[Plugin] QuadFaceTools

thomthom · 10 Nov 2011, 21:41

i cant find a option to make quads of a selection?!

What kind of selection do you got?

There are a couple of commands to Convert to quads:

The left command "Convert Triangulated Mesh to Quads" will try to find quads in the mesh - you need to either selected a native quad or two triangles as a starting point.

The right one is converting Sandbox Tools type of quad mesh into QuadFace quads.

Maybe you can explain, and show, what mesh you have and what you try to convert?

thomthom · 10 Nov 2011, 21:42

@tig said:

@rombout said:

i cant find a option to make quads of a selection?!
[attachment=0:zfyitihf]Capture.PNG[/attachment:zfyitihf]

That's Triangulate and Remove Triangulation you highlighted... don't think it's what he's looking for.

vouda · 11 Nov 2011, 09:29

Big congratulations for your plugin!
But I have a problem. When I render with su podium the aspect ratio of edited surfaces colapses.
Any solution?

thomthom · 11 Nov 2011, 09:37

@vouda said:

When I render with su podium the aspect ratio of edited surfaces colapses.

I do not understand what you mean by that. Got screenshot and possibly a sample model?

vouda · 11 Nov 2011, 10:39

I edit the model with the tools and it looks ok.
Then when i render the model, the surface material distorts.
I will try to upload the model later

thomthom · 11 Nov 2011, 10:57

Sounds like it has problems with distorted textures - many render engines has.

Try to triangulate the quads - see if that make a difference.

vouda · 11 Nov 2011, 17:10

Triangulate the quads worked!
Thank you very much for the tip.

thomthom · 13 Nov 2011, 16:06

Version 0.6.0

Redefined how a quad is defined to address issues the Hidden property causes. Important Change - Please read the instructions on how to upgrade.
Performance improvements
Step increment with face loop selection fixed for when only one quad was selected

Important!
[floatl:3hgco0vb]

[/floatl:3hgco0vb]
The definition of a QuadFace was changed again in version 0.6 because the previous versions relied on the Hidden property. The Hidden property is affected by a model's Scenes, so when you copied quad mesh into a new model you would loose the Hidden property of the diagonals.

To update a mesh from the older versions, use:
Tools > QuadFace Tools > Convert > Sandbox Quads to QuadFace Quads

thomthom · 13 Nov 2011, 21:31

I would recommend using this tool. If you use the native tool to smooth then you should be fine, but if it unsmooths - then you might risk that it unsmooths the diagonals. The diagonals must at all times be Soft + Smooth + Cast Shadows = false.

Same applies to the Eraser tool, if you use it to smooth, then you're fine. If you use it to unsmooth you must take care of not unsmoothing the diagonal edge in triangulated quads.

pbacot · 13 Nov 2011, 23:10

@unknownuser said:

Smooth / Unsmooth Quads

Added in Version 0.2.0

The native smoothing function in SketchUp will destroy triangulated quads. Use these functions to perform a smooth that preserves the integrity of the quads.

Does this mean if one wishes to make nice quad geometry for texturing organic models and general better control etc. we should avoid using the SU smoothing function at all?

E.G. using EEByR and choosing quads, one should use THIS tool and not SU smoothing, or the quads are for naught?

Regards, Peter

McGyver · 13 Nov 2011, 23:14

This seems to be a very cool and powerful tool...
I can't seem to use the UV mapping tool on anything but a Sandbox mesh though... Is this only meant to be used with a mesh made using sandbox? How was the model in the demo video in the original post or that Viking boat made (outside SketchUp or using Artisan)? I tried mapping a sphere with the ends cut off , but it wont work... it appears to be made of quads... are they not the right kind of quads? The Video makes it look very simple, but it just does not seem to want to work on anything other than a sandbox mesh...

thomthom · 14 Nov 2011, 08:31

Are you using SketchUp 6? (your profile indicate so - is is up to date?) I know it says it works for 6, but there might be some stuff I've added lately that breaks that.

Do you see anything in the Ruby Console?

thomthom · 14 Nov 2011, 08:32

hmmm... your screenshot seem to indicate you are on 8... due to the coloured overlay....

Can you by any chance made a small video of what you do?

McGyver · 14 Nov 2011, 16:17

You are correct, I am using SU8 now, I had forgotten to update the profile data, sorry.
I don't really know how to make a video demo (or even if mac really has anything like that)... but I could explain.

1- using the "spheretool" (by Jim Foltz), I create a sphere... in this case about 12' diameter with 24 segments...

2-I then exploded it.

3-I made a small 4 sided plane and applied (to it) the material I'd like to use on the sphere. I did this to be sure the material was definitely being "used" and SU knew it was there... in pervious tries I just loaded the material and selected it without it being used in anything else and it did not work... when looking at the video (the first video) I noticed one of the models in the background may have had the material being used, applied to it, so I figured it probably won't hurt and might be required for it to work right...

4-Since this was an experiment to see how to use the plugin I saved the file at this point so I would not have to repeat the whole process if SU crashed (which it did several times while doing this) or if the attempt fails.

