[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta
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Holy Cow!!! You Rock! I am an artist working in blown glass, and I got into using Sketchup about a year ago to make mock ups of glass installations in homes and other locations. Sketchup has been great at the architecture part, making a niche or what have you works well and looks good. But rendering a blown glass object in sketchup has not been satisfying because the objects are too geometric, and I can't bend them and put the soft contours on the objects. NO LONGER!! This plugin has made my presentation look so much better! Thanks so much for sharing your brainiac coding ways with the rest of us!! I am sure I am being redundant, I see there are lots of comments here, but thanks so much!!
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forgive my ignorance, but can someone tell me exactly how/where to download this plug-in, what else I need to install and how to run? Seems I've clicked on just about everything, but can't find it and its probably staring me in the face. Is there a simple FAQ on this?
thanks,
Larry
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It's on the first page of this thread.
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hi Chris, i don't know if your still working on this or not but, i've been trying to bend this handle with no luck. when i hit enter the ghosted (bent) shape just disappears instead of solidifying??? maybe its a 7.1 problem?
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Hi Rocky,
It does work for me (Zoom to model extents - the resulting geometry - several instances in your model in fact - is much above your initial handle).
Make your models on the ground plane and the result won't fly to the Moon.
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hehehe, yeas, look again, it did work in your model. Like Gai says, hit zoom extents and you will see that the bent version are all floating up above your model.
I have a bug in the code that sometimes puts the finixhed model in the wrong spot. If you model it on theground, then there is no problem. But if you model it off the ground level, then theree are problems. I never noticed until recently.....I'm a pretty lame programmer. I'll add it to my list of things that need to get fixed on this script
Chris
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@gaieus said:
Hi Rocky,
It does work for me (Zoom to model extents - the resulting geometry - several instances in your model in fact - is much above your initial handle).
Make your models on the ground plane and the result won't fly to the Moon.
well i'd usually make it on the ground but in this case i copied a handle from another model then pasted in place so i could bend it then paste in place back in the original. so i though.
Chris, shame on you insulting my favorite programmer.
seriously though you did something no one else acheived and in ver.51 its already one of the must haves out there, thank you. (for your puny earthling efforts 
)PS, i'll expect it fixed by monday at the latest!
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BTW, i figured out how to do it. if you draw or move your line and curve to 0 in the blue axes, the curved model will appear in the right place. the problem seems to be that the curved model is offset (from) the original the same distance the line and curve are offset from the 0 blue.
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Hey, thats great to know. I knew there was a bug, but I had never quit figured out what the problem was. Now I know, it is in how it deals with the z location of the line and arc relative tot he ground plane. Maybe that will make the fix a little bit quicker to get around to - maybe.
Chris
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Hello -
This is an amazing plugin!
I can't seem to get it to work, however, on my computer.
I have Win XP, and SU Pro 7.1.
I've placed all the plugin files in my plugin folder, and installed progressbar.rb as well.
When I run the script (just like is shown in the videos), my group deselects, and the message at the bottom of the SU window says "Please select a single line that lies on the red axis." However, I cannot select the line I've placed on the red axis, and I can't select anything else either. The pointer remains the white style, and I end up having to choose the select tool to reset everything.
Any ideas?
UPDATE:
Here's the error from the Ruby Console:
Error: #<TypeError: cannot convert nil into String>
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:158:increate_cursor' C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:158:inmake_cursors'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:128:inactivate' C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:995:inselect_tool'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:995
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:995:incall' Error: #<TypeError: no implicit conversion from nil to integer> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:165:inset_cursor'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:165:inonSetCursor' Error: #<TypeError: no implicit conversion from nil to integer> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:165:inset_cursor'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:165:inonSetCursor' C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:173:inonMouseMove'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender.rb:165SECOND UPDATE:
My problem was I had all the files in the root plugin folder. This post was all I needed. Thanks again for the amazing plugin.@chris fullmer said:
That sounds like it did not get installed quite right. There should a file called clf_shape_bender.loader.rb in the main plugins folder. Then there should be a folder caled "clf_shape_bender" and inside that folder should exist the files:
clf_shape_bender.png
clf_shape_bender.rb
clf_shape_bender_small.png
curve_pointer.png
default_pointer.png
line_pointer.pngI'm guessing you might have ended up with everything in the main plugins folder. So manually create the clf_shape_bender folder and move all those files above into it, leaving only clf_shape_bender_loader.rb in the main plugins folders.
See if that is by chance the problem and let me know, thanks!
Chris
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Oh good, glad you found that post and were able to get it working.
I'm amazed at how many zip programs do not correctly unzip these plugins. The winzip I have at work is one of these that just ignores all folder and subfolder organization inside of .zip files, and just extracts everything to the same folder - very frustrating. And wreaks havoc on plugins dependent on folder organization...But glad its working. Of course, now you have to deal with all the bugs and issues involved with the script
Chris
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It's worked great so far.
