[Plugin] Control points ver. 1.6.

[malakon]

Hi,

I'm having problems with this plugin and it seems that is not only me, here is a link to a user in the forum with the same problem

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=25722&p=222893#p222893

Control Points causing SU 7 to crash

Postby aswiger on Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:20 am
I am using the Control Points plugin, and there seems to be at least a couple issues when following along in some of the youtube videos posted by the plugin's creator. First, whenever I add control points then use the move tool to move one of the points, SU will give me an odd error message: "most probably geometry group was erased", then crash.

Also, when I draw to circles and select both, the blend option is not visible on a right click. I've restarted my machine, re-installed the plugin, tried using both 1.6 and 1.7 to no avail. I'm using SU 7.1 pro on Windows 7. Any advice? Thanks!

Aaron

[apple85]

@kirill2008 said:

@wind-borne said:

i am having a strange problem, plugin only shows up on initial opening drawing. If I open a new one without closing Sketchup completely, no plugin.

As I can see on attached picture the whole face is selected, but current version of the script (ver. 1.1.) actually processes only curves. So try select only boundary curve without face itself (you may deselect face by pressing shift and single-clicking on face). Make sure that only boundary is selected. Of course script processing does not depend on opened file (old or new). It depends on what entity is the first one selected: if it occures that curve edge is the 1-st item of selected entities collection, then everything works, if the 1-st item is face, then the command does not appear within context menu.
So I'll try to make the script more tolerant to the selection in future versions .
Speaking of copy-paste behaviour, I'll try to find out why it processes so strange (don't know why yet).

I got a similar problem to the above - i try selecting the lines around a simple 2d shape like a circle, triangle (like in the original first video at the beginning of this thread) - just the lines and not the 2d face but when i right/control click i do not get the 'Add control points to the curve' option to start off the whole process with this plugin. I think my sketchup knows that it exists as as another user on this forum pointed out to me, in the 'plugin' menu there are 4 modify options to do with this plugin, i just can't use them until i have figured out how to add the control points. i've tried selecting the both 2d and 3d shapes and right clicking but there is still no control point option.

if someone could point out where i'm going wrong or give me a brief step to step on how to add the control points to both 2d and 3d shapes, it would be a massive help!

---

curve control points.pdf

[xrok1]

well this deserves a bump anyway but also i have a problem. if i draw a cirle, right click add cpoints every 3rd, now when i go to move a point up iget this message followed by a bug splat everytime.

---

[August]

I'm having no luck getting started with this. I suspect that I'm missing some changes in the directions for how to get started, but I'm pretty sure that I at least skimmed the whole thread.

1. Download and install the v1.6 script from the first post.
2. Open SU, create a test object (3D text my favorite for testing this kind of thing).
3. Plugin Menu has four new items, but they all appear to need c-points already added.
4. Right click (context click) on the group --
   No new menu items, nothing mentioning c-points, the options suggested at various points in the thread (I don't know for sure that I've found the most recent) are not there.

Any pointers to what steps I'm missing?

Thanks,
August

P.S. Windows 7, SU 7.1.6860

[xrok1]

right click on a group (has to be a group)

---

[August]

@xrok1 said:

(has to be a group)

Thanks. I "thought" it was, but 3D text gets created as a component, not a group. Explode and regroup and the menu options are are there!

Thanks,
August

[xrok1]

got me the first time i tried this plug on 3dtext to solve your insane problem too.
(yes i'm still thinking about it. )

[August]

@xrok1 said:

(yes i'm still thinking about it. )

As I said, don't hurt yourself. I have a workaround.

For me it's now at the level of how to make these amazing tools even more insanely flexible while still keeping them intuitively useful. Maybe one of the extension ideas I throw out will stick to one of the developers the way this question seems to have stuck with you.

August

[notareal]

What happened to videos?

[kirill2008]

If someone still interested in this plugin, then, I guess, this video will be interesting too:
[flash=560,315:38wj9eza]http://www.youtube.com/v/dXHJSEXn86Y?version=3&hl=ru_RU[/flash:38wj9eza]

[mitcorb]

Yep, the video is interesting. I may have to watch it another couple of hundred times until my little brain can fully grasp what all you did here.

