Sweep 2 Rail
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I really think this is pretty straight forward to do in Ruby.
It really is one for Dr. C Fullmer (of countless cool plugins fame including Simple Loft), but I'll give it a go when I get a chance..
Adam
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You can yet make something
Make a normal loft with the Simple Loft Chris plug (so one curve and the second multi copy along then loft)
Then use the "bend shape" always by Chris with the 3th curve and you will obtain your Sweep 2 rails
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Chris already told me by PM that he will try to incorporate Sweep2Rail into his loft plugin.
He saw this thread when it was created, but he had only written ONE plugin so far and Sweep2Rail looked to be far beyond his abilities.
Incredible how much he has advanced in such a short time!
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Its something I would like to tackle. But it won't be easy or straightorward for me
If Adam or anyone else wants to take a crack at it, go for it!Chris
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@chris fullmer said:
Its something I would like to tackle. But it won't be easy or straightorward for me
Dont underestimate your super programming abilities!
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I agree, go for it! I'm super anxious to see this one come to life in SU; it would make the modelling of more organic shapes very easy, which I'm all for
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I'm about to start looking at something like this on the back of my recent extrudeEdgesByEdges.rb ... Watch this space ...
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i shall stay here refreshing the page..
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@cadfather said:
i shall stay here refreshing the page..
Don't hold your breath... First thing I have to do is to grout the new bathroom wall tiles [oh joy !]...
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just make them into components.. (hope you have a battery of ice cream like me)
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yes.. ..something along the lines.. "look TIG, i'll do the bathroom tiles for you, just go and sit there and get the genius going.. i'll put the kettle on, you just tell me what you need...."
no pressure!
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hate to be a thread necro, but did anyone ever come up with this?
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I believe you can make it now with some Extrude Tool by TIG or Curviloft by Fredo 6
Maybe just make it in 2 times
Here with the Extrude Tool by Rail by Tig
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The tools mentioned in earlier posts needs a collection of edges [welded as curves for most of my EEby... tools]. These are then typically used to make a 'skinned' mesh surface...
You need to read up about each tool in its thread.
The approach to modeling an aircraft in SketchUp is much the same as modeling a car.
There are several videos out there if you search YouTube.
There's even one for a delta-winged plane if I recall rightly...
There's also three inexpensive books available through SCF - see the Shop http://sketchucation.com/shop/books
One thing to bear in mind when making a model is that SketchUp [OpenGL] does not cope well with the creation of very very tiny facets [or very enormous ones either]. So real-size swiss-watch-innards or entire cities are best avoided.
Modeling a car or a plane at 'full-size' is unlikely to present any issues at all since all facets will fall within the limits [~0.5mm].
However, if you attempt to model the same object already 'scaled' down it might sometimes fail and you'll get holes in its meshes, when the facets are occasionally too tiny.
So I recommend you always model it 'full-size' even when the final output is to be scaled [or conversely model temporarily scaled up if the final real-sized object is relatively small - avoiding facet tininess issues - th object be scaled back to the 'real' size afterwards].
When you are done making the car or plane you can always Scale you model down using the Tapemeasure tool [picked-two-points, type in the required new size, then 'yes' to scale model... see the Tapemeasure Help docs]. SketchUp can 'have' tiny facets so scaling them smaller will work, but it can't create them from scratch.
Don't over detail your work - You can adjust an arc's 'segmentation' - but depending on size and accuracy of the final 'manufacturing' adding segments increases mesh facets exponentially, so be wary...
Also when modeling complex forms use a simple Style [no line-extensions etc], have textures switched 'off' and 'no shadows', also only have the Outliner window open when you need it - all of which will slow zooms/pans/refreshes etc.
Also use Monochrome mode to check that your faces are correctly oriented - the blue 'backs' should always be inside objects.
Use components for reused objects - e.g. symmetrical halves of an objects 'body'. This will avoid remaking the same thing twice - this approach and the using of Images of plans/sections/elevations to use as an underlay when modeling are covered in several of the tutorials mentioned above.
There are also some inexpensive tools like Artisan, Vertex-Tools etc that allow precise tweaks to 'organic' forms - but I suggest you get to grips with the basic native-tool methods before experimenting with those...You have picked a bad time to start a thread like this - many of us are off to Boulder CO - to SketchUp's HQ - for "Basecamp": so for the next week or so there will be fewer 'experts' available - but I'm sure some of those staying at home will help you...
