To any anyone who wishes to chime in

I have a requirement but I'm not entirely certain if the answer can be found here (with a new plugin), an existing plugin, or by using a (yet unknown to me) one-click operation.

This requirement came about as a result of working with BoltMaker XII (final) and needing to replace the program output with my own 'custom' nut/bolt components.

In a nutshell:

My objective is to be able to automate the component substitution operation with just a few clicks. Click #1: identifies one or more target (TC) components that I want to receive the substitution component (SC). Click #2: identifies the source (SC) component to be used when replacing the TC(s)with that of the SC and performs the substitution(s).

I can do all of the above now (manually) however, there's a LOT of 'Change Axis' work that must be 'manually' done to get it to work correctly and the manual process doesn't scale well when you use a LOT of custom bolt/nut components.

Any thoughts anyone???

Great Canadian beer, Beaver tails and hockey....man, what a country we live in.

Happy Canada Day

TECHDAVE02,

Damn...that was too easy.

No need for attributes now

Really appreciate the lesson . I hope to pay it forward one day.

Bob

TECHDAVE02,

Say...now this looks promising. I'll explore it and get back.

gilles,

Thanks for your response.

Actually, "seeing" the component's axis isn't my problem -- rather, it's getting the X-Y-Z values relative to the work plane's plane's origin. As you know, component axis are unique in that they exist in there own little 'component' world with their own co-ordinate system relative to the work plane. The relative difference between the drawing plane origin and the components origin is what I'm trying to retrieve in terms of X-Y-Z ordinates. If you've ever played with DC's and the DC attributes window, you'll get see where I'm coming from.

Thanks again for taking time to offer your help -- much appreciated

TECHDAVE02,

Well I gave your approach a go and got soooooo close. As you can see from the image, matching the replacement component axis to that of the target (MakeBolt component) axis is the issue.

If I could just identify the axis co-ordinates of the MakeBolt component 'before' performing the 'replace selected' I could 'modify' the axis of the replacement component to match it.

knowing how to extract the axis co-ordinates of the MakeBolt target is the hurdle e.g., if the components can be viewed as a DC, then I can view the component attributes to get it's x-y-z origin. However, the MakeBolt plugin creates a component that fails to return any component attributes values.

All suggestion/comments are welcomed

Bob

SU8 format

SU2013 format

Interesting. I'll give it a try 4 sure.

Thanks 4 the tip

Here's the bolt configuration I'm trying to reproduce:

BoltMaker XII (Final) has proven to be very useful. Sadly, it's future is questionable unless someone feels as I, that it warrants some effort. Specifically, the ability to allow one to select from a broader array of nut/bolt configurations. I'd be pleased to assist in beta testing if anyone wants to take this on. 95% of the work is already done. I'll be the first to buy in if it happens.

From the horses (developers) mouth

Re: Moving forward with BoltMaker XI???

Sent: Sat Jun 29, 2013 9:31 am
From: sdmitch
To: bsintzel
No I have no plans for further development of Boltmaker, or any other of my plugins in fact, so it is OK by me if you are anyone else cares to attempt further development to do so.

First: An excellent tool AND excellent documentation. Bought it the moment I saw it.

Secondly: While using the 2D Text feature, I found it somewhat time consuming having to select font faces and colors that are descriptors, rather than representative images found in most Windows-based programs.

If possible, please consider my suggestion to add Windows-like font lists and color pallets.

Bob

My SU2013 crashed while editing a drawing. When I recovered, the drawing is now cluttered up with component axis all over the model. Is there any way to hide these. I tried view/show/hide guides. Not sure what else to do

Anyone have a suggestion?

See attached screenshot

Well as promised, I gave launchup a go. Sadly, I'm no farther ahead as I'm still 'searching' rather than sorting.

Thanks again for the suggestion

Hopefully someone at Trimble reads this and will tweak their SU interface to accommodate sorting list items with a right-click method.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a go. I suspect what I'm asking for would really require a GUI redesign.

Folks,

Most any Windows-based Browsers (and Windows itself) provide a means with which to sort bookmarks and programs respectively via a drop-down list and a right-click method to sort the list.

I waste far too much time searching through unsorted list in the tools, Window and plugins menus trying to find what I need. It seems that my brain works best with ordered information -- go figure!

If there is a plugin that can provide a (plugin) sorting function, I have my credit card ready.

warm regards

Bob

Hi Jeff,

I think that TIG's split-to-plane will work for me. As Peter said,"you set instead a face. Rotate on one axis then the second" is pretty much what I'd do on a miter saw. Thank you all for your input.

Warm regards

Bob

TIG,

Well, I had another look at your split-to-plane plugin. Upon second review, I found it to be satisfactory in that I didn't have to create a separate 'cutting' plane, then a 3pt-pick. The fact that the 3pt-pick determines plane's normal, as well as the placement of the cut makes it quite usable...so expect payment.

I just wish that, like cutting a cove molding with a compound miter saw, I could 'set' the angle and normal of the cut 'before cutting, I'd have it all in one plugin.

warm regards

Bob

Hi Jeff,

RE:"i don't really see what TIG could add to this plugin which would make the cut any faster..
(in fact, i think adding more to the tool would clutter it up and possibly slow down the process.. especially if dialog boxes and what not start popping up when all you want is the 3pt click)"

I typically use the follow-me tool to place crown moldings on my models. It works very well except that when I want to move one section of the molding (for illustration purposes), I could not do so easily i.e., there was just one solid. After a few messages back and forth with TIG, he came up with an elegant solution...a hot-wire-like mod to his split_to_plane plugin. It now allows me to cut out a section from the solid by simply drawing a construction line across the solid group, pick two points along the cutting line on either side of the solid group then hit the 'enter' key. It's simple, fast and works just like a miter saw in real life. I think any woodworker (like myself) will want this new mod

Bob

Simple, functional, useful and free...what more can one ask for. Well done

Peter,

RE:"But I sense the request is as much about working with solids as a particular project". Indeed, you are correct

Bob

Peter,

Well it seems that I didn't 'fully' understand how to use TIG's split-to-plane plugin. My bad.

I created a square as you suggested, oriented it to the plane I needed cut, placed the square (aka plane) where I wanted the cut to occur and ran TIG's split-to-plane plugin and followed the instructions. It did do the job, so a big shout-out to TIG

Although I'm still using more steps than I would 'ideally' like to make, I'm now using fewer steps than before. This is important because when your working with hundreds of moldings in a design, those saved steps add up to a lot.

Typically, when cutting cove moldings (in the physical world), I would mount a length of molding in a jig such that it would position the molding at 45 -degrees to the fence of the saw (simulating the angle it would be if I mounted the the same piece against the ceiling and adjoining wall). I would then set the saw blade to cut at some predefined point along the piece and make a cut at 45 degrees -- resulting in a compound miter cut. I thought I could duplicate this same workflow in Sketchup. I wanted to first create the cove molding as a solid group, orienting it at 45-degrees like it was in a jig then, while viewing from the top, slice through it at whatever point (or angle) I wanted.

Now, TIG's split-to-plane plugin will be my tool of choice 'until' someone comes up with a solution that will allow me slice through a solid group/component from above using only a single line(like the Zoro2 plugin) resulting two solid groups/components (as produced by TIG's split-to-plane plugin).

Again, I truly appreciate your time and effort in helping me become a better modeler.

Warm regards

Bob

Peter,

I inadvertently used the wrong terminology: what I meant by 'explode' was....to first put the solid group (or component)in edit mode, then slice it with a line or curve.

I hope I clarified this a bit.

Thanks for catching that

Bob