oh yeah..

in contrast, sketchup is pretty much only capable of handling the material one way with this type of shape..

[edit] fwiw, the bowl here and the one above are slightly different shapes..also, the images in the prior post were done in artlantis..

basically, just different ways to lay the texture down..

here's three versions of the same texture.. projected planetary, cylindric, and orthogonal..

ok, cool.. i'm glad i'm getting my point across now.. i admit, i'm no wordsmith.

the thing about what's logical or not is confusing because sketchup deals with it two different ways.. if i use edit -> select all (⌘A) or the select tool's window to encompass everything, then the hidden lines remain hidden and unselected (unless i have hidden geometry turned on)... if i use a triple click, then it includes everything including the hidden geometry...
i'm basing mine off the first choice but the other one makes just as much sense to me.. i just hope both situations are easy to deal with in ruby language (which i know Absolutely zero about)

@unknownuser said:

You want this in one click?

no, not exactly and i think i'm confusing things by bringing 'delete' into the conversation..

what i want is an exact interpretation on the term 'inverse selection'... if i have some lines and faces selected, i'd like to be able to switch those to unselected and everything else selected...

the downfall of the script (imo) is that it introduces hidden geometry even if that option is off..

a perfect example of what i'm talking about can be seen on the cylinder that you've posted above..

draw the cylinder and make sure hidden geometry is turned off (as in -- sketchup -> view -> Hidden Geometry... it should be turned off so that the outside face appears smooth with no dotted lines running down it)...

now select all.. everything that is visible highlights.. by my logic, running the inverse select script at this point should deselect everything but it doesn't... everything visible deselects but now the hidden geometry shows up and is highlighted..

try it out.. see what i mean?

jeff

thanks for the response TIG .. and any further assistance you may be able to add..

i'm not sure if this little video clip is going to make my wishes clear or further compound the confusion but i'll give it a shot :)...

you'll notice my hi tech number system in the lower left corner of the video.. the only operation you won't see me doing is pushing the delete key on my keyboard..

1. selecting the surface and deleting it.. this is exactly opposite of what i'd like to be able to do which is select the surface and delete everything else (ie - select, invert, delete)

2. trying to do just that with invertselection.rb... selecting only the face then inverting and deleting

3. double clicking the surface in order to get the edges as well then inverting and deleting... this way would be fine as well except the hidden geometry comes into play upon the inversion which causes the surface to delete.

4. in order for the face to remain, i have to show hidden geometry and select all of the hidden lines + the individual faces... then, when i invert and delete, i'm left with what i want .. however, the flow of doing it like this is not practical at all (especially when considering the more complex forms that i really want this script for)

does this make any sense? if so, is it possible to tweak the script?
thanks,
jeff

invert.mov.zip

no camera?

hmm.. close but no cigar..

there is a weird quirk with the script in that it introduces hidden geometry... it works ok with flat faces but doesn't help at all with curved ones..

i'd like to be able to select a curved face and then invert the selection so everything else besides the face is selected... then i hit delete and all i'm left with is the curved face...

with this script, i select the face (+ it's edges) and then activate the script.. when the selection is inverted, the hidden geometry shows up so when i delete, i'm only left with the outlining edges of the face... the workaround is to show hidden geometry from the beginning and make sure to select all of that stuff prior to running the script... then, it will work as i'd like but that's a bigger hassle then my previous work around..

i'd like something to work exactly opposite of the normal select then delete where i can select a face with one click and delete it with one key.. easy ... i'd like to be able to select that same face and Save it with three moves (select, invert selction, delete).. if i have to double click the face in order to get the edges in the initial selection, that would be fine too..

thanks for the help so far..

i currently use the workaround of selecting all and then deselecting but it always feels counter intuitive + i just don't like the look of everything being highlighted while i'm working..

it seems like this would be an easy enough task to handle via a script.. no? or better yet, is there already a script out there or some other way to do an inverse selection?

the photoshop shortcut (⇧⌘ I) is used in sketchup for model info but i'll be happy with something else..

haha..

as a carpenter by trade, when i hear roof mixed in with Glue, wire, and bamboo, i get scared..

mac rulez!!!!! pc sux!!!

