Version 2.1 is now available: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=6648#p6648

@unknownuser said:

Thanks for the info.

I have found a slight problem with V2 on Vista.
It will not show in plugins pull down as the new version.
I have extracted ruby to plugins folder and overwritten older version. I also tried deleting it and dragging in a new v2.rb, so I know the correct ruby is in the folder.
When I go to use it, I still get the old menu and not the new 3 point option.

It works perfectly on my XP machine.

Firstly v2.1 is in the depository, so get that now...

Secondly - I also have Vista and sometimes you get 'compatibility file / mode' problems. Ensure that SketchUp 6 is running NOT in administrator mode (though you need to have administrator rights for your login). Look on the top bar of the Plugins window - on the right-hand end there might be a red 'compatibility file' option - click it and it should list some new files with the correct content that are there BUT not being allowed to load.

It seems that dragging and dropping new files with the same name, into program folders in Vista, sometimes results in this glitch. You can either delete the old file first and then move the new one in, OR open the new file elsewhere (in notepad) and then 'save_as' into Plugins, overwriting the earlier one and it'll (probably) be correct...

I haven't the faintest idea why Vista does this - See Help >> 'compatibility' and it will let you open a window and you should ensure that SketchUp ISN'T running in 'compatibility mode'. This should avoid these weird glitches. Vista shows one file but uses another...

It's not an issue with the script but more with Vista holding your hand too tightly...

@unknownuser said:

I love this tool, it really makes me smile.
Create this really complicated roof shape, pick the surface, choose hip and a perfect roof is created.
Is there a way to make the Gable work turning 90 degrees?
If I want my roof to follow an L shape for example.
With hipped it follows no problem, is there a way to tackle this with a gable?

You must either make a hipped roof and then edit it to change the required gable hips into gables, easily done by rotating the hip face vertically and then adding edges etc and then pushpulling and reapplying materials to suit...
OR for two gables try making two intersecting gable roof groups, each with a blank-with-fascia second gable; and then select both and explode them and immediately regroup them into one group: then edit that group, select all and intersect with selection. Move the apex of each unwanted gable back to the main ridge, and erase any unwanted coplanar edges (use xray mode to erase unwanted interior edges)...
See the attached tutorial...

Tutorial

Version 2.0 of Roof.rb is now out.

See: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=1519

The attached zip contains the .rb script and the .mht help file. Both should go into the Plugins folder and older ones should be removed.

There is also a separate pdf version of the help for some of you having problems getting the mht to open via the menu item. Open the pdf 'manually'.

The main changes in v2 are that dialog defs have been reworked in an attempt to suit Mac users. Also the way the Gable tool works has changed: you now run the tool and then pick three points - 1 for the 1st corner of the First-Gable, 2 for the 2nd corner of the First-Gable and 3 for the Line of the Second-Gable. The Pyramid Roof tool is also similar to the gable - pick two points to define the edge from which the slope (if any) will be taken and the third one to set the other side of the pyramid's base.

Try, and feedback please...

@stuartb said:

TIG . . what are the font limitations? Can I use ANY TTF font I have installed?
Edit : I re-read your instructions . . I can add fonts by editing the script. I will try that.

Yes: Scroll down from the instruction part and find ###FONTLIST...
You can add any TTF fonts you want. Only use a plain text editor - word-processors will mess up the script by putting in hidden formatting characters etc...
Firstly make a back up of the ruby somewhere in case you mess up...
The font names are sorted into alphabetical order later on in the script so you could add your own fonts at the beginning...

### FONTLIST...
### ADD into the font list [or delete] any fonts YOU use [don't ever want to use]...
@fontlist=["YOUR_FONT","Arial",...]

Use the 'name' that appears in the system's list of fonts, rather than the file name itself - so it's "Arial" NOT "arial.ttf". If you want to remove any fonts ensure that the whole thing goes with any separating commas - e.g. <kept>"Tahoma",<kept>... The more fonts you have in the list then the longer the dialog's list and then you might have to resort to typing the first letter and then using the arrow keys to find the one you want - like on the colors... I recommend you have a concise list of fonts you usually use - I find that I only use a few fonts.

@stuartb said:

that's pretty brilliant TIG! Thanks a lot.
How can I get the text created using the script to export to dwg? The 'normal' Sketchup text seems to export to dwg by converting itself to faces.

You can't... BUT I could make an addition to the script to export the TextTags as a dxf file for the TextTags only [model-TaGTags.dwk]. It'd be done by manipulating the components' attributes to get the text, font, size etc and then make a 'real' text bit when opened into ACAD... It's a bit convoluted but could work - watch this space...

See: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=14125#p14125

for a script to do what we've discussed...

See: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=14125#p14125

TextTag.rb is a tool that adds a 'flat' 3D text-tag component, that's placed 0.1mm above any face so it remains visible.