Is the plugin supposed to support bending nested components? I had success initially (with a test piece), and then I froze my computer with a 8'x16' plane filled with ~4,000 1/2" holes.
I made a component out of the 1st 1/2" hole, and copied it to fill the area I needed. I then ran the script to bend my sheet, and it froze up on the "explode" part.
My goal is to make a sheet of corrugated roofing with 1/2" holes all over it.
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@danbig said:
It's worked great so far.
Is the plugin supposed to support bending nested components? I had success initially (with a test piece), and then I froze my computer with a 8'x16' plane filled with ~4,000 1/2" holes.
I made a component out of the 1st 1/2" hole, and copied it to fill the area I needed. I then ran the script to bend my sheet, and it froze up on the "explode" part.
My goal is to make a sheet of corrugated roofing with 1/2" holes all over it.
you may want to use a texture with transparent holes instead! thats a hell of a lot of geometry and calculations for poor ol' sketchup.
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Chris the whole offset issue got me thinking... when you do get back to this plug it would be great if you would look at all the offsets XYZ between the profiles and the group and give the options to place the new object exactly where the old one is, then create a hidden layer for the original group and profiles. just a thought.
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@xrok - that is probably do-able. Is it more desireable to have the new shape go where the original was? I prefer it to go to the curve, because I normally use the curve to line it up correctly to a chunk of geometry I had bent it to match up to. But perhaps others would prefer the new shape to sit on top of the existing shape?
@danbig - Glad its working. It does support nested components. Though a few months ago I realized that the way I am working with them is EXTEMELY innefficient. So 4,000 of the same component could take a very long time to get through, but it should get through them. Even if SU appears frozen, it is still running. It just freezes SU while its processing. But, there is also not really any real reason to have components inside the shape, since once you bend it, they will no longer be identical components. They all get bent and tweaked in sucha way, that they won't be similar to eachother anymore, and therefore are not able to stay as a single component. So to speed it up, you might just explode all those sub components and then bend it.
Chris
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@unknownuser said:
Is it more desireable to have the new shape go where the original was?
for me it is, at least to have the option. like i was doing earlier, take a fridge handle from an opened file cut; paste in place in new file, bend, copy; paste in place original file.
@unknownuser said:
because I normally use the curve to line it up correctly to a chunk of geometry I had bent it to match up to.
that would be good too, but i find it doesn't actually sit on the curve, it offsets from the curve the same amount that the line is away from the group??
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@xrok1 said:
@danbig said:
It's worked great so far.
Is the plugin supposed to support bending nested components? I had success initially (with a test piece), and then I froze my computer with a 8'x16' plane filled with ~4,000 1/2" holes.
I made a component out of the 1st 1/2" hole, and copied it to fill the area I needed. I then ran the script to bend my sheet, and it froze up on the "explode" part.
My goal is to make a sheet of corrugated roofing with 1/2" holes all over it.
you may want to use a texture with transparent holes instead! thats a hell of a lot of geometry and calculations for poor ol' sketchup.
I played with this strategy as well. The problem I ran into is that when the texture is mapped to a corrugated surface, it looks nothing like the original tile I used to create the texture. Maybe I don't understand how SketchUp maps textures?
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@danbig said:
The problem I ran into is that when the texture is mapped to a corrugated surface, it looks nothing like the original tile I used to create the texture. Maybe I don't understand how SketchUp maps textures?
it doesn't
basically, anywhere you have a line (hidden, softened, or visible), the texture will stop and start again on the other side of the line..
in certain situations, it may be possible to achieve what you're after using the eyedropper but i'd have to see the file to see if it would work in your case.
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Hey Chris,
Love your plugins again! I've been trying to play around with shape bender, but unfortunately haven't been able to get it to work. The problem is that it gets stuck after i choose the arc to bend it on and shortly afterwards it asks for me to press enter, however when i do, nothing happens, it just gets stuck at 1% (and i'm repeating the bending of a regular box example). I checked the console and this is what it printed out. Also, the visual bending simulation didn't show up as it did in your videos and every part of the plugin is in the right place - meaning clf_shape_bender_loader.rb is in the main plugins directory while clf_shape_bender has its own folder with the rest of the icons/ruby file. If you would like, i can also supply a screen shot.
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method/' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671:indraw'
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb:671 -
It is not loading correctly for some reason. That looks errors that were given AFTER you had already activated the tool. Try this, open SketchUp. Open the ruby console. Then click on the shape bender tool. Then copy and paste those errors. I think they will be a little different than the ones you psoted here. Hopefully they will give some better insight in to what is going wrong.
Also, if there are any erros that pop up when you first open Sketchup, copy and paste those here as well. Thanks!
Chris
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