[Plugin] Shape Bender Beta

Chris Fullmer

I'm going to guess its an installation problem - cursor icons in the wrong spot. That seems to be the main reason people can't select things.

You can open the Ruby Console and see if it gives any errors while running the script. Then copy and paste them back here for us to read.

I might just need to update shape bender with a quick fix to have it verify that it was installed correctly - subfolder, and files in the right spot. Maybe it can even move them around they are in the wrong spot. And check that progressbar is installed. And then I suppose it would be easy enough to tell people that their line is not on the red axis.

I think those couple of fixes would be enough to save ourselves (and TIG and Dave in particular) some serious headaches. I think 56 of the 58 pages all revolve around installation ("copy and paste") issues.

Chris

Dave R

Chris, it would be great if you could get the plugin to repair itself. You're right about the installation problems. Of course yours isn't the only plugin that folks don't install correctly.

nnguyen2288

Hi guys

I'm having a problem with the shape bender plugin and I can't seem to figure out what is going on. I am working with a file I downloaded off the 3d warehouse and whenever I try to use the shape bender plugin it rotates the object rather than bending it. The screenshot shows you what I am talking about. The plugin works fine on other files so it appears to be something about this particular file. I figured it could be something with the axes, but I can't find a solution. Any suggestions???

TIG

Try placing the instance, line and curve in the +ve quadrant = solid red/green.
And retry...
Also is the object a reasonable size ??

Chris Fullmer

Yeah, I think I agree. Rotate the whole bending setup 180 degrees and move it into the positive red and positive green quadrant. That will probably help.

nnguyen2288

It worked! How foolish of me. In terms of whether the piece is reasonably sized or not... it was just a test. Actually trying to do a coiled wire that runs along an arc. This will help greatly. Thank you for your help

markitekt

I'm getting this error from Ruby on this;
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method `/' for nil:NilClass>
I'm no Ruby guy, but this seems to be a method error.
Any ideas?
Mark P.

Chris Fullmer

Interesting, I need a little bit more. The other lines in the error are also helpful as they give the context of the problem - what line of code returned the error, and what method called it. So maybe could you post those extra lines of error code?

Also, what are you doing when they error occurs? As soon as you press the icon? or when you try to select the line? Thanks!

Chris

PS - didn't you used to have a lot more than just 21 posts?

TIG

The tool's code only contains a / as an operator in the following five lines...
#458 @x_scale_factor = @arc_total_length / @line_total_length
#467 @p_fac = (@line_total_length.to_f / @arc_total_length.to_f) #This gets the percentage multiplier for each curve segment length to get scaled for the line
#676 @offset = @y_total / 6
#830 loop_times = (@preview_poss.length / 2 )
#931 first_weight = weight_point /@line_lengths[corresponding_edge]
So the reference that's unexpectedly nil has to be one of three
@line_total_length @arc_total_length.to_f @line_lengths[corresponding_edge]
I suspect faulty line/curve set up ?

Chris Fullmer

I think that is a good guess TIG.

Corb

This plugin is just great !
I am using it to make a curved structural cage in front of a building.
A bit like Prada building in Tokyo, by HdeM, but the cage is separated from the facade.
It does not work always on very complex shapes but it's incredibly useful !!!
Many thanks indeed !

Chris Fullmer

Woohoo! I love it when it works, thanks for sharing!

Chris

kagazwala

Hello Everyone!!!

I have a little problem.

I select a Group shape then clicked the shape bender icon.
Selected a straight line along the red axis of the same size as the group.
Selected the curved path.

Wallah !!! it bent the shape as desired.

But now when I press Enter Key to commit changes everything goes back to point 0. nothing happens

What am I doing wrong.

Please help

Regards
Kagazwala

TIG

Press ENTER to confirm the bending.
Do you get any errors in the Ruby Console ?

davidbone

Great plugin, I used it on a couple of my Star Trek models to bend the writing for the saucer

Maker

I have troubles with bolt modeling tutorial.
See the screen shot below:

Distribution occurs with error
It does not create all the required surfaces.

esther_febriana

hi,
i want to install, but cant open the .rb file.
please help me how to install it

THannksssS

fightingfishcustoms

it's not working for me, i did the steps but i got stuck in step 2(where you select the straight line), the cursor does not change and i can't click on anything? what am i doing wrong? thanks

Dave R

@esther_febriana said:

hi,
i want to install, but cant open the .rb file.
please help me how to install it

THannksssS

You don't need to open the .rb file. You need to extrct the ZIP file to the plugins directory. See the sticky post in the Plugins forum on installing zipped plugins.

Dave R

@fightingfishcustoms said:

it's not working for me, i did the steps but i got stuck in step 2(where you select the straight line), the cursor does not change and i can't click on anything? what am i doing wrong? thanks

It could be pretty much anything. You don't give us enough info to help you. Post the SKP file so we can see what you are trying to do.