As far as I know, the only way to export geometry from within a model is to first create a Component from a selection and then via the context-menu or the component browser, do a Save As.

Is there any reason why a Save As couldn't be done directly by right-mouse-clicking a Selection of geometry or right-mouse-clicking on a Group? In seems like a waste of time to have to create a "temporary" component so you export the geometry and then explode that component afterwards if that component isn't required in the model.

Remus: they are exploded already.

Watkins: Thanks, yes that is what I was after. Have you had similar intersection issues with your models? If so, then a bug report is probably in order so V7 won't included this as legacy issue.

Your tip on closing the end of the pipes is one I will try.

Did you try intersecting the "donut" and the plane?

I am trying to slice a pipe configuration. I tried using the Intersect Selection Only function.

Possibly this is a bug or my model is corrupted somehow or just me screwing things up.
I'd be interested if any other of you have had similar issuesand, if so, if you have a method to correct what is happening. If not, purhaps you can advise mein what I am doing wrong.

Two unanticipated things occur:

1. Where the piping and the plane intersect, faces are not being created.
2. The edges of circles that intersect the plane are not being sliced.

This baffels me because if you look closely where the pipes intersect each other (see the objects in the middle labeled "2") I was able to cookie-cut those intersections without any problems. Why intersection issues 1 and 2 described above don't work is a mistery to me. Could it be that the plane lies dead-on a vertice or an edge of a smoothed surface? My only work around was to also use the Section Plane tool and do a Create Group from slice and create surfaces from those slices; the stuff I thought could be done via Intersect Selection Only.

In the attachment, I invite you to experiment with the middle objects in the scene (labeled "2"). Also, try to do an intersection with the objects on the right labeled "3".

Let me know what you find.

Thanks, John

HUH - Model Intersection with Plane.skp

"No, it's a regular rb and if it is not in the Plugins folder it won't load.
Maybe you are talking about the fact that it "loads on demand" via the context menu when a valid selection is active ?"

Yes that must be it. I don't think I've ever investigated "load on demand" before.
a) So what code segment specifically tells SU to load this script?
b) And I take it that model.start_operation "Divide with construction points" defines what is shown in the menu, correct?

Reason I ask is that I almost always change the menu name displayed by adding the script's file and author in brackets; for example, "Add Construction Points at Equal Intervals [Divide_CPoint.rb Didier Bur]. Even though my menus get rather large, its easy for me to identify which script is responsible for a particular menu item.

Hi Didier:

1- Would it be possible for this script to work on Polylines (arcs, circles, "welded" segments, etc.) as well?

2- It looks like you are able to load the script without specifying the .rb name, correct?
What part of the code enables the script to be loaded then?

Regards, John

Change the property of these edges so that when their respective faces are delected, the edges remain.

"Quite understandable - how on earth could a ruby script know that we want to create and arc and not just a polyline."

Which gets me back to my back to a script request made earlier.
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5836&p=34032#p34032

If there are a series of contiguous segments which are equal in length and their common angles are equal, then it has all the characteristics of an arc or a circle (sum of common angles = 360°). You would think there would be a way to "regenerate" SU's arc or circle.

Maybe two options?

Around an object/selection or Out from the center of an object/selection?

Jean, I think this capabilty for the Circle tool is one that would be happily received. I think this is a great idea.

I don't see why the existing circle tool couldn't incorporate this functionality (perhaps by holding the Alt key while drawing on an edge).

I bet it is possible to do with a Ruby script right now (see some of the features in the new Joint-Push-Pull script for interactively setting the "Prileged Plane"). TIG's Pipe-along-path.rb already puts adds a circle tangential to the endpoint of a path.

Andrew, I think these are good ideas. Although I am not sure what you mean by "gradients" in Scene 3.

I was thinking it would be cool if you could associate sound (at least a narrative) to a Scene Tab or even an entity.

If the SU Viewer is used, then when a the Scene Tab is clicked on the narrative would play or, if the Scene Animation is played, the narrative would be played as soon as the Scene is queued (the Scene's minimum display time would be restricted by the length of the narrative).

If the model is opened in SketchUp, then allow the presenter to trigger the narrative by Control-Clicking on Scene Tab or entity (if the cursor passes over a "sound-entity", the cursor could change color or shape to indicate a narrative is available; likewise, the Scene Tab would have a different color or tagged with an icon to queue the presentor it has a narrative).

What does this do?

Is there a pdf or html help file that explains the options? Are changes made to an option "remembered" for the next use of the script?

I just downloaded the latest version and didn't keep up with the interim changes.

John

Jim, thanks for the reply.

Maybe SU7 will add a dialog (similar to the watermark dialog) to use a bitmap for the sky.

If they are really generous maybe a hook into to Google Earth's constellations for nightime scenes ... wouldn' that be fun.

Yes, I've used this method ... that's why I has hoping for a ruby solution.

And to make a donut, Move the top cirle along the red axis, then do a followme.

I don't think there is a was to do this with SU out-of-the-box so perhaps it could be done with Ruby?

Is there a way to use bitmaps (Transparent PNGs hopefully) for the Sky and/or Ground?.

I did try the watermark feature but, of course, once you orbit off the horizontal plane ....

My objective is to use my on Sky with clouds images and ground textures.

I was wondering if anywone has used iClone to import and animate a SketchUp model?

In particular using its timeline features for doing a walk-through of an architectural model/site with the opening of doors, a person walking by, etc.

As mentioned by others, this really is an incredibly well thought out/well executed/all inclusive/well documented script. Thank you for your superb effort, Fredo

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Curved Offset.

Yes, I was hoping there would be a way to use a combination of the existing JPP options to trick it into producing a "multi-facet"-offset.

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There is a small typo. There is a right-parenthesis following "Thickening" in the Create Border Faces drop-down list.

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"The editor makes full usage of the Sketchup inference mechanism so that you can
visually adjust the distance by reference to a particular point in your model, as in most
Sketchup tools. However, when you drag, you may want to skip some inferences. For
this, just keep the SHIFT key pressed down, while dragging faces."

For me, keeping the SHIFT key depressed doesn't appear to do anything. The black triangle at the cursor seems to be inferencing to other geometry. Perhaps I am misinterpreting its usage?

I didn't realize that the you can use the Smoov Tool on "simple" surfaces too.

Make a cylinder with a 50' radius. Set the Smoov radius to 50', position it over an edge and drag upwards; both the top and bottom of the cylinder are deformed in unison. Try it on a 50'x50'x50' cube too.

Try it on a 50' radius circle, after dragging a vertex or segment upward fairly high, press and hold the shift key and drag some more. This will smoov off of the surface-normal rather than along the blue axes. Its an easy way to make a sail shape. Try shift-smooving off of the sides of the cylinder.

Lots of fun and a good way to waste time.