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    [Plugin] Simple Catenary Curve

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    • R Offline
      remus
      last edited by

      Fred, thanks, it means a lot coming from someone of your experience.

      Tomot, good effort on the mods, best way to start learning ruby in my opinion.

      http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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      • C Offline
        CADAddict
        last edited by

        Hey REmus,
        no need to be a Math Geek to find a use to it.
        Anytime someone needs to model lets say the electric highvoltage cables supported by high voltage towers, this comes to a use.
        Also for a more architecture realted topic, most of the Vaults designed by Antoni Gaudí's(the catalan architect author of the Sagrada familia in Barcelona)were actually inverted catenary curves, so anyone trying to model his buildings igh also find a use to it!
        Thanks a lot!

        http://www.cad-addict.com/

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        • mitcorbM Offline
          mitcorb
          last edited by

          Hey, CADAddict:
          Glad you mentioned Antonio Gaudi's Familia Sagrada, because that is the first thing I thought of when someone questioned the usefulness of catenary curves, besides suspended cables in equilibrium.
          mitcorb

          I take the slow, deliberate approach in my aimless wandering.

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          • simon le bonS Offline
            simon le bon
            last edited by

            Remus's Catenary suspension bridge


            http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/CopyArray018th.jpg

            taken in: Copy Array Along Path tool...have a look.

            (Catenary Curve for the general shape of the bridge. The ropes are handmade using Bezier Spline with only one intermediate point driven in order to simulate the weight of the rope.

            A remark to Remus: Your Catenary Curve is made with only 16 segments. It's probably too few in many cases. It would be better to add the choice of this number( 😉 )

            @jclements said:

            Hey Remus:

            Next step is "chain maker" or "rope maker"..😄

            The first tool exists right now with courtesy of Chris Fullmer :[Plugin] Component Stringer

            😉 simon

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            • thomthomT Offline
              thomthom
              last edited by

              @simon le bon said:

              The first tool exists right now with courtesy of Chris Fullmer :[Plugin] Component Stringer

              I think Remus is talking about a tool to simulate rope or chains - which is not what Chris' tool is doing.

              Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
              List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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              • R Offline
                remus
                last edited by

                @simon le bon said:

                A remark to Remus: Your Catenary Curve is made with only 16 segments. It's probably too few in many cases. It would be better to add the choice of this number( 😉 )

                I'll have a look at it 👍

                http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                • simon le bonS Offline
                  simon le bon
                  last edited by

                  @thomthom said:

                  I think Remus is talking about a tool to simulate rope or chains - which is not what Chris' tool is doing.

                  Hi thomthom,
                  You are rigth! I had probably been taken by the hurry of enjoyment. Chris's "Component Stringer" is a very cool tool, but intending to do a different job.

                  We can make a chain with it but it very uneasy and far from perfection!

                  @tig said:

                  Make half chain link (U) and use this tool then edit that chain and copy/hand the U geometry into an O loop of say 2.2 the original length, now you have your links; us 'make unique' on one of the links, edit it and rotate its contents 90 degrees. Select every other link and replace with this rotated one... a chain... done.


                  http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/clfCompntStringer005th.jpg


                  http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/clfCompntStringer006th.jpg

                  In such case, it will be better to do this way:


                  http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/th_CopyArray013th.jpg

                  And for making a rope, I'm sure we can do a good job with our same Chris Fullmer's Shape Bender.

                  *simon

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                  • R Offline
                    remus
                    last edited by

                    Try this, it's untested so give us a shout if it's broken.


                    simple_cat_curve.rb

                    http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                    • simon le bonS Offline
                      simon le bon
                      last edited by

                      Hi Remus, 😉

                      Something is wrong for me. "Simple Catenary Curve" opens and asks the number of segments (cool), but after validation, nothing happens..
                      *s

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                      • R Offline
                        remus
                        last edited by

                        Sorry, it was a silly bug as i was distracted while writing it last night. Hopefully this version should work.


                        simple_cat_curve.rb

                        http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                        • simon le bonS Offline
                          simon le bon
                          last edited by

                          Sorry Remus,
                          Something is still wrong!
                          The Catenary curve is drawn so small that I can't zoom on it.

                          http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/CatenaryCurve001.jpg

                          I have reloaded your first one to experiment FredoScale Strech tool to figure out something like my suspension bridge's ropes.

                          seems not bad. I have no mathematic element to say if that remains a Catenary Curve.

                          http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/Spendauballet/SketchUp/CatenaryCurve002th.jpg

                          *simon

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                          • R Offline
                            remus
                            last edited by

                            No worries, i'll have a look at it this evening and see if i can get it back in working order again.

                            http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                            • atelierpaarA Offline
                              atelierpaar
                              last edited by

                              Hi REmus,
                              I just tryed your Tool "Simple Catenary Curve"
                              After the Dialog-box it seems that no Element was drawn.
                              where is the curve? 😮

                              Uli

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                              • D Offline
                                d12dozr
                                last edited by

                                Uli, its always drawn at the origin...you may need to zoom in close.

                                3D Printing with SketchUp Book
                                http://goo.gl/f7ooYh

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                                • McGyverM Offline
                                  McGyver
                                  last edited by

                                  Thank you for this plugin and also thank you for adding the explanation of what it is for and the Wikpedia link.

                                  [Visit My ShareCG Freebie Gallery](http://www.ShareCG.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name)

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