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    Line length on circle scaled to ellipse is very wrong

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    • pbacotP Offline
      pbacot
      last edited by

      @baz said:

      @pbacot said:

      if you split the circles before the length of the two half curves remains the same when scaled regardless of sides...

      Sorry, not quite following you there.

      But to restate the question: If I draw a line at 100, Entity Info will tell me its 100.
      If I draw an arc and explode, I will get an accurate line length.
      However, if I scale a circle to make an ellipse, Entity Info gives me nonsense, and not even consistent nonsense. I just went back to my example model as shown at top and all the reported numbers are now different...

      It's to do with scaling, I reckon. It confuses SU's little brain.

      It doesn't make sense. Really CAD programs should have an ellipse tool.


      Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 8.35.22 AM.png

      MacOSX MojaveSketchUp Pro v19 Twilight v2 Thea v3 PowerCADD

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      • S Offline
        slbaumgartner
        last edited by

        I did some probing via Ruby, and it seems there is a chain of bugs causing this. First, when you scale a circle to make it an ellipse, SketchUp should drop the metadata defining it as a circle and treat it as just a closed loop of segments (a Curve). It does not do so, it continues to carry the center point, radius, and normal vector as if the loop is still a circle, and the edges still say they are part of an ArcCurve. This evidently triggers a second bug in the method that calculates the circumference of the loop. In some cases it still calculates the mathematical 2pir as if the circle hasn't been scaled. In other cases it calculates a strange value that has no evident relationship to anything. In no case does it return the sum of the lengths of the edges!

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        • Wo3DanW Offline
          Wo3Dan
          last edited by

          Lengths of (part of) an ellips do not show rigtht. This has been mentioned before.
          I hope you can see this thread. See posts around 17/4/2008 and on.
          https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/sketchup3d/ellips$2Barea%7Csort:relevance/sketchup3d/z70T5xdUm_I/g-ChcSEcL2YJ

          *"Taff, Google SU team,

          Very nice approach Taff, almost precise. Here again there is the
          lack of a precise ''snap to" with these rotations. But it's the best
          you can do!

          But I noticed an (important) bug in the "Entity Info" and "Text"
          tool output.
          The curve length shown is only half of what it should be.

          Before you exploded the 1/4 ellipse curve the Entity Info reports
          141.371669' as the curve length (also through Text tool)
          It should however be: 282.743338'

          16 segments out of the exploded curve add up to: 281.923143'
          just a bit shorter which is obvious.
          The more segments the more precise Taff's approach will be.
          Even better when there were a "rotate snap" option to a curve.

          Regards,
          Wo3Dan "*

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          • bazB Offline
            baz
            last edited by

            Pilou. The actual line length is 2155 +/- 5. measured in the real world.

            This thread is starting to make my brain hurt...so, respected elders, is it a Bug or not?

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            • pilouP Offline
              pilou
              last edited by

              @unknownuser said:

              Using Approximation 2, the perimeter would be 2118.265712279433

              A nurbs program 400 * 900 ellipse gives 2118,2799332 length line perimeter

              Sketchup gives 2118,276442 with circle 1000 segments

              Frenchy Pilou
              Is beautiful that please without concept!
              My Little site :)

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              • S Offline
                slbaumgartner
                last edited by

                I think it is a bug. I looked up the formula for perimeter of an ellipse and compared that with what SketchUp's entity info returns. For a 10x20 ellipse, the result should be 96.88. SketchUp variously returned 62.83 (20*pi), 111.3, and 113.27.

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                • ely862meE Offline
                  ely862me
                  last edited by

                  There was already a bug submitted for this, yes it is a bug. Also changing lengths when copying an ellipse is a bug. They are in the database and most likely sometime in the near future will be fixed.

