[Plugin] Angular Dimension

BrooksL · 22 May 2012, 22:59

Uhm, please forgive me if this is a 'duh' question, but I can't seem to get the draw_angle_dim.rb tool to work at all... Running WinXP Pro, SketchUp 8 Pro 8.0.11752.

The icons don't show up, I don't see it on the Plugins menu... how do I activate the tool??

Unfortunately, I don't know much about Ruby, but did try typing DrawAngleDimTool::IN_ICON into the Ruby Console and it does return the correct path and icon file name...and the files are there...
DrawAngleDimTool::IN_CURSOR returns 50001

Help?

Dave R · 22 May 2012, 23:13

The most common reason that plugins don't work for people is they aren't installed correctly. Make sure you have both a folder called 'draw_angle_dim' and a file called 'draw_angle_dim.rb' in the Plugins folder of SketchUp. The folder contains two image files; interior.png and exterior.png. When you have all those files in place correctly, open SketchUp and look in the tools menu for 'Angular Dimension.' There you have it. There is no toolbar and it doesn't appear in the Plugins menu.

BrooksL · 22 May 2012, 23:48

Thanks Dave R; I had just found it hiding on the Tools menu. [is there a way to make it (and other ruby's) appear in a certain order on the Tools menu - like next to the native Dimensions item?]

Would help new users if the usage doc were posted and mentioned how/where to activate it...like this:

Name: draw_angle_dim

Description: Create an angle dimension with arc and text in a new group

Adds item "Angular Dimension" to the SketchUp Tools menu

Usage: - Click 3 points, going around an angle in sequence from any point

on one leg, to vertex, to any point on the other leg (clockwise or

counterclockwise doesn't matter). Be careful where you click -

this tool lets the inference engine assist you but doesn't

force you to click on existing model entities!

- The tool will draw two edges along the sides of the angle,

an arc across the angle, and a text with leader showing the

value of the angle. The two edges make it easy to realign

the group with the original angle if the entity containing it is

subsequently moved or rotated.

- The primitive elements of each dimension are gathered into a Group

named Angular Dimension (<angle>), where <angle> is the measured

angle. If you draw multiple angle dimensions, the <angle> value

will help you identify which is which (unless, of course, you have

several with the same value!).

- Each Angular Dimension drawing is packaged in an operation, so that

undo and redo treat all of the elements as a single step.

- The default radius for the arc is half the distance between

the first pick point and the vertex. The user can override

the radius by typing in the VCB at any time. If a new radius is entered

before the first point is picked for the next angle, the prior

dimension is redrawn at the new radius. The user-selected

radius remains in effect for additional angles until the

user enters a new value or selects a different tool.

- The TAB key toggles between drawing the interior (<180) angle

and drawing the exterior (>180) angle dimension. If you press tab

after an angle dimension is drawn but before picking the first

point of the next angle, the current angle dimension will be

redrawn in the new mode.

- Unlike the built-in "smart" linear dimensions in SketchUp, the

entities drawn by this tool are just graphics; they have no tie

to the original angle and will not follow it or scale if it is

modified. You can open the Group for edit, but it is not likely

you will like the results - it is easier to delete the dimension

Group and do it again.

Date: December 23, 2011

Type: Tool

BrooksL · 22 May 2012, 23:52

And of course, thanks, slbaumgartner for a cool tool! ...was just a bit mysterious for me since the location and doc were not posted...

Dave R · 23 May 2012, 00:32

Most plugin writers put that information in their plugins so you can read it after you download it.

As to putting the menu entry in a specific location in a menu, I'm not sure it can be done.

Texasclodhopper · 30 Jun 2012, 19:04

I decide to finally try out this plugin with Sketchup v8 on my Mac. I used the Preferences/Extentions/Install Extension... method after renaming the ZIP file extension to RBZ. The files were installed as stated in a previous post here called "The most common reason that plugins don't work..." with a slight variation that doesn't allow the plugin to work.

