Posts made by Pants

@fredo6 said:

Dave,

I would need to have your model with

• the shape to drill
• the set of faces to be used as a stencil.

That would help me to troubleshoot

Fredo

I just PM'd you...thanks - Dave

Fredo,

Hope you got time for this, because it feels so close...anyway, can you confirm that you're able to make up new stencils and have them work as "punches?" I've found this only works for me if I use your "stock" three sample stencils - the ones you provided as defaults. It lets me pick a new shape that turns yellow and shows all signs of being ready to make a hole, but when I double-click, or try to "orient," etc...no hole results...just a "time elapsed" display.

I also have some Sketchucation plugins-vs-extensions issues/possible confusion. Plugin manager shows current 2/4 version. Later, after finding I was still having problems, I noticed the SUcation Extensions manager still showed the old version (now disabled). I keep thinking there's a need to delete/uninstall old versions, not just disable. Apparently one can disable a plugin and still find that it shows up as the old version, active, but in the SUcation extensions manager. Confusing, to me, anyway.

Mahalo - Dave

Thanks, Fredo...I look forward to punching with surgical precision.

@skogen75 said:

Just found this...awesome indeed. Any tips on how to position the drill on guide points or lines? The stencil seems to disappear when I hover over a guide cross or guideline that intersects a face. I would love to know how to accurately place the drill. Very cool. I'm using SU15.

+1.

I think this is what <pilou » Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:55 am> was describing (along with a workaround?) and if so, I don't get his results, or just don't understand exactly what he was suggesting to do the workaround.

I can NOT get it to punch through any semblance of guidelines, pencil-lines, etc. The stencil disappears as soon as it infers an intersection point - though yes, arrow-keys seem to bring it back as per previous post, but...still...there's no punching going on. Yes, I can punch to my heart's content if I just "get random" with it, but I'm trying to hit precise measurements, not do an art piece where measurements don't matter.

Fantastic capabilities, but for me...entirely hamstrung by this flaw. Help!

Downloaded today with Sketchucation plugin store - Downloads: 3037 [ Version Updated: 2014/10/19 ]

Just got back here, having assumed that when I post on the forum, I'll receive reply notifications by default...(nope?) Thanks, guys.

Clearly I need to commission sdmitch to come up with a full-service version of that stirrup-bender...or I need to tell my boss that I'll be learning Ruby for a while, and not to bother me with any of his silly moneymaking schemes, while I become Ruby-proficient...

sdmitch, as you probably knew, rebar shapes can be almost anything, so it's probably not possible to standardize the bulk of bread-and-butter shapes that will be needed in any given project. I would indeed do as pbacot was describing, using a 'kit of parts' approach. That said, stirrups are a staple that lend themselves to a data-entry box like you created, as are spirals. Basic rebar mats (just big grids of rebar that typically have a max bar-spacing and a minimum concrete "cover" at edges of the grid) are another - and those would be great to have a script for, since it's tedious to calculate the required spacing to optimize the use of steel based on those two criteria. I don't do this all the time by a long shot, but that's about all the 'standard' items I can think of, that is, those that wouldn't require custom-for-each-design drawing.

pbacot - thanks for pointing out 2D tools (in particular the capability to fillet) - that's what I needed, though the filleting tool would be all I'd use from that plugin for rebar work, since it's almost always lines in 3-space that need to be filleted. Seems an 8-sided circle is plenty fine; I might go with less.

Seems quite surprising to me that there's not a 'stock' filleting tool included with SU - hasn't all other CAD software included this as a standard-issue item for many years?

I'm seeking simple, efficient method of drawing rebar details for concrete projects, but come up empty-handed afte Googling a bit. It need not be photo-realistic, but geometry should be about right (basic diameters of bars & bend-radii). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDbnN-ssHY shows a method that I'd use, but I think the plugins he relied on are now defunct ("fillet," anyway, seems not to exist).

The follow-me tool would seem an obvious choice, but will it result in a bulky file that's slow to manipulate, once I've got a few hundred rebar shapes placed in my drawing?

Also, how can rebar bend-radii be created easily from square joints, starting from straight line-segments in three planes? (Rebar isn't bent with a sharp 90-degree bend.)

Thanks for suggestions - Dave

@sdmitch said:

The file you downloaded, I assume from the Plugin Store, should have been a .rbz file ...

b-b-b-but... I got it from your first post, which lists it as an .rb :
ATTACHMENTS
Bolt MakerXII.rb
Bolt Maker XII - The final edition
(22.16 KiB) Downloaded 1165 times

I'm an infrequent user of SU so maybe that's why I never even though to go to the store this time - found your plugin by googling "sketchup bolt plugin" - which of course doesn't necessarily take one to the store, and in my case, brought me to this thread.

