[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

[TeKnoel]

Great update to one of my favorite plugins! Thanks Chris

[Judy Nielsen]

@chris fullmer said:

If you feel the plugin is installed correctly, and still can not select the red line, you might need to reset the model axis. The script only recognizes the original red axis. So try activating the select tool, then right click on the red axis and choose "Reset Axis". Then realign your items to be bent to that axis. If the option to reset axis is greyed out, then that means the axis already is correct, and the problem is something else. Good luck,

Chris

I also am having a problem selecting the red line. The plug in is there and seems to be activated. I tried resetting the red axis and the option was grayed out. I tried opening a new document created a rectangle, grouped it, created a parallel line on the red axis, created a curved line parallel to the rectangle. I then selected the rectangle but can not go any further. I am working on a mac. Any ideas? I would really like to use the Shape Bender plug in. I have to create multi curved tubing.

Thanks for any help.

Judy

[August]

@judy nielsen said:

[... I then selected the rectangle but can not go any further. ...

Just to be redundant, just in case:

Select the group containing the rectangle, then select the Shape Bender tool.

Then select the Guide Line, then the Target Line.

I hope this helps.

[Chris Fullmer]

Also you can upload your test model to the forum here and we can look at it and see if there is anything wrong with the set up. Once we determine if the model is correct, we can troubleshoot the rest of the script

Chris

[Judy Nielsen]

@chris fullmer said:

Also you can upload your test model to the forum here and we can look at it and see if there is anything wrong with the set up. Once we determine if the model is correct, we can troubleshoot the rest of the script

Chris

I have tried all I can think of. Attached it a sample file.

Thanks

Judy

---

this is a simple test to see if my set up is ok.

[August]

@judy nielsen said:

... Attached is a sample file.

I have opened your file and at first I thought there is an extra edge at the top near edge of your rectangle group, outside the group. But it turns out that you have two identical groups on top of each other.

But that shouldn't matter. Either you have just one of those selected when you activate the tool or the tool should give you an error message.

After activating the tool you get a cursor with a horizontal line and a prompt at the bottom of the window telling you to select the Guide Line. After you select the Guide Line, the cursor changes to have a bent line and the Start and End of the Guide Line are identified.

Click the Target Curve and the tool computes for a little while and then shows you the mapping of it's proposed bend. Sometimes this is not right. The arrow keys let you change mapping modes.

There are some important points to notice in this this mapping:

• The number of segments that the Source Group is devided into is the number of segments of the Target Curve.
• The distance between the Guide Line and the Source Group will be the same as the distance between the Target Curve and the Result Group.
• The mapping from the Guide Line to the Source Group is done perpendicular to the Red axis.

Press Enter to accept the Proposed Bend.

You said you were trying to create multiple bends in tubing. (I presume the various Follow Me tools, the original SU version and the Ruby enhancements, are not working for you for some reason.) Here is what happens if the Guide Line is shorter than the Source Group:

I think that's a very tubing-like bend.

If the Guide Line is longer than the Source Group, you get this kind of thing:

I have used this when I was wrapping text around a circle to allow a little space between words.

This was all done in your model file. I didn't even remove the extra component.

If this is not working for you, please let us know EXACTLY what is happening for you. Can you get the error message as in the second image above?

I hope this helps,
August

[Judy Nielsen]

Thanks for the response. I am not getting the error message in the second step nor am I getting the cursor with a horizontal line and a prompt at the bottom of the window telling me to select the Guide Line. All I get after selecting the component to bent is the cursor pointer. I can't select any thing. I have to reselect the selection tool to get out of shape bender. Are you working on a Mac or pc? I am working on a Mac.
Thanks

Judy

@august said:

@judy nielsen said:

... Attached is a sample file.

I have opened your file and at first I thought there is an extra edge at the top near edge of your rectangle group, outside the group. But it turns out that you have two identical groups on top of each other.

[attachment=6:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia6 -->Judy Bender_sample 00.PNG<!-- ia6 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]

But that shouldn't matter. Either you have just one of those selected when you activate the tool or the tool should give you an error message.

[attachment=5:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia5 -->Judy Bender_sample 01.PNG<!-- ia5 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]

After activating the tool you get a cursor with a horizontal line and a prompt at the bottom of the window telling you to select the Guide Line. After you select the Guide Line, the cursor changes to have a bent line and the Start and End of the Guide Line are identified.

[attachment=4:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia4 -->Judy Bender_sample 02.PNG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]

Click the Target Curve and the tool computes for a little while and then shows you the mapping of it's proposed bend. Sometimes this is not right. The arrow keys let you change mapping modes.

[attachment=3:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia3 -->Judy Bender_sample 03.PNG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]

There are some important points to notice in this this mapping:

• The number of segments that the Source Group is devided into is the number of segments of the Target Curve.
• The distance between the Guide Line and the Source Group will be the same as the distance between the Target Curve and the Result Group.
• The mapping from the Guide Line to the Source Group is done perpendicular to the Red axis.

