Simple 2D spiral

TaffGoch

ticoloco,

I'm confused. A helix is a 3D object. How do you propose to depict it in 2D?

Anyway, see if the discussion here, about helices, helps you:
http://groups.google.com/group/SketchUp/web/faqs-for-learning-more-advanced-tips-and-techniques#TweakSclupt

The discussion includes a mention of 'drawhelix13.rb' available at The Ruby Library Depot

Taff

boofredlay

It may not be exactly what you need but check out the Spiralizer by Armanisoft.

(www.armanisoft.ch)

You can export the dxf files and import them directly to SU.

remus

Does it have to be in ruby? If not you could just create your first spiral and then copy it up (move+ctrl.)

edit: sorry, i completely skimmed over the 2D bit, ignore the stuff above.

ticoloco

I do not want a 3D helix, I want a simple 2D spiral (with the aim to push).
Are there any possibilities within SU? It should be much simplier to program than a helix!

GreyHead

Try Draw helix 13 and set the pitch to 0 to keep the helix 2d.

Or K tools will allow you to define your own equation for the spiral.

Bob

ticoloco

Thank you Greyhead,
the K-tools helped. But I still have the problem, that the resulting object seems not to be joinable into an area.
What I want to do are scrolls (rolled rectangles). Any ideas?
Thank you for your time

remus

You could use didiers projection tools to turn it in to an extruded face (http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/em_geo_page.htm name: projection_v6.rb) or you could start with a bir rectangle, slice it up in to lots of small rectangles and then incrementaly rotate them. See tut for more details.

Add more seqments to the starting rectangle to increase smothness of the scroll.

GreyHead

For scrolled rectangles see this post - you'd need to delete some unwanted stuff.

Bob

PS No time to test it now - I'll try later.

TaffGoch

@ticoloco said:

What I want to do are scrolls (rolled rectangles). Any ideas?

Something like these?

If not, do you have a photo of what you're trying to achieve?

Taff

bbwolf

Hello there

@TaffGoch

That´s exactly what I want to do. How´d you create this?
Looking for how to do a spiral in SU for hours now, but can´t
seem to find an answer.

What´s KTools btw, anyone?

Thanks

Gaieus

Hi Wolf,

kt_tools##.rb (for different mathematical shapes) and drawhelix##.rb (for spirals) are ruby scripts used as plugins in SU.
You can download them here.

bbwolf

Hey Gaieus

I really hate to sound like a total noob but when I try to download the stuff I get a website with ALL the code. What am I ´sposed to do with that?
I tried to put in a text file but my mac flatly refuses to change the suffix to rb.

wth? Any ideas? Would be great. Clock is ticking for me and that sucks.

Thanks everybody

Gaieus

Don't worry about sounding like a noob - after all we are in the Newbie Forum (and we all had to start somewhere).

Anyway, I'm not a Mac user so I'm not sure everything will work the same way;

If you click on the script and it returns the code, you can select all and copy > Paste it into a simple text editor (not a word processor!) then save it under the Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google Sketchup 6/SketchUp/Plugins folder with the exact name it has on the site.

You can (on PC) also just right click on the link and save it to the same place but with rb extension.

Gaieus

For the easy spirals, download the drawhelix.rb as well (it also has several versions).

bbwolf

okay I managed to get k_tools_50.rb to run in my SU

just read yer answers - found it before <

Now, how do I get the spiral done, please? If I´d known math I wouldn´t
have become a designer in the first place.

See attached pic for what this stupid muppet sees and tell what to do, please

Bild 2.png

bbwolf

whelp

I´ll do that right now. Keep ya posted on the process.

Thanks so much

bbwolf

It works! Saved by Gaieus! Thangk yew. Thangk yew verry mudch.

Gaieus

No, these are just the first steps in discovering the wonderful and exciting world of pluins!

bbwolf

you are 100% totally right. I just discoverd that one solution just leads one to the next problem/challenge. Should I continue my quest for help and knowledge in this thread or open up a new one?

Here´s the "handdrawn" sketch of what I want to/have to create today.

I now got the spiral thing down, but how to get the thing to extrude the
way I want it?

Gaieus

OK, before we proceed, download skin22.zip as well and unzip its content to the same folder.

Edit: I will split this part of the topic off the original one.