ANYWAY - Since I last posted, I downloaded a trial SU2015, copied over most extensions (err...that is, once I found the new plugins folder), including the aforementioned .rb, and indeed, it works...at least once, that is. Thanks for the prods and nudges.

--Dave

Thanks for the encouragement and handholding - I don't know what else to try.

I just now deleted the .rb from my plugins folder, then redownloaded it (version VII). The only unusual/annoying issue in the process of reinstalling it seemed familiar from previous plugin installations: I wasn't allowed to directly download it to my plugins folder, so I put it in "downloads" first, then moved it to plugins (and had to "request" administrator permission to get it to move, but that's an every-time annoyance that I expect.)

As before, the bolt parameters can be entered, but on moving the cursor to a test-slab, I get only the standard arrow-cursor, no ability to create guide lines or pick points. I'm suspecting my Sketchup installation is somehow corrupted and maybe it's time to bite the bullet and get whatever the latest version is...one other old plugin (that I often had trouble with before) also doesn't work, though ("hole on solid") and that might be more evidence of corruption.

Are plugins capable of bad interaction/incompatibility?

@box said:

Works for me, are you using it correctly?

ummm...no...thanks for the GIF covering centering, etc - it's illustrative but still leaves me guessing. Maybe I do still have a problem. (I also watched the video on developer's blog - suggests to me that something basic about my tape-measure guidelines is running in another mode or just wonky - I never get a red-crosshairs/Z-axis guideline inferred from the X/Y guidelines I can create, as it appears is... normal behavior...?)

Other than that, since the GIF runs endlessly and we can't see which tools are selected, it's maybe less than clear what's being clicked at some times, other than the obvious plugin tool selections, and where each of the two modes starts (offset vs pick-points). I assume the sequence is something like this:
select the plugin
select bolt parameters
click OK
(somehow - how?) delineate the offset in X and Y
(somehow - how?) red crosshairs appear (doesn't do that for me)

I guess either you've selected the tape-measure tool to create those guidelines and we can't see that happen, or the plugin has a built-in pick-point/guideline creating routine - and mine isn't working. So I tried to create guidelines and a pick-point using the tape-measure tool, since I see no other option. But no luck with that, either. As mentioned above, the GIF shows the Z-axis guideline appearing with one click in a magical way that I've not seen, letting the pick-point be selected with just two clicks...or so it appears. I get no red-crosshairs cursor-change under any circumstances. Hints?

Does this plugin still work, eg with Sketchup Pro 2013? I get no signs of life, though it's installed and appears to let me enter bolt basic data per samples in original post.

I'm confused, too, looking back on this. I think it was low blood sugar and sleep deprivation that doubled me over, and the purple meth that did me in. Maybe my cat was walking on my keyboard, or...I don't know. I'd like to delete my first post here and all following, please. Where do I click for that?

My bad.

@glro said:

@dave r said:

I'm curious about why hitting the Enter key seems to be a problem with this plugin when Enter is so frequently used with the default tools and there are many other plugins that have the same requirement. The fellow who posted immediately above the post with the most recent revision had the same problem which was solved by hitting Enter.

which default tools?

the VCB, Ruby console, ...?

most plugins input are made through a dialog box, and in this case, it is obvious: you click "OK" on the button

With the VCB, there is no button... you are just supposed to know it is necessary to hit "enter"

Yes, my mistake in not reading previous comments carefully - but as I think Glro indicates, in Sketchup, I have learned to resist what's usually the mistake of using an <enter> in the VCB, after getting used to all /other/ VCB uses (at least for me, thus far) virtually punishing me for what, in SU, is usually the MISTAKE of hitting <enter>. Yes, the <enter> requirement is typical of /other/ CAD software - and pretty much everywhere else in the world of data "entry," where nothing is "entered" until one hits "enter" - but I personally haven't used other plugins where this is the norm.

Reading sloppily through the above exchanges, I'd taken the mention of using <enter> as "you did't make the mistake of using "enter," did you?" and then somehow completely missed the response - and that was before I'd installed the plugin a few hours later, by which time I'd forgotten all of that anyway.

Does this really work for others?

I just installed the latest-gen plugin, and for me, it's got a drawback that makes it unusable: the diameter of the hole can't be changed. My various entries of different diameters do show up in the text-box, but I've been machine-gunning test-holes for a few minutes, and nothing about the diameter changes from one to the next, whether I've got "0.1" in the box or "11": all measure out at 0.875" (7/8"), which is the default hole-size.

@dave r said:

By the way, you probably don't need 100 sides. I don't know if you even looked at the examples I made for your other thread but I used less than 48 sides and the wheel looks fine.

Dave,

Something happened to my subscription to the other thread, or notice/s went to my spam-folder. I will go there soon to see. Thanks for the response. The 100 sides was just an arbitrary 'much higher' figure to see what would happen in comparison with the default 24 while chasing that jagginess problem. For my purpose, even 24 would be OK.

