[Plugin] Solid Inspector

jgb

Just discovered a shortcut (sort of) to getting at those tiny fragments buried deep inside a complex solid.

I many cases you cannot easily get to see a fragment inside a solid due to short sightlines and clipping when getting up close, or the red circle seems to be disconnected visually from the fragment.

Pan/zoom till the red circle is around mid screen and then zoom in as close as you can but still outside the solid.

Switch to WIREFRAME view and now you can see the red fragment clearly. Put the pointer ON the fragment and exit SI by pressing the SpaceBar. Double click to enter edit mode. The cursor should still be on or very close to the fragment, click on the fragment to select and then delete it.

Go back to a solid view to make sure you did not open a face. Continue on to the next fragment.

You can also engage SI in XRAY, but you cannot select fragments through the transparent faces.

xiombarg

thomthom, I can't even begin to thank you enough for this tool. You rock.

monsterzero

Just downloaded this after pulling my hair out trying to find why something wasn't solid. This found the problem right quick! Awesome!

helmholtz

ThomThom, once again your plugins have saved me from exploding out of frustration. THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Helmholtz

fumaru

Using this with fix solid is great http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=33471

Thanks for the awsome plugin,
I dont know why SketchUp does not have this feature included in it.

jgb

@jgb said:

Can't tell you TT how ecstatic I am with SI.
Although I have some suggestions for improvement,
I would not want SI to automatically delete offenders, as in rare cases this is not the desired fix.

After using SI extensively over the last few months, I wish to modify my statement above.

I have yet to have a failed solid where deleting every single fragment or duplicate face or lines failed to solve the problem, or worse, partially undo a solid.

Therefore, as an option, I would have SI delete every found element, either all automatically when hitting the <del> key, or sequentially by hitting the <del> key after the <enter> key cycling through the found bits. I think the very rare occurrence of "damage" to the solid by just deleting offenders (never happened to me yet) would also be very easy to fix.

So, yes, delete automatic is my vote.

thomthom

There are cases where a solid has tiny holes, where SketchUp fails to create a face because the edges are too small.

TIG

@thomthom said:

There are cases where a solid has tiny holes, where SketchUp fails to create a face because the edges are too small.
But aren't these then capable of 'healing'... any !edge.faces[1] can be tested for tiny length [say <= 0.5mm ?] and then its end vertex transformed to be over its start vertex so it then ceases to exist...
a long thin hole with one or more tiny sides becomes an edge with no hole, a hole with all tiny sides simply ceases to exist at all.
I have tested some code and I admit that making the ends of a tiny edge coincident isn't working - as you are left with an edge of zero length [!] with two coincident edges too! Moving vertices to become coincident must be possible - the TT-vertex-tools ? I am stumped

thomthom

@tig said:

I have tested some code and I admit that making the ends of a tiny edge coincident isn't working - as you are left with an edge of zero length [!] with two coincident edges too! Moving vertices to become coincident must be possible - the TT-vertex-tools ? I am stumped

The only way I found, was a method similar to how you heal edges, you make a temp edge and then erase it. That will merge the vertices located at the same position and remove the zero length edge.

thomthom

Actually, there is some more to it. Here are a few methods I use in Vertex Tools 1.1 to heal geometry after manipulating vertices:

<span class="syntaxdefault"><br />  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Heal geoemtry<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># (i) When vertices are merged into one point it one end up with zero size<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># faces and edges. These produce a messy mesh and cause errors to be<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># reported when Su validates the model.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># If one draw a dummy edge with SU's native edge tool it heals the <br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># geometry. But if one does the same with the Ruby API it doesn't.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Thanks to Gulcan Ocali from Tgi3D for suggesting a workaround where<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># the edge is created in a dummy group - then exploded. This appear to<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># make SU heal the geometry. The dummy edge is turned into a zero length<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># edge before exploding so it's automatically cleaned up when the group<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># is exploded.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=35470#p312814<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># This does however feel too much like a dirty hack. Would be nice to<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># know how to correctly do this.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># (?) Turn into a reusable method accepting an array of vertices to heal.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># (?) Is it nessesary to also do the same to soft-selected vertices?<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># @since 1.1.0<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  def self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_vertex</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> point </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    point </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> point</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">position if point</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">is_a</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">;;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">Vertex </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    temp_group </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">add_group<br />    temp_edge </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> temp_group</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">add_line</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> point</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> point</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">offset</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Z_AXIS </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    temp_group</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">transform_by_vectors</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">[</span><span class="syntaxdefault">temp_edge</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">end</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">],</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">[</span><span class="syntaxdefault">Z_AXIS</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">reverse</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">]</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    temp_group</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">explode<br />  end<br />  <br />  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># @since 1.1.0<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  def self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_vertices</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> points </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    if points</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">is_a</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Enumerable </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">      for point in points<br />        self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_vertex</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> point </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">      end<br />    else<br />      self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_vertex</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> points </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    end<br />  end<br />  <br />  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Tries to heal all zero length edges in the given set of entities. This<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># should also heal zero size faces since they are bound by zero length edges.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment">#<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># @since 1.1.0<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  def self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    return if entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">length </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">==</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> 0<br />    parent </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">first</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">parent<br />    for entity in entities<br />      next unless entity</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">is_a</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">;;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">Edge </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">      if entity</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">length </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">==</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> 0<br />        self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">heal_vertex</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> parent</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> entity</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">start </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">      end<br />    end<br />  end<br /></span>

TIG

So that method[s] run after any tiny [0.5mm?] edges are shrunk to be zero by transforming the end vertex to be over the start vertex will then heal any 'small [zero width] holes' ?

thomthom

@tig said:

So that method run after any tiny [0.5mm?] edges are shrunk to zero will heal the 'small [zero width] holes' ?

Any zero length edge and zero size face should be healed (read: removed by SU's auto-merge feature).

TIG

But if you find some edges ~0.5mm long and merge the vertices that edge still exists as a zero length edge - SUp doesn't auto-merge them - also the previously separated other sides of the hole are now coincident and not auto-merged either!
So your code would remove the zero length edge by forcing an auto-merge BUT do the coincident edges then merge too? I don't have time to test it - but if it works it's the basis of having a tool to 'make solid' groups etc that have tiny holes

VeniVidiVici

OMG, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I cant wait to use this too...combined with Artisan...OMG...FINALLY, I can do 3D
modeling without countless hours of error fixing (even when working large scale).
This is going to save days of my life...lol.

CHEERS!

<---swigs a brewski in your honor!

PapaBear60

OK, I'm having the same problem as another user, Solid Inspector doesn't show up in the menu. I'm using Sketchup 8 (7 is gone), put the .rb in the plugins folder and also the library2 folder in the plugins folder. (In fact, now that I look at it, several plugins don't show up?) What am I doing wrong:

Sketchup Plugins.jpg

Plugins Directory.jpg

thomthom

@papabear60 said:

What am I doing wrong:

You ain't looking at the description of the plugin. Not all plugins add menus to the Plugins menu. Check the info in the first post for how to use.

TIG

As TT said... not all scripts appear in the Plugins Menu - this one is set to load in the Tools Menu as explained on the tool's download page that is UNLESS the " ThomThom's Plugins" menu is loaded by the script tt_0000_menu.rb - then that submenu is added in Plugins and TT's tools all collect there ! [but that's academic as you don't appear to have file that in Plugins folder, or the submenu it would make...]
So look in the Tools Menu...
If it's still not there come back to us...

Dave R

@papabear60 said:

OK, I'm having the same problem as another user, Solid Inspector doesn't show up in the menu. I'm using Sketchup 8 (7 is gone), put the .rb in the plugins folder and also the library2 folder in the plugins folder. (In fact, now that I look at it, several plugins don't show up?) What am I doing wrong:

FWIW, you don't have the current cutlist plugin either.

PapaBear60

OK, that worked ... as did the Solid Inspector, when I first clicked on the tool then used the controls. My bad. Still learning this great product. This tool solves a big problem that I've encountered creating solids - and will save me hours of time spent recreating solids that aren't really solids.

Thank you both.

Dave

PapaBear60

OK, thanks for the heads-up on Cut List, but how could you tell from the picture I sent?