Geometric Tools
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I am new to SketchUp. I am wondering if there are preset geometric tools (Cube, sphere, cone, cylinder) avalible in SketchUp like the ones avalible in formZ, Bonzai and other 3D modeling programs.
I looked around SketchUp's interface and I didn't see tools like these so I thought that I'd ask.
Thank you,
John -
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i like the shapes and toolbar that come with sketchy physics.
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The slightly longer answer is that there isnt nay primitives in SU because its so easy to make them yourself, and they'll be the right size as well.
As everyones mentioned there are a few plugins available for making primitives, though.
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You can also search for them in the components dialog.
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These are the old 'shape' toolset made some years ago - they still work.
Unzip and put all 3*** of the files into your SUp plugins folder and you get a 'Shapes...' sub-menu under 'Draw'.
*** There are two versions of 'Shapes' for metric and imperial users. Only put in one of these rubies - ShapesMM.rb is metric(mm) and ShapesINS.rb is in inches. If you put in both you'll get two identical sub-menus but both with metric default values since the MM one loads last and overwrites the INS !There's a list of the basic shapes then available:
Box
Cylinder
Cone
Torus
Tube
Prism
Pyramid
Dome
Sphere [I added the sphere to @Last's original list].The created shape is made inside a group and it is 'parametric' - select it and right-click context-menu to Edit its values later on as needed. You can explode it back to it's base geometry but then it will have these values 'frozen'...
The 'parametric.rb' and 'mesh_additions.rb' rubies are needed to make the whole thing work.
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Hi, Honolulu:
I was looking at Wikipedia's info on Solid vs Surface modelers after that debate between Solo and hebrides, and it quickly got over my head. This question makes me wonder whether SU can be expanded improved any further.
I think you meant in your second sentence that SU is a surface modeler. I think this is intentional to keep the program simple and more accessible--originally for architectural visualization. I am not sure if Blender is a solid modeler or a surface modeler, but it relies on vertices, edges, and faces. What it lacks is a graphic input method like sketchup, albeit there is a plugin for Blender available from an Italian guy.
Sometimes if you really push SU, you can get edgeless faces, in other words SU forgets to draw a line along the edge of the face.
Anyway, I wish I did understand all of this better.
Best Regards, mitcorb -
John, if were going too off topic tell us to shut up and start a new thread.
Mitcorb, it sounds like your talking about NURBS modelling Vs. polygon modelling. NURBS comes in a few different forms, namely surface modellers and solid modellers. The important thing to remember here is that every surface in a NURBS modeller is represented by a series of mathematical curves.
polygon modelling on the other hand can only handle straight edges and flat surfaces. this is why a circle in SU isnt actually a circle, its a polygon with lots of sides.
The important distinction to make is that NURBS surfaces and polygon surfaces are different beasts. Polygon surfaces can only be flat (and in some programs they can only have a limited number of edges) whereas the only restriction on a NURBS surface is that it must be able to be expressed in terms of maths.
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Thanks, Remus.
And I didn't mean to drag this too far afield. Thanks for the hint.
mitcorb -
It is my understanding that, cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinder are primitives of a solid modeler. SU is a surface modeler, and its primitives are surfaces.
When we draw a cube in SU, it is hollow. Technically, a surface has no third dimension (it has no thickness). In a solid modeler, the cube is filled. A pure solid modeler has no surfaces. Accordingly, a pure surface modeler would have no lines. In SU, a edge is a property of the surface, I don't think an edge was meant to be a line. A line is a primitive of a vector modeler.
The most sophisticated modelers are hybrids; including some vector, surface, and solid entities. In that sense, a SU lines (left when you erase a surface face) make SU a hybrid modeler, but without solid modeler primitives.
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Thanks Mitcorb. Hope I didn't confuse too many readers. The only reason I am familiar with this stuff is that I used a solid modeler before switching to SU.
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