[Plugin] Extrude Edges By Vector To Object v1.4 20110528

TIG

This new tool is part of the Extrusion Tools set - it's a 'cousin' to EEbyVector - get the full zipped set of files from here http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=217663#p217663
Copyright 2011 (c), TIG
[Based on EEbyVector]
All Rights Reserved.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES,INCLUDING,WITHOUT LIMITATION,THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

extrudeEdgesByVectorToObject.rb

A Tool that Extrudes Selected Edges along a Picked Vector, 
similar to extrudeEdgesByVector - which is itself similar to 
Sketchup's PushPull for a Face, BUT it extrudes only the Edges, AND 
these Edges need NOT be connected to each other or coplanar, and the 
Vector can be in any direction.
However, with this Tool IF there is a Object [i.e. a face/edge either 
in the active_entities or a group/instance] intersected by this Vector 
then the extrusion is limited to the face of that object at that point 
of the edge's vertex; otherwise it extrudes is up to the Vector's end.
Any 'hits' are shown by a 'red' dot displayed on the object[s].
If both projected ends of an edge do not intersect with an object, or 
with the same face in the object, then there will still be complete 
intersection lines formed around the object[s] in the extruded form, 
with additional vertices added etc as required.

This tool is useful in extruding wall edges up to roof soffits or down 
onto uneven terrains; or edges sideways to other non-orthogonal faces.

Usage:
Select any number of Edges, Curves etc to be Extruded -
Anything else in the Selection, such as Faces, will be ignored.

Run the Tool from Plugins > 'Extrude Edges by Vector to Object'.
or click on 'Extrude Edges by Vector to Object' in the 
'Extrusion Tools' Toolbar.
[Activate this Toolbar from View > Toolbars if it's not loaded]

Now follow the prompts on the VCB.
Firstly: Pick any Point that will be the 'Start of the Vector' - 
 it need NOT be connected to any of the selected Edges.
Secondly: Pick any Point that will be the 'End of the Vector' - 
 again this can be anywhere.
As you move the mouse to Pick this Second Point you will see a
'ghost' outline of the 'slab' of Edges that will be extruded.
Note that if there are intervening objects such as faces or edges 
[either in the current active_entities or within groups or 
component-instances], then the final extrusion will stop at these.

Result:
When you Pick the Second Point the Edges will extrude and make
new Edges and Faces - stopping at the vector's farthest extent OR at
faces.edges in intervening Objects [if any].
Any Smoothed Edges in the selection will give Smoothed Edges to
the newly extruded Faces.
Any Curves in the selection will also give Smoothed Edges to the new
Faces.
The new Faces are consistently Oriented - **although non-continuous
edge-sets might produce oppositely oriented face-sets, however, these
are easily corrected afterwards by using right-click context-menu item
'reverse' on a selected face or faces and then 'orient', if needed.
The extrusion's new Geometry - Edges and Faces - including a copy of
the original selected Edges is made inside a Group.

Next:
On Completion there are two dialogs offering Yes/No Options-
First: 'Reverse Extrusion's Faces'
if you answer 'Yes' then all of the new Faces are Reversed
[**see above about orientation of non-continuous edge-sets' faces].
Second: 'Explode Extrusion's Group'
if you answer 'Yes' then the newly made Geometry will merge into
the main active_entities' Geometry.
The Extrusion will 'undo' in one step...

Note:
Selected edges that intersect with themselves should be avoided as they
are unlikely to give the projected form required... so do them in parts
to avoid this self-intersecting.

Donations:
Are welcome by PayPal to info @ revitrev.org.
Version:
1.0 20110524 First release.
1.1 20110528 New algorithm added for the intersecting with objects: now
walls extend to soffits with additional apex vertices and
so on so it extrudes fully to the faces/edges.
'Ghost' extrusions now show intersections as red dots.
The original selection is kept, unless the is group
exploded. ES lingvos updated by Defisto [thanks].
1.2 20110528 Traps added for rare glitches with faced edge-selection.
1.3 20110528 Undo fixed if reversed faces etc.
1.4 20110528 Fixed glitch with commit & extruding edges inside group.

pilou

It's not a Tools set, it's a Shops set!

pilou

Seems this one is always out your tools set! (with repetition will be hyper super cool !
as you can draw in direct a surface just in drawing a profil !
(it is not yet in any tool set !)

