[Plugin] BoolTools just released!

Gus R · 28 Dec 2008, 03:08

Jeff,

OK, as promised here's a tutorial I put together for creating a sketched drill bit with Bool Tools and SU. I say sketched since a drill bit has a few more geometric features involved. This is my first tutorial so bear with me and if it works perhaps I'll move it to the tutorial section of Sketchucation.

Another way to make a bit involves using the rubies "grow" and "skin." That can create a more precise drill bit but is a bit more tedious since each profile has to be skinned.

Give this a shot and let me know how it works out.

Gus

drill bit tutorial.skp

Click Draw · 28 Dec 2008, 16:54

Hey Gus,

For your first Tutorial, really good! It helped for sure. Also, I'm going to get that ruby you used to make the helix a tube. That's for that too
Cheers,
Jeff

Click Draw · 28 Dec 2008, 18:27

Wondering....does the precision of the helix and the edge count need to be at a certain amount or do they need to match?
Cheers,
Jeff

Gus R · 28 Dec 2008, 18:52

Jeff,

Thanks and I'm glad the tutorial helped.

As for the segments I match them overall in the model out of habit. The helix segmentation will match the cylinder however the tube will not since it twists around the helix. Thus having them match doesn't really serve a purpose since the tube segment intersections will never meet exactly with the cylinder. I just tried this with a 35 segment cylinder and it worked just fine.

So I think no, they don't have to match. A smaller segmented tube will actually subtract more easily from the cylinder however it creates a rather rough looking object. 24 segments is good overall. I think the tubes default to ten segments.

Gus

JClements · 29 Dec 2008, 01:56

Wonderful script. Thank you.

@rickw said:

[
I use the same shortcut! Good thinking!

Me three. I adopted this key-combo from Xara which implemented a paste-in-place quite a while ago (their paste, ctrl-v, pastes in the center of the screen).

david_h · 29 Dec 2008, 15:53

I am trying to do the Drill bit thing and when I try to do the difference tool it just hangs. I have set the no. of Facets for each at 24. What is the problem? I can't view the Tuts cuz I don't have 7 yet. I am using the drawhelix.rb and the follow me tool to create my helix. Is this a good way?

D

EDIT: I got it to work, but I had to simplify the model considerably. 12 facets for the helix and the cylinder. Looks Okay I guess. Could I have done it a different way? That is . . .If I ever need to draw a drill bit in a real design situation.

Gus R · 29 Dec 2008, 17:43

David,

Here's the tutorial in Version 6.

drill bit tutorial v6.skp

I recommend using drawhelix13.rb for the helix and lines2tubes.rb for the tube. Follow me will distort the tube too much in this case -- even though it will still work.

Your 12 segment drill bit looks pretty good. As far as SU hanging consider that it might take some time depending on your CPU capacity. It might take 5 minutes. In my case, certain complicated functions will lead to the appearance of SU locking up when in fact it hasn't. This will happen even when I'm rendering. Sometimes I have to let SU work and not touch a thing or move the mouse away from the SU screen otherwise it will cause SU to crash. Try it again with 24 segments only this time give it a good solid 5 minutes or more without doing any other computer tasks.

Gus

david_h · 29 Dec 2008, 19:55

Thanks for the TUT. it was the DH13 rb that I did use. I think I have the L2Tube rb as well, although I didn't use that one.

Thx,

D

david_h · 29 Dec 2008, 20:28

As per your Tut. Thanks much.

David

Click Draw · 31 Dec 2008, 15:29

I'm not sure why, but I still get some missing faces when I try to do a drill bit. I match the segments in the helix and the cylinder. I build it large so I can scale down....same result. Very frustrating. Could there be any issues with other rubies effecting the ones I use for this process? The gray hair just keeps coming as I keep trying to figure it out. HELPPPPPP!

Frustrated, Jeff

Gus R · 1 Jan 2009, 23:15

Jeff,

I've had the same situation occur as well. So far it seems as though you have to try these at random at a larger scale. Anytime you get an intersetion that is around 1/16 inch or 1 mm it will corrupt the subtraction. At the same time, if you scale it too much it will corrupt the subtraction. I tried it once at 1,000,000X and the corruption was even worse.

So far my computer has survived the trip out the window and down 6 floors. It's been almost 7 years now. I have been tempted.

Gus

Whaat · 2 Jan 2009, 00:58

@gus r said:

Jeff,

I've had the same situation occur as well. So far it seems as though you have to try these at random at a larger scale. Anytime you get an intersetion that is around 1/16 inch or 1 mm it will corrupt the subtraction. At the same time, if you scale it too much it will corrupt the subtraction. I tried it once at 1,000,000X and the corruption was even worse.

So far my computer has survived the trip out the window and down 6 floors. It's been almost 7 years now. I have been tempted.

Gus

BoolTools uses the intersection method from the SketchUp API which is the exact same function as the 'intersect' context click function that can be accessed from the UI. Sometimes, the intersect method fails (likely due to precision errors). For complex operations (such as a helical subtraction, the chances of these precision errors are greater. If the intersection method fails to execute properly, you will get strange results with BoolTools.

ClickDraw: If you could post your SKP file, I can take a look just to make sure that your problems are not being caused by some other issue.

Dale

plot-paris · 5 Jan 2009, 17:37

using a modifier key to keep the difference-object is a great idea. so we will see that in the next version? (along with nested grouping support )

ps: I use 'Ctrl + Shift + V' for 'Paste in place' as too. soon Google will integrate it as a default shortcut...

sjtunba · 6 Jan 2009, 05:38

why i can't see it

xrok1 · 7 Mar 2009, 04:10

@plot-paris said:

using a modifier key to keep the difference-object is a great idea. so we will see that in the next version? (along with nested grouping support )

ps: I use 'Ctrl + Shift + V' for 'Paste in place' as too. soon Google will integrate it as a default shortcut...

just bought it awesome ,but +1 on this option.

NewOne · 7 Mar 2009, 11:32

@whaat said:

@unknownuser said:

A request. When performing a Cut - it is sometimes desirable to KEEP the geometry that is acting as the edge for the cut. eg Trimming Steel Beams 1 and 2 with Wall 1.
Sometimes I'd like to keep Wall 1 after the operation.
Could this be built in - eg with an option dialog ??? Would be very handy.

I anticipated this request and tried hard to get this to work for this version but it was too buggy. My idea was that you could hold down the CNTL modifier key while selecting if you want to keep the cutting geometry. Hopefully, I can get it to work for the next version. There is a fairly easy workaround though:

Select the 'cutting' group and press CNTL+C to copy. You can actually select the group by hovering your mouse over the cutting group while you have the 'Difference' tool active.

Perform the cut with BoolTools

Choose 'paste-in-place' to get the cutting group back. (a shortcut-key would come in handy here...)

Hope this helps!

Can you make that just the intersection to be deleted when cutting? Just the part of steel beam/or wall that is common to be deleted ?In AutoCAD the substracted object is deleted. It lets behind a gap in the other one. This tool can be better

Coronel · 6 Jul 2009, 14:16

Great tutorial, thanks

blah238 · 7 Dec 2010, 22:27

Does this work in SketchUp 8?

Gaieus · 8 Dec 2010, 10:14

@blah238 said:

Does this work in SketchUp 8?

Yes, although for SU 8 Pro, with the introduction of Solid tools, it has become sort of obsolete.
Yet for those with SU Free, it is still cheaper than buying Pro of course.

tfdesign · 8 Dec 2010, 13:43

If you can get it to work that is. I couldn't get mine to work.