[Plugin][$] Curviloft 2.0a - 31 Mar 24 (Loft & Skinning)

Box

Select: Draw a selection box laft to right over the area you want and it will select everything wholly within that area or right to left and it will select everything the box touches.

Smooth: Right click on your selection and select Soften/Smooth from the context menu and adjust settings to suit.

Knowing how to answer a question is quite difficult some times. We need to look at the few clues available to understand how much detail needs to be given. If the question is from a beginner in the newby section then I would be very clear about how to do something but a question from an Advanced use in the plugin section makes you think I don't need to spell it out.

jumpjack

@jgb said:

From the picture it looks like a moonscape and you are trying to put a smooth flat floor in a crater. If so, then

Thank you, you gave me a couple of amazing ideas!

I attach the demo file. The full file is 27MB, I'll try uploading it somewhere...

jumpjack

Looks like canì't atttach a skp file...

Dave R

@jumpjack said:

Looks like canì't atttach a skp file...

There is a file size limit to attachments. You could make a separate file of just a small portion of the overall model. It won't take the whole thing to explain what needs doing.

jumpjack

I decided to upload the whole file, in case others in the world are interested in some archeo-astro-photogrammetry

http://jumpjack.altervista.org/mars-pathfinder-model-D-color.zip (43 MB)

Project page:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057032501

Box

I don't think there is anything out there to heal your model. I have no idea how it was created, do you have individual files of each photometric section, but you have overlapping sections in a radial array and a mass of jagged bits and loose geometry all over the place. Maybe you can repair each part of the radial array in meshlab then stitch them together. Plus you seem to have multiple copies of the component which is making the file much bigger than it needs to be.

What is it you want to end up with? Is it something you want to print? Is it meant to be an accurate Mars landscape? Is it just going to be a rendering?

You can quickly sculpt a nice landscape with the Sandbox tools to form a printable solid or basis for a render.

The one below took minutes to make. There is nothing stopping you making it as detailed as you want and starting with a solid mesh means you have no holes to fill. You can also use Fredos ThruPaint to place your images correctly.

None of this really has much to do with Curviloft so it would probably be more appropriate moved to it's own thread.

Also there are several plugins designed for working with topography, Toposhaper for one, that may be more suited to your project. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=470701#p470701
Or perhaps some point cloud plugin if the photometric data is suitable.

If this is something like you want I can give you more information.

Edit: I looked at your project page and now I have some understanding of what you are attempting. If you can get the point data I'm sure there is a way to get close.

Quick Mars.JPG

cotty

@box said:

Edit: I looked at your project page and now I have some understanding of what you are attempting. If you can get the point data I'm sure there is a way to get close.

I didn't have a look, but after reading this, I have thought about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=092ZzSrsE_w

jumpjack

@box said:

I don't think there is anything out there to heal your model. I have no idea how it was created, do you have individual files of each photometric section, but you have overlapping sections in a radial array and a mass of jagged bits and loose geometry all over the place.

Yes, it's a mess...

@box said:

Maybe you can repair each part of the radial array in meshlab then stitch them together.

Maybe I could fill holes in each part using this plugin(it works fine for simple holes) and also stitch them together using the plugin again. Hopefully this will result in new holes which I will maybe be able to fill using again the plugin... and so on till I fill all of them!

@box said:

Plus you seem to have multiple copies of the component which is making the file much bigger than it needs to be.

I didn't notice it, I'll check.

What is the attachment?

Box

@jumpjack said:

What is the attachment?

It is a simple sandbox model with a random mars landscape as a texture, and the rover roughly lifted from your model and dropped on it.

Quick Mars.skp

thefreestman

**I love this plugin, especially the splice feature.

Does anyone know of another similar feature that creates a grided planar surface in a similar effect- to that of the black mesh that appears in modeling before it generates a smooth surface?!

Thanks!**

TIG

At any time you can make any 'smoothed surface' into a 'mesh', with fully visible edges, by selecting the surface and using the native 'Soften/Smooth Edges' tool [context-menu], with minimal angle-slider setting and the two options ticked...
Of course you can do the reverse [on any 'mesh'] - select all of the facets required and move slider to right so the surface becomes smooth...

Box

And what Tig has modestly left out, a lot of his plugins allow you to choose quads, if that is the full square grid you are after.

thefreestman

Great Thanks!

dana2048

This tool did exactly what I needed! Great work!

MiniSpeedster

JClements

Could this plugin be adapted into a new/similar plugin but for sheet metal fabrication? With some of the functions described here in this SolidsWorks video; in particular bend lines and flattening functions?

http://www.hawkridgesys.com/products/solidworks/videos/sheet-metal-lofted-bends/

Osuki99

thankk you very much ^^

ronys

Thank you for this amazing plugin.

I am trying to use the outcome of the Curviloft for hotwiring foam (with CNC) for RC airplanes.
My problem is that the some of the faces created are triangular - which is great for the purpose of lofting in SU, but is not good for hotwiring. If I use the path of triangles, the speed of the wire will not be constant on both faces.

Anyway, my question is:
Is there a way to make Curviloft create only quadratian faces?

Triangular faces

Thanks,
Rony

jgb

This is not a Curviloft (CL) problem.

Only when a 4 sided face is defined by opposite parallel lines will it form a face without triangles. A triangles face is, by definition, always flat.

If a 4 sided (or more) face has any 1 vertex not in exactly the same plane, SU and CL will define the face with triangles.

In your model, the lines defining the curves are not quite parallel in the lower 7 segments, and therefore cannot be defined by a 4 sided flat surface. You can prove this to yourself by drawing lines and seeing that they will not face. Other than adjusting one side or the other, there is nothing CL can do to fix that.

jeff hammond

@ronys said:

Anyway, my question is:
Is there a way to make Curviloft create only quadratian faces?

[attachment=0:358vs3zr]curviloft.png[/attachment:358vs3zr]

Thanks,
Rony

post the .skp (or that portion of the model).. there's probably a way to get better results than the long triangles you're getting.. (via better curve segmentation and/or curvilot settings)

Jimmymino

Hey community.

Im having a bit of trouble with this plugin. Maybe the way I am applying it or maybe Im doing something wrong. Could someone help?

Every time I attempt to loft an object along a path, the preview looks fine but the final result has tons of faces missing.

I am trying to get information on what the various options in the toolbar are once you see the preview, (ie, sampling, interpolating, etc) and what they do, but cant find any info on it.

Can some help?