[Plugin] VisTools v1.3.4

cuttingedge

HI Dan..guess I reacted too fast.. Yes I had the icons appeared on top but they are not fully functioning.. Isolate object (which is most useful)for example doesnt work. What might be wrong..Might be some plugins conflict.. been downloading plugins lately, that started the prob. Is there any known plugin in conflict with Vis Tool?

Dan Rathbun

@cuttingedge said:

Is there any known plugin in conflict with Vis Tool?

Should not be, as it operates within it's own namespace.

I never got around to testing it under Ruby 2.0.0 and SU2014.

halroach

@designerbursa said:

SketchUp 8 isolate command does not work.
May I have your update.
or Can you recommend a different version for SketchUp 8.

Same here. Isolate command not working for me either. Ideas?

Dan Rathbun

It is low priority. It's a free plugin after all.

Dan Rathbun

@halroach said:

@designerbursa said:

SketchUp 8 isolate command does not work.
... for SketchUp 8.

Same here. Isolate command not working for me either. Ideas?

How about giving some information that I can act upon ?

WHICH Isolate command ? (there are two)

How about your OS platform and version ?
SketchUp edition and version ?

Did you read the Release Notes on page 1 of this thread ?
Do you understand that there are edit situations where "Isolate" is invalid ?

Under what circumstances does the command "not work" ?

Is the command "greyed out" when you try to use it ?

Are there any error messages in the Ruby Console when the command fails for you ?

halroach

@dan rathbun said:

@halroach said:

@designerbursa said:

SketchUp 8 isolate command does not work.
... for SketchUp 8.

Same here. Isolate command not working for me either. Ideas?

How about giving some information that I can act upon ?

WHICH Isolate command ? (there are two)

How about your OS platform and version ?
SketchUp edition and version ?

Did you read the Release Notes on page 1 of this thread ?
Do you understand that there are edit situations where "Isolate" is invalid ?

Under what circumstances does the command "not work" ?

Is the command "greyed out" when you try to use it ?

Are there any error messages in the Ruby Console when the command fails for you ?

"Isolate selected layers" not working
windows 7
Sketchup Pro 8
read the release notes - If you're referring to the points listed under v.1.3.0 - Still not sure I have fully understood what those situations mean.
I am trying to isolate a bunch of lines from a specific layer, while there are other lines and faces in other layers. nothing nested. also when trying with lines within a component, nothing happens.
not greyed out
When selecting a few lines and faces from one layer - run "Isolate selected layers" error message in ruby console:

Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined methodmap' for nil:NilClass>
C:/PROGRA~2/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/IntrepidBear/VisTools/VisTools.rb:197:in isolate_layers' C:/PROGRA~2/Google/GOOGLE~1/Plugins/IntrepidBear/VisTools/VisTools.rb:577

Dan Rathbun

OK now I have something to work with.

(#5) FYI, in SketchUp all primitives (edges and faces, etc.,) should be on Layer0.

See the tutorials. Layers in SketchUp are only for display purposes. Having primitives on different layers will not prevent them from interacting with each other. (ie, edges splitting each other or edges splitting faces.)

They need to be in groups or component instances to separate them.

Dan Rathbun

"nothing happens"

FYI:

(1) the active layer cannot be hidden. If you try this via the GUI, a error messagebox will popup and tell you so. But if a script tries to do this via the API, the request is ignored with no popup.

(2) When in an edit context, any layers of ancestor containers (group or component instance) of anything in the current selection cannot be hidden, as those items in the selection would then get hidden.

So it may be that some error messages or popup message box may be in order to tell the user when things cannot be hidden.

halroach

@dan rathbun said:

OK now I have something to work with.

(#5) FYI, in SketchUp all primitives (edges and faces, etc.,) should be on Layer0.

See the tutorials. Layers in SketchUp are only for display purposes. Having primitives on different layers will not prevent them from interacting with each other. (ie, edges splitting each other or edges splitting faces.)

They need to be in groups or component instances to separate them.

I am fully aware of the "best practice" of working with all primitives on layer0, and everything grouped into groups or components. That is actually exactly how I always work.

In this case, I was thinking of using the layer-isolate function for helping me to sort out messy dwg files that I import from autocad. Instead of cleaning the dwgs from within autocad, which can sometimes be a real mess and takes lots of time, I like importing everything into sketchup and I then turn off bothersome layers with your, or similar layer plugins and then delete all the turned off layers, or I inverse the layers, or hide/unhide what ever I need and delete all the rest... (I think you get my drift)

I was hoping that maybe the layer isolate would kind of leave the selected lines in place, while shutting off all other layers... basically isolating them so I can then easily select and copy them, or whatever needs to be done with them...