Press Enter to accept the Proposed Bend.

[attachment=2:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia2 -->Judy Bender_sample 04.PNG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]

You said you were trying to create multiple bends in tubing. (I presume the various Follow Me tools, the original SU version and the Ruby enhancements, are not working for you for some reason.) Here is what happens if the Guide Line is shorter than the Source Group:

[attachment=1:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia1 -->Judy Bender_sample 05.PNG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]
I think that's a very tubing-like bend.

If the Guide Line is longer than the Source Group, you get this kind of thing:

[attachment=0:2f1c1pv9]<!-- ia0 -->Judy Bender_sample 06.PNG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:2f1c1pv9]
I have used this when I was wrapping text around a circle to allow a little space between words.

This was all done in your model file. I didn't even remove the extra component.

If this is not working for you, please let us know EXACTLY what is happening for you. Can you get the error message as in the second image above?

I hope this helps,
August

[August]

@judy nielsen said:

I am not getting the error message in the second step

Let's start there. If you can't get there, the tool is not working.

Do you have the Shape Bender button in your Toolbar?

If not, the script is not loading properly and we need to go back to the script installation.

If you do have the tool button, try clicking it with nothing selected. Do you get the error message?

Try deliberately selecting two objects, then click the tool button. Do you get the error message?

If you have the tool button but cannot get error messages, something is wrong.

Sorry this is a slow process, but I cannot look over your shoulder. I hope it is as simple as a glitch somewhere in the sequence:
What you are doing >> What you are writing >> What I am reading >> What I am imagining

August

[Paul_Marsh]

I am also having the same problem. When prompted 'Please select a single line that lies on the red axis' is simply won't let me select the line???

[August]

@paul_marsh said:

... When prompted 'Please select a single line that lies on the red axis' is simply won't let me select the line???

Hi Paul,

If you are getting the prompt, I presume the script is installed properly and you have a group properly selected, and I assume there is indeed a line that you are trying to select, so I don't know what to suggest.

Over to you, Chris --- (or someone else) ---

[TIG]

You should not be inside a Group/Component Edit.
Is the target a Group of Component Instance placed in the Model ?

Can you select the Line normally outside of the Tool ?
Is it a plain 'line'.
Is the target curve a 'curve'.

Why not post the simple model...

[Chris Fullmer]

Yup, eaxctly all those things. Also, you can open the Ruby Console before running the plugin. It will display error messages if something is going wrong. Please copy and paste those here to this forum if you get any.

Thanks,

Chris

[crsrma]

Hi there, I'm having a bit of trouble with this plugin myself. It goes so far as to select the component, the red axis line, and the curve but then it halts at the progress bar. I checked the ruby console for errors and it repeats this as I move my mouse around the screen:

Error; #<ArgumentError; comparison of Float with nil failed>
(eval);44;in `>'
(eval);44;in `update'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;538;in `exploder'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;529;in `each'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;529;in `exploder'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;247;in `onLButtonUp'
Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `/' for nil;NilClass>
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;676;in `draw'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;529
Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `/' for nil;NilClass>
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;676;in `draw'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;676
Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `/' for nil;NilClass>
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;676;in `draw'
C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/clf_shape_bender/clf_shape_bender.rb;676
Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `/' for nil;NilClass>

I'm on WinXP with Sketchup 7.1 and made sure to update progressbar.rb as well.

[Chris Fullmer]

I think that might the be the component spray issue. If you have component spray plugin installed, please go and re-download it. There is a newer version that hopefully fix the problem. You can search for it, or just scan through the last few pages. I think it was linked to recently in this thread,

Chris

[crsrma]

Oh, sorry if that was covered already, that did fix it. Thanks, it's working great now, bending walls like magic.

[Chris Fullmer]

Not a roblem, glad it worked! I like when it is something that I know ow to fix, as opposed to the people who turn every once in a while with something I'm completely confounded by

Chris

[denZ]

why i cant use shape bender?
is it work on mac?
when i select the component, there is no "start" and "end" on my component

[Chris Fullmer]

Yes, it works on a Mac as far as I know.

Select a component, then run the plugin. Then select the lines, then you get the start and end nots. Make sure you've watched the videos at the start of the thread, then come back and ask more questions if it is not working. Please also post the model you are testing it on.

Chris

[brookefox]

An appropriate use came my way: adding a metal cover to a cistern.

Thank you, Chris.

Well, live and learn. In this case, mapping a shape which should be precisely shaped and sized, to a circle, would be better done (by me) via copy array than with the bender, as it is easier and more precise. But I bet you can't tell which is which in the jpg. You could in the skp.

(The first try as shown in the first image has been removed; tries 2 and 3 are shown in image 3.)

[antli]

I just download and try this, perfect & bravo, it help really a lot, a million thanks to Chris.