This is my last post here before I head off to the airport for 12+ hours of traveling
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No doubt that this guy Liam887 can help you (alas for him he can't go to Boulder)
Take a look at its Gallery! (3 pages! )The more verstatile plugs for your project will be curviloft by Fredo6 or Extrude tools by Tig
and if you want some subdivisions take the Artisan PluginI suggest that you start a special thread something like
"How to draw a Boeing" it will be more visited than this end thread of 2 Rails oneBy Liam887
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Yes, this project is sincere and will be utilized in competitive flying scale modeling.
I appreciate every expert contribution to assist me achieve the "utility" functionality
I need as the last "component" in my virtual tool box.Thank you for your expert feedback!
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Wonderful to find rail sweep as a SketchUp forum topic. I am a flying scale modeler desiring to utilize SketchUp to generate 3D image files with which to CNC mill components which would otherwise be too difficult to create via hot wiring Dow Highload 60 Styrofoam.While I am no stranger to either CAD or utilization of foam with respect to creating an accurate scale model for competitive flying use, I desire to reduce my dependency on the use of another person to do what I consider baseline lofting...yet continually turns into more than a challenge to get someone else to complete in a timely fashion. Key word, timely
I have been creating scale aircraft from photographic and line art renderings for 40+ years. This has me creating cross or half-cross sections of an aircraft's fuselage or other airframe component and aligning these along the length of the airframe from nose to tail, and left to right across the beam.
A series of datum lines provide alignment guides fore to aft and each cross section has a vertical constraint of the perimeter of a line drawing along which the cross or half cross section is positioned...following aircraft manufacturer's bulkhead/former station index. These indexes typically begin ahead of the airframe at 000.0000 and end beyond the rear most point of the airframe to enable a grid across which an airframe evolves...aka grows in length and width.
An example of my master for railing appears below: There are two desired railings in this master drawing workup. (1) The frontend from just ahead of the wing intersect with the fuselage, (2) The rearend from ahead of the intersect with the vertical fin and fuselage to the rear of the plane. The airframe is divided into milled and hotwired sections. The fuselage has the two (2) milled sections described above.
As you can see we strive to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, with this aircraft there are only two surviving engineered drawings. All other drawings are artist renderings. Most people don't realize manufacturers rarely create a composite drawing to scale. They create marketing composites but almost never draw a composite with actual scale proportions.
Typical aircraft drawings often referenced as threeviews/3VUs/three-views, multiple view drawings are not accurate enough to create a model from. A common problem is lengths and widths of each drawing perspective does not match others shown in the same drawing
I know that may shock many of you...its not often I find people who bother to compare one dim from perspective to perspective... Ultimately, I desire to loft to a solid which can be "edited" in SolidWorks 3D as that is the typical tool used in an industrial environment where CNC milling occurs.
Can someone take a moment to reply as to how this can be achieved with SketchUp, either the freebee or Pro with a "minimum" of manipulation... Key word, minimum.
Literally, I would like to go from a 2D compilation into a another editor to render it a transparent .tif...or other format, then place each half for full cross section along rails at an explicit location left to right with the side view of the airframe component laying beneath the rails for alignment purposes...(fore~aft and a from above or below view (when necessary). "Then" let SketchUp loft/rail/render/extrude...which ever term you wish to call it.....yield a multiple dim 3D solid image.
Thanking you in advance for your valuable time...
As a point of reference I provide a dims index for the two B-47's I am constructing. I hope this tends to put some meat on my inquiry so you guys don't think this is BS.
Please, instead of plopping down an app or workaround name...please explain how they can achieve what I desire to achieve. Remember this is to occur "all" within SketchUp as a best practices solution...
There are 2 airframes to portray 3 Boeing B-47's... Think about that for a moment...
The 1000th #1 below, and #3 are to be the same base airframe with exchangable components permitting two completely different BuNo aircraft to be represented with a single model.This is being done to permit me to expand upon the flight plans of the "typical" mission flown by the B-47 to include the two most unique maneuvers flown with these aircraft. The B-47 was the United States' first jet bomber and the first production swept wing bomber.
The L.A.B.S. maneuver is the Low Altitude Bombing System
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Nice aircraft !
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