[Plugin][$] Profile Builder 2

rv1974 · 28 Aug 2015, 05:02

Whaat, could you add random move\scale\rotate parameters (per axis)for profile\assembly members?

Whaat · 28 Aug 2015, 20:50

@rv1974 said:

Whaat, could you add random move\scale\rotate parameters (per axis)for profile\assembly members?

Yes - that's fairly easy to do, but I would prefer not to add so many settings to the Assembler dialog for a feature that would be used fairly rarely by the average user (I assume). Besides, there are other plugins that can do this - it is an extra step by still much faster than doing it manually.

For example - are you familiar with this one?
https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/clf-scale-and-rotate-multiple

rv1974 · 29 Aug 2015, 08:43

"640K ought to be enough for anybody"

The niche of parametric randomizer for SU is EMPTY and undoubtfully it's gonna be a huge blockbuster if you'd implement it.
Randomization is core feature in big brother plugins such as multiscatter, forestpro and railclone .

Krisidious · 29 Aug 2015, 09:26

You know Whaat... You could do break off sister plugins. specialized?

sherwood111 · 4 Sept 2015, 17:38

Hello, has anyone received these error messages ?

I drew a straight section of an few arbitrarily
profiles .... crown105, crown106.
(downloaded from the pb2 website)

I experimented with extending and trimming to
a perpendicular profile/face, etc.

any thoughts on cause ?
any ideas to remedy ?

Whaat · 8 Sept 2015, 01:27

@sherwood111 said:

Hello, has anyone received these error messages ?

I drew a straight section of an few arbitrarily
profiles .... crown105, crown106.
(downloaded from the pb2 website)

I experimented with extending and trimming to
a perpendicular profile/face, etc.

any thoughts on cause ?
any ideas to remedy ?

[attachment=1:1bx1nwz4]trim_errror.msg.PNG[/attachment:1bx1nwz4]
[attachment=0:1bx1nwz4]extend_errror.msg.PNG[/attachment:1bx1nwz4]

In order to extend or trim a profile member, the end of the profile member must not have been modified. In other words, the ends need to look the same as they did right after the object was created. Re-building the member will re-create it so you can trim it again.

TommyK · 4 Dec 2015, 14:50

I do love this plugin. It so nearly feels native to SketchUp. For making geometry, it works great. I have a few suggestions to improve it though in the realms information (the "I" in BIM).

Components over groups, please. Currently, PB creates groups from profiles. Groups are more limited in SU than components. For instance, you can't explore "Component Options" of a group. This would be useful for people who use Classifer.
When using assemblies, it appears that PB deletes everything within the assembly group and redraws. This results in any layers or classifier information that have been assigned to the individual groups within the assembly to be lost whenever the assembly is rebuilt (when changing path, for example). Is there a way to retain each group (if it still exists), but alter the geometry within them?
Profiles and assembly components are skp files, as you say. It would be great if these are imported into SU as components and the profile is made within the component that is imported. What this does is that any information within the component is preserved in the profile member. This includes component description, Classifier information etc etc.

Other little thing:

when clicking to edit the profile of the profile member within a group (in the profile assembly window), it works the first time, but subsequent clicks to edit other profile members shows no change to the profile builder window. Strangely, right-clicking the window and selecting "reload" seems to work.

Thanks for a great plugin! I would use it even more if it could do the information side of things.

utiler · 4 Jan 2016, 02:18

Hi Dale, Happy New Year!

A few queries re: building assemblies and where to use components or not.

See attached images which I've added questions to each. Cheers, look forward to hearing back ASAP.

eselick · 8 Jan 2016, 08:49

Hi Whaat
I'm wondering if you are aware of the problems that I and many others who are on Windows 10 are having when we try to download the Trial version of PB 2.

A few seconds after the download dialog loads Sketchup crashes, usually with no error message or only a Windows, "this program has stopped working ..." message.

All of this is quite fully documented at the Sketchup forum:
http://forums.sketchup.com/t/extension-warehouse-download-attempt-crashes-su/18869/27

Hopefully you can check it out and help get it fixed so that we can have a look at PB2.

Thanks
Elliot

Whaat · 9 Jan 2016, 21:08

@eselick said:

Hi Whaat
I'm wondering if you are aware of the problems that I and many others who are on Windows 10 are having when we try to download the Trial version of PB 2.

