[Plugin] SolidSolver

TIG

thanks. sounds useful. but can u kindly tell me how can i install it? im new here ...
There are several ways...
In order of [initial] simplicity...

Download the plugin's RBZ from the PluginStore.
Assuming you have SketchUp >=v8M2
In SketchUp open its Preferences > Extensions - use the 'Install...' button.
Choose the RBZ and install it.
It loads and is available in the menu etc as explained in its Usage notes...

Alternatively download the SketchUcation PluginStore Toolset RBZ from its page or its PluginStore item. Install it as above...

Now you can Auto-Install any of the hundreds of PluginStore plugins using its dialog...
No need to download an RBZ at all.
So once you have installed this toolset you can Auto-Install from the PluginStore with no manual RBZ download at all.

If you do have an RBZ [perhaps downloaded from another source], then you can use the toolset's SketchUcation submenu item 'Install Archive...' - this works on RBZ OR ZIP files - an alternative to the native Installer which only installs from RBZ...

Almost all compatible plugins now come in RBZ format...
But if you have got a simple RB script obtained from somewhere else, then you can ZIP it, then use the Install... steps as outlined above.
If you want you can rename its file-type-extension from ".zip" to ".rb" - an RBZ file is actually a ZIP file with a changed file-type suffix...

TIG

Here's v5.0.
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TIG_solidsolver
It is now future-proofed...

TIG

Here's v6.0.
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TIG_solidsolver
It has a few security improvements...

moot

What does 'Form has been intersected' mean?
I click on 'Ok', SolidSolver appears to be still working on the object, SketchUp 'Not Responding', it's been over an hour now. At the time I grouped the object there were over 250,000 entities... probably why. Any thing I can do to the file? SketchUp is using 50+% of CPU...
Wow, it finally finished. Got message 'There are 137 Coplanar Edges. Remove them?'
I answered 'Yes' and SolidSolver said 'Now a solid'. Problem was now almost all of the object was gone... luckily the Undo worked and brought everything back. Now it's just a group in the model again.
The .skp is 15.5MB so I don't think I should try to attach it

Guess I still would like to know the implications...

pilou

@unknownuser said:

The .skp is 15.5MB so I don't think I should try to attach it

Sure you do!
First Zip it! (Right Click on the name file / Send to Compressed File ) you obtain a "zip file"
If it's less 2 Megas you can post it here else

you can use something like WeTransfert.com (free) for share this file "ziped"
(trick : use also your email as "mail's Friend" so you will have the adress file

Put here the adress' file that you will receive!

& Voilà!

Anybody can read your SKP (for a week) even it's 1.99 GIGAS!

@unknownuser said:

over an hour now

That is that we call to be very patient!

@unknownuser said:

Problem was now almost all of the object was gone.

Curious! We are impatient to see that!
You must send at least an image!
(seems you don't follow the Golden rule: (Image(s) and / or File(s)) !

@unknownuser said:

'Form has been intersected' mean?

Can be many thing but generally overlaping, intricated facets...
...but without image and or file we can't answer intelligent things!

TIG

If you try and model geometry as a solid it gives extensions like SolidSolver or SolidInspector² a chance.
That many entities seems a lot - what is it ?
When it says that it has intersected the form it means that some of your form's geometry penetrates another part of it.
Although it might even actually report as a solid in Entity Info it still cannot be 3d-printed, because of that issue.
It's an object that cannot exist in the real world.
SolidSolver intersects such a form with itself to try to avoid this issue - but of course then there are edges with more than two faces, internal partitions etc - all of which prevent it being a solid... so it must remove or edit those...
In doing so it might then remove expected faces etc and change the form...

Try this approach...
Whether it's reported as a solid in Entity Info or not...
Edit the group.
Select all of the geometry [Ctrl+A] and context-menu > Intersect with Selection...
If it is not saying it's a solid in Entity Info, then it needs fixing...

Get/Install thomthom's SolidInspector [v1 NOT v2].
Run it on the selected group and it will show several problem areas...
It shows, it does not fix.
SolidInspector² reports issues and then offers to fix those it can.
It might not spot all issues.
Often it cannot fix all issues.

SolidSolver tries to fix all issues right off, but again it's not perfect and it might remove parts you'd like to keep !

Give these tools a break...
Edit the group and try and fix problems manually.

Here are some basic rules for achieving a manifold solid...

A solid group [or component-instance] must contain only geometry - faces and edges.
So this means no nested groups and so on.
You can include guides, but they are again best avoided.

Every edge must support exactly two faces - so that means...
no faceless edges [no matter how tiny],
no holes [no matter how tiny] where some edges have only one face,
no shelves or flaps where some edges have only one face,
no internal partition faces where some edges have three or more faces,
no otherwise seemingly solid forms like two cubes that share an edge, because that edge then has four faces.
no overlaid coincident faces sharing common edges - these can result in some 3d operations making some edges have that extra coincident face - one of those faces needs removing.

All faces should be consistently oriented to face front=outwards, i.e. no back faces should be visible [appearance depends on the current Style, but usually it's front=off-white and back=blue-gray].
If it's a solid then the context-menu > Orient should fix such issues if one 'good' face is selected.

As explained above a form can report as a solid even it it can't really exist - i.e. if it loops back on itself and penetrates a surface without having been intersected and the resultant problems fixed - like internal partition faces...

