[Plugin][EVAL] TIG-CutNfill

ohemstock

Hi again,

Just paid for the licensed version as I am sure this tool will make my life easier. However the same problem persists: Error Loading File TIG-CutNfill.rb
(eval):65:in `require': uninitialized constant SketchupExtension::TIG::CutNfill::FOLDER

Cheers,

Ollie

TIG

Following on from the last two posts...

After some not inconsiderable reverse-engineering...
I have now made a v8 compatible version of the v2.0 RBZ - for both the EVAL and LICENSED versions...

So, if you need one please contact me by Private Message...

Then I'll PM you an RBZ that will work on your 'olde' version 8...

BUT if you have bought a license, then please give details of your user-name, email etc, so that it can be verified...

I am not as stupid as I look !

lmfarmer

Earlier today I purchased CutNfill. 2 questions:

should I have received my license number by now, or does it take a while for the email to be sent? I did get the PayPal receipt.
using the Skirt Tool on my unlocked Location Terrain group, created using Add Location, doesn't make a solid. Is there something I'm missing?

Here's what I thought I'd be able to do: Add Location, unlock Location Terrain, use Skirt Tool, copy Location Terrain (now a solid), rename one of them EXTG, rename other PROPOSED, move PROPOSED over 1000', modify PROPOSED, move it back 1000', which should put it back in exactly the same spot as EXTG. Obviously I can't do this if I can't make Location Terrain a solid, so I think I'm missing something.

I'm going to go back now and experiment with creating a terrain from scratch and then using the SKIRT TOOL, while I wait for an answer here. Maybe I'll figure out the answer to my own question

Thanks!

TIG

How did you purchase it ?
Through the SCF Shop ?

If you did that you should have got a new RBZ which you then download and install.
And that is fully licensed.

There is no license emailed to you.
The downloaded RBZ contains the licensed RBZ...

Provided that the 'surface' terrains [EXTG & PROPosed] are inperforate skins then the skirt should make a solid.
If it's not a solid the entity info will report it as not.

Tools like SolidSolver and SolidInspector² can help make these solid...

PS:
I have copied this to the SCF Shop to determine that you have indeed paid, and if so we'll get a licensed RBZ sent to you...

lmfarmer

Thanks, TIG.

I did manage to make it solid, but only after a bit of work on it. Tomorrow, I'll download some other Google terrains to see the results. I'll attach a file or two if I still have difficulty with them.

Thanks for forwarding my query re the license, as the plugin I downloaded did not download with a license attached.

And thank you, too, for some of your other plugins. I'm amazed at the work you do!

TIG

The license file comes in the tool's subfolder shipped in its RBZ.
It's a temporary license file in the 'eval' version's RBZ.
When, after paying, you get the licensed RBZ, you simply install that and the license file is overwritten with a permanent one, this is all done automatic, there is no other licensing procedure required.

I've not heard from the SCF Shop guys to confirm the payment.
I am I right is assuming that you got the licensed RBZ ?
It's called "TIG-CutNfill[LICENSED]_v2.0".

If I confirm your Shop payment but you haven't got the RBZ I can always PM a version to you...

After installing the licensed RBZ, I suggest that you restart SketchUp to make sure that it gets fully 'registered'...

lmfarmer

"am I right is assuming that you got the licensed RBZ ?
It's called "TIG-CutNfill[LICENSED]_v2.0".

Well, what I did was I paid for it through the extension store and got the attached message saying to check my email. I did so, saw the paypal receipt was there and thought it might just take time for the email from SketchUcation to come. In the meantime, because I was anxious to get started , I installed the [EVAL] plugin, thinking I'd just be able to add the license when I got the email. So far, though, still no email from SketchUcation. If you or the "SCF Shop guys" need my paypal receipt, I can send that by PM.

I also think I know why I wasn't getting a solid when using the Skirt Tool on my Google Location Terrain. When it comes in, it's of course not on SU's default axes, so I need to rotate it and then, if I want accurate shadows, use the Solar North tool. Does that sound right? I'm going to try it after I finish this message.

Thanks for your assistance.
Linda

Confirm.pdf

TIG

@Linda

I've sent you a licensed RBZ by Private Message.
Download it somewhere safe and install it to get the licensed tool...

lmfarmer

Received and installed. Thanks!

Now on to Question 2 re not getting a solid when I use the Skirt Tool on a mesh created by Add Terrain. I've tried two different sites, and found that if I grab a small section of the site, I get a solid; if I grab the whole site, I don't. Using Solid Inspector2 tells me I have two surface borders that have to be fixed manually. I've looked, and I can't find anything wrong with the borders.

The whole area, of course, wouldn't need cutting and filling, and I read your answer to another post that one should perhaps use CutNfill on just the area that needs cutting and filling. So....

I've attached one of the files that has the whole site, no solid for either the rotated-and-end-point-moved-to-origin Location Terrain or the Location Terrain as created by Add Terrain (although I did move it 2000' from where it originally came in so that I could move the rotated copy to the origin). In another file I grabbed a much, much smaller area, and the Skirt Tool worked perfectly. So is size my problem here?

Thanks ever so much for your assistance. First you do all the work to create these great tools, and then we take up your time pestering you with questions Sorry!

Linda

CutNfill test copy.skp

mahmoudsaad89

Hi TIG, I donated through the help button to get the license, payment received and got the receipt from PayPal but never got the download link. Am still on EVAL mode and need the tool urgently. I have contacted PayPal and they asked me to contact you directly. Could u please help??

