[Plugin] Super Drape

bsintzel · 1 Jan 2013, 15:52

Well...it seems (for me at least) your never to old to learn something new. It didn't occur to me to look at the .rb file in a text editor. Good call, thanks

The fact that the surface of the circle was face down was a complete surprise to me. I wasn't aware (until you mentioned it) that the darker (blue-gray)side of the face of a Circle is actually its bottom surface. It seemed intuitive to me that if I'm looking down at a circle when I create it, that it's surface would be facing up at me -- apparently not.

Your recommendation to "make your Style's back-face material a bright blue" and to use "monochrome mode", makes a lot of sense. I'll take your advice going forward. With respect to the 'FixReversedFaceMaterials' plugin, I will certainly add it to my collection, along with a gratuity.

I welcome your sage advice.

warm regards

Bob

Dave R · 1 Jan 2013, 18:00

Bob, that reversed face thing snags a lot of folks and it may seem intuitive that you're looking down on the front surface but if you think about it, that's the inside face of the soon-to-be 3D shape. I switched my back face color to a green color that I'd never intentionally use in my models. For me the green color is easier to distinguish from the blue gray default back color.

It's part of my starting template, too.

bsintzel · 1 Jan 2013, 21:13

Dave,

Thanks for your input....it's much appreciated

What I've learned today in this forum goes a long way to explaining many of the strange results I was getting when importing images onto solid surfaces. I'm now revisiting some of my past projects.

Although I'm impressed by the depth and breadth of knowledge in this forum, I'm more impressed with the fact that there's folks like you who take the time to help others less knowledgeable in Sketchup. I think I'm going to be here for a long time

warm regards

Bob

parsleybrain · 28 Oct 2013, 12:29

Hello there,

maybe I'm just stupid or blind but I can't find the installed plugin, I even installed it twice but I can't find it in all of the menus nor can I create a Toolbar icon for it. I also tried to activate it using the preferences window, nothing worked. Please help! Thanks.

Box · 28 Oct 2013, 12:49

Super Drape is an Extension (a fancy plugin) so it needs to be activated/turned on either via the sketchucation extension manager or the extension tab in preferences, found in the window menu.

Oh, you edited your post.

Dave R · 28 Oct 2013, 12:52

Also make sure you have full admin privileges to the Plugins folder.

parsleybrain · 28 Oct 2013, 18:01

@Box ...sorry yeah, I had forgotten to mention my attempt to active the plugin.
Your location is Germany? Vielleicht kannst du mir ja auf deutsch weiterhelfen.

Sorry about realizing only now the problem seems to be the process of activating the plugin. I checked my plugin folder and the folder for the Super Drape plugin is there and the rubyfile is in it. But when I try to activate it via preferences --> install extension the programm allows only *.rbz files, I can't choose the TIG-Superdrape.rb file. Then I copied the *.rb file direct into the plugin folder but this doesn't work either. So can I rename the *.rb file into an *.rbz file to make it work? What else can I try?

Dave R · 28 Oct 2013, 18:20

The .rbz file for this plugin is available at the bottom of the first post in this thread. Download that and use Install Extension to install it. You should remove any files related to this plugin that you have tried to install, though.

And make sure you have full admin rights before trying to install it.

Box · 28 Oct 2013, 18:37

It's not the install extension section I was referring to. In the box above the install extension button you need to see super drape there and tick it's box.

parsleybrain · 28 Oct 2013, 19:51

@box said:

It's not the install extension section I was referring to. In the box above the install extension button you need to see super drape there and tick it's box.

That just did the trick and it was the only place I didn't check a second time - so thank you very much!

gonashvili · 5 Dec 2013, 09:57

Any vid/tuts about using this? Can't get this to work....

TIG · 5 Dec 2013, 10:18

Please be less cryptic.

How isn't it working ?
Is it installed OK ?
Did you follow the guidance and image in the first post/download thread... ?

Reiterated:

You need two groups.
The draper-group must be located above the receiving group.
Its faces are replicated, projected onto the receiver's surfaces, maintaining the materials.

Possible issues:
The draper/receiver geometry contain tiny edges or facets that can't be intersected using SketchUp's methods, simply because of its tolerances [~1/1000"] - where the start & ends of a tiny line are deemed to occupy the same point in space and so the edge won't form, and then its related face can't form.
Scale up both drape and scale-down - tiny edges can exist but cannot be created [this is the same issue with Sandbox-Drape]
View the groups in Monochrome mode with a distinctive back-face material.
If any 'backs' are facing up in either group you will get unexpected results.
The edges might drape successfully, but then it seems like the draped materials are missing - they are not, they are just on the 'underside' [front] of the faces in the receiver. The materials on the draper's face-fronts will be used and of course this might not be the top-side you expected, if faces are wrongly oriented.

gonashvili · 14 Dec 2013, 14:35

@tig said:

How isn't it working ?
Is it installed OK ?

Think so, basic geometry (circle's,etc) worked OK, once it gets a bit more complex I get no respond (or a 'freeze').

Here's a very simple shape made with the Uniform B-Spline, no idea what's wrong as it seems 'clean' enough

01.skp

Box · 14 Dec 2013, 14:53

The problem with that one is that it is rotated. The small group's blue axis is running along the green axis, therefore it is "Draping" in the wrong direction. If you explode and regroup it it will work. Orientation is the key.

As a side note it's worth pointing out that you have drawn it outside and under the ground plane, not that this is causing your problem.

gonashvili · 14 Dec 2013, 16:14

Thanks for the tip man!

sketchydog · 6 Jan 2014, 20:05

I'm trying to get an effect where I'm draping roads, parking lots, etc. ONTO the imported google earth terrain. Super Drape and Drape both take the top group and "cut" it onto the TIN of the terrain. What I'm looking for is something that will drape the roads and so forth, onto the TIN below, but stay a completely separate group. In this way I can still control layers, etc.

Also, with Super Drape, I'm not getting the top donor materials to "take" in the google earth terrain. I get generic "white" skin where the new faces are cut.

I'd appreciate any comments or help. thanks!

mitcorb · 7 Jan 2014, 01:04

I tried to answer in your other post that I think you want the Stamp tool in the Sketchup Sandbox Tools. But I could be wrong.

TIG · 7 Jan 2014, 11:46

@Sketchydog

Are your faces upside down ?
Either in the mesh or the 'road' your are trying to project 'down'...
Use a Style with a distinctly color back-face - say bright-blue or magenta.
Now view in Monochrome mode...

If you see that when it should be a front color you have some 'reversing' to do...

pep75 · 11 Mar 2014, 09:08

Is it true that Supderdrape doesn't work in 2014 when installing it with the PluginStore manager? I can't see it anywhere !

pep75 · 11 Mar 2014, 09:11

...I found it...you'll have to active the toolbar in the extensions-list in the preferences window. mmmm