5-I select the material

6-I choose the "UV map selected quads" tool (it now tells me to "Pick a vertex for origin or an edge for U direction") and I then click on the model when the little orange square shows up on it (originally I was trying for a specific area I wanted it be at, but at this point I'm not fussy, I just want it to work)... I usually choose an area around the equator on or near one of the axis lines (it does not seem to matter where since the results are always more or less the same).

7-The tool shows a green line on the surface of the model and tells me to "pick an edge for V direction"... I do so.

8-It then does the red and green lines on the surface of the model and nothing else... From the video I assume the material should mapped onto the surface and now all I have to do is scale it using the green and red "handles"... I notice in the video the tool now tells you to "set U and V mapping scale"... I get no such message.

I have tried many different things between steps 4 and 5... I have tried converting the quads, triangulating them, I have tried triangulating and untriangulating them, smoothing and unsmoothing the quad edges, unsmoothing and smoothing the quad edges... Tried for about two hours to get results... since the whole process from start to failure takes only like 20 seconds or less, I've made quite a few attempts and different variations on attempts.

I'm using a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac running OS 10.5.8 and this is being done in the latest version of SU8 (free)...

While experimenting, SU crashes about 4 out of 10 tries... each "try" being opening up the file, failing to get the result and closing the file without saving and re-opening it. At some point during or just after the process there is a crash.

I just want you to know (thomthom) that I appreciate this plugin and I'm not complaining... I assume it is either me, some conflict with some other plugin I have AND/OR the fact that I use an Apple product (which at this point I'm kind of tired with their lack of compatibility and high price)...

Also, sorry if this is a long read... I tried to be as descriptive as possible.

Also this is the most common message I get in the ruby console:

Error: #<TypeError: nil can't be coerced into Float>
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:856:in /' /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:856:in point_on_axis'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:386:in activate' /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:1126:in push_tool'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:1126:in `onLButtonDown'

Anyway... thank you for your time!

Ben Ritter · 14 Nov 2011, 16:37

Thomas, thank you for all your updates and for sharing.

McGyver · 14 Nov 2011, 17:04

I just wanted to add an update... I decided to give it a try in SU6 and it works without any problems... just like in the video.

Actually the only thing that appears different is that I can't rotate around the model while in "scale texture" mode... if I choose the rotate tool, it leaves scale mode and I'm stuck with whatever it was at when it dropped it.

But at least I can use it!!

pbacot · 14 Nov 2011, 17:19

McGyver,

I just wanted to note that I tested the quad faced texture on a sphere in SU8 Pro on a Mac, and it worked fine AFIK. I was able to scale etc. However I created a sphere using follow me (I didn't want yet another plugin, just for this test).

Peter

dfswyf · 14 Nov 2011, 17:36

This is a fantastic plugin I have ever seen! Thank you so much!

thomthom · 14 Nov 2011, 17:51

@unknownuser said:

Error: #<TypeError: nil can't be coerced into Float>
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:856:in /' /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:856:in point_on_axis'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:386:in activate' /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:1126:in push_tool'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/TT_QuadFaceTools/uv_mapping.rb:1126:in `onLButtonDown'

When do you get this?

Also, are you using v0.6?

@unknownuser said:

Actually the only thing that appears different is that I can't rotate around the model while in "scale texture" mode... if I choose the rotate tool, it leaves scale mode and I'm stuck with whatever it was at when it dropped it.

It works when you use the middle mouse button to orbit. Does the UV Mapping tool behave differently from other tools? I mean, how do you return to the tools if you explicitly activate the Orbit tool?

(I assume you meant Orbit tool when you said Rotate tool...)

thomthom · 14 Nov 2011, 17:57

@unknownuser said:

3-I made a small 4 sided plane and applied (to it) the material I'd like to use on the sphere. I did this to be sure the material was definitely being "used" and SU knew it was there... in pervious tries I just loaded the material and selected it without it being used in anything else and it did not work... when looking at the video (the first video) I noticed one of the models in the background may have had the material being used, applied to it, so I figured it probably won't hurt and might be required for it to work right...

Yea, the material must be in the model already, because Ruby plugins cannot address materials from the libraries. I thought the user would get a messagebox about this. I'll look into that.

@unknownuser said:

8-It then does the red and green lines on the surface of the model and nothing else... From the video I assume the material should mapped onto the surface and now all I have to do is scale it using the green and red "handles"... I notice in the video the tool now tells you to "set U and V mapping scale"... I get no such message.

Do you get an error message in the console at that point instead?

@unknownuser said:

4-Since this was an experiment to see how to use the plugin I saved the file at this point so I would not have to repeat the whole process if SU crashed (which it did several times while doing this) or if the attempt fails.

@unknownuser said:

While experimenting, SU crashes about 4 out of 10 tries... each "try" being opening up the file, failing to get the result and closing the file without saving and re-opening it. At some point during or just after the process there is a crash.

What part of the process are you referring to? You get a crash when closing the model?

@unknownuser said:

Also this is the most common message I get in the ruby console:

Most common - are there more? Error messages are some of the most useful bit of information I can get to work with. Please post any that might appear - as there should be none.