[Plugin] Drop Vertices

Bob James

@rv1974 said:

And practically, what one could model with this ruby?
What's the aim?

This:

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39224

TIG

Here's v1.1 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=346754#p346754
Several additional features added - please read first post...

EarthMover

TIG, would it be possible to add an option which is drop verts to =Z /to intersect. Meaning if you had the subdivided plane above, let's say a smaller box, then all verts would drop to the specified Z, except where they intersected with the box. Perhaps adding a "Drape Verts" choice to the submenu. It would essentially do what drape Cpoints and triangulate does, but with a predefined mesh.

Thanks for your work on this again. The new features are great.

TIG

I'll look at adding 'To Nearest + Z = ?' too... It should be too difficult...

TIG

Here's v1.2 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=346754#p346754
'To Nearest+Z=?' option added for 'draping' whole mesh over objects.

EarthMover

Wow, that was fast! I'll give it whirl and let you know how it works.

EarthMover

A quick play. Works great! Thanks again. This will be great for retopology of high poly terrain data or terrains made with From Contours!

[flash=800,600:3go1iq6p]http://www.youtube.com/v/cWgJeIonBhU[/flash:3go1iq6p]

JClements

Thanks, TIG! This should remedy some problem issues with the Smooth Tool in Sandbox where the boundary edges can't be anchored to their existing Z location.

1- Wondering about having functions similar to DropVert that would need to be in a different script called, MoveVertsTo.

After selecting edges, user would be asked to select a TARGET SURFACE and then choose "OK" to validate the target surface.

2- Perhaps additional mode (chekbox) for DropVerts and MoveVerts would be "SHOW ME" where the average, %, lowest, Highest, Z-value, etc., would temporarily be displayed (as plane) before the vertices are moved; the user could then: a) cancel the choice and choose another option or b) execute the move.

EarthMover

Additionally I wonder if it would be possible to implement a Vert Memory option, where you could select all border edges and choose "Remember Vertex Positions", then once you are finished sculpting a terrain, you could "Restore Vertex Positions". This would essentially allow a user to freeze all border edges from being affected by manipulation. This way, if I had, say a flower bed on a hillside that I wanted to add undulation to, I could store the perimeter verts to memory, sculpt to my leisure, then restore the border perfectly. Just a thought.

bac9-flcl

I am sorry to interrupt the thread, but as you seem to very experienced in working with SketchUp model vertex structure, I've wanted to ask a simple question: is it possible to write a small plugin that can display the total vertex count of a model? It is a very important parameter to keep an eye on, for example, if developing Google Earth targeted model, but it's nowhere to be found in standart SketchUp stats.

TIG

This will do it

v=[];t=0;m=Sketchup.active_model;m.entities.each{|e|v<<e.vertices if e.class==Sketchup;;Edge};v.flatten!;v.uniq!;p t=v.length;tt=0;m.definitions.each{|d|v=[];d.entities.each{|e|v<<e.vertices if e.class==Sketchup;;Edge};v.flatten!;v.uniq!;tt=tt+(v.length*d.instances.length)};p tt;p gt=t+tt;puts

Copy+Paste this one-liner into the Ruby Console + <Enter> it prints the total of all unique vertices in the model AND then those vertices inside groups/instance [multiplied by the number of instances of each] and then the grand total of the two.

wyatt

I think this will be a very useful plugin. I can't get Lowest, Highest, Average, or Middle to work though. No matter which ones I pick, all the vertices go to zero. First I created a surface with undulating edges, selected the outer edges, and ran the plugin. I thought that's what I saw in the videos, and that process works for the other tools. Did I miss something, or is there a bug in the .2 release that wasn't there in .1?

MartinK

Thanks for another great plugin. I may be missing something, but is there a way to specify, by picking a point, where the selected vertices drop/raise to?

TIG

Lowest/Highest/Middle should adjust the vertices' z-value to match the z-value of the vertex in the selection that is lowest/highest/midway-between ??? Can you post and example of a SKP where it fails...
You can't 'pick a point' - depending on the tool you've selected you can specify a 'Z value' or it drops/lifts to objects etc...

MartinK

Thanks for the answer.

MartinK

I seem to be having the same problem as Wyatt, vertices only move to Z=0 no matter what method I use. I can't post the SKP as it is a large site model. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue with Version 1.2.

Thanks

TIG

I have checked and there is 'a rabbit away' !
Watch out for fixed code soon

TIG

Here's v1.3 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=346754#p346754
It fixes a last minute typo in my code that affected Lowest/Highest/Middle results - it should now work as advertised - feedback please...

wyatt

The high/low/middle work correctly now. Thank you for this script.

MartinK

That seems to have done the trick. Many thanks.