                  Elisei (sketchupper)


                  Before no life was done on Earth it was THE LIFE ITSELF...GOD
                  Come and See EliseiDesign

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                  • M Offline
                    mac1
                    last edited by

                    There is no closed form equation for perimeter of ellipse
                    it is approximated by p=2PIsqrt[[[ a^2+b^2]/2]^1/2]
                    The correct value p=4aE where E is the elliptic integral where k=1/a
                    sqrt[a^2-b^2]

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                    • bazB Offline
                      baz
                      last edited by

                      @mac1 said:

                      There is no closed form equation for perimeter of ellipse
                      it is approximated by p=2PIsqrt[[[ a^2+b^2]/2]^1/2]
                      The correct value p=4aE where E is the elliptic integral where k=1/a
                      sqrt[a^2-b^2]

                      Yeah, what Mac said...

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                      • S Offline
                        slbaumgartner
                        last edited by

                        Mac is right, though there are several other approximate formulas that are better than the one he gave. Also, there are power-series that can be run to enough terms to get arbitrarily close. The point here is that even the sum of the lengths of the edges in the oval comes much closer than the strange values that SketchUp sometimes provides.i

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                        • C Offline
                          CAUL
                          last edited by

                          The best estimation of the circumference I've found is this:

                          
                            def self.circumference(major, minor)
                              a = major / 2.0
                              b = minor / 2.0 
                              d = b / a
                              
                              x0 = d**0.5
                              x1 = d
                              x2 = d**1.5
                              x3 = d**2
                              x4 = d**2.5
                              
                              s0 = 3929 * x0 + 1639157 * x1 + 19407215 * x2 + 24302653 * x3 + 12892432 * x4
                              s1 = 86251 + 1924742 * x0 + 6612384 * x1 + 7291509 * x2 + 6436977 * x3 + 3158719 * x4
                              c = 4 * a + b * (s0 / s1)
                              return c
                            end
                          
                          

                          It's extremely accurate, unfortunately I don't know where I found it so I can't give credits.

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                          • pilouP Offline
                            pilou
                            last edited by

                            And what is its result in this case ? (Ellipse 400*900)

                            Frenchy Pilou
                            Is beautiful that please without concept!
                            My Little site :)

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                            • C Offline
                              CAUL
                              last edited by

                              @pilou said:

                              And what is its result in this case ? (Ellipse 400*900)

                              2118.2799288074484

                              The result above is for major = 900, minor = 400, if your input refers to the semi axes multiply the result by 2.

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                              • pilouP Offline
                                pilou
                                last edited by

                                @ Caul
                                So my result of Nurbs prog was not so bad! 😉
                                2118,2799 332 against your theoric 2118.2799 288074484

                                Sketchup gives 2118,27 6442 with circle 1000 segments! 😉

                                But what think of this

                                @unknownuser said:

                                The actual line length is 2155 +/- 5. measured in the real world.

                                Measured with ?

                                http://www.filoche-et-ficelle.fr/314-831-thickbox/pelote-de-jute-ficelle-jute-75m.jpg
                                or
                                http://www.achatmat.com/mesure-courte/metre-ruban-ergonomique-bi-matiere-p-3000740-600x600.jpg
                                or...?

                                Frenchy Pilou
                                Is beautiful that please without concept!
                                My Little site :)

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                                • M Offline
                                  mac1
                                  last edited by

                                  Attched is pic of ellipse drawn by the means of supplemental chords with no scaling. I included different seg counts just to show what can be done. If there is intersest I'll redo with more care.
                                  Su reports length of 48.364" for size shown.
                                  If you can run the polynomial curve fit equation shown I would appreciate. If this approach is useful for you I'll redo and show how to draw. It is a little more complicated than scaling but not much since you can draw 1/4 and then mirrow.
                                  Oops see one dimension got cropped it is 10"conjuate ellipse.jpg

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                                  • bazB Offline
                                    baz
                                    last edited by

                                    @pilou said:

                                    @ Caul
                                    So my result of Nurbs prog was not so bad! 😉
                                    2118,2799 332 against your theoric 2118.2799 288074484

                                    Sketchup gives 2118,27 6442 with circle 1000 segments! 😉

                                    But what think of this
                                    The actual line length is 2155 +/- 5. measured in the real world.

                                    Measured with ?

                                    A piece of string Pilou, sorry I cant recheck it, the job is done and dusted.

