Just wanted to let everyone know that this plugin still works! I am using an older version of Sketchup, 2015, but still it did a nice job exporting my Sketchup model. Thank you for this very useful plugin!

The answer from Smustard is yes...

Bill

You were right sir, I was able to fix the geometry and now the subtract is working! Thanks!

Bill

Hi SS, thanks for taking a look at this! I'll see if I can figure out where those extra edges came from. They shouldn't be there, the trailing edge is a straight line.

Bill

Attached is a file that shows the problem. The scenario is that I am trying to create top and bottom negative molds for a composite RC glider horizontal stab. There are solid objects for the top and bottom of the stab, and the top and bottom of the mold. I would like to subtract the top stab solid from the top mold solid etc.

I did the operation successfully on a test file with little regard to exact sizing and placement of the pieces, I just wanted to see if it would work. And it did. Then when I created the correct geometry, it doesn't work properly. The negative mold cavity should look like half of a symmetrical airfoil. There are fairly obvious problems when you do the subtract. The file is scaled up 100x which is how I have been working with it.

Any suggestion would be much appreciated!

Bill

Subtract Problem.skp

@box said:

You can use another of Fred's excellent plugins to cleanup before lofting.
Here it is cleaned with Curvizard then Curviloft.

You may have been able to loft it, but can you make it into a solid? I have been able to loft using 4 the airfoils, but even though it looks good, there are too many errors to make it into a solid. I can get faces on the root, tip, and trailing edge, but Solid Inspector**2 finds hundreds of problems that it says cannot be fixed automatically.

This is with Sketchup 2015, I upgraded to see if that would improve things. It didn't.

Hi Box -

I have been looking at the documentation for Curvizard and I see there are quite a few settings on the buttons palette that affect the way the tool works. Would it be possible for you to share with me the settings you used to clean up the curves? The video above is tightly cropped so the settings are not visible. Thanks!

Bill

@box said:

You can use another of Fred's excellent plugins to cleanup before lofting.
Here it is cleaned with Curvizard then Curviloft.

That is amazing, thank you so much! I installed Curvizard, followed the video, and everything was looking good until the last loft segment. Then I got a bugsplat.

Any ideas? I'm using Sketchup 2013 on a Mac if that makes any difference.

Bill

Hi - I have been using this great plugin to design a sailplane wing. I hope to be able to create either a mold or plug using a CNC router from the design. The main part of the wing and the very small end portion of the wingtip are done, but the elliptic section in between won't loft.

In the attached file, there are 7 curves representing the airfoil shape at different stations along the wingtip. Everything has been scaled up 100x to avoid the "small edge" problem. The trailing edge of the foil is left open as it is easy to add this face once the rest of the surface is lofted.

I can loft between most pairs of adjacent foils successfully, but when more are added, Curviloft "twists" the vectors at the trailing edge. The problem seems worst on foils 3 and 4, counting from the root. I have tried untwisting them using the plugin features, but I can't get that to work.

The edge count in the foils is pretty high, as these are automatically generated by an airfoil program. I don't have any convenient way to control this. I have a feeling that if this could be reduced, it might work. I was hoping though that some one would have another suggestion.

Thanks!

Bill

Loft Problem.skp

I've made some progress. I learned how to import a real airfoil with a non-zero thickness trailing edge (NACA 0006) and loft it into a simple fin shape. Then I used the technique in the video to make a fillet. It's pretty good and I'm going to close this thread. Thanks for the help cotty!

Fillet 2(v6).skp

It would be a really nice feature to have Sketchup manage the accuracy problem by automatically scaling up the geometry so you don't have to worry about it. Enter and display dimensions as usual but behind the scenes it's all scaled up by 100x.

Very good info, thanks everyone! The highest precision I need is .01" or .25 mm. I will be building stuff from my Sketchup models and I certainly can't build better than that most of the time. Working at a multiple of the finished size is a good suggestion.

Ahh, thanks, I never noticed that radius inference when the radius is parallel to one of the axes!

One other question, I have read frequently about the "tiny faces/edges" problem, but never have I seen what constitutes "tiny". Is 1mm considered tiny? Thanks!

 Bill

I'm trying to draw accurately, and I would like to make half of an object, duplicate it, flip it around, and join together with the original to make a complete, symmetric solid. I'm having real trouble doing it.

Even a simple 2D example doesn't line up accurately. Try the following:

1. Open a new file, set Parallel Projection and Top View.
2. Draw a circle.
3. Bisect the circle with a line. I can't draw a line that goes straight up and down. This is because the edges that make up a circle are rotated off the axis. So rotate the circle so the line does go parallel to the axis.
4. Delete half the circle, make a copy, flip it, and join it back up with the original circle.

The two halves do not match up precisely. See the attached file.

If someone can explain what is going on, I will be eternally grateful!

Bill

Circle halves.skp

@pbacot said:

Hi! try this:

http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=38583

Doh - thanks for that, it's all working now!

Bill

Hi -

I am having trouble getting the plugin to run. I'm on a Mac running OSX 10.6.8 and Sketchup 8.0. I downloaded the latest version v0.57 and put the .rbz file in my plugin folder. There are lots of other plugins there, though no others of type rbz.

When I start Sketchup, there is no FreeDXF Importer item in the Plugins menu. I am probably missing something really simple -- I'm a pretty new Sketchup user. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

Bill

Ahh, thanks for that. I found that problem too, and I really don't know how it got that way. It seems to me that geometry sometimes deteriorates for reasons unknown to me. That video is fantastic, it looks like that technique is what I need. I'll give it a try and report back!

Thanks again!

@cotty said:

Curviloft should work (see quick test, attachment), maybe one of TIGs Extrude Tools will do it too.

[attachment=2:3l0d9am0]<!-- ia2 -->Fillet-test_cotty.jpg<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment:3l0d9am0]

Bravo cotty, that's a very good start!

But I can't follow what you did past the first couple of steps. Based on your suggestion, I tried this workflow:

1. Move the fin up so it doesn't intersect with the fuselage.
2. Copy the bottom airfoil of the fin, move it off to the side and enlarge it, say 10%.
3. Extrude it into a solid shape.
4. Move the solid to intersect with the fuse directly underneath the fin.
5. Intersect the solid and the fuse to get the airfoil path on the fuse. Delete the remains of the solid.
6. Copy the bottom of the fin airfoil again and move it down just a bit.
7. Connect the airfoil and the path on the fuse.

And here's where I get lost. Which Curviloft tool did you use? Probably not loft by path, since that works with faces and the path on the fuse isn't flat. Maybe the last one, that puts a skin over several paths? I couldn't make it work. I have attached my file again, after step 7.

Thanks again!

Bill

Set up for Curviloft, I hope

Hi -

I'm pretty new to Sketchup, and I'm trying to learn how to draw airplanes. I've made some progress, but I have no idea how to smoothly join the main parts of a plane together -- the fuselage, the wings, and the tail. Modern planes often blend these parts all together so they almost don't look like separate parts.

Does anyone have a technique for making these kinds of fillets? I'm hoping there are similar issues in drawing some types of furniture. I have attached a file with a simple fuselage shape and a vertical stabilizer.

I've used Curviloft and Round Corners, but they really aren't designed for this kind of job as far as I can tell. Any help much appreciated!

Bill

Where I'm at so far -- no fillet!

After spending some more time with this, I have come to the conclusion it is the duct design that is the problem. The dimensions of my duct are just different than the posted image, so of course it ends up looking different.

Any comments would still be appreciated though!