A few seconds after the download dialog loads Sketchup crashes, usually with no error message or only a Windows, "this program has stopped working ..." message.

All of this is quite fully documented at the Sketchup forum:
http://forums.sketchup.com/t/extension-warehouse-download-attempt-crashes-su/18869/27

Hopefully you can check it out and help get it fixed so that we can have a look at PB2.

Thanks
Elliot

Yes, thank you for the report. I am aware of the issue and the SketchUp EW team is working to help resolve this. I have made a change to the EW PB2 page. Please try again to see if the issue has been resolved.

Thanks!
Dale

Whaat · 9 Jan 2016, 21:13

@utiler said:

Hi Dale, Happy New Year!

A few queries re: building assemblies and where to use components or not.

See attached images which I've added questions to each. Cheers, look forward to hearing back ASAP.

Hi utiler,

Thanks for the images. I am very aware of the issues you are facing. There is currently no easy way to do what you want. The workaround is to make the fence using two assemblies, one for the posts and another for the fence boards. The one with the fence boards must be created by clicking the center of each post. I am not sure if this makes sense. I hope to make this much easier in a future update.

utiler · 10 Jan 2016, 23:58

Thanks Dale, yes makes sense. I was just hoping to be able to push PB2 a bit that's all.

Cheers.

Pixero · 11 Jan 2016, 12:25

I'd love to be able to manually exchange a component somewhere and still be able to adjust the curve afterwards.

Whaat · 11 Jan 2016, 18:38

@pixero said:

I'd love to be able to manually exchange a component somewhere and still be able to adjust the curve afterwards.

Interesting idea, Pixero! Would you be able to describe a use-case for this feature? Thanks

Pixero · 12 Jan 2016, 08:10

Here is a quick example of one case. There might be ways of doing some thing like this with different start and end components but I think this way would be easier for a lot of cases where you dont know the exact position until after its drawn.

eselick · 13 Jan 2016, 19:44

Hi
I'm just getting started with this amazing and wonderful plugin.

My problem is that when I save my assembly and then reuse it a new model, one of the components, #2 "Corner" in the original, is missing in the saved Assembly.

Here's the original Assembly dialog from the skp where I created it followed by the one that's loaded from the Assembly browser:

There are only 3 instead of 4 components in the second one.
Ideas?

Whaat · 14 Jan 2016, 17:55

@eselick said:

Hi
I'm just getting started with this amazing and wonderful plugin.

My problem is that when I save my assembly and then reuse it a new model, one of the components, #2 "Corner" in the original, is missing in the saved Assembly.

Here's the original Assembly dialog from the skp where I created it followed by the one that's loaded from the Assembly browser:

There are only 3 instead of 4 components in the second one.
Ideas?

Hello eselick,

Thank you for the report. Can you please do the following:

Open the Ruby Console and check for error messages when you save and load the assembly.
Send the assembly SKP file to mindsightstudios AT gmail DOT com for me to test

Thanks!

rv1974 · 15 Jan 2016, 15:03

I'm not sure in which topic it should be asked.. Luckily you're the author of both plugins (Profile Builder and Sketch UV.
I applied tube SketchUV's tube mapping to the curb generated with PB.
As you can see the vertical seams are distorted- they are not perpendicular to the 'U' path (I put the desired look above).
Could you advice how to get the desired result with the present tools?
And may be it's a good idea to have 'generate UV's' in the PB v.3?

Whaat · 15 Jan 2016, 15:13

@rv1974 said:

I'm not sure in which topic it should be asked.. Luckily you're the author of both plugins (Profile Builder and Sketch UV.
I applied tube SketchUV's tube mapping to the curb generated with PB.
As you can see the vertical seams are distorted- they are not perpendicular to the 'U' path (I put the desired look above).
Could you advice how to get the desired result with the present tools?
And may be it's a good idea to have 'generate UV's' in the PB v.3?

Hi rv1974,

Before you create the object using PB2, select the desired textured material from the drop-down list in PB2. Then, you should get your desired result automatically. SketchUV applies a different UV mapping scheme than PB2.

rv1974 · 15 Jan 2016, 15:51

Damn.. I actually use it but in this case it didn't popped up in my brain.
You should emphasize this amazing feature in you promotions!
Many thanks!