[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Loft

Rich O Brien

There was a few small errors in your model that prevented using this tool successfully.

First your 's were exploded, which prevented being able to select them as profiles. If in the future you need to turn exploded curves back to curves use this plugin to 'weld' them back together.

Also some of your 's didn't touch your 'rails' which would give you an unnecessary twist in your mesh.

I used Fredo's Bezier Tool to create the profiles that matched those in your reference drawing. Make sure you read all of the first post in Fredo's thread for instruction in how to install.

See the attached file, in it I used TIG's EEbyR tool to create the mesh, it probably doesn't suit but it may help? If you've further queries please post back.

aphrodite.skp

TIG

Thanks rclub24...
As you say, firstly in the case of most of the EEby.. tools the profile[s] and rail[s] must be 'curves' [probably better thought of a 'polylines' - as they are not necessarily what many think of as 'curves' ?] - you can easily use weld.rb to fix them if they are not !
Secondly use the EEby.. tool that's best suited for what you want to make - here it's EEbyRails not EEbyLoft ???***
Read the tools' guides, look at what other exciting things users are doing with these tools, and above all keep experimenting [and asking when in problems]...
In passing... your model has some problems - Layer0 and another is "off" - don't put geometry on separate layers - model on Layer) and then put groups/component-instances on layers to control visibility - it doesn't separate geometry so you can't weld the 'hoops' into a curve because they are split by geometry on layers that are not visible !!! Though I suspect EEbyRails is what you want NOT EEbyLoft anyway*** ???

Rich O Brien

@TIG

it's always a pleasure to try explain the best way to utilise your toolset. Anytime you post solutions you clearly explain the merits of exploring different approaches. Still find it hard to understand the terminology you guys use at times. But that's half the battle!

Cheers,
Rich

lildavido

Hi there,

I have tried all the suggestions with the copy pasting , and the line to start and stop.
But i am encountering problems with the loft tool. As it keeps twisting sometimes but sometimes it works., but now i cant seem to find any faces.
When i try and loft it , it makes 0 faces. here's the skp file. and what i want to achieve.
Basically making a curved truss . As shown on the left.

Thanks for your help. its a weird prob...

an image of the problem

the skp file

TIG

Here's v1.7 with a 'Quad Face' option [smoothed diagonals] added to complement thomthom's Quad-Tools.
See here for notes and link to the zipped toolset http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=231016#p231016

TIG

Here's v1.8 with a 'Quad Face' option [smoothed+hidden+soft diagonals] added to complement thomthom's imminent Quad-Tools.
See here for notes and link to the zipped toolset http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=231016#p231016

TIG

Here's an update v1.9 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=231016#p231016
Smooth now ignores edges with only one face...

TIG

Here's update v2.0 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=231016#p231016
The Quad Faces option now meets Thomthom's latest specs... See the notes and get in from the linked zipped set...

thomthom

Good stuff TIG. Very speedy updates.

TIG

I only needed to change one line of code in two files !
Writing the version notes etc, assembling the zipped file and editing the forum threads took most of the time

newson888

great