Also I'd recommend that everything is made on Layer0, and while trying to model a solid use the default material only [or at least view in Monochrome mode], and do not use any hidden or smoothed edges [which have no bearing on future 3d-printing anyway] - or at least use View > Hidden Geometry > On...

PS:
Tip: to see inside a form which has issues, use Xray mode or a temporary section-cut.
That way you can select unwanted edges or faces and use <delete> to remove them...

pilou

@unknownuser said:

..but without image and or file we can't answer intelligent things!

except Tig who has made the plugin of course!

moot

@pilou said:

... Put here the adress' file that you will receive!
... without image and or file we can't answer intelligent things!

https://we.tl/WGhEM1EcdA

Hope I did it right... Don't know if the comments show up, so here's a little explainer:

‘Reason for base - Dremel3D printer moves leg off build table... results in rats nest’

I am using this model to test the Dremel3D20... seems like a fairly complicated build, having to span the legs to build the body and do the tail... this is just a test ... and to learn SketchUp (and 3D design, in general)

TIG

This shows the issues...
Fix them.
The two 'flaps' in the ears are easily deleted.
The weirdness at the top of the tail is a bit more awkward...
I'll try to fix it...

TIG

Here's v7.0 http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TIG_solidsolver It is signed for v2017 and fixes a glitch that a few PC users experienced if they have accents in their PC user-name.

derei

Is it any major difference between this plugin and thomthom's Solid Inspector ( https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/solid-inspector%C2%B2 ) ?

Thanks.

TIG

Yes, of course... mine is better !
But seriously they do a similar process in different ways.
Sometimes thomthoms's thinks things are OK, when they are not, and mine can fix things over-zealously !
Try both - one of them might fix your problem...

But if you model properly as you go along it reduces what needs to be fixed at the end, so try that first.
Also it's pretty easy to devise a form that is not able to made into a solid, no matter how convoluted your code gets...
So give us authors a chance...

derei

@tig said:

Sometimes thomthoms's thinks things are OK, when they are not, and mine can fix things over-zealously !

Thank you very much for your kind explanation! Of course I will try both and maybe even keep both, to use one where the other doesn't do it.

mgate

Hi Tig,
I get below issue when installing SolidSolver v7.0 in my SKU8 Free (ver.8.0.16846):

@unknownuser said:

Error Loading File C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/TIG-solidsolver/TIG-solidsolver_code.rb
undefined method force_encoding' for "langhandler.rb":StringError Loading File TIG-solidsolver.rb undefined method force_encoding' for "langhandler.rb":String

Any solution to fix it?
Thanks for your time.

TIG

Sorry the latest update has string handling that needs Ruby better than v8's.
I'll publish and update which is less strict...

TIG

Here's v8.0 http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TIG_solidsolver it's now compatible with v8 again.

mgate

Great!! SolidSover v.08 works fine with SKU8.
Thanks for your quick reply. Cheers!

KnottyRico

Thank you for the many great plugins and extensions TIG! You have made my SU life a lot easier. I am, although, having a bit of trouble with the current version of SolidSolver v8.0.

Background: I make wooden surfboards that have a wooden 'rib and spine' type structure as the core support and then skin the outside with wood as well. Using a surfboard shaping specific CAD app, I create the desired shape in 3d then export the mesh (.stl) file and then import into SU 16.1.1451. Would like to use your Slicer5 plugin but receive error 'not manifold solid'. Have used ThomThom's Solid Inspector2 and fixed all issues (using both Auto and manual correction). Still no go as the group is not showing as solid.

Solid Inspector2 ~ Auto and manually corrected results
Tried SolidSolver and received report of 'Intersected'. Try to have your plugin fix issue, resulting in changing overall shape of my design substantially. Once that task completed, plugin provided another suggestion to fix (sorry, don't remember what dialog reported), selected yes and then SolidSolver hung for over 1 hour with SU reporting as 'Not Responding'.
SolidSolver 'Intersected'
I know I must be doing something incorrectly and could use some help. Ultimately trying to find best workflow to generate sliced model for CNClaser cutting skeleton structure.

SketchUp 16.1.1451 file (zipped)

Thanks to any and all!

Rico

TIG

Thomthom's SolidInspector can sometimes report objects as OK even when SketchUp thinks they are not a manifold solid - Entity Info will say 'Solid' if SketchUp thinks it is - although it's still possible to make a self-intersecting 'solid' which cannot be sliced or 3d-printed in the real-world.
SolidSolver is less forgiving, but with 90,587 faces/edges to consider in your very [overly] detailed form I am unsurprised that it's taking forever to process...
It does not need to be so finely detailed for almost any use...

Having done a little grepping I find that there are 35 edges which do not have exactly 2 faces.
Some have 0 faces - lone-edges
Some have 1 face - holes or flaps
Some have 3 or 4 faces - internal partitions
Mainly at the two pointed ends where there are many tiny facets.
They are all very short in length - SketchUp's built-in tolerance is 1/1000", and many are near that, and any 'intersections' etc will probably result in tiny unsustainable edges !
You could scale the group up by say 100 and see if that helps.
I've left SolidSolver running on it that way, and I'll report back...

Even if it becomes a manifold solid chances are that Slicer5 will balk at it !

TIG

BugSplat after 20 mins !

Try making a simpler form...