Posts made by CDC

Thanks that worked wonderfully.

I just installed ToolsOnSurface%201.5f and FredoScale%202.0h and when I open SketchUp I get an error message saying "Module FredoScale requires LibFredo6 version > = 31. Current version in 30. The second error message is nearly identical with the exception being that the versions are different (needs 34 and I have 30). I figure that I need some prerequisite plugin in order to run the new stuff. If someone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yeah, as soon as I finished posting those pictures I remembered why it was doing that and I also went and got Subdivide and Smooth and figured the whole thing out...for now. The next big hurdle will be the body of the truck. Tons of detail and many different angles.

Thanks for the help everyone. It is appreciated. Talk to you all soon.

Wow, thank you. That is incredible and is almost exactly what I am trying to achieve. I am toying with my own design right now. But that confirms that it can be done. However the scale tool is not allowing me to basically free transform specific lines on the model while keeping the same basic shape and geometry. What tool did you use to go from rigid to smooth with the blade.

And here is a picture of what I have so far.
Also, I have it all set up as groups, but it will not auto update the actions that I am performing on one with the others. Im sure it is something blatantly obvious that I am missing.

Ok that is what I figured. I have been playing around with that array function a little bit lately. It comes in handy when creating bolt patterns and the such. Again thank you guys for the help. Does anyone have any opinions about that plugin subdivide and smooth?

Hey thank you guys for the suggestions. That is definitely a start. But wow some of those tutorials move so fast its almost impossible to tell what is going on. Any ideas on whatexactly is going on. Particularly with the step where the blades are simultaneously expanded in a horizontal direction and made wider. Also it appears as though the set upwas created using an array tool. Am I correct?

So Im back with yet another hurdle. Since my last visit to SCF I have figured out my tubing issues and have now come across another issue that has been perplexing me for days now. I am working on the radiators for my trophy truck and am attempting to create a very complex fan blade. It is a very unusual shape (in more directions than one) and I am finding it very difficult to force SU to perform the tricks that I want it to.

I noticed the subdivide and smooth plugin from smustard and I think that might be the key. Any suggestions out there. I will post pictures of what I am trying to achieve.

@xrok1 said:

CDC, what are you talking about? ProfileBuilder or tubealongpath?

Ecuadorian, that would make sense but why did i go through two different paypal operators over the phone and they gave me some bullshit "security model program" speal. if your right ;which sounds very likely considering i didn't have a problem buying booltool $10; they should fire stupid support staff that don't know the most basic things.

maybe you could go to smustard and click buy now on profilebuilder then log into paypal ;don't click purchase; to see if you get the add bank account dialog?

Sorry I was referring to the tool bar that Equadorian suggested I install. I have yet to buy Profile Builder but this new tool bar does some pretty cool stuff. Has some issues like I mentioned before. For example, when I input my ID and OD for the tubing it gives me an error for most dimensions in one or the other info boxes.

@ecuadorian said:

Mmmm.... I've used Paypal since 2005 with no problems. Of course, when you're new, you do need to verify your data before making any purchase above $20. They simply make a small charge (less than two bucks) to your CC and a code appears in your next CC statement. You input that code in your Paypal account and voilá! Your identity has been verified. You only have to do it once and forget about it. Of course, you need patience. This video will help you understand this concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6widIfpgIbU

Or at least that's how things worked back in 2005...

Ok so I tried out that toolbar, and unfortunatley it will not allow me to specify the path of the tube. It will allow me to specify path for the rectangle extrusion. Weird. Also when I type in the O.D. and I.D. with 1.5 and 1.375 it tells me that there is an invalid integer entered. It only allows me to create solid tubes. Whats going on here?

@xrok1 said:

no actually i had a run in with paypal when i tried to purchase it and i'm still trying to work it out. has anyone heard of some stupid "security model program" that paypal runs and sometimes it decides you can't make a certain purchase but askes you to set up a bank account instead of you credit card and the phone techs claim they can't over ride it BLA BLA... it sounds like the MATRIX or something. rediculous! anyway i informed Smustard and their pretty pissed too and looking into it!

@xrok1 said:

no actually i had a run in with paypal when i tried to purchase it and i'm still trying to work it out. has anyone heard of some stupid "security model program" that paypal runs and sometimes it decides you can't make a certain purchase and the phone techs claim they can't over ride it BLA BLA... it sounds like the MATRIX or something. rediculous! anyway i informed Smustard and their pretty pissed too and looking into it!

I have never heard oi that problem involving paypal. That's interesting. I have really only dealt with paypal involving ebay purchases. On another note, I was just looking at that tool bar that Equadorian suggested and it might be a partial answer for my problems. I just need to install it and see what happens. Im just waiting for one of these scripts to mess up my files. I hope not.

I did check out the video for Profile Builder. That is some pretty incredible stuff. It looks like it is exactly what I need and then some. I just need to come up with some money and buy it. Did you happen to try it out?

Thanks everyone for the advice. I am downloading the toolbar as I type. And here are a couple of pictures of my project so far. It is extremely complex and by the pictures it will be apparent why I am having problems. It would almost be easier to actually build this truck in real life.
What I want to do is select the entire frame and tell it where and how I want it to render the tubing. Ive been able to get close to that idea with taper maker but I can only do certain lines at once.

Thank you all for the suggestions. To Equadorian, I also downloaded and used Lines2Tubes.rb first. The result was nearly identical. The way I have my model wire framed, the resultant extrusions are messy at the joints because they are skewed in one direction by the length of the tube radius. It also messes up my overall dimensions. I have tried creating tubes and using the follow me like you described many times but it is very time consuming and requires a ton of clean up. And to all, I did find a handy script called Taper Maker. It allows you to create tapered or straight extrusions in any size and shape, AND define what path the shape will take along your line whether it be top, bottom, left, or right. However, you can only perform this action on connected lines. You cant select an entire caged truck chassis (like in my case) and tell it to tube it. But its a good start.
If anyone has any other suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to find out if I can edit the existing code of an rb script and get it to do what I want. Thanks again for the suggestions.

Well, I suppose I might as well introduce myself first. My name is Chris and I have been using Sketch Up for well over a year and I am trying to get into the more highly advanced modelling techniques available through Sketch Up. For the most part, I specialize in designing trophy Trucks and Prerunners. Therefore I deal with a lot of 3-D tube work. Up until this point I have been forced to draw a circle on top of each section of the wire framed model. From there I have to push/pull or follow me(depending on the type of line) along the section. This is very tedious and time consuming. Also very difficult on lines that are aligned between two axies. Recently, I discovered Plug-ins and I found the TubeAlongPath Plug-in. This is an awesome utility. However, the tube follows the line through its center. Unfortunately, I need the tube to follow the line along its base. So, my question is how can I change the ruby code of the plugin to force the tube to follow the line along its base instead of with a "centroid" orientation?