[Plugin] SectionCutFace

JQL · 11 Jun 2013, 23:16

Thanks for the explanation TIG, even if I got there myself it took me some time. I was almost going to post my Locale incident as a bug in your plugin.

I made a small change in your naming of the list in the translation. Where you refer to "Glue" wich in portuguese is "Colar" I translated as "Auto-Regenerar" wich actually means "Auto-Regenerate". I hope you don't mind, but if you do, there you have the literal translation.

There could be a warning about this feature it is both powefull and dangerous...

V3.7 in such short time... you code faster that I can write!

Best regards,

JQL

teresaytw · 16 Jul 2013, 09:51

hi TIG, i wanna know why even if i restart my sketch up, or even my laptop, the section cut plugin still isn't load in my sketchup Pro 8? i did copy and paste the plugin into my plugin folder.

Dave R · 16 Jul 2013, 12:47

@teresaytw said:

hi TIG, i wanna know why even if i restart my sketch up, or even my laptop, the section cut plugin still isn't load in my sketchup Pro 8? i did copy and paste the plugin into my plugin folder.

Where are you looking for it?

TIG · 16 Jul 2013, 14:08

@Teresa

If you had read the instructions a little more carefully you might have noticed that it is a [right-click] context-menu only tool.
AND it only appears in the context-menu when you have a selection containing just one object - which must be a SectionPlane.
That is how the tool determines where to put its SectionCutFace...

Where else did you expect this tool to 'appear' ?

We are of course assuming things here... that the .rb file etc was indeed in your Plugins folder and is therefore auto-loading. If you did a manual installation and you have restricted security permissions to your Plugins folder it can appear that you have installed it OK, but it's really gone into a 'VirtualStore' folder - having 'Compatibility Files...' link/button in the Plugins folder's Windows-Explorer top bars in a dead give away! Fix you permissions [Select the Plugins folder icon > right-click > context-menu > Properties > Security > Edit, set to FULL for everyone listed...] then retry installation...

Alternatively get the RBZ from the SketchUcation PluginStore page, and use the installer supplied with v8.
OR use the SketchUcation Plugin Store toolset, when you can AutoInstall the tool from a dialog within SketchUp itself...
Both of these options link via 'More Info...' to pages covering every tool's usage very comprehensively...

takesh h · 17 Jul 2013, 02:38

Cheers TIG!!

What this plugin does is the kind of "update" many of us seculars wanted to see in SketchUp 2013... am I wrong? I mean, it doesn't even require an additional icon they (The spirituals) are said to be so afraid of...
As I have taken a long, winding and masochistic LayOut path just like many of SCF members here, your SectionCutFace plugin is already indispensable.
....donation is definitely on the way!

takesh h · 17 Jul 2013, 02:53

Oops.
"PayPal does not currently support Donation Payments from buyers in JP. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
So is there other ways?

TIG · 17 Jul 2013, 09:42

@takesh h said:

Oops.
"PayPal does not currently support Donation Payments from buyers in JP. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
So is there other ways?
Just save it up.
Or give a donation to another worthy recipient, on my behalf

takesh h · 17 Jul 2013, 11:34

Hi TIG.

@tig said:

Just save it up.
Or give a donation to another worthy recipient, on my behalf

Roger, Sir.

MYELOISE · 18 Jul 2013, 14:55

hi! i downloaded the file but the extention is .rbz...i can't see nothing new in my sketchup, neither in the plugin window...i caan't use sketchup so well, where can I find the plugin in the program, when i open it? i have to change the extention??? help!

Dave R · 19 Jul 2013, 09:42

No! Don't change the extension. .RBZ is perfect. Go to Window>Preferences>Extensions. Click on Install Extension. Navigate to where you saved the downloaded file and choose it.

For future plugins, you should download and install the Sketchucation Plugin Store. It will make installation even easier.

TIG · 24 Jul 2013, 10:55

Here's an update v3.8...
A glitch with the observers [used for Gluing] when new model started now resolved.
See the tool's main page... http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=172583#p172583
and then auto-install or download it from the SketchUcation PluginStore...

