[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Rails by Face
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TIG - the other extrusion tools are awesome and i now use them as much as i can,
But the Extrusion by Rail by Face; just has never worked for me, i've included pictures for you to understand...
It always says i haven't selected the face and so wont extrude them across either rails or profiles (though as you can see, i defintly did select it),
I have a MAC pro with sketchup 7 - and on bootcamp in both MAC and PC worlds i get this trouble...
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It's because your selected Face isn't made 'FLAT' - i.e. it must line flat on the ground, and its Y [green] axis will be taken as the 'UP' direction when extruding it. It doesn't matter if it faces up or down the tool assumes it's facing up anyway!
Just rotate it about an edge so it's 'flat' on the ground. -
Hi TIG,
I use a MacBook too and I have the same problem of Morphin_24....have you got any idea to solve that?
Thank you very much.Stef.
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stefx
You can control the number of points in a Bezier curve - as explained in my earlier response.
Can you give any more info or an example SKP with a failing set of curves ?
PM or posted
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It is a simple bunch of curves....could you explain how i can manage the segments with the bezier curves?
thank you very much.Stef.
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You don't have Beziers
They are 'Arcs' and you need to use the built-in tool 'Entity Info' to manage those. They have 12 segments which is reasonable. Reduce the face's size/shape to get 'bars' formed...
See this illustration for more details
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you are like right outta a scifi movie mahnnn....awesome
RESPECT +++consider me ur fan...
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Thanks TIG - Noobie error here --> <--
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Hi Tig,
Thank you for your tutorial...
managing the number of segments is working...!
In my last attempts I see the ribs are really thick.....see the screenshot...
basically I cannot have the same result of your first post in this topic..any suggestion?
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Stefx, the ribs should be exactly the same size as your square(profile/face) on the ground, so maybe make your profile smaller?
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Ditto.
If you look in the picture in the first topic the face is quite tiny compared to the rib spacing...
The cross-section of the ribs will be made to match the face.
Scale it smaller if needed...
Small face >>> thin ribs
Big face >>> fat ribs
Face long in Y [green] >>> 'tall' ribs
Face long in X [red] >>> 'wide' ribs
etc
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hello TIG ! - I'm trying to make a double curved mesh with only square faces.
With 'extrusion by rails'; if more than 1 rail is used; erasing coplanar edges (in the post curve production) cannot make the faces square and do not delete coplanar edges.
Do you get this too? (sorry if this another noobie error with these tools)
Joe
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Hey Joe,
Those lines aren't coplaner so they won't delete without deleting the adjoining faces as well
To make a quad, you need at least two of the edges to be parallel. With complex curved surfaces like you're trying create, very rarely will a quad happen and even then, they're sporadically located throughout the mesh.
Why do you need quads though if you don't mind me asking?
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Am trying to get quads so I can use *Paracloud for applying components across a mesh in sketchup, though if I use triangles, I get less control over the application of these components. I could always use soap and skin plugin, and then free-form, but was just wondering if it was possible with TIGs tools, as the curves are more accurate.
Joe
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Tig and the other guys,
sorry for the late!
Thank you for all your help!
trying with small faces, it is working as I need.Stefx
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Hello Tig,
Will this work with a circle face and diagonal like the lattice by rail. Lattice by rail allows the diagonal. I notice the diagonal dialogue is not a choice with the rail by face.
Is this correct? I would like to have pipes that cross diagonal to each other with glassin between.Thanks
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No... but you can use the EEbyRailsToLattice > diagonal edges... and then use the results to extrude the circular face along those paths [tip: add a cpoint at its center and select that too].
The are also other tools line 'Lines2cyl' or 'PipeAlongPath'that could do the second step in a slightly different way... -
Thanks Tig,
I got the diagonals from the EEbyrailstolattice but got lost At EEbyface. I would post a screen shot but I got a bugsplat error. Do I explode both sets if diagonals and then use eebyface? When I used eebyface it made the rails orthagonal. I did try the linsetocylinder and got that to worked. I missing one of your steps. -
You make two groups of diagonals with EEbyRailsToLattice- one for for the two 'directions' - which vary depending on the picked order of profiles/rails.
Edit one groped set of diagonals and you'll find that the curves are also individually grouped.
Select all of the curve-groups and explode them so that the curves are now in the group's context.
Now you can use all of those curves with EEbyFace - HOWEVER, just before that you need to edit>copy the circular face and a center cpoint and edit>paste-in-paste them inside the same context as the curves.
Now 'select all' and run EEbyFace to make one set of diagonal 'tubes' using those curves.
Now, simply repeat the whole thing for the other direction diagonal set of curves...
Finally selected the four profile/rails curves and used those for the third EEbyFace using the original circular face + cpoint to make perimeter 'tubes'!
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Ok, I'm inside a group of exploded rails with a circle and point. How do I select the rails after the command prompts to select them?
If i put them inside the group of exploded curves w the circle and point, it will break the perimeter curves in itty bitty lines and does not work.Thanks Tig! sorry for my density
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