that you shouldn't add files to some folders...

Subsonic Mike

I cant seem to see any weird folders icons.

TIG

Ensure that you don't have any flattery folder or file in your Plugins folder - if you do move them out...
Download the zip file to say your desktop.
Extract it to a folder with the name of the zip file.
Open the folder and select the file and folder in it.
Copy.
Open the Plugins folder and Paste.
You should now have the correct file+folder installed.
Restart Sketchup and 'flattery' might need activating from the Preferences > Extensions section.
Its toolbar is activated off View > Toolbars...

Subsonic Mike

IT WORKS!
Thank you so much guys for helping me get it working! Thank you!

TIG

Hoooooooooray!

Gaiv

hi everybody, i study architecture and i really love this plugin, it's very very cool because it's help me a lot to makes paper craft ... thank you conceptor but i just have a little problem, i don't understand how to use the " index Edges" function and it's very important for me because i have a very complex modeling to do and it's impossible without this function... someone can help me?

TIG

As explained on the tools web-page

@unknownuser said:

When your model is fully constructed, and you are about to unfold it, select the entire thing and press the Index Edges button. This marks all of the edges in your model so that later, when your model is unfolded, Flattery will know what used to be connected. This is critical for the Reunite Edges tool, and helpful for the Add Tabs tool.

So do it at the start and thenunfold...

Gaiv

it's what i do, but there is nothing when the volume is complete i select all the model and i press the index Edges button but nothing appear =s
maybe it's a bug?

TIG

I think you misunderstand.
The Index tool 'marks' all edges so that the tool knows which edges were common before unfolding and for tabbing etc. It doesn't add any 'text' at all ???

However, here's a way... once you have unfolded/tabbed the form as desired, then you select all of the flattened edges [faces , un-indexed edges etc are ignored so you don't need to be too careful]... now run this snippet of code in the Ruby Console - copy/paste it

m=Sketchup.active_model;es=m.active_entities;ss=m.selection;ss.to_a.each{|e|next if e.class!=Sketchup;;Edge;id=e.get_attribute("Unfold","edge_id",nil);next if !id;  pt=e.start.position.offset(e.line[1],e.length/2);es.add_text(id.to_s,pt,[0,0,0])}

Text representing the edges' id code will be added centrally to the pairs edges that share each code... 1, 2, 3 etc

Bep

Hello Tig,

I am getting this message in the ruby console.
Am i doing something wrong?

m=Sketchup.active_model;es=m.active_entities;ss=m.selection;ss.to_a.each{|e|next if e.class!=Sketchup;;Edge;id=e.get_attribute("Unfold","edge_id",nil);next if !id;  pt=e.start.position.offset(e.line[1],e.length/2);es.add_text(id.to_s,pt,[0,0,0])}
Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `active_m' for Sketchup;Module>
(eval);184[/ruby]

Bep

TIG

@bep said:

Hello Tig,

I am getting this message in the ruby console.
Am i doing something wrong?

m=Sketchup.active_model;es=m.active_entities;ss=m.selection;ss.to_a.each{|e|next if e.class!=Sketchup;;Edge;id=e.get_attribute("Unfold","edge_id",nil);next if !id;  pt=e.start.position.offset(e.line[1],e.length/2);es.add_text(id.to_s,pt,[0,0,0])}
> Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `active_m' for Sketchup;Module>
> (eval);184[/ruby]

Bep

Sorry
A typo crept in between testing and posting...
The correct code 'm=Sketchup.active_model**;**' has now been edited in...

Bep

Thanks Tig ,

Now it works (I just cant see the typo )
The ruby also gives a number to the sides that are still connected.
Could it skip these sides ?