So I understand now that what the layer-isolate function does in this plugin is isolate groups or components that are on certain layers, correct?

Thank you for the kind explanations!

Dan Rathbun

@halroach said:

I was hoping that maybe the layer isolate would kind of leave the selected lines in place, while shutting off all other layers... basically isolating them so I can then easily select and copy them, or whatever needs to be done with them...

YES you can do this. (It is just that there was an old bug in the two isolate commands, that did nothing if you were at the model level. This was someone else's code that they abandoned because of other life demands. I just cleaned it up.)

So new version is now out.

v 1.3.4

Big change is that in order to be compliant with Trimble Extension Warehouse, I had to flatten the plugin's directory structure, and rename the loader file. So you need to delete "load_Vistools.rb" and the "IntrepidBear" directory (and all it's subdirectories.)
Then install the new version.

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=49662%26amp;p=446865#p446865

halroach

Just tested the new version (v1.3.4) on Sketchup Pro 2014. Works wonderfully in and out of components!
I'll check on Sketchup Pro 8 on Sunday.
edit: works on 8 too!
Thanks a lot Dan

valerostudio

Isolate Layer doesnt seem to work anymore in 2015. I use this plugin every day and although it is still very useful, this feature being fixed would make me a happy man!

Dan Rathbun

What version did you try?

Did you have the Ruby Console open and did any error message appear ?

Dan Rathbun

@valerostudio said:

Isolate Layer doesnt seem to work anymore in 2015. I use this plugin every day and although it is still very useful, this feature being fixed would make me a happy man!

Again,... did you update to the latest version (v1.3.4) which you can download from post 1, page 1 of this topic ?

Dan Rathbun

@dan rathbun said:

@valerostudio said:

Isolate Layer doesnt seem to work anymore in 2015. I use this plugin every day and although it is still very useful, this feature being fixed would make me a happy man!

Again,... did you update to the latest version (v1.3.4) which you can download from post 1, page 1 of this topic ?

OK I have realized that, if people just updated from the SketchUcation Tools, the Trimble Extension Warehouse, or manually via the Extensions dialog and browsing to the downloaded RBZ archive,...

... and that they never saw the warning notice for v1.3.4, viz:

@unknownuser said:

IMPORTANT!
Delete file: " **Plugins/load_Vistools.rb**"
Delete folder: " **Plugins/IntrepidBear**"
THEN.. install the new RBZ:

... what happens is that the old version v1.3.3 loads after and redefines the plugin code back to this old bugged version.

I am writing a new version v1.3.5 that will have auto cleanup utility embedded in it's loader, that will deactivate the old v1.3.3 versions.

If you installed v1.3.4 to a clean SketchUp (that never had the older version,) then you will not have load conflict where the older version overrides the newer.)

socolavn95

Any update or plugins similar to this. It seems that Isolate function does not work well with SU 2017~

haymaker

Hi
I am using the Vis Tools plugin which is super handy to be able to isolate a selection of objects to edit them and then restore your view by hitting 'show all in context'. I would like to be able to do the same thing with the 'isolate' and 'hide tags' button, however the 'show all in context' does not restore the tag profile you had before isolating them. Am I missing something here? I cant think of a use for the isolate tags button as I have way to many tags to go through and manually turn them all back on once I no longer need the tags isolated. Is it possible to add a button to restore the previous tag setting? this would make an awesome plugin a game changer.
Thanks

Dan Rathbun

@socolavn95 said:

Any update or plugins similar to this. It seems that Isolate function does not work well with SU 2017~

I was actually working on an update back in 2016, but never published it. I'm unsure if I ever finished the intended work on it.

This was 5 years before the addition of the Tags/Layers folder feature.

There is a newer version of this extension by another coder, but their edition did not properly namespace their code (with their own namespace module) so it will clash with mine if I publish my updates.

@haymaker said:

I would like to be able to do the same thing with the 'isolate' and 'hide tags' button, however the 'show all in context' does not restore the tag profile you had before isolating them. Am I missing something here? ... Is it possible to add a button to restore the previous tag setting? this would make an awesome plugin a game changer.

As said above, I've not been into the code for this extension in ~7 years. I am currently working on another layer/tag control extension that will be commercial (for a small fee.) I might fold some of the old features from this extension into the new extension. (I dislike a bunch of little extensions with "nitty" features. I prefer to bundle these various "nitty" features together into a single "themed" extension.