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    [Plugin] Follow Me Helix (Updated 06-Jan-2012)

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    • C Offline
      crazac
      last edited by

      @sdmitch said:

      In case you missed it, I posted an updated version yesterday that, if negative angular increment is entered, reverses the direction of the helix.

      AWESOME!, I did miss it, it works great! Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it...

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      • M Offline
        mattarth
        last edited by

        @dave r said:

        @mattarth said:

        I would like to draw a barrel spring.

        Thanks in advance,
        Matt

        Matt, how accurate does your barrel spring need to be? Would this one play for you?


        http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6106/6211771064_a30af04cce.jpg

        This was easy enough with Draw Helix and Follow Me. I didn't bother with the ends but they would be trivial, too.

        This is great, DrawHelix is exactly what I needed to know, thank you.

        I've since tried to make it using a spiral road intersected with a barrel shape:

        http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/6217456920_0416623e75_z_d.jpg

        but it wouldn't follow the whole curve, only the upper or lower half (I was getting the "this does not appear to be a valid path" error when I tried to follow the curve as a whole).

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        • Dave RD Offline
          Dave R
          last edited by

          Matt, I used Draw helix to draw three different helices. All three have the same pitch. The first was the bottom, straight helix for 5 turns (because that was the default number when the plugin launched) and it got copied up for the top straight section. The second helix tapers from the first helix's radius out to the larger radius. I copied and flipped the copy to make the top taper as well. That one also has 5 turns. Then there's a three-turn straight helix for the center part of the spring.

          All these helices are created as groups which I exploded. Then I welded them together to make them easier to select as a path for Follow Me. It's an instant spring but it doesn't take that long to do. I definitely make a component of the spring so I could easily reuse it.

          Etaoin Shrdlu

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          • M Offline
            mattarth
            last edited by

            Thanks Dave, I think I'll use your method from now on. It's the neatest way to make barrel springs.

            Although the intersection method would allow someone to make more interesting profiles if they needed to, if they could tolerate the time it takes for SketchUp to calculate the new path and then follow it 😄

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            • Dave RD Offline
              Dave R
              last edited by

              You're welcome. I think it is useful to know both methods. Sometimes one will be more useful than the other. For example I used that method for drawing these ironwork baskets. I couldn't get the proper helix using the Draw Helix plugin. Tools on Surface is ideal for drawing the helix on the extruded shape.


              http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6027/5970412478_9bb8eea837.jpg

              Etaoin Shrdlu

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              • 8 Offline
                8068
                last edited by

                Thank You!
                Really

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                • B Offline
                  buddyholly27
                  last edited by

                  First off, thank you for such a useful plugin - I've been making handrails for spiral staircases so it's been invaluable.

                  I've had a couple of problems with fractions on making higher resolution helix. My working figures have been for 194mm riser at radius 1150mm with risers at 30 degree increments but when I subdivide my figures to create a smoother helix a bug seems to appear (disclaimer, my maths isn't so hot but I've checked as far as I can). so, doubling resolution to 97 and 15 works as expected but doubling again to 48.5mm and 7.5degrees causes the dialogue to disappear with no geometry result. Has anyone else encountered this, or can maybe suggest a way I can create a smoother helix curve?

                  ps though I've been a daily reader for quite a while this is my first post to SketchUcation so apologies for the clunkiness of this mail!

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                  • sdmitchS Offline
                    sdmitch
                    last edited by

                    The problem is with the plugin. It only accepts interger angles in its present form so the 7.5 causes an error. If you divide linear and angular increments by 5 and use 38.8 and 6 that will work. The smaller the angular increment the smoother the helix.

                    Nothing is worthless, it can always be used as a bad example.

                    http://sdmitch.blogspot.com/

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                    • B Offline
                      buddyholly27
                      last edited by

                      Thanks sdmitch! That'll do the trick and might save others a little time too. Great plugin. Not only did it save me time, but I couldn't see another way of resolving my modeling challenge. Cheers BuddyH

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                      • TIGT Offline
                        TIG Moderator
                        last edited by

                        @sdmitch said:

