Extruding a curve into a straight line

sirands1

I am a self confessed newbie on this forum, so excuse me if this is an obvious question. I've had a search on the forum for an answer to this question but I cant find anything.
I'm trying to draw a glass roof, the profile of he roof is curved at one end and then it tapers to a flat profile at the other end.
I want to know how i can extrude the curve profile to a straight line.
I have various TIG extrusion tools but i cant find the right one that will do this.
I think extrude edge by rail is something that might work, but I want to extrude a curve along two straight line, not along curves. And this plugin will only allow extrusion along a curve
Can anyone lend me a hand?

I've attached a simplified file as an example of what i'm talking about

Thanks

Si

Example file

TIG

Try this - most EEby... tools usually need 'curves' - even when they are in the form of a straight line [divided] - made by using weld.rb on edge-sets...

sirands1

@tig said:

Try this - most EEby... tools usually need 'curves' - even when they are in the form of a straight line [divided] - made by using weld.rb on edge-sets...[attachment=0:13ntfsv7]Capture.PNG[/attachment:13ntfsv7]

Thanks, but how do you weld as a curve?
Sorry, newbie question maybe

Thanks again

Si

sirands1

Brilliant, got it now
Thanks so much for your help

Si

TIG

For the avoidance of doubt and other's info...
Any collection of lines [aka Edges] that are bound into a single collection are called 'Curves'.
Most Curves are recognizable as Arcs and Circles etc, but these are really just a special subclass of Curves with a Plane and a Radius etc...
A Freehand wiggly line is also a Curve.
Specialist tools can also take a collection of Edges and make them into Curves - e.g. Bezier Curves which have a mathematical structure.
Many CAD programs would call these '[3d]Polylines' - in Sketchup they are ALL called 'Curves'.
A Curve doesn't need to be 'planar' like an Arc or Circle, it can have Edges springing off in 3d.A Curve has the property that all Edges within it will Select together, and when extruded the edges at the internal segment nodes are smoothed.

If you have a connected set of Edges that you'd like to become a 'Curve' there is a tool called 'Weld': you can get this [free] from http://www.smustard.com/script/Weld = ' weld.rb'. Put it into your Plugins folder and restart Sketchup, it appears under the Plugins menu. I recommend you shortcut to it - I use J for Join [like in CAD]...
To use it is quite easy.
Select the Edges you want to Weld into a Curve, run the tool and answer the two prompts - you probably do NOT want to 'close' the curve or add a face [possible if it's planar].
Welding will fail if the Edges are broken by another Edge meeting them at a node that would split the Curve anyway. Also some combinations of Edges where some of them are already parts of Curves can cause issues - if so right-click context-menu 'Explode' the Curve parts back to raw Edges and retry.
If you have a single straight Edge it needs to be a Curve for some tools [like EEbyRails], so first use Divide on the Edge, type in a number [say 6], the now split 6 Edges will remain highlighted, immediately use Weld on them and you then have a Curve that just happens to look like a straight line !

NickGenerator

Why is Curviloft not an option here? It does all the dividing?? (Btw, is there still a free plugin to divide lines??)

Dave R

Who said Curviloft isn't an option? And why would you need a plugin to divide lines into shorter segments? It's native in SketchUp.

TIG

@nickgenerator said:

Why is Curviloft not an option here? It does all the dividing?? (Btw, is there still a free plugin to divide lines??)
Fredo's Curviloft might be an option... BUT this guy is using my EEbyRails Plugin and that needs Curves.

You don't need a 'free-plugin' to divide lines.
It's already built into Sketchup!
You simply Select a Line [or even an Arc] and right-click context-menu > 'Divide'.
You can slide the cursor to get different numbers, OR just type in a number.

NickGenerator

@tig said:

You don't need a 'free-plugin' to divide lines.
It's already built into Sketchup!

Oh, sorry and thank you. I googled and just found a plugin from 1001 which is part of some shareware package.