[Plugin] Simple Loft alpha 0.1b -- UPDATED May-15-09

david_h

fun little tool. Thanks again Chris.

MrPlanet

Just to let you know, this plugin creates an empty group in every model, it may seem small, but SketchyPhysics (By Chris Phillips) Simply refuses to work with it.

Chris Fullmer

Oh really? Oops. I'll try to make sure to get that fixed on the next round. I must be forgetting to delete a group somewhere in the mix. Thanks for pointing it out!

Chris

saimen

wow that's exactly what I need

Dave R

Chris, I've been playing with your Loft plugin and Driven's screw thread file. When I first opened his file I was able to create his threads by selecting two curves at a time and using 1 for the number of segments. I tried it by selecting all six curves and got a Bug Splat. I reopened the file and cut the curves down to a quarter turn thinking I'd give it fewer faces to create. Here's the results. In the background you can see a test loft with two 12-segment arcs and five loft segments.

All six curves selected. One segment chosen in dialog box

Bottom four curves, one segment.

Top two curves, one segment

The guidepoints are interesting but not quite what I expected.

Chris Fullmer

That means it is crashing for some reason. Normally to do with the selection including a non-edge item, or also if the segment counts don't match. I'm not sure which. You can upload the model immediately before that point and show me which lines to click on and I'll figure out what it is.

Hopefully the next version wll clean some of that up.

Chris

Dave R

Here you go Chris. I hope it helps.

thread_bez_loft[1].skp

nomeradona

wow thanks a million...

EscapeArtist

Hey Chris, I just started having some trouble with this plugin. Maybe you can decipher what I'm doing wrong; I know the plugin works so it must be something that I'm doing. Here's the console output:


Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `all_connected' for nil;NilClass>
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;61;in `onLButtonUp'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;186
Error; #<ArgumentError; Cannot convert argument to Sketchup;;Point3d>
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;189;in `add_cpoint'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;189;in `end_handles'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;186;in `each_index'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;186;in `end_handles'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;94;in `onReturn'
L;/Modeling/Sketchup Google/Plugins/clf_simple_loft/clf_simple_loft.rb;61

I'm applying the plugin to 3 bezier curves, the plugin generates construction points and then stops.

TIG

EscapeArtist

...onLButtonUp...
line=60  best = ph.best_picked
line=61  all_best = best.all_connected
line=62  @shapes_edges << best.all_connected

It's failing to find anything you have selected when you release the mouse-button... Are you picking anything ? It falls over since 'best' = 'nil' and nil can't have connected edges...
Chris: before 'all_best = ' you could test for 'best' and re-run the main functions if it's nil, e.g.

if not best
  ### run me again ###
  return nil
end#if

...

EscapeArtist

Yep, absolutely picking something. I know the plugin works because I drew two other curves and tested it, the loft worked just fine; so it must be a problem with the curve set I was initially using. Maybe it doesn't work on curves that were part of a face. I had to draw faces to get the curves to lay flat on specific axes and then deleted the faces, leaving the curves behind. I'm probably missing knowledge about a change that happens to edges that were part of a face and how it affects the plugin.

edit:

Solved:

That was the problem, edges/curves that were part of a face will not loft. I worked around the problem by grouping the planes, exiting the group, and then drawing the curves on the faces. The lines went where I wanted and the integrity of the curve was preserved in order for loft to work.

publied

Chris,
a smart substitute of the old curve stitcher! they spare my time. thank you!

Chris Fullmer

@unknownuser said:

No possibility to automate the clicks of curves?
the 10 curves are made with the Grow plug by Tig

So I've been thinking about this, and what if I made it so that holding down the mouse button (click and drag) would add lines in the order you cross over them. You can let go and then re-click and drag to add more splines to the selection set. I think that would do the trick. Then just hit enter once you've selected all the splines you want to use.

Would that be a good solution?

Chris

pilou

Marvelous
The only problem for you is the order of the curves
image of the original post

Chris Fullmer

@chris fullmer said:

what if I made it so that holding down the mouse button (click and drag) would add lines in the order you cross over them.

No, the order of the curves becomes the users problem to figure out. It will all depend on how you click and drag over the splines.

Chris

Gaieus

So Chris you got to the point to quote yourself. I've only seen this from elderly politicians so far.

Chris Fullmer

I wasn't quoting myself, I was re-explaining myself

Daniel S

Each spline must have the same amount of segments and with Fredo´s Bezier plugin it´s easy to create this (has an option for Precision: total number of segments of the generated curve).
I just try this option with Loft alpha and:

It´s great combination of plugins.

Daniel S

Chris Fullmer

Wow, that's pretty impressive! I do have a working version I'm testing that works with splines with different segment counts, but it won't be released for a while I'm sure. So thanks for posting that great work-around!

That's a pretty cool model too!

Chris

Marian