                        The problem is with the plugin. It only accepts interger angles in its present form so the 7.5 causes an error. If you divide linear and angular increments by 5 and use 38.8 and 6 that will work. The smaller the angular increment the smoother the helix.
                        Why not fix it ?
                        @radius=1.feet if !@radius;@dist_inc=1.inch if !@dist_inc;@ang_inc=30****.0**** if !@ang_inc prompts=["Radius of helix:","linear Increment:","Angle Increment:"] ans=UI.inputbox(prompts,[@radius,@dist_inc,@ang_inc],"Helix Generator") if !ans then;return;end @radius=ans[0].to_l;@dist_inc = ans[1].to_l; @ang_inc=ans[2].to_****f****
                        If a dialog has a value set as an integer it can thereafter only accept an integer as its input.
                        So just make the initialized @ang_inc a float by using a float value.
                        [ 30.0 and NOT an integer like 30 ] 😒
                        And also never change the @ang_inc into an integer with .to_i later on.

                        TIG

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                        • charly2008C Offline
                          charly2008
                          last edited by

                          Hi Jon,

                          The technique for a curved spiral is "Follow Me Helix" and "Shape bender". The better is the combination "DrawHelix" and "Shape bender". there is a better control about the helix.

                          Charly


                          2012-01-06_154851.jpg


                          2012-01-06_155025.jpg


                          2012-01-06_160215.jpg


                          2.jpg

                          He who makes no mistakes, makes nothing

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                          • sdmitchS Offline
                            sdmitch
                            last edited by

                            TIG, fixing it is as simple as you suggest in making the angle increment a float. My original obviously flawed assumption was that there would never be a need for an increment less than a degree.

                            Nothing is worthless, it can always be used as a bad example.

                            http://sdmitch.blogspot.com/

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                            • S Offline
                              shingabiss
                              last edited by

                              Hi,

                              I downloaded this and added it but can't seem to find it in any toolsets. Where does it reside in the menus?

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                              • Dave RD Offline
                                Dave R
                                last edited by

                                @shingabiss said:

                                Hi,

                                I downloaded this and added it but can't seem to find it in any toolsets. Where does it reside in the menus?

                                If you installed it correctly it would be in the Plugins menu.

                                Etaoin Shrdlu

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                                • TIGT Offline
                                  TIG Moderator
                                  last edited by

                                  I can confirm that this tool [like many others] is already compatible with all current versions of SketchUp - including the newest ones].
                                  When properly installed t will appear in the Plugins menu as 'Follow Me Helix'.
                                  If it does not then you have not installed it properly 😕

                                  There are many threads about fixing security-permissions for installing files manually - if you have v2014 these permissions are auto-resolved for you [although the folder is harder to find!], but on especially PCs with earlier SketchUp versions you need to do a one-off fix for the Plugins folder's permissions... see this consolidation tutorial http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/36-intermediate/811-setting-security-permissions-in-sketchup
                                  It is much easier to AutoInstall Plugins using the SketchUcation PluginStore dialog in SketchUp, or download the RBZ version from the SCF PluginStore page and then use the Preferences > Extensions > Install... button...

                                  TIG

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                                  • S Offline
                                    steve.hoge
                                    last edited by

                                    Any documentation or guidance on how to use this plugin? (It installed just fine under SK8 on my Mac.)

                                    If nothing it selected I get a dialog "Select the entities that will be the size and shape of the helix you want to create." If a line is selected I get the parameters dialog but don't understand their semantics - some values produce interesting results but I don't know how to control it. If a more complicated 2D entity is selected then I get more complicated results - or no result.

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                                    • Dave RD Offline
                                      Dave R
                                      last edited by

                                      There's some information in this thread. For the rest, a little bit of experimentation should answer your questions.

                                      Etaoin Shrdlu

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                                      • sdmitchS Offline
                                        sdmitch
                                        last edited by

                                        Steve,

                                        The centerline for the helix should be selected before running the plugin. The radius is of course the distance from the centerline to the points of the helix curve. The linear increment is the distance along the centerline between generated helix points. The angular increment is the angular change between helix points around the centerline. The angles between the segments of the centerline are checked to see if any exceed 30 degrees. This is done because trying to wrap the helix around such corners is problematic. You are given the option of smoothing the centerline curve by doing a spline fit using the end points of the centerline segments as nodes of the spline.

                                        Nothing is worthless, it can always be used as a bad example.

                                        http://sdmitch.blogspot.com/

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