Simple reporting plugin - help?

[sancho77]

Hello everbody.
I've been using Sketchup pro for 6+ years.
I would need some of your help to create a report plugin.
I use Sketchup for woodwork projects - furniture.
I use components and nested components.
In "description" attribute I have summed up all i need for report. (part name, dim, material, etc ...)
I've been using Sketchup "generate report" function to get to that data.
But it takes so loooooooong.
And I was wondering if somebody could help me to get it work.
I was looking into ruby script - I think I would need couple of months before I get it in to my head.
Any help or info appreciated!

Project is opened on PPH : http://www.peopleperhour.com/job/view?id=866115%26amp;jobview=1

Thank you.

[slbaumgartner]

Have a look at the Cutlist plugin (available from the Trimble Extension Warehouse) or Cutlist Bridge 3 from Joe Zeh (no longer free, now sold via popular woodworking http://www.shopwoodworking.com/cutlist-bridge-extension-for-sketchup ). There is also a cutlister extension on the sketchUcation plugins store, though I haven't tried it.

[Dave R]

I make a lot of cut lists for woodworking projects and use the CutList extension available from the Extension Warehouse. It is fast even with large models and with many components. You can set it up to sort components into boards, sheet materials and other parts. It'll also generate cut lists with sub-assemblies if you want. I export the CSV file and usually wind up manipulating it in Excel a bit. I would highly recommend it.

[sancho77]

I think I have tried cultist bridge. good idea. But i think I had a problem with grain direction.
I'll se what they have improved. Thanks.

Cutlist plugin - no good for me - does not support grain direction.

Thanks gents!

[driven]

How do you currently specify grain direction in your model?

I have looked into writing a simple nesting plugin in the past and think that setting the axis based on texture positioning would be the easiest route...
post a skp and I'll have a look...
john

[slbaumgartner]

@driven, I've thought some about this in the past. There are two problems that seem to require manual input from the user:

First, there is no way to automatically infer grain direction from the shape of the board. One would naively associate "along grain" with the longest dimension of the face and "across grain" with the shortest dimension of the face. But I can show real examples in which this logic fails, that is, the "along grain" direction is the shorter dimension of the face. Cutlist doesn't even try to address this question; it ignores grain. Cutlist Bridge 3 uses entity attributes to label which way the grain is intended to go, and a common complaint is that it is tedious to set all these attributes.

Second, is it likewise incorrect to infer grain direction from the shape of a texture. It is tempting to assume that the grain must run along the "long" dimension of the texture's image, but again this doesn't have to be true.

[driven]

@slbaumgartner said:

Second, is it likewise incorrect to infer grain direction from the shape of a texture. It is tempting to assume that the grain must run along the "long" dimension of the texture's image, but again this doesn't have to be true.

Steve,
my thinking was based on taking actual images of my stock timber [sheet, butterfly veneers or planks] with grain always running in the same camera direction...
then once applied to the pieces in SU, I could use the texture pin UV co-ordinates to be determine the layout drawings, cut-lists, etc...

it's how they make leather shoes from hides and avoid the imperfections...

john

[slbaumgartner]

@driven said:

my thinking was based on taking actual images of my stock timber [sheet, butterfly veneers or planks] with grain always running in the same camera direction...

John,
So, basically, you would overcome my second issue by forcing all your textures to follow an orientation convention. That will work as long as you create all your textures from your own photos...but what about photos and materials created by others?

By the way, this is similar to the way Dave Richards and some others create wood materials: they take a photo of an actual board, import it onto a rectangular Face the same size in SketchUp, then make a texture out of it. I don't know how the UV gets aligned when you do this...does it matter which way the Face was oriented?

[sancho77]

Thanks for input.

This is how i do it:
All my projects are made out of components.
Panels dimensions. LenX=thickness, LenZ=Length And LenY=width.
I have 2 type of textures. Vertical and horizontal.
For example : "Oak" and "Oak_" . dash represents horizontal .
When I paint main panel with any vertical texture - it gives me correct dimensions and visually it appears fine.
I have 2 additional attributes for components.
Cut_L and Cut_W. And i have logic applied to them.Cut_L= IF material name ends with "_" then = LenY, otherwise =LenZ... and so on.
And it works. And length becomes width ONLY when I say so ( apply Horizontal texture)
And we need this. Many designers are creating designs that are nothing like traditional way of making furniture and other woodwork projects.
And this the reason why i don't use any current plugins. Out of blue Length becomes Width. No control. For MDF or similar material probably its ok (To see how much sheets would be needed). But then how our workmates in workshop would know what is width or length. Anyway ... thats my opinion.

And a simple reporting plugin is needed to get this data.

Thanks for input.

[driven]

if you open Model Info >> Components >> Show Comp Axis and check it, are all correctly aligned to the grain you've set?

A simple skp would make all the difference in understanding your process, PM if you prefer...

john

[Garry K]

In my door scripts I create door stiles and rails as vertical members. Then I rotate rails and move them into position. This way I can use vertical wood grain for all door members.

When I want to create a list of materials for a program like cut list or Cut Master I simply look at the component axis and determine Length, Width and Thickness.

I used to have vertical and horizontal wood grain textures but I find a lot of advantages doing it this way (textures are half the size, skp files are smaller etc..)