[Plugin] Hole Punching Tool

TIG · 10 Feb 2011, 20:24

WARNING!

Someone noticed that if you select punching components from the Outliner the matching reveals don't auto-select with them - unlike if you do the selection manually ! It seems the 'observer' for the selection is broken in the API [not specifically this tool!] when the Outliner is used this way. Therefore if you want to select the punched-components and their reveals don't use the Outliner!

Gaieus · 10 Feb 2011, 23:15

I've had really weird results lately - but I know my openings are also weird. I could fix them though and was in too much in a hurry to report here but once I have the time, I will collect them to (hopefully) improve the plugin.

Great tool!

mariocha · 11 Feb 2011, 04:04

@unknownuser said:

move the 'horns' ~1mm in front of the wall face line they won't cut and then they won't punch

Ok, that should do just fine then. Thx.

MartinK · 11 Feb 2011, 15:20

Very helpful plugin. Thanks

compadre.lucas · 3 Mar 2011, 18:12

This plugin caused me a very strange bug.
I discovered that the DeBabelizer.rb causes sketchup to shut down when using the tool "paste in place".
I don't know much about programing so I wouln't know what caused what. I have not been able to use this script, and so I wondor if anybody else had this problem?

TIG · 3 Mar 2011, 18:20

@compadre.lucas said:

This plugin caused me a very strange bug.
I discovered that the DeBabelizer.rb causes Sketchup to shut down when using the tool "paste in place".
I don't know much about programing so I wouln't know what caused what. I have not been able to use this script, and so I wonder if anybody else had this problem?

Debabelizer is used by many of my tools to translate text to a locale.
How do you know it is DeBabelizer that is causing the crash ? If it has crashed ??
Do you mean the crash happens with Edit > Paste_in_Place ?
Do you have Ruby Console error messages you can share...
This problem has never been reported before... the DeBabelizer tool clearly doesn't have anything to do with the Edit menu items anyway..... all it does is translate text strings in the file if the phrase has an entry in that tool's 'lingvo' file for your locale...
Do you use any of my other tools that also have lingvos ?

Dave R · 3 Mar 2011, 20:22

I use Paste in Place frequently and have Debabelizer installed. Never had SketchUp shut down due to either.

TIG · 9 Mar 2011, 18:11

Here's v2.0 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=271170#p271170
The Punched hole algorithm has been improved to cope with cutting-components that contain nested groups/components.

dbalex · 9 Jun 2011, 00:28

Just the plugin I needed, great work once more TIG!

dbalex · 9 Jun 2011, 09:29

It certainly something I'm doing wrong but I can't seem to make it work on this model again, first it worked with that component but after some time I have a grey menu for hole punching, I don't know what I'm doing wrong...

dbalex · 9 Jun 2011, 09:39

I have found the solution; just closed and opened sketchup and it worked like before, sorry for my stupid question

TIG you really save me a lot of time with this plugin! thanks again!

TIG · 9 Jun 2011, 09:50

dbalex

This isn't a problem specific to this tool.
Sketchup has a limit on the number of 'commands' that can be added to the context-menu.
If you have lots of such tools you can get to a point where it 'overflows' and some items get grayed-out...
Some tools [like HolePunch] add their submenu items and that's it... but others can make a new command every time the menu is activated. This will cause issues. When this limit was discovered most scripters recast their tools to minimize command making - in particular some of Fredo's tools were causing issues - these were all remade to fix this - if you have any of his tools please ensure you have the latest versions.
I see that you have several 'gray' items visible in the list - are all of these required ? For example you have two versions of 'fur'...
I suggest that you do some 'spring-cleaning' and disable any scripts that you don't use very often [perhaps move them into a Plugins_Disabled folder - you can always move one back and restart Sketchup if it is needed...]
There is a tool to optimize 'command' use [AlexM's 'ContextMenuOptimizer'] but it's only partially effective.
The only effective way to re-enable wrongly grayed-out items is to restart Sketchup... however, as a stopgap measure you can often [but not always] access context-menu items off the Edit menu's last item submenu, even when they are 'grayed-out' on the context-menu version...

dbalex · 9 Jun 2011, 09:58

thanks Tig, You're right I need to clean all those unneeded plugins away but.. I can't choose, sometimes I forget about a plug and I'm happy to find it back in my toolbar. it's a difficult choice and I can't delete them or put them away. even if I should, I know, but it's just impossible for me to keep some plugins and move others, you never know when you will need it (that's how I think). Thanks for your help!

raysilva2000 · 19 Jun 2011, 10:39

Where do I get the latest version of Hole Punching Tool?