--ds

tak2hata,

Thanks for the revelatory (and far beyond the call!) video. I did not see those odd defects (unintended mesh detail) before. I could speculate as to how I created them (accidentally), but there's probably no point.

Still, solid or not, your plugin did succeed in punching that first hole, before the crashing problems began. I repeated the process of punching that one hole several times (causing several crashes) before saving it at that point, so I know I made no changes after punching that one hole. That's a mystery that's probably not worth exploring further.

Anyway, I hope your extra work on the plugin was worthwhile for other people & for your purposes, beyond my oddball mesh-detail problem.

bmike,
Mahalos for the added solid-solver plugin info. I may need to check that out at some point.

The first wheel was 100% SU native, not imported. Why the absurd jaggies, you wonder? I'm almost past caring at this point...almost, but not quite. Speculating, I think what happened was that during one of my many workaround attempts (while trying to use the hole-punch plugin), I temporarily erased one face of the central disc/circle, so as to "have access to" the origin - and thus to be able to do a temp. construction of a cube at origin...so that I could float the 3" diam. center "punch circle" out a ways from the wheel on the red axis - which was refusing to present itself as an option otherwise. Then, on replacing that circle, I recall all KINDS of unexpected problems: it looked like SU was unable to snap my replacement circle to the existing 24-sided inner-taper's circle at one point...I recall zooming to check out the detail there, and seeing that the replacement circle looked much less faceted than the 24-sided circle I was trying to get it to snap to. I honestly can't recall how I got past that, but it seems likely that the jaggies came from something to do with that "nested workaround."

(Isn't there something like a keyboard control to toggle selection of axes for drawing tools? Closest I have come is using shift-key to lock a given axis, but that sometimes seems to go off on unintended inferences.)

@gilles said:

...
This takes me less than 5 min.

You may update your profile to newbie.

Oh, yeah, I'll get right on that change to "newbie" - anything to get more of your detailed, patient explanations.

@tak2hata said:

Hi,pants.
You "no longer" use this "tear-off menu".
Wake up from bad dream.

I will consider this problem in real.

Good bye.

I can't tell if you're revoking my seat, or fixing the plugin, but thanks for the plugin anyway, since it's doing what it should do in the later version of my simple drawing.

@dave r said:

The geometry of your wheel this time is correct.

Thanks - though I still don't know why there'd be a difference between the two, other than the 24-side circle vs the 100-side later version I used. Meh...time to move on. Appreciate your input.

Dave R,

Please have a look at the attached redo. I've never used xray views so not sure if you mean that's part of how you assess "solid" vs "not solid" (solid = "no leaks?"). I'd never paid much attention to "entity info" heretofore, but that looks like it's the yes/no indicator of solidity or lack thereof?

Anyway, I went to my previous iteration and looked at it to compare with the newer one, and to guess at what I should be/am seeing when using Xray view settings. Recall that both versions were rotationally-extruded, with the first following the default 24-sided circle; I think that's the source of what's being called "bad geometry," but maybe that was gilles' verdict just because it's jaggy. OTOH, the attached version should be essentially the same, though differently-meshed, since it's extruded following a 100-sided circle vs. 24.

If it's a question of "leaks," I don't know where those would be. Both that version and the new were "solid enough" to punch with the plugin tool - though the first one got all crashy after the first hole was punched, the second version didn't.

cast alum wheel - all holes punched (with plugin).skp

@tak2hata said:

Hi,Dav.
Gilles said opinion,I think so ,too...It could not be drilled because it is not solid...

Not solid? Did you orbit the wheel, and notice it has two holes punched in it (one in center, the other being one of the eight 1/2" ones, both punched using your plugin? (What defines 'solid,' if that isn't solid?)

I don't know what Gilles means by "bad geometry," perhaps it needs to be punished. I drew this as a 'solid of revolution,' that is, by drawing the upper half of the wheel's cross-section, and extruding it along a circular path, using the follow-me tool. The default circle SU draws (and which I followed) is 24-sided, so this results in some 'jagginess.' That imprecision wouldn't matter in my view, because my "simple plan" was to pdf and email this drawing to some casting shops to get rough quotes: they would glance at the drawing, want to know the overall diameter and the thinnest section, estimate the weight, and they'd be done with it.

So I started from scratch yesterday and mostly repeated what I had done before, to refresh my memory of how I'd drawn the thing. Most of the same problems recurred. I could not successfully specify a 7" radius for the 'follow-me' circle, for example, but was able to mouse-click to meet the wheel's 14" diameter. I had to do a temporary construction of a couple of rectangles in order to convince SU to draw the center-hole on the red axis, which otherwise couldn't be selected at any view. But this time, the hole plugin worked, for whatever reason, one hole at a time, but the tool palette seems gone forever.