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                                    • bazB Offline
                                      baz
                                      last edited by

                                      @mac1 said:

                                      Attched is pic of ellipse drawn by the means of supplemental chords with no scaling. I included different seg counts just to show what can be done. If there is interest I'll redo with more care.
                                      Su reports length of 48.364" for size shown. (1228.4456mm)
                                      If you can run the polynomial curve fit equation shown I would appreciate. If this approach is useful for you I'll redo and show how to draw. It is a little more complicated than scaling but not much since you can draw 1/4 and then mirrow.
                                      Oops see one dimension got cropped it is 10"[attachment=0:cf3intzr]<!-- ia0 -->conjuate ellipse.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:cf3intzr]

                                      Curious to see how you do it Mac. (Tho' the curve on the minor axis is a bit pointy n'est pas?)

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                                      • C Offline
                                        CAUL
                                        last edited by

                                        The code below constructs an ellipse in a group centered at origo where all edges have the exact same length. Since the script only computes a quarter ellipse the final full ellipse has an edge count divisible by 4. There's a "user interface" at the end to set major, minor and edge count. The circumference converges to the correct value with increased edgecount.

                                        To run it, just paste the code into the ruby console and press enter.

                                        
                                        module CAUL_RegularEllipse
                                          
                                          #hack found on the internets. Very accurate...
                                          def self.circumference(major, minor)
                                            a = major / 2.0
                                            b = minor / 2.0 
                                            d = b / a
                                            
                                            x0 = d**0.5
                                            x1 = d
                                            x2 = d**1.5
                                            x3 = d**2
                                            x4 = d**2.5
                                            
                                            s0 = 3929 * x0 + 1639157 * x1 + 19407215 * x2 + 24302653 * x3 + 12892432 * x4
                                            s1 = 86251 + 1924742 * x0 + 6612384 * x1 + 7291509 * x2 + 6436977 * x3 + 3158719 * x4
                                            c = 4 * a + b * (s0 / s1)
                                            return c
                                          end
                                          
                                          #find the intersection between a positive half ellipse at (0, 0) and a 
                                          #positive half circle at (h, k) with radius r in the first quadrant.
                                          def self.circle_ellipse_intersect(a, b, h, k, r, c)
                                            #start point must be chosen with care so we don't end up outside the domain
                                            x = h - c * r
                                            epsilon = 0.000000000000001
                                            f_e = f_c = 0
                                            (0..15).each { |i|
                                              f_e_sqr = 4 * (a*a * b*b) * (a*a - x*x)
                                              f_c_sqr = 2 * h * x + r*r - x*x - h*h
                                              df_e_sqr = a*a * b*b * (a*a - x*x)
                                              df_c_sqr = r*r + 2 * h * x - x*x - h*h
                                              
                                              return nil if f_e_sqr < 0 || f_c_sqr < 0 || df_e_sqr < 0 || df_c_sqr < 0
                                                
                                              f_e  = Math;;sqrt(f_e_sqr) / (2 * a*a)      
                                              f_c =  Math;;sqrt(f_c_sqr) + k
                                              df_e = -(b*b * x) / Math;;sqrt(df_e_sqr)
                                              df_c = (h - x) / Math;;sqrt(df_c_sqr)
                                              break if (f_e - f_c).abs <= epsilon
                                              x = x - (f_e - f_c) / (df_e - df_c)
                                            }
                                            return [x, f_e]  
                                          end
                                          
                                          #given a positive x-value, return the point on the ellipse in the first qudrant
                                          def self.get_ellipse_point(major, minor, x)
                                            a = major / 2.0
                                            b = minor / 2.0
                                            f_e_sqr = 4 * (a*a * b*b) * (a*a - x*x)
                                            f_e  = Math;;sqrt(f_e_sqr) / (2 * a*a)
                                            return Geom;;Point3d.new(x, f_e, 0)
                                          end
                                          
                                          #return how close the ellipse gets to the endpoint at ex with #bits segments
                                          #of length len.
                                          def self.test_ellipse(len, q_bits, major, minor, ex)
                                            a = major / 2.0;
                                            b = minor / 2.0;
                                            d = count = 0
                                            coff = [0.99999999, 0.00000001, 0.5]
                                            p0 = Geom;;Point3d.new(a, 0, 0)
                                            pe = get_ellipse_point(major, minor, ex)
                                            
