[Plugin][$] Curviloft 2.0a - 31 Mar 24 (Loft & Skinning)

ronys

Thank you for this amazing plugin.

I am trying to use the outcome of the Curviloft for hotwiring foam (with CNC) for RC airplanes.
My problem is that the some of the faces created are triangular - which is great for the purpose of lofting in SU, but is not good for hotwiring. If I use the path of triangles, the speed of the wire will not be constant on both faces.

Anyway, my question is:
Is there a way to make Curviloft create only quadratian faces?

Triangular faces

Thanks,
Rony

jgb

This is not a Curviloft (CL) problem.

Only when a 4 sided face is defined by opposite parallel lines will it form a face without triangles. A triangles face is, by definition, always flat.

If a 4 sided (or more) face has any 1 vertex not in exactly the same plane, SU and CL will define the face with triangles.

In your model, the lines defining the curves are not quite parallel in the lower 7 segments, and therefore cannot be defined by a 4 sided flat surface. You can prove this to yourself by drawing lines and seeing that they will not face. Other than adjusting one side or the other, there is nothing CL can do to fix that.

jeff hammond

@ronys said:

Anyway, my question is:
Is there a way to make Curviloft create only quadratian faces?

[attachment=0:358vs3zr]curviloft.png[/attachment:358vs3zr]

Thanks,
Rony

post the .skp (or that portion of the model).. there's probably a way to get better results than the long triangles you're getting.. (via better curve segmentation and/or curvilot settings)

Jimmymino

Hey community.

Im having a bit of trouble with this plugin. Maybe the way I am applying it or maybe Im doing something wrong. Could someone help?

Every time I attempt to loft an object along a path, the preview looks fine but the final result has tons of faces missing.

I am trying to get information on what the various options in the toolbar are once you see the preview, (ie, sampling, interpolating, etc) and what they do, but cant find any info on it.

Can some help?

Dave R

Very likely you're working on something that is small and you're running up against the short edges/small faces issue. It would be most helpful if you would upload a sample SKP file that exhibits the problem you're having. Otherwise we're taking stabs in the dark.

peterromao

Hey, great tool tat I've been using for some time.

Funny that only now did I come across this green dialog box stating:

"Handling Needle Eyes and other defects! -1"

Could someone enlighten me as to what this signifies?

Thanks!

fredo6

@peterromao said:

Funny that only now did I come across this green dialog box stating:

"Handling Needle Eyes and other defects! -1"

Could someone enlighten me as to what this signifies?

Thanks!

There are a few checks on the contours, but this is not very accurate.

Needle eyes are defects which derive from the suprposition of two contours, creating small loops.

In general, Edge defects are better handled by EdgeInspector.

Fredo

cemileca

Hi, Friends..

Curviloft not working in 2015 vercion SU

TIG

@cemileca said:

Hi, Friends..

Curviloft not working in 2015 vercion SU
Resolved in a parallel thread... http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=555210#p555210

empty00

why it says I'm not authorized to download it

TIG

@empty00 said:

why it says I'm not authorized to download it
You are clearly a member and logged in here to do this post...
Are you logged in to the side of the forum which hosts the PluginStore etc ?
Top-right corner of the page 'log-in' in red...
Currently there are two parts, each needing a member to be logged-in to access all possibilities - however, after logging in you should be remembered thereafter in either [unless you have cookies disabled], unless you haven't visited for a long time...
Please log-in there and retry.
If that doesn't fix it report back...

Kashaki

Great plugin, i am loving it! I have just discovered it silly me.

Still! Hope someone can help me out. I make 3d belzier curves, copy array 15 of them and place them behind each other with space in between. Group them after welding and then use Sketchy FFD to make an organic form of those 15 curves. When i then ungroup them, select them all and use Curviloft it starts working till around 90% and then Sketchup crashes. Can someone help me? Thanks in Advance. When i reduce the curves and just use two of them all is good. Working on Mac with 16 GB RAM.

Kashaki!

cotty

Is there a way to control the face normals? In this example, I was not able to get the right face orientation...
[screenr:voso8cn5]uyYN[/screenr:voso8cn5]

fredo6

@kashaki said:

Great plugin, i am loving it! I have just discovered it silly me.

Still! Hope someone can help me out. I make 3d belzier curves, copy array 15 of them and place them behind each other with space in between. Group them after welding and then use Sketchy FFD to make an organic form of those 15 curves. When i then ungroup them, select them all and use Curviloft it starts working till around 90% and then Sketchup crashes. Can someone help me? Thanks in Advance. When i reduce the curves and just use two of them all is good. Working on Mac with 16 GB RAM.

Kashaki!

The best would be that you post your model. There may be many reasons why Curviloft have big troubles when the geometry could includes defects.

Fredo

fredo6

@cotty said:

Is there a way to control the face normals? In this example, I was not able to get the right face orientation...

Curviloft is not really managing face orientations. This is one thing I have to change when I update it (I understand now better the logic of Sketchup).
But you have several plugins to reverse or align face orientations now.

Fredo

cotty

Yes, I'm able to change those I just wanted to make sure I have not overlooked any option to change it directly.

serdustser

thanks fredo

blackcat1313

Hi - I have been using this great plugin to design a sailplane wing. I hope to be able to create either a mold or plug using a CNC router from the design. The main part of the wing and the very small end portion of the wingtip are done, but the elliptic section in between won't loft.

In the attached file, there are 7 curves representing the airfoil shape at different stations along the wingtip. Everything has been scaled up 100x to avoid the "small edge" problem. The trailing edge of the foil is left open as it is easy to add this face once the rest of the surface is lofted.

I can loft between most pairs of adjacent foils successfully, but when more are added, Curviloft "twists" the vectors at the trailing edge. The problem seems worst on foils 3 and 4, counting from the root. I have tried untwisting them using the plugin features, but I can't get that to work.

The edge count in the foils is pretty high, as these are automatically generated by an airfoil program. I don't have any convenient way to control this. I have a feeling that if this could be reduced, it might work. I was hoping though that some one would have another suggestion.

Thanks!

Bill

Loft Problem.skp

Box

You can use another of Fred's excellent plugins to cleanup before lofting.
Here it is cleaned with Curvizard then Curviloft.

blackcat1313

@box said:

You can use another of Fred's excellent plugins to cleanup before lofting.
Here it is cleaned with Curvizard then Curviloft.

That is amazing, thank you so much! I installed Curvizard, followed the video, and everything was looking good until the last loft segment. Then I got a bugsplat.

Any ideas? I'm using Sketchup 2013 on a Mac if that makes any difference.

Bill