Sandbox tool and constraining edges
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Hi all.
I'm relatively new to sketchup and have been getting to grips with its various functions. As much as I'm loving it, I am finding some aspects relatively difficult to cope with, and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction concerning any ruby scripts that can solve said issue. If no one knows if such a ruby exists, then maybe (fingers crossed) someone would be kind enough to write one that could do the job.
When using the sandbox tool to model terrain from scratch, and placing selected meshes onto a model plan, I try to use the smooth tool to elevate areas into mounds etc and match whatever project i am working on. My problem lies with the perimeter edges of meshes and using the smooth tool in conjunction with them. When i elevate an area within the mesh, it will often raise edges of the perimeter of the mesh if they are close or within the radius of the smooth tool. What I really think would be useful is if we could constrain the perimeter edges of meshes so that if areas are raised / lowered using the smooth tool, then only the internal edges are effected. By 'locking' the perimeter edges of chosen meshes, it would stop gaps from forming when interacting with models outside of the mesh instance.
Without a tool to do this, i find i am constantly trying to lower or raise the perimeter edges of meshes to get them back to where they originally were before using the smooth tool to create varied terrain. Whilst you can "snap" to points outside the mesh instance, its very tricky to do and also creates some very angular and irregular shapes around the points i try to snap.
Not sure if this makes sense (i'm not great at explaining things!) - but if anyone understands what I am trying to achieve here, could you please let me know of any rubies that would do this! Unfortunately I am not a very computer savvy chap, and would have absolutely no clue as to how to write a ruby, but I'm hoping someone can help!
best regards
joe -
Hi,
Welcome to SCF!
For your problem I'd suggest Thomthom's Vertex Tools. It's a commercial plugin that has the features you need. Not so much locking edges but a soft select/deselect tool with mesh adjustments. He is very active here and supports it's users.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=29636&hilit=Vertex -
hey, did you end up finding a solution to this? i've been trying to figure out how to keep my edges level for hours now. thanks!
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