Hole punching plug in problem

[pmolson]

I am wondering if anyone out there has run into this problem and may have a solution or idea.

I downloaded and installed the hole punching plug in about a month ago.
I have been happily punching holes ever since.
Until today.
Today I inserted a window component into a double skinned wall, set the depth of punch,
& hit punch like normal. Imediate bugsplat.

I thought, ok, bad component maybe, so I copied a window that I had placed and punched
succefully yesterday at the end of the day and tried punching that one. Again, bugsplat.

Tried opening a new drawing, made a guick double skined wall, stuck a window in it, hit punch, & same result. Bugsplat.

I have attached a peice of the model with the windows that were puched through yesterday, as well as a bay window area that
I am trying to place windows in and punch them. I left the windows in place in the bay so maybe one of you could try puching them
to see if the same thing happens to you.
Also image for reference.

The only thing I can think of that has changed in my setup is that I installed the current podium v2 update yeserday. I am fairly sure I did that
before succesfully using holepunchwith the double hung windows, but I can't be sure.

I use su8 pro latest release on a dual core pc with 8mb ram.

Help please.
chunk of larger model for testing

[TIG]

I can't get it to break as you have...
Do you have v1.9 of the HolePunching tool - v1.8 addressed some issues regarding hole cutting of combined forms ans v1.9 fixed some potential gray-out context menu issues...

You only need to reset the punch depth if the wall is thicker that the 20"/500mm default, OR there is something closer than the punch depth that might interfere with a deeper punch. It has to have a limit otherwise if you had a single skin wall it'd cross the room to punch the wall on the other side, or if it's set too small it doesn't punch right through. However. you don't need to set the punch depth to match the wall, just so at least to pass through it without clashing with other things farther away - 20"/500mm will work in most cases...

But there is one issue with your SKP - the 'paired' windows you've made into a component of these two other components that cuts the face...
This form has no other geometry so the cut-hole edges is cludged by Sketchup from the combined parts. Because they just touch there's an issue with the hole punching as to which is a hole and which is a solid [this was addressed in v1.8 for complex cutting-plane edge collections, BUT your combined component version causes issues - I'm looking at it ].
This issue is avoided if you do one of these fixes...
Explode the two internal components so that their geometry combines and then remove unneeded internal faces, so there is one neat external cutting edge.
Move the two parts component a fraction so that they each cut a separate hole for themselves.
Leave the parts touching as they are and add four new edges within the combined component, that runs around them all on the cutting plane so that is used to make the one 4 sided hole [erase any unwanted face it might make].
I found that all of these worked for me.

I've not heard of any issues with clashes with other apps... I don't have this podium update however... but I wouldn't expect it to have overlapping issues...

[TIG]

Here's v1.0 which will fix some of the glitches.
Don't try and punch two cutting components that abut exactly as the punched hole will mess up.
Either separate them or combine them into one combined cutting component then it'll work...

[pmolson]

Thanks Tig,
I was aware that abutting two components caused some occasional cutting errors, but
more often than not they seemed to work for me so I got in the habit of rolling the dice and
separating them only if they caused an issue.
I never had an actual crash before today though.

The strange thing is that I tested a single component in a simple wall in a fresh file and it
still crashed.

Something must have been screwed up with my system because they are all cutting normaly now.

Thanks for the help and the info that I dont need to set the deoth for walls under 20"

p

[TIG]

That's OK - your post made me fix a minor issue with nested components...

For the avoidance of doubt...

The default punch-depth of 20"/500mm should suit most set ups.
If you make it mush bigger it might clash with other things in the model.
If you make it too small it might not punch right through thicker walls.
The punched hole is either the punch depth OR to the inner face of the wall you are working on IF it is less or equal to the punch depth.
If you have a range of walls 4/6/8/10/12/16" then a 20" setting will work for all of them, with no need to change anything.
If you suddenly have a 'castle' with a wall that's ~40" thick you can change the setting temporarily to allow for that...