[joke]

a lot of people simply have no desire to switch their os and the way they work... i've never owned a windows machine and i don't know my way around the thing.. i have a hard time using one and have to ask for help just for the basics (ie- how can i get to a browser )... i'm sure i could adapt to it if i wanted to but i really don't want to.. it might take 6 months or so until i'm very comfortable with the ins and outs of windows and that's 6 months that i'd rather spend doing/learning other things..

you were into making the switch but i can also see how many people don't give a shhh... if you really want to make people switch, try loaning them your book for a month or so.. you might convert a couple of people by doing that but besides that, maybe you should just let it rest.. it's not that big of a deal..

@kwistenbiebel said:

@whaat said:

However, the script WILL allow you to create a model like you have shown from scratch in about 30 seconds simply by subdividing a low poly version of your model. AND, the geometry that it gives you will be clean (which is good if you intend to import it into another app for instance...)

The question remains though, how the hell we can model the simple geometry in sketchup in the first place

for me, that can sometimes be a big problem.. the example i posted above is one clean piece of geometry (true radii in both directions) which intersects with three separate soap skins.. the skins are the only way (well, by far the fastest and cleanest way) i'm able to fill in certain holes...

i'll post another example which has the hole left open.. this is a much simpler version than what i've posted earlier but i honestly can't figure a way to fill this cleanly or simply.. it involves two different radii which terminate at different angles up top.. this is a very real situation that i face in my work and i do have methods to deal with them but trust me, they're neither quick or easy..

i'd love for someone to show me the way on this.. especially the 30 sec clean method that whaat is talking about..

thanks for any input,
jeff

hmmm.skp

whaat up..

i'm very much interested in the script and waiting anxiously for it to go public..

can it work on sections of a drawing instead of the entire shape? in the example i'm posting, i'd like to see if the ridge can be knocked down using your script while the rest remains intact.. i've exploded and erased much of the drawing so if you need more of the geometry in there, let me know..
thanks
jeff

forwhaat.skp

well that sounds more likely the cause..

lots of small problems i keep hearing about with a few of my apps/leopard... i think i'll wait it out for another 6mos or so before i upgrade..

try going to sketchup preferences -> openGL -> click 'use hardware acceleration'...

an 07 macbook is definitely fine for running sketchup.. i use a powerbook from 04 when i'm on the road and it's fine..

@gwlindberg said:

This is critical, I'm trying to define the inside of a concave mirror to reflect light from the first focus point to the second focus point .....

i'm not so sure that sketchup is the best app for critical optic work.. the curves aren't really curves - they're just a bunch of straight lines.. you can lessen the effect by increasing the amount of segments in a curve but still...

in my work, i use SU for complex curves but i'm framing and an 8ball either way doesn't matter too much.. with optics, that could be a different story.. (hubble tele anyone?)

so, if it's critical critical, you might want to use a more exact program.. if it's only sort of critical, then sketchup will be okay...

jeff

[Edit -- 8ball = 1/8"]

for anyone curious...
just messing around with a new screen capture app and that corkscrew posted above... those mouse click things are kind of weird i guess but i can turn them off in the future.. i think it'd be cool if the keyboard keys would show up so the shortcuts are visible.. you can still see which tools are being used by looking at the toolbox.. i shrunk the window so the VCB is visible..

corkscrew_su.mov.zip

i did the corkscrew in a similar manner as the twist.. the only difference is the point at which the face is rotated around.. i used big segments with 15 deg rotation but i'm sure you can spend some more time with it and get the results you're getting with the other shapes..

(note - i had to use the scale tool to flip the thing around once i was finished in order to get the orientation right.. i think i did green axis and blue axis at -1)

corkscrew.skp

similar technique for the loop...

go to sketchup -> preferences -> drawing.. select 'click-drag-release' and you'll be able to pan while drawing..

i suspect most people (myself included) prefer 'click-move-click' or auto detect... i think there's more control with that when attempting to get to various parts of the drawing.. i often click on the starting point for the tool then use applekey+control for orbit or add the shift key for panning.. all while the start point is still holding it's place..