TIG · 19 Jun 2011, 10:51

@raysilva2000 said:

Where do I get the latest version of Hole Punching Tool?

From the download link at the end of the very first post in this thread
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=271170#p271170

stevendaniels · 20 Jun 2011, 15:02

Hey thanks a bunch for posting this. It looks like exactly what I need

Unfortunately I cannot get it working on Snow Leopard with Sketchup 8 (Free version)

This is exactly what I did

Download and extract latest zipfile (v2.0 20110309)
Right-click on sketchup app in Finder and "Show Package Contents"
Drag the unzipped files into the Plugins folder so it now looks like this:

Plugins
--#HolePunchTool.rb
--deBabelizer.rb
--TIGtools
----#HolePunchToolDE.lingvo
----#HolePunchToolEN-US.lingvo
----#HolePunchToolES.lingvo
----#HolePunchToolFR.lingvo

Launch Sketchup and create a 3D wall (w:10m,d:0.2m,h:8m)
Create a simple rectangular frame with hole cut into it and make it into a component
Place frame on surface of wall
Right-click frame and...

The HolePunch option just is not there

Am I totally doing this wrong or have I uncovered a bug of some sort? Curious.

TIG · 21 Jun 2011, 09:29

Looks like it's setup OK...
There are no to it working limits on most versions or OS...
I'm assuming you've used the right Plugins folder and other scripts in there are loading OK?
There has been some issue with MAC users putting scripts into the wrong Plugins folder...
To find your correct path copy+paste this line into the Ruby Console +<enter>...
Sketchup.find_support_file('Plugins')
on a PC typically it should be=
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins
BUT on a MAC typically it should be=
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins
[i.e. not one of your 'personal folders']

I also assume there are no error messages on startup etc?

This is what it should look like - some of the submenu options are disabled depending on what you have selected - e.g. you can't re-punch an already punched instance...

Gridbeam Solutions · 23 Aug 2011, 02:46

Cool tool -- thanks for creating and posting it, TIG! The more I experiment with it, the more impressed I become.

As a SketchUp newbie and a Mac user, I request that TIG please add the description of the correct Mac plugin folder location to the install instructions in the main post. I initially put my install in the wrong place. The menu items still showed, though I couldn't get them to work. (That may be because of my inexperience, rather than a limitation of the plugin.)

It took a bit of experimentation before I achieved components that punched through. I'm sure TIG's instructions are clear to people who know SketchUp better than I do. For the benefit of other newbies, here's how creating a punchable component seems to work in its simplest form:

Use any drawing tool(s) to create a surface (circle, rectangle, doodle...). You can do this on the object you wish to punch, or elsewhere.
Select the surface and delete it. This will leave you with a set of bounding lines.
Select the bounding lines. (On a Mac, use the Select tool and double-click one of the lines. Unless you deleted a line and created a gap, this will select them all.)
Select Make Component.
In the dialog box, change the "Glue to:" selection from None to another option.
Check the "Cut opening" checkbox.
Make sure "Replace selection with component" is checked.
Optional: give your component a descriptive name.
Click "Create."
If necessary, position your component using the Move tool.
Select the component and right-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) to pop up a contextual menu.
In the contextual menu, select Hole Punching... > Punch

If the bounding lines of your surface would be hard to select separately from the object you are punching (for instance, if you created a rectangle that shares an edge with the object you want to punch), make a component from your surface and its bounding lines by skipping Step 2 above. After creating your component, edit it by double-clicking it with the Select tool. Click the surface to select it, delete it, then close your component. You are now ready to punch a hole.

If you don't remove the surface from your component, the plugin WILL punch the hole... but you won't see it because the surface will hide it. Orbit to the other side of the object to see your hole.