                                            (0..q_bits - 2).each { |i|
                                              arr = nil
                                              coff.each { |c|
                                                arr = circle_ellipse_intersect(a, b, p0.x, p0.y, len, c)
                                                break if arr != nil
                                              }
                                              return nil, nil if arr == nil
                                         
                                              p0.x = arr[0]
                                              p0.y = arr[1]
                                              d = pe.distance(p0)
                                              count += 1
                                              break if d < len
                                            }
                                            return d, count
                                          end
                                          
                                          #given an ellipse and the number of segments (q_bits) covering a quarter of the ellipse,
                                          #compute the length of a segment.
                                          def self.get_segment_length(major, minor, q_bits, ex)
                                            
                                            c = circumference(major, minor)
                                            #len is guaranteed to be a close over estimation
                                            len = (c / 4.0) / q_bits
                                            #regress towards the root by adjusting len downwards. Very rapid convergence..
                                            (0..10).each { |i|
                                              d, count =  test_ellipse(len, q_bits, major, minor, ex)
                                              over = (len - d) + (q_bits - 1 - count) * d
                                              len -= over / q_bits  
                                            }
                                            return len
                                          end
                                          
                                          def self.get_quarter_ellipse(major, minor, q_bits, len)
                                            a = major / 2.0;
                                            b = minor / 2.0;
                                            d = count = 0
                                            coff = [0.99999999, 0.00000001, 0.5]
                                            p0 = Geom;;Point3d.new(a, 0, 0)
                                            ps = [p0]
                                            pe = Geom;;Point3d.new(0, b, 0)
                                            
                                            (0..q_bits - 2).each { |i|
                                              arr = nil
                                              coff.each { |c|
                                                arr = circle_ellipse_intersect(a, b, p0.x, p0.y, len, c)
                                                break if arr != nil
                                              }
                                              return nil, nil if arr == nil
                                              
                                              p1 = Geom;;Point3d.new(arr[0], arr[1], 0)
                                              ps << p1
                                              p0 = p1
                                            }
                                            ps << pe
                                            return ps
                                          end
                                          
                                          def self.get_ellipse(major, minor, q_bits, len)
                                            ps = get_quarter_ellipse(major, minor, q_bits, len)
                                            ##add the other three quadrants
                                            len = ps.length
                                            (0..len - 2).each { |i| ps << Geom;;Point3d.new(-ps[len - 2 - i].x, ps[len - 2 - i].y, 0) }
                                            len = ps.length
                                            (0..len - 2).each { |i| ps << Geom;;Point3d.new(ps[len - 2 - i].x, -ps[len - 2 - i].y, 0) }
                                            ps.delete_at(ps.length - 1)
                                            return ps
                                          end
                                          
                                          ########################
                                          ######### MAIN #########
                                          ########################
                                          
                                          def self.main
                                            mod = Sketchup.active_model
                                            ent = mod.entities
                                            sel = mod.selection
                                            
                                            ###### USER INTERFACE ####
                                            major = 900.mm
                                            minor = 400.mm
                                            q_bits = 100 #number of segments in a quarter ellipse (-> full ellipse has q_bits * 4 segments)
                                            #################
                                            
                                            len = get_segment_length(major, minor, q_bits, 0)
                                            ps = get_ellipse(major, minor, q_bits, len)
                                            
                                            ### ADD THE ELLIPSE ##
                                            ng = ent.add_group
                                            (0..ps.length - 1).each { |i| ng.entities.add_line ps[i], ps[(i+1) % ps.length] }
                                            puts 'done'
                                          end
                                          
                                          main
                                        end
                                        
                                        
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                                        • bazB Offline
                                          baz
                                          last edited by

                                          A L. Great, that will be very useful in the future. Thanks.
                                          Ps: 2118mm again, How long was my piece of string?

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                                          • BoxB Offline
                                            Box
                                            last edited by

                                            Use elastic next time Baz then you can get several measurements in one.

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