The version that I downloaded was for the Mac and was called "draw_angle_dim_Mac". The above extensions installer within Sketchup v8 installed the plugin correctly but one folder level too deep. The installation folder was named the same as the ZIP file "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

You have to move the Ruby script "draw_angle_dim.rb" and the folder "draw_angle_dim" up one level for the plugin to work in Sketchup. Get rid of the folder "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

slbaumgartner · 1 Jul 2012, 11:27

@texasclodhopper said:

I decide to finally try out this plugin with Sketchup v8 on my Mac. I used the Preferences/Extentions/Install Extension... method after renaming the ZIP file extension to RBZ. The files were installed as stated in a previous post here called "The most common reason that plugins don't work..." with a slight variation that doesn't allow the plugin to work.

The version that I downloaded was for the Mac and was called "draw_angle_dim_Mac". The above extensions installer within Sketchup v8 installed the plugin correctly but one folder level too deep. The installation folder was named the same as the ZIP file "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

You have to move the Ruby script "draw_angle_dim.rb" and the folder "draw_angle_dim" up one level for the plugin to work in Sketchup. Get rid of the folder "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

I don't have a Mac, so I can't check the required paths there (the mac archive was assembled by driven), but what you say is consistent with how it works on a PC.

Michaelv · 1 Jul 2012, 18:18

@texasclodhopper said:

I decide to finally try out this plugin with Sketchup v8 on my Mac. I used the Preferences/Extentions/Install Extension... method after renaming the ZIP file extension to RBZ. The files were installed as stated in a previous post here called "The most common reason that plugins don't work..." with a slight variation that doesn't allow the plugin to work.

The version that I downloaded was for the Mac and was called "draw_angle_dim_Mac". The above extensions installer within Sketchup v8 installed the plugin correctly but one folder level too deep. The installation folder was named the same as the ZIP file "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

You have to move the Ruby script "draw_angle_dim.rb" and the folder "draw_angle_dim" up one level for the plugin to work in Sketchup. Get rid of the folder "draw_angle_dim_Mac".

Actually I think I did the plugin assembly and that seem to be one of my mistake. I seem confused by the zipping thing, and to have it one directory too low seems a recurrent issue.
I'll see if I can repack it and will send it to the author.
Here are the "better packed" files, same one as first post. They will be posted to the first post some time later.
There should be no container folder, but if it appears, it is named "Angle Dim Mac" but the items that should be in the plugin folder are its content, or:

draw_angle_dim.rb
draw_angle_dim folder

Angle Dim Mac.rbz

Angle Dim Mac.zip

happyhax0r · 24 Mar 2013, 02:51

Thanks for that second mac fix... saved my bacon .

glro · 24 Mar 2013, 09:54

plugin works fine on my computer (PC)

thank you

i especially like the message at the bottom of the screen, for each point to come; makes it very easy to use

johnwmcc · 27 Mar 2014, 22:42

Is it/could it be possible to change the precision of the angular dimension displayed?

It defaults to 0.1 degree, which is fine for most practical purposes. But I'm trying to develop a plugin which will draw regular polyhedra, and while developing it, need high precision displays as I'm checking the maths of the geometry. I'm using a 'unit length' of one million inches, with five decimal digits of precision, for lengths, to check some of the mathematical formulae (Wikipedia seems to have at least one just plain wrong for the tetrahedron)!

Dave R · 27 Mar 2014, 22:46

The precision of the angle is driven by the precision you have set in Model Info>Units. For angular units you have up to 3 places right of the decimal.

slbaumgartner · 28 Mar 2014, 01:06

@dave r said:

The precision of the angle is driven by the precision you have set in Model Info>Units. For angular units you have up to 3 places right of the decimal.

Dave, you are absolutely correct. I used SketchUp's built-in formatting for the angle, which obeys whatever the user has set in the model info.