Did I get that right, TIG?

TIG · 23 Aug 2011, 08:52

Yes, but of course remember that you don't need to 'create' your cutting-components at all if you don't have to... there are many such components already available from Google and the 3dwarehouse [doors, windows, rooflights etc]. But sometimes making your own is necessary - especially for very simple or very complex things, as you are unlikely to get one of those 'off the shelf'...
Provided that a component has 'gluing/cutting' properties you can 'HolePunch' it... The component itself is not changed - any 'punched' instance is given special attributes and linked reveal geometry so they select and move together etc. Non-punched instances are exactly the same as they are is 'native' Sketchup. After punching you have choices to unlink - so the hole is no longer 'joined' to the component, unpunch - so the component no longer punches a hole, re-punch - necessary if you have swapped the instance for another component of a different size or shape and the punched reveals no longer match it, re-glue - useful if you have remade a face and its cutting components no longer cut it - select them, run re-glue and they cut the face again - then punch as desired; you can also change the punch depth - by default it's set at 500mm/20", which means it punches the hole in any walls/roofs thinner than this or in walls/roofs thicker it stops at the limit - this is really a safety-net, so that if you try to punch a single-skin wall the reveals don't extend over to the wall on the other side of the room as that'd be the first logical face it encountered! If you find you have walls thicker than the default then adjust the setting as desired, but be aware that large sizes run the risk if not all of your walls/roofs are 'twin-skinned'...

On a PC or MAC if you can type/copy&paste this line of code into the Menu > Window > Ruby Console command line:
Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins")
it will return the path to your own Plugins folder, where you should put your .rb scripts.
Note: for some scripts there are more complex files that come inside a zip-file, as well as .rb file[s] there are usually some more files inside a subfolder - extract them keeping their relative relationships and put the .rb file[s] etc and the intact subfolder into Plugins - never move files out of these subfolders, they must remain in there, you will break things otherwise!

I note that you say the items were on the context menu but 'grayed'. The option to 'Set Depth' should always be active, but most of them are deactivated [grayed] and only become available if you have an appropriate selection - so Punch is activated if you have one or more cutting components selected [that have not already been punched!], Unlink/Unpunch/Repunch require the selection to be already components that are already punched, Reglue require cutting-component[s] to be selected...
There is also another cause for 'grayed' items in the context-menu. As more and more plugins were developed over the last few years it was realized that there is a finite limit to the number of 'commands' that can be added before some of them 'fail' and show gray when they should be active [you can often still run them from the equivalent list at the end of the Edit menu]. Some scripts were making multiple commands which exacerbated the issue. Authors have now fixed their scripts as far as I know, but there is still a limit, so if you have dozens of scripts loading at some point the context-menu will breakdown. If you find that you have items that are 'gray' when you are sure they ought to be 'active', and you have loads of scripts loading, then it's probably this issue... so you need to make a list of tools that appear in the menu, but are rarely used and disable them: if it's an Extension try and deactivating it; or rename its file in Plugins - so a script named xxx.rb >>> xxx.rb.TXT [only .rb/.rbs files will auto-load from Plugins] - so then when you restart Sketchup that item should have gone from the menu. If you find you do need that tool regularly then rename it back so it auto-loads once more; if you find you need it occasionally you can type this in the Ruby Console to load it just for that session - load "xxx.rb.TXT" where of course you use the scripts name in place of 'xxx'... Remember that you need to restart Sketchup to see the affects of these changes...
See http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=252413#p252413 for a context-menu-optimizer that might help too, but it won't solve the issue completely...

Gridbeam Solutions · 23 Aug 2011, 14:28

VERY helpful, TIG -- thank you!

Two more questions:

How does file size of a punched hole differ, if at all, from file size of a manually pushed hole? (As you know from Best practice for drilling multiple holes?, so you know I'm making components with zillions of holes in them, where small size differences add up.)
The default punched hole shows segments. How do I get it to show a smooth hole like SketchUp creates when I Push/Pull a circle?

Thanks so much -- Hole Punching Tool is a wonderful plugin, and the more I use it, the better I like it!

Joy