Making a SketchUp tool - incorporating the mouse & keyboard

BTM

One problem i'm having is not knowing what to enter in the grayed in area. I thought that Pinchmover, the name of the class, would work, but it doesn't. What does?
I put in a bunch of variables at the start, just incase I'll need them, so I won't forget what they are.

Chris Fullmer

Sketchup.active_model.select_tool Pinchmover.new

And you will also need to move that to the bottom of the script. You can't instantiate the class until after it has been defined. Just put all your menu work at the bottom of the script.

Chris

Chris Fullmer

Just the name of the class doesn't work, because with "tools" you are making special classes that Sketchup watches. So you have to tell sketchup to start your class as a tool.

BTM

Okay
Man, I've got a LOT to learn

BTM

` require "sketchup.rb"

class Pinchmover

	def activate
	@model = Sketchup.active_model
	@ent = @model.entities
	@view = @model.active_view
	@slct = @model.selection
	@slct.clear
	end

	def onLButtonUp(flags, x, y, view)
	ip = view.inputpoint x,y
	pt = ip.position
	pt2 = Geom::Point3d.new pt
	@cpoint = @ent.add_cpoint pt2
	end

end

plugins_menu = UI.menu("Plugins")
item = plugins_menu.add_item("Pinch Mover") {
Sketchup.active_model.select_tool Pinchmover.new
}`

I like mouse interaction and inferencing better than a dumb little inputbox
... Now to get it to make only ONE cont.point ...
... And THEN a way to select an endpoint for the tool to use as the centerpoint of the pinch

BTM

; But now I think I know how to tackle both issues at once

Chris Fullmer

Hey, that's great! Its adding the construction point really well. Once its added, you have its position so you know where the pinch is going to. The second cpoint should indicate the vertex to be used.

I agree, you have to figure out those things, so I'm interested to hear how you do it!

Chris

Chris Fullmer

That works great! You have two separate points defined and stored for later use. Perfect. Now you have to decide how you want your script to move forward. Does it just begin automatically once the 2nd construction point is set? Or does it pop up a radius input box immediately after the 2nd point is added. Or does it just sit there until the user hits enter? Once they hit enter then it beings running. etc.

So far so good. You've gotten past much of the mouse implementation. Now its on to transformations! WooHoo!

Chris

BTM

**` require "sketchup.rb"

class Pinchmover

	def activate
	
	@model = Sketchup.active_model
	@ent = @model.entities
	@view = @model.active_view
	@slct = @model.selection
	@ip = Sketchup::InputPoint.new
	@slct.clear
	@first = 0
	@second = 0
	end

	def onLButtonUp(flags, x, y, view)
	
		if @first == 0
		ip1 = view.inputpoint x,y
		pt1 = ip1.position
		pt2 = Geom::Point3d.new pt1
		@cpoint = @ent.add_cpoint pt2
		@first = 1
		@second = 1
		
		elsif @second == 1
		ip2 = view.inputpoint x,y
		pt3 = ip2.position
		pt4 = Geom::Point3d.new pt3
		@cpoint2 = @ent.add_cpoint pt4
		@second = 2
		end
	end
	
	def onReturn(view) #Unnecessary, I just want to see if it's working.
	UI.messagebox @cpoint
	UI.messagebox @cpoint2
	end
end

plugins_menu = UI.menu("Plugins")
item = plugins_menu.add_item("Pinch Mover") {
Sketchup.active_model.select_tool Pinchmover.new
}`**

... So?

BTM

I edited that last post about 30 seconds ago, so that it would have different variables to repeat. I don't know if it'll help, but I thought it would be a good idea.

ely862me

i don t know where to ask so i ll ask here...is there any chance to make a small code or plugin for deselecting a line or something else without zooming out and click away from model..
i was thinking to rewrite the esc key sketchup function (..if u are in a group or is selected a group by pressing esc the group is deselected or is closed )...i would like by hitting the esc key to deselect the selected geometry

Sorry for bad phrases
Thanks!

Elisei

Chris Fullmer

You can go ahead and start a new thread generally for questions like that...

The answer is ctrl-t. Deselect is already built into SketchUp, and that is the default shortcut key. If it doesn't work, then you've probably mapped it to something else. Go re-map it to they key that you want.

Chris

BTM

Well, first of all, the plugin would be easy. Unfortunately though, you'd have to add a shortcut key to cet plugin, because, as far as I know, plugins seem to work only when they are in use. Unless it's somehow possible with initialize.

ely862me

U re the MAN ..it works..
I asked some time ago and the answer was zooming out and click away..
Thanks for the tip..
Btw you are doing a great job with all these plugins ..Thanks for that too!

Elisei

BTM

... For me, shift alt a.

BTM

Okay. Here's my big issue, I knew I'd end up having.

this is the part I added to the end of the elsif in onLButtonUp:
prompts = ["Radius="] defaults = [ 0.0.to_l] list = [""] results = UI.inputbox prompts, defaults, list, "Please input desired radius." @rad= results

Now, HOW can I go through all the active points in the model**(to see which ones are within the distance of @rad from @cpoint2 in the future)**? I can't use .typename, because endpoints aren't really entities, so I'm stuck.

Chris Fullmer

This is what I use to iterate through a model for vertices.


ents = Sketchup.active_model.active_entities
verts = []

ents.each do |e|
 if e.typename == "Edge"
  verts << e.start
  verts << e.end
 end
end

verts.uniq!

That adds every start vert and every end vert to the array, then .uniq! removes all duplicates.

Now you have an array of all vertices in an array. This is the transformation method you will need to use in this script:

http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/entities.html#transform_by_vectors

There's lots of ways to transform things, but most of them transform one object at a time, which won't work for what your doing (I don't think it will at least). So this transform is cool because it does it all at once. What you need to create is an array of vectors that correspond to your array of vertices. The vector should be the vector that your vertex will move. Hope that helps with the next step,

Chris

BTM

Ah, thanks for that! I don't see why google doesn't just add a method in entities for vertices (Or whatever they're called, points). Heck, they should have it so you can select them with the selection tool IMHO. Anyways, thanks again; I would have been ages trying to figure that out

thomthom

@chris fullmer said:

That adds every start vert and every end vert to the array, then .uniq! removes all duplicates.

Have you ever used the Set class to keep track of objects? http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/set.html
I haven't, but I have a feeling it could be useful for this as it's supposed to only allow unique objects in the list.

Chris Fullmer

Oh really? That's cool. I have used it once in a script, but I didn't realize it would not allow duplicates.

I'm going to go read through that Class again. Sounds like it might be more helpful than I had realized. Thanks Thom,

Chris

Making a SketchUp tool - incorporating the mouse &amp; keyboard

Making a SketchUp tool - incorporating the mouse & keyboard