Steve

derei · 7 Jan 2016, 23:01

About angle precision... indeed, it uses SU precision, but sometimes even with three decimals, it still shows the ~ symbol. Maybe it should be suppressed if the angle precision goes beyond three decimals, because it is really confusing when you see ~30.000 degrees, for example. It would be somewhat understandable to see ~30.00 when the angle is 30.001 degrees, but as the precision cannot go beyond 3 decimals, there is no point to keep the "~" in that case.

slbaumgartner · 8 Jan 2016, 02:50

You are mistaking the display format for a limit on calculation precision. The units settings in the model info affect how many decimal places SketchUp will display. But it is still perfectly possible to calculate or set a value to more places. For example, if the value is 30.0002 degrees, it will display as ~30.000, telling you that the actual value was rounded based on the display units. This is the same as occurs for all SketchUp units.

derei · 8 Jan 2016, 03:08

@slbaumgartner said:

You are mistaking the display format for a limit on calculation precision. The units settings in the model info affect how many decimal places SketchUp will display. But it is still perfectly possible to calculate or set a value to more places. For example, if the value is 30.0002 degrees, it will display as ~30.000, telling you that the actual value was rounded based on the display units. This is the same as occurs for all SketchUp units.

Actually I am not mistaking it. I know what you want to say. But I also know that programmatically the "~" can be removed by feeding in a "rounded" value to 3 decimals. So, if SU returns 30.0001 degrees and the plugin will round it to 30.000, then it will NOT display the "~". Of course, this will mean losing the fourth decimal precision... but wait: I can't use the fourth decimal, even if it's there. So, technically there is no lose at all, because SU won't even display the fourth decimal in degrees value.
Is just for best displaying properties... to lead to less confusion.
As an example, I just rotated a guide line with PRECISELY 30 degrees, but this tool shown me ~30 deg. Meaning that SU was not able to make the rotation to 30 degrees sharp (due its implicit precision limitation, which is fine). But again, the value that made for "~" to appear was somewhere far beyond the decimal point (maybe fourth/fifth decimal), which is completely not important. So, if the plugin just rounds-up the value to 3 decimals and dumps everything else, I believe we are in a common sense "territory".

slbaumgartner · 8 Jan 2016, 03:16

You are asking me to make a decision for the user about whether the full precision of a value is important or not. I simply conform to the behavior of all the other units in SketchUp. I don't see why consistency should cause confusion.

For example, if you have length units set to 0.0m and an actual length is 0.02m would you expect a linear dimension to display it as 0.0m rather than ~0.0m?

By the way, my experience is different from yours. I just rotated a guide by 30 degrees and the angular dimension displays exactly 30.000 without any ~. Did you type 30 to get an exact value, or click after rotating in the view?

driven · 8 Jan 2016, 03:52

@derei said:

I just rotated a guide line with PRECISELY 30 degrees, but this tool shown me ~30 deg.

unless you typed in '30degrees' there is a strong possibility SU rounded the radians up or down...

john

derei · 8 Jan 2016, 04:23

Or maybe it was too close to some other geometry and it snapped to it... whatever cause it was, it rounded it to some value that was askew from 30.000. And this is precisely why I got this detail into attention: because such approximations can happen. And unless the precise value can be displayed, there is no reason to provide the ~ symbol. Rounding all values to three decimal precision would be the most elegant way to solve this.

slbaumgartner · 8 Jan 2016, 12:30

I request that you post this as a feature request for discussion at the general level of SketchUp, as it has far broader implications than here. In effect you are asking that I "mask" (i.e. not show) or perhaps even heal small modeling errors. I don't agree at all. Such errors are the source of numerous "why doesn't pushpull (or whatever tool) work right?" posts. I see the "~" as a feature, not a flaw. It tells you when you have been sloppy. But, more importantly, if such a change is to be made, it should be consistent across all units displays in SketchUp, not just provided by this extension.