SabiaSingh · 29 Jul 2013, 13:16

Hello Mr Tig,
Iam being having trouble installing this and other plugins onto SKUP v8. I am not be connection onto internet via SKUP standalone computer. So I do drop files into plugin folder but it is not visible. Is perhaps not correct metthod or perhaps not correct version for SKUP no.8 or perhaps?
Many thank for advises
SS

TIG · 29 Jul 2013, 15:27

RBZ files are NOT the same as RB files.
You cannot simply put them into your Plugins folder and hope they'll load.

RBZ files are actually a ZIP archive with a different file suffix.
If you have the latest version of SketchUp v8 you should have a button in the Window > Preferences > Extensions dialog named something like 'Install from archive...' [i.e. an RBZ file]
If so then click on that... and then navigate to the RBZ file, choose it, and its contents are automatically extracted, installed and loaded using the main Plugins folder.

If you have a very early version of v8 or even earlier you won't get the button to install the RBZ...
In that case add .ZIP to the end of the file-name.
Then use your own ZIP tool to extract its contents into a temporary folder, and then move the extracted files and subfolders into the Plugins folder.
It is VERY important to keep all files within the same subfolders as they are inside the ZIP/RBZ archive... otherwise the tool won't find its supporting files inside its subfolder, as it expects...

Mukan · 3 Aug 2013, 19:02

Thanks a Lott

gigi500 · 4 Aug 2013, 19:10

Crashes consistently with Sketch Up Pro 2013. worked for Sketch UP 8. Anybody has the same problem?

Dave R · 5 Aug 2013, 01:16

It works fine in SU2013 for me. Perhaps there's a conflict cause by some other plugin. Do you have any of the known problem plugins like Vray installed?

gigi500 · 5 Aug 2013, 17:16

Actually I was using it on superellipsoid plug in...Have to investigate more with other shapes/versions. I was thinking myself that it's a conflict between plug-ins...

TIG · 6 Aug 2013, 08:43

If you have a made a mesh surface with very very tiny facets [either one that's over all very very small or that is overly detailed with thousands of facets]... then like many such operations in SketchUp the SectionCutFce tool will sometimes fail to make full intersections - e.g. when the points at the start/end of an intersected line are so near to one another that SketchUp says they are in fact coincident and does make the tiny edge needed to complete the face and therefore the face will fail to form... It's a tolerance issue when performing operations on very small geometry...
You get this with several tools - try the native FollowMe on a very tight radius path 'elbow' and a very segmented circle profile - some tiny triangular facets in the crook of the elbow will fail to be made...
However, SectionCutFace ought to just 'not make the face' [as its loop is not complete] - it would perhaps leave incomplete edge loops if you have it set to keep ALL edges in options... It should not splat/crash!

Could you post a simple example of what's failing so we can all test it ?

gigi500 · 6 Aug 2013, 19:19

Superellipsoid Plugin

Version: Superellipsoid 1.0
Release Date: July 1, 2010
Requirements: SketchUp 6.0+
I have it as a tool under "draw". The form comes in as a component. When I try to use a section cutface, it crashes the Sketch up. Tried to use sectioncutface with other solid forms and it's fine. It's really not that crucial:)))
Thank you for all your plugins.

TIG · 7 Aug 2013, 08:19

@gigi500 said:

Superellipsoid Plugin

Version: Superellipsoid 1.0
Release Date: July 1, 2010
Requirements: SketchUp 6.0+
I have it as a tool under "draw". The form comes in as a component. When I try to use a section cutface, it crashes the Sketch up. Tried to use sectioncutface with other solid forms and it's fine. It's really not that crucial:)))
Thank you for all your plugins.
I have just been testing SectionCutFace on a Superellipsoid - it worked fine - no splats at all, faces formed properly etc.
I used the default parameters...
What setting do you have that might cause issues ?
Is the 'cut' located outside or inside this component?? [makes no difference in my testing!]
As I said before very tiny facets could cause failure when forming the face - but a splat is unlikely

Have you tried making a simple box component and cutting that ?
If it crashes too you have something watching component-instances and instigating a crash

What other plugins do you have loading? - some rogues are known to cause splats [actually it is they that splats, when a legit tool does an action that they interfere with or react to wrongly, via one of their observer etc, or they interfere with native classes/methods...]
The Vray-beta, various half-baked BIM tools, current SketchyPhysics... and a few others are on this "danger-list"...