[Plugin][$] FredoScale - v3.6a - 01 Apr 24

fredo6

fredo, would it be possible to allow users to enter a distance in the VCB once the bend tool has been anchored ie: i select a group, activate the bend tool, now while im dragging the purple line to indicate the extent of the bended area, it would be nice if this line snapped to axis and i could enter a distance for this line as to match the geometry to an existing curve, given that i know the length of the curve i am matching the geometry to

Interesting idea. I think this is feasible, and I'll try to include it in a next version.

Fredo

fredo6

@daniel s said:

I dont know if its difficult to add more features to this plugin. But a good option for the bend will be to press CTRL and the plugin bend symmetrically around the center.
Daniel S

Daniel,

The difficulty is always to make sure I do not break anything.
Another good idea, but requires a little bit of work and testing. I'll see what I can do.

Fredo

wrecknball

Fredo,

I popped these into my plugins folder and when I open SU I get this error. Quite possible I did not install them in the correct place.

Any ideas? Anyone?

Thanks.

Picture 1.png

wrecknball

Here are the file locations...

Picture 2.png

fredo6

@wrecknball said:

Fredo,

I popped these into my plugins folder and when I open SU I get this error. Quite possible I did not install them in the correct place.

Any ideas? Anyone?

Thanks.

Just create manually a directory DEFPARAM_Dirin your Sketchup Plugins folder. Then restart Sketchup and it should work.
On Mac, it seems that in some situations, the system does not give permission to create folders via script.

Fredo

PS: Please respect the spelling of the directory name

wrecknball

Excuse my ignorance. What do you mean create a directory? A new folder to put them in?

Thanks for the quick reply.

fredo6

@wrecknball said:

Excuse my ignorance. What do you mean create a directory? A new folder to put them in?

Thanks for the quick reply.
Just create an empty folder with the name DEFPARAM_Dirin the Sketchup Plugins folder.
Do not touch the other files and folders, your installation is OK.

The script should normally create the folder DEFPARAM_Dir automatically, but it does not seem to have access rights to do so.

wrecknball

Thanks Fredo. Still waiting on my !@#$%^& admin person to come and type her password in. uggghhh.

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

@wrecknball said:

Fredo,

I popped these into my plugins folder and when I open SU I get this error. Quite possible I did not install them in the correct place.

Any ideas? Anyone?

Thanks.

On Mac, it seems that in some situations, the system does not give permission to create folders via script.

i noticed by shawn's screenshots that he's using tiger (osx 10.4.xx) so i tried installing freescale on a laptop of mine that has tiger & SU 6.4.120 to see if that was the issue.

it's not.. the directory was still created automatically.. i'm now wondering what can be the cause.

Shawn, are you working from an admin account? (you can check by going System Preferences/System/Accounts.. your user name will say 'Admin' underneath it.)

[EDIT] -- ok, so i just removed the directory from my plugins folder and then logged on as a guest user.. when i tried starting sketchup from the guest account, i received the same message as shawn.. os x will not allow the directory to be created unless you have sufficient permissions to do so..

and yes, after manually placing a folder named DEFPARAM_Dir in the sketchup plugins folder, everything worked as expected.

(all of which required me to enter the system password along the way (ie- i had to enter the password in order to move the DEFPARAM_Dir into the sketchup plugins folder etc.)

fredo6

Security is always an issue, because the plugins are installed in a directory assimilated to the System zone. This is the same on Windows Vista, where the system even creates shadow folders elsewhere.

My questions is then: how do you copy the script files.
Maye I should include an empty DEFPARAM_Dir in the distribution?

Fredo

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

Security is always an issue, because the plugins are installed in a directory assimilated to the System zone. This is the same on Windows Vista, where the system even creates shadow folders elsewhere.

My questions is then: how do you copy the script files.
Maye I should include an empty DEFPARAM_Dir in the distribution?

Fredo

well, no.. that wouldn't work either.. you still couldn't move the files around without admin permissions..

in shawn's case for instance, his boss(?) already had to enter her password for him to move the freescale and libfredo files into place.. unfortunately for him, she walked away before realizing he needed another folder in there (but if she were moving things around via her admin account, the directory would have been created automatically)

she can however give him/his account permission to install apps etc. while still being the main administrator for the computer but apparently, that's not the case.. it's like my girlfriend's work computer(windows).. all she can do with it is run the apps that are already on it, browse the web/email etc.. nothing else though

[edit] and i should add -- when logged into OS X with a non admin account, there is no user/library/application support/google sketchup

so, shawn couldn't have even gone in that direction either..

if you're going to be putting anything other than simple files or files that you have permissions to use on os x, you need to have root level control or admin approval to do so.

torben.wadlinger

But you can create a personal plugin-folder under ~/Library/Application Support/Sketchup X and throw all your plug-ins into. SU will recognize that folder when starting up. And voila, no trouble with permissions!

wrecknball

@unknownuser said:

by torben.wadlinger on Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:02 pm

But you can create a personal plugin-folder under ~/Library/Application Support/Sketchup X and throw all your plug-ins into. SU will recognize that folder when starting up. And voila, no trouble with permissions!

eeeeeeeeeexcept I need permissions to modify the app support folder. meh.

Thanks again for the timesaving plugins Fredo. maybe one day I will be able to use them....

xrok1

i used to make a c:\progs directory and install stuff there instead, less hastle. or at work where we weren't allowed to install anything i found that you could use c:\temp without problems
of course i'm not talking about plugins i'm talking about the whole program (then of course plugins by association).

TIG

Beware of using C:\Temp... It could be unexpectedly emptied by an admin's batch file...

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

And the other thing I hope you will add in a next version is allowing for the Bend tool to align itself to a plane, without having to use a surface. That is possible with the regular Rotate tool, where you orbit the scene so it aligns itself to a particular plane. That doesn't work with your Bend tool though.
My workaround is to draw a temporary surface so I can align the tool how I want it to.

hey Coen..

try the arrow keys.. up will lock it to blue.. right - red.. left - green.. down reset

[edit] by lock i mean -- you don't have to hold the arrow key down to maintain its orientation.. just push the left arrow once and it will stay green no matter how you orbit the model around.. it's quite nice

fredo6

Coen,

Thanks for your encouragements and good impressions.
regarding the Protractor tool and bend, and in addition to the Arrow keys, I have implemented a mimic of a Sketchup native feature which I was totally ignorant about, as signaled by Daniel (see http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=17948&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=105#p144652). Is this what you talk about?

Fredo

fredo6

@unknownuser said:

The scale lines on the tools are rather thick. I'd much more prefer them the same thickness as the regular scale tool. I didn't find any settings in that global settings utility to change it.

I know, and I am not terribly happy about that. The reason is that the drawing method for lines in 3D space does not superimpose to the model, so that with thinner line, the selection box may be hidden by the Sketchup selection and the edges of the model.
But I can put a default value for it that can be changed by the user, as you suggested.

Daniel S

@unknownuser said:

*And the other thing I hope you will add in a next version is allowing for the Bend tool to align itself to a plane, without having to use a surface. That is possible with the regular Rotate tool, where you orbit the scene so it aligns itself to a particular plane. That doesn't work with your Bend tool though.
My workaround is to draw a temporary surface so I can align the tool how I want it to.

Not sure, but I think that he talks about this option:

aligntoplane

Daniel S

fredo6

Daniel,

Another magic secret that I did not know (am I the only one?)
What is the logic?

Fred