Posts made by jgb

Fredo
Is there any chance you could come up with a 32bit Animator version? I have SU 2015 32 bit and I cannot upgrade my system to 64 bit O/S (Win 10). The h/w IS 64bit, my Win 10 was mistakenly upgraded to 32bit.
Even if a few features are disabled, it would be better than nothing.

Looked OK to me. You did what I was going to suggest, but didn't as I got sidetracked out (wife!) as I was going to reply.

Fredo said... Well, the issue is that if you join vertex to vertex, you get a skewed surface, even assuming the number of vertices on each opposite side matches.

True, but I move all of the vertices along a line, not just at the perimeter. My surfaces end up smooth. But each line set has to be adjusted as it approaches the opposite perimeter line or as you said, the smoothness suffers. Usually around the middle of the set I do a 1/2 move to each side to avoid a skewed surface.

Like I said, it is tedious.

I really can't live without CL, even with all its worts. I have learned to live with them and get around most of them. Still far easier and smoother than manually lofting a surface.

Curviloft does not align its lofted lines exactly to the vertices on the opposite side. If the spacing of the 2 opposite points are not aligned CL will just draw lines from each vertex to the opposite side on edge, and you get a lot of extra lines, some very close together.

I spend a lot of time adjusting lines to reduce that overall line and face count.

Use the ALT-Move Tool to move a vertex over to its closest partner. Pick the vertex on a perimeter that is on a straight portion of that segment.

It IS tedious, but in many of my big drawings I really need to reduce line count.

Archiblog & Fredo

I haven't forgotten my promise to create a tutorial. But soon after I started playing with Animator I got seriously sidetracked on some other (non SU oriented) project and just recently got back to using SU again. I have to clear much of that and then restart the Animator Tutorial, which I will need to learn to complete that SU project, in order to demonstrate how a very complex piece of machinery works.

Animating SU models is something that has eluded me for many years. Since SketchyPhysics (which I found to have a too steep a learning curve) I have tried most so-called SU Animators, but found them either too complex or just unworkable for my needs.

What I need is akin to SketchyPhysics but without the gravitational aspects and with better controls. I need to simply animate articulated models of aerospace components more than anything else. I'm hoping Fredo's Animator will do the trick, but haven't got into it far enough to say it will.

If you want me to collaborate on a tutorial, I'm game on for that. Please PM me as we can best communicate by Email. This is not a convenient forum to do that, although we should update progress here for the "masses".

Archiblog

VERY Useful.

Thank You.

One trick I have found when trying to CL a perimeter that is conjoined with other entities in the model is take a copy of the perimeter and move it (on an axis) out away from the model.

That makes it far easier to edit out anomalies that prevent the mesh from forming. You can also simplify the perimeter by deleting 2 adjacent short lines or deleting fragments and make one endpoint to endpoint line in their place.

Then you can create the surface without problem.

After which move the meshed group back to the model along the axis and cleanup the model where the lines should meet the surfaces endpoints.

Wo3Dan

Good idea, good thing I thought of it

I will try that next time it happens.
Thanks.

Yes, Wo3Dan, you do. And thank you.....

I tried that in the past and most times it works. But you sparked a thought that is a solution.

Within the bounds of the component I draw a grouped cube, and align it as I want the components axis to be. Change Axis of the component to the grouped cube works every time! Then I delete the grouped cube. It can be a bit tedious for a lot of off axis components, but it works better and faster than playing with change axis a dozen times.

The primary reason I need accurate axis alignment is I use Move/rotate and Rotate to orient copies of the component in several positions, where the rotation axis is not quite on the global axis, like changing flap angles on a dihedral swept wing. I also use hidden lines to extend the bounding box so that the main rotation axis is dead on the geo-center of the bounding box.

That way I only need the Move/rotate tool to simply pivot the object; instead of the Rotate tool, having to find the center of rotation and its RGB attitude every time I need to change the components attitude.

Now... if only I can remember to do that instead if instinctively just change Axis!!!!

"Failure to fix" has been endemic to the SU development team far longer than Trimble.
Look how long it took the team to start SU in pointer mode (select) rather than draw mode.
I had to use an independent Ruby script fix for years before SU finally fixed it.

slbaumgartner

But the inference engine sometimes determinedly goes for a different snap even after you try to help it. This behavior is why ability to turn off snaps is a very frequent feature request.

I did ask for this many years ago...... More than once, but to no avail.

SU users seem to have better luck at seeing a new feature they suggested than seeing a fix to something they suggested.

oceanembers
I usually end up doing just that, but it gets tedious.

Fredo;
The biggest problem I have with your fantastic toolset(s) is remembering the tool is there!!!

All of your tools lie on the bottom of my screen, taking the whole width.... there are so many. Curviloft is the one I use by far the most. Can't live without it.

I will endevour to start investigating and using the others more.

I've orbited past the ISS. Usually nogo.

I have even put guides on 3 axes on the desired endpoint. Still snaps off endpoint. I can zoom in past clipping (Persp. off) and move the endpoints together, but that is tedious when I have a complex model.

I tried something like that. I am choosing a well defined 3 line corner to initiate the placement. The problem is the first axis placement is usually not a problem. It is the second axis placement that simply will not do what I want. If I set the blue (for example) then I can't grab the red or the green to place one. It keeps flipping around aligning with the global axis.

Whenever I draw a line that is just slightly off (by design) the red, green or blue global axis, SU snaps the endpoint just off my mark with the "Constrained by..." message, and won't let me move it.

I have to delete and redraw the line in the opposite direction, and then that usually works. Even zooming in to the point of clipping won't work.

Many times SU will say "endpoint" and I click, but the line is actually drawn off the endpoint a few thou of an inch resulting in an open face or a minute gap that screws up the drawing.

So, is there any way to deactivate this $%^&* "constr ained by..."?

This has irked me in the past, but lately quite a lot.

I am drawing multiple components that are at an angle to the global axis, sometimes just slightly off. When I create the component bounding box, it naturally aligns with the global axis.

But I need the box aligned to an angle from within the component.

"Change Axis" is driving me nuts. I can't grab a red, blue or green axis and force it in the direction I want. It keeps jumping around to the global axis, or if I'm lucky, I can set the blue (usually up/down) but I can't get either the red or green to the angle I want.

I have to do it several times at least, before I get what I want. I've even tried a copy and manually reorient it outside the model confines, but most times I need the internal reference, so it does not always work.

So, how do I grab an axis and put it where I want?

I've noticed a bit of an SU slowdown as well, also since last MS forced update. I have to click twice sometimes to activate a tool, or grab an entity.

Same with another 2D graphics app I'm using. I'll click on a tool or a color, and nothing, have to do it twice.

I draw airplanes with details of parts. EVERYTHING is either a group, if used only once, but always a component if used at least once or twice in the drawing. There are NO "free" entities in a drawing.

Then I organize the collection using LAYERS. I number each layer in a hierarchy, and assign whatever appropriate groups/comps to a layer.

Where I have components that move (ie: landing gear up or landing gear down, I create a layer for each, and a copy of the comp assigned to each. You can orient/move/rotate any comp. and retain its entity integrity. Only if a secondary comp. has a minor entity change would I make it unique. But that dissolves the link back to the original.

One other important detail. Every single entity in the drawing is on LEVEL 0, whether in free space, in a group or in a component. Only groups and components bounding boxes get assigned to a specific layer. It can be layer 0.

That way, you can easily control visibility, create scenes and do other neat stuff.