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How can I draw a circle on a slope

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  • J Offline
    jim130
    last edited by 30 Jun 2016, 23:06

    Sorry I should have been more specific.
    Using Ruby in Sketchup: how to draw a circle and through the use of a loop to make copies of it rotated around the Y axis incremented by an angle each reiteration.

    Thanks for all the responses.
    Jim

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    • T Offline
      TIG Moderator
      last edited by 1 Jul 2016, 16:48

      @jim130 said:

      Sorry I should have been more specific.
      Using Ruby in Sketchup: how to draw a circle and through the use of a loop to make copies of it rotated around the Y axis incremented by an angle each reiteration.

      Thanks for all the responses.
      Jim
      Posting questions like this in the correct forum would be a better start [perhaps in Developers ?]...

      Anyway...
      Drawing a circle is explained here:
      http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/entities#add_circle
      Set the axis for the normal for the initial circle - if you are adding it onto a face then it's probably best got from the face.normal ?
      If you first add a main container_group into the active_entities context - to hold the various circles you are going to create - then you add a circle_group [or component] into that container_group.entities, then you add the circle into that circle_group.entities ...
      http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/entities#add_group
      After making one circle_group you can copy it in code and adjust its transformation: read up here on rotation transformation - you need to determine an axis for this - possible from the cross of the initial 'normal' and the Z_AXIS - trapping for the normal==Z_AXIS
      http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/transformation#rotation
      Tip - use angle.degrees to avoid headaches with PI etc !
      Set up a loop, copying the circle_group the number required and also using a counter to increment the angle.
      Because the circle groups are separate within the container you might want to explode them when you are done...
      That depends on what you are expecting...

      TIG

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      • P Offline
        pilou
        last edited by 1 Jul 2016, 17:06

        @unknownuser said:

        Sorry I should have been more specific.

        Indeed! That is not my part to code in SU! 😄

        Frenchy Pilou
        Is beautiful that please without concept!
        My Little site :)

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        • J Offline
          jim130
          last edited by 6 Jul 2016, 22:58

          This is my attempt at making and rotating the circle.
          This is inside a loop so that angle_a changes each time through.
          Without the two lines of code to make the transformation rotation, the grouped circle is created.
          But when I add the transformation.rotation I get the error message "wrong number of arguments (5 for 3)"
          The coke:

          centerpoint = Geom::Point3d.new

          vector = Geom::Vector3d.new 1,0,0

          vector2 = vector.normalize!

          model = Sketchup.active_model

          entities = model.active_entities

          circle = mod.active_entities

          group=circle.add_group # Add the group to the entities in the model

          edges = entities.add_circle centerpoint, vector2, 1,100 # at this point a circle is made

          but when I add the next two line I get the error message.

          pt1 = 0,0,0

          transformation = Geom::Transformation.rotation pt1, 0,1,0, angle_a.radians

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          • S Offline
            slbaumgartner
            last edited by 7 Jul 2016, 12:31

            Geom::Transformation.rotation takes three arguments: a Point3d, a Vector3d, and an angle. You need to either create an explicit Vector3d akin to what you did for vector or else pass the three components as an Array [0,1,0].

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            • T Offline
              TIG Moderator
              last edited by 7 Jul 2016, 13:12

              The example code you gave has typos and incorrectly formed arguments etc.
              Here's what you wrote:

              centerpoint = Geom;;Point3d.new
              vector = Geom;;Vector3d.new 1,0,0
              vector2 = vector.normalize!
              model = Sketchup.active_model
              entities = model.active_entities
              circle = mod.active_entities
              group=circle.add_group # Add the group to the entities in the model
              edges = entities.add_circle centerpoint, vector2, 1,100 # at this point a circle is made
              # but when I add the next two line I get the error message.
              pt1 = 0,0,0
              transformation = Geom;;Transformation.rotation pt1, 0,1,0, angle_a.radians
              

              Here's what it should say:

              model = Sketchup.active_model
              ents = model.active_entities
              contr = ents.add_group()
              # to hold the circle groups
              cents = contr.entities
              group = ents.add_group()
              gps = [group]
              # Add the group to the container
              gents = group.entities
              gents.add_circle(ORIGIN, X_AXIS, 10.0, 96)
              # circle at origin centered on the x axis 10" radius and 96 segments
              # make reference to that group's definition
              defn = gents.parent
              # set step angle - here 30°
              angle = 30.0
              # set up counter - here 5 times for 180° == all needed circles [we already have 1 on x axis] !
              ang = 0.0 # start at zero
              5.times{
                ang += angle
                tp = Geom;;Transformation.new(ORIGIN)
                tr = Geom;;Transformation.rotation(ORIGIN, Y_AXIS, ang.degrees)
                inst = cents.add_instance(defn, tp*tr)
                inst.make_unique
                gps << inst
              }
              # you now have 4 circles, each inside a group, all inside a container-group
              # if desired explode them - remove initial #
              # gps.each{|gp| gp.explode }
              # if desired explode container - remove initial #
              # contr.explode
              
              

              TIG

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              • J Offline
                jim130
                last edited by 11 Jul 2016, 23:03

                TIG
                Thank you very much.
                I applied the code and it worked perfectly. I did make a modification to it as I was really looking for arcs in those circles.
                But with few modifications I was able to achieve my goal. I had given up on the arcs and thought circles would be easier but still had to ask for help.
                Thanks again.
                One question about your solution, for me it is very hard to follow all the different group statements and there logical order. Without the logical understanding it is very hard to move forward in writing code.
                I am probably not alone, and I was wandering if you could give a more thorough treatment of the grouping statements.
                I’ve always been befuddled by the progression of these statements.
                Thank you
                Jim

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                • T Offline
                  TIG Moderator
                  last edited by 16 Jul 2016, 22:25

                  Put simply [no code]
                  Add a new 'container' group into the active_entities context [name==contr].
                  Then make some more groups inside that 'containers' entities context - each time these are made incrementing the angle... so into each of those we add the desired circle. oriented at that angle.
                  Now you have a new container-group which contains several sub-groups - each containing an oriented circle...

                  Do it manually to get a feel for what's involved.
                  Ding this kind of thing in code is just like doing it manually - but faster...

                  TIG

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                  • J Offline
                    jim130
                    last edited by 24 Jul 2016, 21:59

                    Thanks TIG
                    I’ve have been beating my head against the code and am starting to get it.
                    I do have one more question about the angle circle code though
                    what does the "tptr" do in this statement? It looks like it is multiplying the two points together "inst = cents.add_instance(defn, tptr)"

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                    • sdmitchS Offline
                      sdmitch
                      last edited by 24 Jul 2016, 23:01

                      Actually it is multiplying two transformations and using that product to place the circle.

                      Nothing is worthless, it can always be used as a bad example.

                      http://sdmitch.blogspot.com/

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