TubeAlongPath plugin Help
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Well, I suppose I might as well introduce myself first. My name is Chris and I have been using Sketch Up for well over a year and I am trying to get into the more highly advanced modelling techniques available through Sketch Up. For the most part, I specialize in designing trophy Trucks and Prerunners. Therefore I deal with a lot of 3-D tube work. Up until this point I have been forced to draw a circle on top of each section of the wire framed model. From there I have to push/pull or follow me(depending on the type of line) along the section. This is very tedious and time consuming. Also very difficult on lines that are aligned between two axies. Recently, I discovered Plug-ins and I found the TubeAlongPath Plug-in. This is an awesome utility. However, the tube follows the line through its center. Unfortunately, I need the tube to follow the line along its base. So, my question is how can I change the ruby code of the plugin to force the tube to follow the line along its base instead of with a "centroid" orientation?
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Welcome aboard, CDC.
If you're using lines2tubes.rb by Didier Bur, you could just run the script to create a big tube aligned to the start of your path and use it to properly align a circle or profile that you will then use with the followme tool.
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i'm not sure if this can be done, i've never used the plugin myself. but, if no one in the know chimes in you may want to try copying your your original path upwards by the radius of your tube then use that as your path.
you may also want to look at this: http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder as it may do what you need. it is a pay plugin $29, but if it works for you i'm sure it will pay for itself in the first 5 minutes.
maybe Whaat(author) could chime in and inform us if ProfileBuilder will in fact allow this offset. i'm sure if it doesn't he would be open to adding this feature. (if it doesn't require require a complete rebuild
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i just went over to Smustard to check out ProfileBuilder again and noticed this:
Features
* Ability to define and save custom profiles * Intelligent modelling of real building materials * Automatic orientation of profile extrusion along any path * Ability to edit a path and automatically update the extrusion * Full control of profile orientation (placement point, rotation, offsets, etc.) along a path * Profile Member Path Inferencing (PMPI) * Automatic edge smoothing * Export material quantity reports * Downloadable profile librariesso i guess that answers some questions.
PS i'm buying it now, i can't resist any longer!
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@unknownuser said:
If you're using lines2tubes.rb by Didier Bur, you could just run the script to create a big tube aligned to the start of your path and use it to properly align a circle or profile that you will then use with the followme tool.
How extract the "base line" of the Big cylinder?
An image or a little file will be friendly
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Ok, here are the images.
Draw your path in 3D space, and convert it to cylinders using "precision = 4". This will give you a diamond-shape. Go to the start of your path (it is very important to do it in the start of your path) and with a couple guide lines you can draw any profile you want...
And then, after deleting the reference tubes, use good old FollowMe to finish the job.
It was Gaieus who suggested this trick in another thread about a week ago.
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Thx, many more clear now
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Thank you all for the suggestions. To Equadorian, I also downloaded and used Lines2Tubes.rb first. The result was nearly identical. The way I have my model wire framed, the resultant extrusions are messy at the joints because they are skewed in one direction by the length of the tube radius. It also messes up my overall dimensions. I have tried creating tubes and using the follow me like you described many times but it is very time consuming and requires a ton of clean up. And to all, I did find a handy script called Taper Maker. It allows you to create tapered or straight extrusions in any size and shape, AND define what path the shape will take along your line whether it be top, bottom, left, or right. However, you can only perform this action on connected lines. You cant select an entire caged truck chassis (like in my case) and tell it to tube it. But its a good start.
If anyone has any other suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to find out if I can edit the existing code of an rb script and get it to do what I want. Thanks again for the suggestions. -
Hi CDC, hi folks.
Can you post a picture or a sketch (JPG or whatever) showing what you want to acheive. There might be some tricks to do its simply.
Just ideas.
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@CDC: Sorry, forgot to tell you that I connected my lines with the "Weld" script. I use the version embedded in the SCF PowerToolbar by CadFather, which thankfully hasn't been taken down yet:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=14770&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=powertoolbar -
Thanks everyone for the advice. I am downloading the toolbar as I type. And here are a couple of pictures of my project so far. It is extremely complex and by the pictures it will be apparent why I am having problems. It would almost be easier to actually build this truck in real life.
