Latice-izer - usability query.

not registered yet

Firstly - thank you to all the plugin coders, this post is not a slight on your work, but rather a question about how people use this plugin…

I decided to try this plugin today to model a very basic set of shelves / pigeonholes.

Drew a vertical plane 1m x 2m
Divided this up into a series of rectangles using the line tool
Grouped everything
Ran Latice-izer

Result…

My shelves are no longer 2m tall or 1m wide, because latice-izer takes my lines as being a center line my furniture grows in the process.
My shelves are all uniformly thick… ideally I'd like my outer frame to be thick and the inner structure to be thin.

So attempt two…

Drew a vertical plane and used the offset tool to make my outer frame.
Drew a series of lines to divide up the space, these are to be the center lines of my shelves.
Group everything.
Use Latice-izer.

Result…
Latice-izer fails, because it doesn't like working on lines, only faces.

Attempt three…

Drew vertical plane, used offset to create thick outer frame.
Drew lines for shelves to the outside edges of the outer frame.
Surrounded lines with rectangle to force face creation.
Grouped everything, and used Latice-izer to make shelves.
Intersected shelves with outer frame, and did manual tidy up.

Result…
The outer frame is thick, the inner shelves are thin, and the total dimensions of my furniture are correct (1m x 2m).

So - did I discover the 'correct' way to use the plugin?

How do you use latice-izer to speed up your work?

Ampa

http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/sas/Ruby/Latice-izer%20Demo.skp

[Ampa]

TIG

It makes a lattice from a group that's a single plane - faces and edges. The frames can have open or paned centres. All lattice frames are the same width. If you want an exact size make the offset around half of the intended frame width and it'll then expand at its edges to suit. If you want a bigger frame offset than that, then offset it (but less the 1/2 frame) and then group only the inner part. Then lattice-ize, explode the group and it'll merge with the outer frame, pushpull the outer bit to suit erasing coplanar edges etc...