[kirill2008]

@mitcorb said:

I may have to watch it another couple of hundred times...

200 views per one viewer, that's how I'll finally become popular on YouTube
in 'science/technology' category I mean
Actually I was trying to keep things simple, but it looks like I have to try more efficiently... Because it is still not obvious for end user, how everything works . The final goal is to make tool processing so intuitive that one would not need to watch tutorial 200+ times

[mitcorb]

Well, you know I was joking. Actually, on a second viewing, and with more time to watch it through, the concept was clear enough. The details- commands, tool selections, sequence and so forth will take a little longer for me.
However, on one viewing, it is clear that this is a significant development. Congratulations.

[poru]

Wow, amazing
Thank you

[rumcajs]

Great plugin. I look forward to create some terrain with it. But I have to confess I have some problems when I try to move the control power ... it is hard to me to focus the control point and it costs a lot of waiting till the red frame appears there. Sometimes I click, but it is too late, and the red frame disappeared so I have to remove the point. It looks slow for my computer even that my comp is not so bad on performance. I cannot to do it so fast as you do in demo video. Some key to remove node, for example backspace, would be very practical. I do it with context menu, which is slow. One more idea. It would be great if I could enter the power immediately whey I click on the terrain. I think that if I write the number in Measurement box, it does nothing... Also confider that that maps are done in different numbers. You have some terrain, for example altitude 700 and above. But if you add the power number to nodes like 700 or 725 and so on, so it will be too much for the terrain. To save the calculation for human, you could make one extra box, where user will write his base altitude like 700. Then he could write the number from a map and you would subtract the 700 from his number to get the correct number. So for example. I need to get these altitudes from the map to the terrain model: 712, 745, 765, 815, 922. I will enter value 700 as the base value. Then I create control points and I write to the Measurements box: 712 for first node, 745 for second node, 765 for 3rd node and so on. In the meantime the program will count: 712-700=12, 745-700=45, 765-700=65, 815-700=115, 922-700=222... And here are the correct sizes for my model... This is practical issue. Never mind if you would keep both values in the node...

[vojo]

Can somebody actually explain how to use this tool

• Move appears to be some fraction of the movement of the actual control point
• scale is not obvious but once you play around you get the idea, I see the intent although it too is a fraction of the actual scaling so again not sure the value
• etc

I tried playing with the power setting 0, 1, 3, 10....doesnt seem to make a difference

What I would have assumed this does is:

• Add some control points
• If I move / scale the control points, movement / scaling based on power
  (ie if power = 1.0...then a 1:1 movement or scaling....power = 10...then 10:1...etc)

ya know, it would be good if a given plugin does what it says it will do
Some guys write solid plugins with good doc (Freddo)... others (to remain nameless) have
some plugins as advertised while others dont deliver even the basics (with some of them
appearing to be an exercise in ruby programming vs providing some actual useful function).

Given this store idea....maybe somebody should have a clearing house on plugins to ensure
quality. Require good doc or (video would be fine but since the videos for this plugin dont load....pointless), ensure the plugin actually does its stated function, etc

I guess its me....who knew that "affecting geometry" did not mean some sort of 1:1 relationship

[vojo]

One more thing. Since so many of these plugins are garbage and dont know that until have installed, the store (or a plugin) should have a feature that tracks how often a plugin is used. That way a user can clean up the garbage once a quarter or once a year

[thomthom]

@vojo said:

Since so many of these plugins are garbage

You might want to consider that people who spent their time on these plugins offered them for free. They might not be perfect, they might not be doing what you had hoped what they do - but please show some respect.

[kirill2008]

@thomthom said:

• but please show some respect.

Thomas thank you for that
But actually vojo is right: it would be nice at least to mark (in some more or less obvious manner) things, which became obsolete. Erasing posts or attachments or any other erasing maybe an unsafe action, but marking is totally OK and it would inform a user an obvious way.
As for this particular thread, I edited the original post to inform people that it became obsolete and provided a link to a new thread and I'll do the same thing with all other obsolete plugins I posted here right now.
I think the good karma is to be responsible for what I've made no matter how I offer results of my efforts (for free or not)

[rv1974]

Kirill thank you for your efforts- very promising tools
P.S. I'd make your videos X1.5-2 times faster, будет намного веселее