What I want to do is select the entire frame and tell it where and how I want it to render the tubing. Ive been able to get close to that idea with taper maker but I can only do certain lines at once.
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you definatly need this: http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder . did you check out the video?
its too bad there isn't a demo.
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I did check out the video for Profile Builder. That is some pretty incredible stuff. It looks like it is exactly what I need and then some. I just need to come up with some money and buy it. Did you happen to try it out?
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no actually i had a run in with paypal when i tried to purchase it and i'm still trying to work it out. has anyone heard of some stupid "security model program" that paypal runs and sometimes it decides you can't make a certain purchase but askes you to set up a bank account instead of you credit card and the phone techs claim they can't over ride it BLA BLA... it sounds like the MATRIX or something. rediculous! anyway i informed Smustard and their pretty pissed too and looking into it!
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@xrok1 said:
no actually i had a run in with paypal when i tried to purchase it and i'm still trying to work it out. has anyone heard of some stupid "security model program" that paypal runs and sometimes it decides you can't make a certain purchase and the phone techs claim they can't over ride it BLA BLA... it sounds like the MATRIX or something. rediculous! anyway i informed Smustard and their pretty pissed too and looking into it!
I have never heard oi that problem involving paypal. That's interesting. I have really only dealt with paypal involving ebay purchases. On another note, I was just looking at that tool bar that Equadorian suggested and it might be a partial answer for my problems. I just need to install it and see what happens. Im just waiting for one of these scripts to mess up my files. I hope not.
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@xrok1 said:
no actually i had a run in with paypal when i tried to purchase it and i'm still trying to work it out. has anyone heard of some stupid "security model program" that paypal runs and sometimes it decides you can't make a certain purchase but askes you to set up a bank account instead of you credit card and the phone techs claim they can't over ride it BLA BLA... it sounds like the MATRIX or something. rediculous! anyway i informed Smustard and their pretty pissed too and looking into it!
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Mmmm.... I've used Paypal since 2005 with no problems. Of course, when you're new, you do need to verify your data before making any purchase above $20. They simply make a small charge (less than two bucks) to your CC and a code appears in your next CC statement. You input that code in your Paypal account and voilá! Your identity has been verified. You only have to do it once and forget about it. Of course, you need patience. This video will help you understand this concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6widIfpgIbUOr at least that's how things worked back in 2005...
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@ecuadorian said:
Mmmm.... I've used Paypal since 2005 with no problems. Of course, when you're new, you do need to verify your data before making any purchase above $20. They simply make a small charge (less than two bucks) to your CC and a code appears in your next CC statement. You input that code in your Paypal account and voilá! Your identity has been verified. You only have to do it once and forget about it. Of course, you need patience. This video will help you understand this concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6widIfpgIbUOr at least that's how things worked back in 2005...
Ok so I tried out that toolbar, and unfortunatley it will not allow me to specify the path of the tube. It will allow me to specify path for the rectangle extrusion. Weird. Also when I type in the O.D. and I.D. with 1.5 and 1.375 it tells me that there is an invalid integer entered. It only allows me to create solid tubes. Whats going on here?
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CDC, what are you talking about? ProfileBuilder or tubealongpath?
Ecuadorian, that would make sense but why did i go through two different paypal operators over the phone and they gave me some bullshit "security model program" speal. if your right ;which sounds very likely considering i didn't have a problem buying booltool $10; they should fire stupid support staff that don't know the most basic things.
maybe you could go to smustard and click buy now on profilebuilder then log into paypal ;don't click purchase; to see if you get the add bank account dialog?
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In my country, Paypal does not work with local bank accounts (only CC or US bank accounts), so it's not likely to ask for anything like that.
And yes, most big companies have poor tech support. I've had similar experiences with my ISP, cell phone company, hosting provider, etc... Your best option is to peruse the help files yourself.
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