Hole creation Plugin?
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Hey there-
Running Pro 2021 onPC
I see many posts asking for this option throughout the forum but see mixed results and options.
I'm looking for a way to make 'simple' holes in solids. I want to be able to set what hole parameters I want and then just point the mouse and the holes are made in the material. Seems simple but I'm not seeing this available.Assumptions and Opinions on existing extensions...set me straight if I'm missing an option in one of these.
The extension from K2WS_Tools is nice for holes but overly complicated and doesn't allow for dropping a hole wherever I want.VisuHole is okay but wonky and not really enjoyable to use and not really how I would expect to make holes in a product.
The Hole Tool in Profile Builder 3 is really close to what I'm looking for in function but seems a little limited in it's use outside of created profiles. Would like more options for hole creation.
EP Fasteners is really close as I like it's options but I can't get it to work correctly in any thing that is grouped or a component. It works in ungrouped solids but in a group it only cuts the top surface and not all the way through. And then the extension closes every time and you have to re open the dialog and start all over. I'd like to learn how to program and make this one a couple notches better and I think it would be a winner.
If EP Fasteners and the Hole Tool in profile got married this is about what I'm looking for. A dialog box with pre set options or user entered criteria and then the ability to point and click wherever you want the hole to be placed.
Added to that would be great if the holes were able to be modified simply after creation...for example, you made a 1/2 hole in a plate but then a week later the design changes and you need 5/8 or 3/8 holes in your plates.
Also, I'm newer to Sketchup full time with a brain that wants Catia and SWorks style function.
Nic
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@unknownuser said:
...with a brain that wants Catia and SWorks style function
Those apps use true curves to generate 3d forms. Cutting these are much easier because of the 'absence' of polygons.
In polygon based modelling the hole cutting results in face normal issues and other artifacts. Pre-planning can make hole cutting more fluid but you will encounter shading issues at some point.
Parametric hole cutting is a big undertaking. Did you try using Dynamic Components?
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@rich o brien said:
@unknownuser said:
...with a brain that wants Catia and SWorks style function
Those apps use true curves to generate 3d forms. Cutting these are much easier because of the 'absence' of polygons.
Understood. It's one reason why I've picked up and put down Sketchup several times over the past ten years as I was so frustrated with the way Sketchup worked and how I felt it was a backwards and useless program for anything other than the most basic blocks, assemblies, and artistic modeling. The sketchup software would never do what I wanted and it was frustrating after having worked with other solid modeling software for 20yrs.
Now, I need to use Sketchup so I'm trying to learn by looking at it through a different lens and understanding its limitations but some things that seem so simple, such as a hole tool, that are absent drive me silly.
@unknownuser said:
In polygon based modelling the hole cutting results in face normal issues and other artifacts. Pre-planning can make hole cutting more fluid but you will encounter shading issues at some point.
Parametric hole cutting is a big undertaking. Did you try using Dynamic Components?
I'm so used to just starting with blocks and shapes and designing in the workspace but with Sketchup it's like you have to have the design figured out before you draw in Sketchup otherwise changing dimensions or moving holes require a lot of work to go back and adjust pieces of the design...especially when working with assemblies that rely on constraints of individual pieces.
I'm not familiar with Dynamic Components but will look into it.
Thanks for the reply and allowing me to vent! -
@njsanna said:
VisuHole is okay but wonky and not really enjoyable to use and not really how I would expect to make holes in a product.
This suggests to me you need to learn how to use the tool. As with all of Fredo's extensions there is a learning curve, ignoring the learning leaves you missing out.
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@box said:
@njsanna said:
VisuHole is okay but wonky and not really enjoyable to use and not really how I would expect to make holes in a product.
This suggests to me you need to learn how to use the tool. As with all of Fredo's extensions there is a learning curve, ignoring the learning leaves you missing out.
Fair comment. I took time to work through it. I had to find several youtube videos to understand it and burn a lot of time and it seems like a powerful tool for certain uses probably. I don't believe something like hole creation should be that complicated. I don't think I should need to draw a template stencil for every hole. The Fredo tool crashed my assembly model a couple times as well while trying it out.
The EP Tools and Profile Builder hole creator did not crash my files and generally produced the results I wanted just with too many steps. -
What kind of holes are you putting in to your model? What are you modeling?
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