TIG

Here's v3.0 https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=TIG-CutNfill
Signed updated for the newer SUp versions.
Load error on license checking is fixed.

If you have already bought a licensed versions, you can update to this one by installing the trial version from the link.,,
Your current license file will not be affected by the reinstallation.

I will also update the SCF Shop's version very shortly.
So that any new purchasers will get the latest version too...

TIG

@mahmoudsaad89 said:

Hi TIG, I donated through the help button to get the license, payment received and got the receipt from PayPal but never got the download link. Am still on EVAL mode and need the tool urgently. I have contacted PayPal and they asked me to contact you directly. Could u please help??
Resolved, with a refund I hope !
However, your complex EXTG/PROP groups cause issues with SketchUp itself.
Its Solid Tools fail to make a 'difference' that is solid, therefore the volume reports as 0 !
These tools are used by CutNfill too, so they get the same issues.
SketchUp assumed that an edge with start/end nearer that 1/1000" are coincident and the edge is not made, then related faces can't exist, and the object is then not a solid.
Parts of it have before and after faces that are fractions of a millimeter apart, the can't the be used in the 'difference' as the vertical tiny edges get lost...
You could perhaps try scaling up both groups by x1000, do the process and then manually fix the volumes which will be 1000x1000x1000 too big !
The tiny edge at 0.25mm then becomes 250mm so it will succeed in the 'differncing'...

Rhino

I have just purchased the TIG-CUTNFILL and cant get it to load on my SU8 Pro. I keep getting a message that says;
Error Loading File TIG-CutNfill.rb
(eval):71:in `join': can't convert nil into String
Also, I get an error;
TT_Lib² Not Installed
Additional files are needed.

Please help. Thanks!

Gábor

@rhino said:

I have just purchased the TIG-CUTNFILL and cant get it to load on my SU8 Pro.

Hi Rhino,

Version 3 is clearly listed an compatible >= v2013.
So in v8 it doesn't work !
Indeed v8 is no longer supported by SketchUp and many extensions.

I've contacted TIG and he has an offer to either refund you, or send you a modified V2 version of the plugin what is made SU8 compatible.

Please let us know about your choice.

TimConnell1980

Hi,
I used the Cut N Fill tool on one terrain, it worked well! THanks. I tried it again on another terrain and although it took a while to get both to be solid objects, when I did get them to be solids it calculated the cut n fill but gave a '0 m3' result and said 'Cut not solid' and 'Fill not solid'. Any ideas what the problem would be?
Thanks

TIG

@Tim

Without seeing the terrain models I can't be sure, however, if the 'remainder' [cut or fill] group is not a solid then its volume is reported as 0.
It is how the API works with 'solid-tools' subtractions, just like doing it manually.
If you select a cut or fill result it should show as a 'Solid' in Entity Info and report its volume.

The reason you can sometimes subtract two solid forms and end up with a non-solid result can be caused by the forms having intersecting geometry such that the resultant form includes some edges with start/end points so close to each other that SketchUp interprets them as being coincident, and consequently the edge is not created and the two faces that it should have supported cannot then exist, meaning that the form has a hole in it and it's therefore not a 'solid'.
SketchUp's tolerance is 1/1000", and whilst you earthworks are unlikely to get near that it is possible to have extg/proposed forms with very small differences in the elevation of some of their planes, which might result in very thin 'slivers' that cannot be made solid; also triangulated faces in the extg/prop forms which intersect could sometimes create very tiny triangular facets, which can cause these kinds of issues...

If you do a manual solid-tools subtraction on copies of the two forms you should see the result cannot be reported as 'solid'.
Check the geometry of the two forms and make minor adjustments, it's pointless having before and after levels that are ~1mm apart as the total cut/fill volume would be minimal anyway...

Grey24601

HI All,

I have dreamed of an extension like this however, my results have not been great. This is the results from a real world project where the survey has thrown up a difficult terrain. The skirts added without any problems. Both terrains are solid according to the Entity Information.

Any advice on how to fix it would be appreciated as I really want his extension to work.

TIG

As explained in some earlier posts, it is possible to contrive two solid surface forms which when subtracted do not result in solid object [a limitation of SketchUp itself], so then the result has no volume - simply because it's not a solid.
You can get this result using the native tools rather that this specialist version of it - which actually uses the native tools via the API...

Obviously start with two solid existing and proposed groups...

To try to avoid these kinds of issues then ensure that their skirts coincide exactly.
The tool has a built-in skirt adder tool...

Next ensure that the existing and proposed groups have difference in their surfaces that are sensible.
A few mm difference in the elevations of their surfaces' faces is likely to result in a subtracted form with holes in it - because SketchUp can't create edges < 1/1000" long during the intersection and 'solid-tools' operation, so then faces that would have used those skipped tiny edges fail, and then the resultant form is not a solid and therefore it has no volume.
Remember that you are considering earth movement here, and accuracy to a few mm is not practical anyway, so be 'bold'...

juju

@grey24601 said:

The skirts added without any problems. Both terrains are solid according to the Entity Information.

Have you tried Solid Inspector 2 on the terrains?

Grey24601

Thanks Tig,

I think that I need to go back to the original data and rework it. I will repost when I have done it.
The extension looks brilliant and thanks for creating it. I have just found solidSolver which I wish I had when I started this work!!