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    [Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

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    • TIGT Offline
      TIG Moderator
      last edited by

      @pbacot said:

      ...Maybe the new SCF loader will take some of that fun away...
      Let's hope against hope... πŸ˜„

      TIG

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      • C Offline
        cholme
        last edited by

        This looks awesome... but I don't know if I have something set wrong. I was trying to bend some text to an arc and it took about 3 minutes just to see the preview. I looked at the sample video and it looked like it went pretty quick, am I missing something?

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        • thomthomT Offline
          thomthom
          last edited by

          Maybe your text has more polygons. Hard to tell without sample model or screenshots.

          Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
          List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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          • A Offline
            alio
            last edited by

            Im a rookie...how do I install this plug in? Is it a rbz. file? Is that how I go about it?

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            • TIGT Offline
              TIG Moderator
              last edited by

              Please read this...
              http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/37-beginner/108-installing-sketchup-plugins
              Can I recommend that first you learn to use the SCF Search functions - you'll be amazed what you might then learn...

              TIG

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              • A Offline
                alio
                last edited by

                Thanks for the information.

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                • P Offline
                  panda_ska8er
                  last edited by

                  Thank you very much!

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                  • J Offline
                    JLspeeddragon
                    last edited by

                    Great Plugin! I cant get enuf of how easy and fun it is.. Dont forget to DL the weld and Progress plugin if you are trying this for the first time

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                    • V Offline
                      Vic12
                      last edited by

                      Hi -
                      I've downloaded and installed both shape bender and progressbar.rb

                      I can see shape bender checked in my extensions folder - so it should be active
                      I can also see progressbar.rb in my plugins folder - although can't find it anywhere on screen - but assume it is there (is there a way to check that?)

                      but I cannot find shape bender (or Chris Fullmer's tools) anywhere in my toolbar

                      any suggestions on how to activate/use?

                      thanks

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                      • TIGT Offline
                        TIG Moderator
                        last edited by

                        Progressbar.rb is the helper that adds a progress-bar to the status-bar when you are using ShapeBender plugin.
                        That 'script' doesn't 'appear' anywhere else otherwise...

                        You haven't completed your User-profile details so we don't know your OS or SUp version...

                        If you can see the ShapeBender plugin's Extension and check it, then it should add the Toolbar option to the View > Toolbars list
                        Unless perhaps you have somehow mis-installed the plugin's files and moved some of them from their subfolder into the main Plugins folder?
                        How did you install the plugin?
                        There are several 'foolproof' ways of doing this - with 'AutoInstallers' etc...
                        Manual installs are prone to have problems...
                        Do you have FULL security permissions to your Plugins folder?
                        Is there a 'Compatibility Files...' link/button on the Explorer window's top bars - a sure sign of limited rights...
                        Fix the permissions to be FULL for all users etc...

                        TIG

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                        • V Offline
                          Vic12
                          last edited by

                          Help-

                          I've downloaded and installed both progressbar.rb and shape bender - progressbar is in my plug-in folder and shape bender shows up as checked in my extensions -
                          but I cannot find it in my toolbar anywhere
                          what am I doing wrong-
                          what am I not activating?

                          thanks

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                          • V Offline
                            Vic12
                            last edited by

                            Hi TIG - sorry missed your first post-

                            I installed both shape bender and progressbar manually
                            library - applications support - sketchup 8 - plugins

                            but I think I might have moved the shape bender rb out of the folder it came in - when it first wasn't showing up -

                            maybe that's the problem- just moved back in and I'll restart and see if that helps?

                            I'm on MAC OS 10.7.5 and running SU 8

                            or do I need to uninstall and re-install?

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                            • V Offline
                              Vic12
                              last edited by

                              when I unzip the file - I get a folder
                              clf_shape_bender_v055
                              inside the folder is another folder w/ clf_shape_bender and the ruby script clf_shape_bender_loader.rb
                              I took the ruby out of the folder and placed it in my plugins folder
                              HD-library-applications support-google8-SU-plugins
                              then shape bender showed up in my extensions - checked-

                              but nowhere in my toolbar -

                              when I put the rb back in the folder it came in then the extension went away-

                              thanks - Victoria


                              Screen Shot 2013-07-13 at 9.25.20 AM.png

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                              • Dave RD Offline
                                Dave R
                                last edited by

                                Victoria, your screen shot shows you haven't installed Shape Bender correctly. Move the two files in the far right column into the Plugins folder directly. Then restart SketchUp. If you installed it with the SCF Plugin Store you wouldn't have this problem.

                                Etaoin Shrdlu

                                %

                                (THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE)

                                G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0

                                M30

                                %

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                                • V Offline
                                  Vic12
                                  last edited by

                                  got it working thanks - but it hasn't solved my problem like I thought it would

                                  I'm trying to create a curved ramp and cannot solve the complex curve

                                  I'm uploading the file - with the desired curve - and the desired ramp
                                  I'm thinking there's a drape tool?
                                  or??

                                  thanks

                                  (macos su8)


                                  complex curved ramp.skp

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                                  • TIGT Offline
                                    TIG Moderator
                                    last edited by

                                    This is not the plugin for that as the starting form. 😞

                                    There are several other approaches... πŸ˜„

                                    Look at Fredo's CurviLoft to extrude the profile along the paths
                                    Or say my Extrude tool's EEbyRails.
                                    Or FredoScale on a simple PushPulled slab?

                                    It's an 'extrusion of a bent form' issue, not really a 'bending of an extruded form' issue...
                                    [mod=:160kk3hv]EDIT: TIG
                                    I see you have posted this in another thread and got similar answers from others.
                                    Use their examples...[/mod:160kk3hv]

                                    TIG

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                                    • BurkhardB Offline
                                      Burkhard
                                      last edited by

                                      You can simple do it with shape bender.
                                      For better results, you' need some better preparations.


                                      complex curved ramp.skp

                                      [http://www.ia-plus.de(http://www.ia-plus.de)]

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                                      • S Offline
                                        smganeles
                                        last edited by

                                        after using the shape bender plugin to bend a fairly complex shape to a specified curve, some random edges of the rendering were left out and dissapeared
                                        otherwise it seemed to work fine (besides making sketchup not respond for a while because i am on a slow and old computer)
                                        these were not in the original rendering before the object was bent
                                        what could have gone wrong and is there any way to fix this
                                        pictures of both before and after the bending are attached


                                        before


                                        before


                                        after


                                        after

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                                        • TIGT Offline
                                          TIG Moderator
                                          last edited by

                                          SketchUp [and OpenGL] have problems creating facets if they are very very tiny.
                                          Your steel-beam has some very small segments to its rounded edges.
                                          You could probably make a much simpler version with far fewer facets.
                                          When ShapeBender [or other tools like FollowMe etc] try to 'extrude' these tiny facets they can fail to form some faces simply because they are now so very tiny.
                                          To overcome this...
                                          Scale the steel/curve/line x100.
                                          Do the ShapeBending etc...
                                          Then Scale down x0.01.
                                          These tiny facets can exist, BUT it's the creating them that is an issue...
                                          This is the known problem and it's fix.
                                          Depending on the facets' "tininess" you can scale x10, x100 or x1000 and then back...

                                          TIG

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                                          • S Offline
                                            smganeles
                                            last edited by

                                            thank u
                                            i will try this

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