Greetings,

Bep

Gaiv

@tig said:

@bep said:

Hello Tig,

I am getting this message in the ruby console.
Am i doing something wrong?

m=Sketchup.active_model;es=m.active_entities;ss=m.selection;ss.to_a.each{|e|next if e.class!=Sketchup;;Edge;id=e.get_attribute("Unfold","edge_id",nil);next if !id;  pt=e.start.position.offset(e.line[1],e.length/2);es.add_text(id.to_s,pt,[0,0,0])}
> > Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `active_m' for Sketchup;Module>
> > (eval);184[/ruby]

Bep

Sorry
A typo crept in between testing and posting...
The correct code 'm=Sketchup.active_model**;**' has now been edited in...

hi i've tried the ruby console code but nothing happened and there is still no number on the faces =s when i write the code in the ruby i have this message :
m=Sketchup.active_model;es=m.active_entities;ss=m.selection;ss.to_a.each{|e|next if e.class!=Sketchup::Edge;id=e.get_attribute("Unfold","edge_id",nil);next if !id; pt=e.start.position.offset(e.line[1],e.length/2);es.add_text(id.to_s,pt,[0,0,0])}
[#Sketchup::Group:0x1e45fad8]

but no number is it normal ? i work on mac maybe it's the problem? i don't know but pleasee help meeeee

TIG

You have selected one group.
You must select faces/edges - perhaps inside that group...

bmike

no luck here, SU8 pro.

downloaded, extracted. copied the 'flattery' folder (left the MACOSx folder along) into plugins.
noticed there was no flattery.rb, found it inside the flattery folder, moved it to plugins.
shows up in my window>preference as being checked on, but can't seem to load it.

TIG

If you reread the README file... it says to put flattery.rb and the flattery folder [with its contents intact] into the Plugins folder...
It needs activating from Preferences > Extensions and then View > Toolbar...

bmike

@tig said:

If you reread the README file... it says to put flattery.rb and the flattery folder [with its contents intact] into the Plugins folder...
It needs activating from Preferences > Extensions and then View > Toolbar...

yeah, i did all that.

upon investigation, the download folder isn't exactly clean.

took some doing, but i managed to clean up the nested nonsense and got it sorted.

would be better, i think, to have 2 files to download, mac, and pc. then eliminate the nesting and the guesswork.

also, the font color in my folder lists is green for this. weirdness. and i don't like it.

nomeradona

wow this is good for our students...thanks for sharing.

pmolsen

If I am not mistaken I believe the zip file has been created incorrectly. Firstly as the other user pointed out it contains both the Mac and PC files, making it impossible to do a standard unzip without getting all of the files.

Secondly the directory structure is incorrect. To do a standard unzip on most plugins you simply tell winzip that the Extract-to folder is plugins and you tick the "use folder names" and everything works.

When you do that with Flattery.zip you get an incorrect directory structure set up. You get a high-level folder within the Plugins directory called Flattery (with a capital F). Within that folder you get the flattery.rb file and README.txt. The flattery.rb should be in plugins, not Flattery.

You also get two other folders, called flattery and .svn, within the Flattery directory.

If you open the zip file and look at the right hand column you will see the problem. The flattery.rb file has a path of "Flattery". It should have no path at all if it is supposed to go in the Plugins directory. All the other files have a path of Flattery/flattery. They should just say flattery...

Another problem is that the README.txt is ends up in the high-level plugins directory. It should be in the flattery directory, or should be called "flatteryreadme.txt" or similar. Unzipping a file called readme.txt to the plugins directory, that may contain hundreds of plugins, is a bit meaningless.

I recognise that a user would normally only need the readme initially, but a standard user doing a standard unzip is going to end up with the readme.txt in the plugins folder, probably overwriting an existing file of that name from another plugin.

The way this zip file has been set up I presume it is designed to be unzipped to C:. It would then create a directory called Flattery. The user would then have to move all its contents to Plugins, and then delete the Flattery directory. That is not intuitive and is not what the install instructions say.

The other issue is the .svn folder. What is it? The install instructions mention nothing about it but it seems that it has to go in the plugins root directory.

TIG

Personally, I would NEVER extract the contents of an unknown zip file into the Plugins folder. Too reckless.
I'd always extract it into a temporary folder [named after the zip file] on my Desktop and look at what I have then got.
Then I'd read any README file [or other instructions supplied by the author] and move files or folders-of-files into the Plugins folder as directed.
If you read this tool's README file for PC or MAC, the files and folders you need to extract/move are clearly explained.
There are superfluous files/folders that the MAC system [stupidly] adds into the zip file - but because they start with a '.' they are probably invisible to a MAC user, so they are included in error by the originator...
... BUT now I think about it why are you bitching here and not complaining to the tool's author on the Flattery web-site