TIG

The impossible I can do straight away... but miracles take a little longer...

Rich O Brien

Extrude Edges by Offset

Dave R

Thank you for another useful tool, TIG. I must be doing something incorrectly though because I don't get the same results you show. I tried with the roof made into a component and not. I included in the selection the edges of the wall plan and either the roof component or just the bottom faces. The result is the same as shown here. I tried to follow the directions. The inner faces do get extruded to the underside of the roof but no higher.

So what did I miss?

Dave R

Well, that was easy. there needs to be line segments draw across the wall plan aligned with the ridge line. Little detail. Easily missed.

pilou

The funny of the thing is that works for separate objects in the same time!

EarthMover

Wow, great one TIG. Works great on the testing I did. (There is a project edges tool in the Projections toolset that does something similar, but the new faces remain perpendicular to the object. This is more practical in most cases.)

(Not sure if Rich was hinting or renaming, but an extrude edges by offset would be a very useful addition to the toolset )

Ben Ritter

TIG, thank you once again. You are very generous and very talented.

Bob James

Super addition, TIG, thank you for a great tool set

Wildchild

Awesome toolset man, just one thing, I played around with it a little, and I stopped at this point.
Extrude to object.jpg
Wouldn't it be great if you could extrude any profile by a vector to any multiple objects, and of course the resulting shape is modeled by the objects it is intersecting with? Is this asking too much?

TIG

@wildchild said:

Awesome toolset man, just one thing, I played around with it a little, and I stopped at this point.
Wouldn't it be great if you could extrude any profile by a vector to any multiple objects, and of course the resulting shape is modeled by the objects it is intersecting with? Is this asking too much?

Divide the edges of the edge-set you want to extrude so they are 'small-bits'... so then it'll extrude better... it's very difficult to make the thing 'split' the edges so they extract as desired - I am looking at it...
One way would be NOT to do it as present... but extrude past, then use intersect_with and then delete the parts behind... BUT working out what to erase and what to keep is [almost] as hard as the present method... watch this space [I'm letting the gray-cells process this in 'background-mode'...]

Wildchild

Exactly TIG, performing an automatic extrusion-intersection-deletion would be a possible way, it's complicated though. In both cases being able to automatically add the necessary edges to fit the "shaping" object would make this a killer plugin! thanks for your past and future efforts!

charly2008

Thanks TIG,

another fantastic tool. It made me immediately led to experiments.

Charly

TIG

Here's an updated version http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=331059#p331059
A new algorithm has been added for the intersecting with objects: now walls extend to soffits with additional apex vertices and so on so it extrudes fully to the faces/edges.
'Ghost' extrusions now show intersections as red dots.
The original selection is kept, unless the is group exploded.
ES lingvo updated by Defisto [thanks].
ALSO [same day]:-
a) Additional traps have been added for rare glitches when faced edge-selection was used.
b) Glitch fixed with 'undo' if you reversed faces etc...
c) Glitches fixed with 'commit' and extruding edges inside groups to objects outside.

pilou

The best is the ennemy of the better!

Jean-Luc Clauss

Great work again TIG ! Thank you ! This plugin will be very helpfull for architects.

pilou

If it' very easy to make a volume3D with the extruded line result of the rectangular box

it's less easy for close the horizontal cylinder! (of course the guy is added after!

PS the cool of the plug is that you can make the 2 extrusions in the same time!
(Click on the image if scroolbar)

TIG

Here's another update... several glitches fixed...
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=331753#p331753
Here's another example of extruding lots of walls up to the underside of a complex roof form in one step...