[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

charly2008

I'm a little bit confused. That are all the Plugins i have in a PDF-File.

Charly

TIG

So... Chris's tools fall over because one of them hasn't already loaded 'some other menu' when it thinks it has...
Here's a [possible] simple fix... put it into the correct sub-folder...
clf_shape_bender.rb
Chris can sort it 'properly' later...

charly2008

Many thanks TIG. I tried the Shape Bender plugin in SketchUp 8 there it works fine. and now with your update it works again in Sketchup 7.

Charly

Chris Fullmer

Hey TIG, thanks for looking into it. I am without a computer at home for now, so I'm mostly useless. But what was the problem you found? I was able to load shape bender just fine without having any of my other plugins loaded. Did I mess something up in my overly complicated menu system?

TIG

Chris
Wait till you get a proper link in to check what's up... I think it's the way that some of your scripts check if a Plugin is loaded already... I moved the confirmations in that file so each of them is immediately after its the first-run check and its seems to work OK then...
You have over-complicated your menu checking somewhat.... but - hey -join-the-club
It seems to depend on which of your scripts a user has loading... and of course it shouldn't
It's probably an easy fix BUT it probably affects several of your scripts

mariocha

Huh ....
The shape in the attached file makes Shape Bender crash SU.
I tried it several times.
(The line I want to use is hard to see, on the red axis)

branch-o.skp

Dave R

Bug Splat for me, too. Even after I moved the straight line so it lies on the red axis. It works with a simple long, skinny box. Perhaps there's too much geometry in the branch?

jeff hammond

(mac)
works in SU7.. crashes with 8

screen 10.jpg

d12dozr

Worked fine for me, the only thing I did was move the branch up a few inches so I could see the horizontal line. I didn't get the green preview wires like I usually do though.

File is attached.

branch-o.skp

mariocha

Great ! Good idea.
I will try it in v7.
thx a lot.
I guess a small update of the plugin will be needed.

jim smith

I haven't run through all the thread since 8 came on the scene, but it doen't work on my laptop with 8. V7.1, it works just fine. Attached is a screen shot of a simple bend, it seems to start and then stalls at 5%. On my V7.1, it bends in a few seconds. I don't get any error message box on startup or when I start the shape bender.

Chris Fullmer

Looks like I need to poke aroud in this plugin again to get it v8 compatible. I'll see what I can do.

Chris

gullfo

it's working OK for me on SU8 (on fairly complex shapes), but previously on SU7 i had a similar problem and i cleaned things up and removed a number of older plugins and then everything worked OK. i suggest checking to see if you can identify a plugin which may be problematic.

mariocha

Hum... I will check.
In fact yes, on other shapes it worked ok in 8.
Won't be easy to find a non-constant problem.

cheriyan

Thanks for this plugins

gullfo

@jasper.middelberg said:

yet I discovered that bending will stretch the boards...
does anybody know how this can be solved digitally?

i usually pre-calculate the length of the target shape. e.g. if i have a 4' length and need to bend it in a arc, i figure out the length of the arc so the bent object is the correct length.

it might be simpler to use extrude tools to make the outline of the shape and extrude it. or maybe vertex tools could manipulate the grid correctly...

Chris Fullmer

@gullfo said:

i usually pre-calculate the length of the target shape. e.g. if i have a 4' length and need to bend it in a arc, i figure out the length of the arc so the bent object is the correct length.

+1 Measure the line you are bending to first, and make you straight line the exact same length. (this is all funcionality I have planned to add to the next version of this tool if I ever get around to making it). Then make your board the exactly same length also. Then there should be no stretching.

jasper.middelberg

Hello,

perhaps a shot in the dark, hopefully a suggestion or otherwise a cue for anybody that can point me in a good direction to work with this:

An experiment, using standard plywood boards, bolted together.
the idea is that if bending plywood, the structural capacity of the plywood becomes higher,
thus, being able to make a light weight skin roof that can support itself.

Now, my quest is how to bolt a bunch of plywood boards together to form a sort of
conics tipi roof.

I hoped Shapebender would get me there,

draw up a grid of plywood boards and being able to bend them in a desired shape,
in order to find out:

optimum plywood pattern
where to make the bolt holes
where the cutlines would be for top and bottom of the roof

possible workflow:

to bend the plywood boards around a surface,
then to be able to make markings on the different boards,
then to unbend
and have straight boards again for scaled drawings for:
cut patterns and bolting positions

yet I discovered that Shapebender will stretch the boards...
does anybody know how this can be solved?

the idea of bending plywood I found at
http://conicshelter.com/

thank you,

Jasper

below image
left back: started testing bending boards,
front: a preferred conic shape:

'pace_conics_shapebender.jpg

jasper.middelberg

Thank you Chris and Gullfo,

yet, starting point is the standard size of the plywood
and not having to make cuts before hand.

Making use of standard sized plywood,
bend it onto a desired shape,
with an overlap, to be able to determine the boltpositions
and finally know the cutpatterns for top & bottom

I really don't know how this can be modeled in a way it is easy to experiment.
in Sketchup or any 3d software.

yet I guess this workflow might be a bit too much to ask from your plugin,
anyway, I really appreciate your work,

thanks again,

Jasper

Dave R

Jasper, I've been having a think about how to draw a curve of known length to make the path for Shape Bender. It occurred to me that one could draw a straight line of known length and then use the Radial Bend function of Fredo's FredoScale extension to bend it as desired. You can make irregular curves with it, too. If the line you are bending is a copy of one that you leave straight, you then end up with both of the lines required for Shape Bender.

Of course you could also use Radial Bend to bend the 'plywood' panel. In some cases, though, it might be easier to work on a single line and get it bent as desired and use shape Bender to do the final bend.