You are first prompted for the 'text'...
Note: you type \n for any new-line breaks you require,
e.g. "Text\nTag on\n3 Lines".
You can then choose to change settings, Yes/No: No = skip, the initial def=Yes: it accesses the following settings.
height = of upper-case I in current units: def=100.mm/4".
alignment = Centred, Left, Right: default=Centred.
font = Most TTF Fonts are listed: default=Comic Sans MS
[See 'FONTLIST...' in script to edit list or add your own...
the list is based on most MS Vista TTFs so Mac users might like to add "Helvetica" etc]
[if lists off screen, type start letter, use arrow keys...]
bold = Yes/No: default=No.
italic = Yes/No: default=No.
filled = Yes/No: default=Yes, No=Outline - Edges only.
color = Any Existing/Standard Color: default=Black., using <Default> lets instances be painted other colors.
[if lists off screen, type start letter, use arrow keys...]
layer = Default=TEXT-TAGS, pick another OR make your own.
[if lists off screen, type start letter, use arrow keys...]
face-camera = Yes/No: default=No - best for most uses.
snap = Yes/No: default=Yes - then tag snaps onto picked face - you can always 'unglue' snapped tags later.
These settings are remembered in the model and as attributes in the individual tag definitions.
Each tag has a unique name, e.g. "~TextTag#7", so they will list at the end of the model's components.
Any text-tag is editable by right-click context-menu...
This lets you remake the tag's values as above. except that the tag remains where it was originally placed down.
Tags can be moved and copied, BUT remember that changes to a copy will affect its siblings, if it's not 'made-unique'.
The tag's letters, spacing etc can be edited within the tag instance, BUT remember changes will be lost after tag-editing...

Feedback please...

TextTag.rb

@voder vocoder said:

...There's a basic problem with 3D text: since it is rendered as ordinary 3D geometry it has an outline--and a thick one--which is whatever the Profile edge attribute is set to. Unfortunately, scalable fonts are designed to be rendered net; that is, fill but no outline. The result is that SU renders 3D text characters distorted: strokes are too thick; cutouts get filled in; characters bleed together, etc. The effect is less noticeable at large point sizes, where the outlines account for a much smaller percentage of stroke width, but at small sizes, like the size of note text, the characters look fuzzy and ill-proportioned at best and barely legible at worst.

You can hide the edges, but that's a pretty kludgey and time-consuming workaround. The best workaround I've found is to intersect (integrate) the edges with a rectangular face, paint the face with an invisible color, hide the edges of the rectangle, and smooth the edges of the characters. That leaves you with your block of text on an invisible plane, which you can position and orient as you please.

There are still other problems with 3D text, though--most notably, the leading (line spacing) is too tight for most purposes, and there's no kerning. True, you can fiddle with the geometry, but that becomes rather laborious.
Voder Vocoder

IF you were automating 3D-text as text-tags then it'd be [relatively] easy to hide all edges in the text-tag component and make the faces 'black'... Kerning etc is more painful...

1. Using 3D text with no depth would give you that ability. I could see a script, that was called say "Text-Tag", that would let you add a text-tag to a model that became a component using 3D text; it would also have an attribute that tells us it's a text-tag and the second part of the text-tag script then lets you [right-click]edit any text-tag so you can renew its text etc and it'll then replace the old text-tag component with the new info...
2. It would be [relatively] easy to read the text part from a DXF and then make some SUp text at the same location - complex thinking on how to get the size/font to correspond etc but NOT impossible... DWG files are more complex to read directly...

Maybe something like pressing the Esc-key three-times = Abort! would be a good thing, as the buttons are disabled during processing...

Didier

Thanks for the new script... unfortunately it doesn't work straight away - IF the user's current directory isn't the Plugins folder !

You need to add some code to each def's file reading part like this:

  file=File.dirname(Sketchup.find_support_file("Munsell.rb","Plugins/"))+"/"
  in_file=File.open(file+"Munsell_hexa.txt","r")

This then makes the thing work as intended...
You could also add a 'help' menu item like:

def munsell_help
  help="file;///"+Sketchup.find_support_file("Munsell Maker User Guide.pdf","Plugins/")
  UI.messagebox("***ERROR***\n\n.../Plugins/Munsell Maker User Guide.pdf\n\nNOT found.") if not UI.openURL(help)
end#def help
###...
    main_menu.add_separator
    main_menu.add_item("Help..."){munsell_help}  
###...  

This is the entire code [I tweaked it almost two years ago...]

#This script was created by Adam Beazley for public use and may be edited.
#http://www.abeazleydesign.com
#Directions
#Just click in the Import Materials button in the plugins menu and type in the location of all of you image files.
#This script will create a material and name it the same name as the image file and then use that file as the texture.
#all textures will come in at a standard scale and must be edited later
#after all materials and textures have been imported into the model, simply add them to your library
#you can then save the library as a .skm library file through sketchup.
#have fun!!!
#
### v1.1 TIG tweaks 29/12/05 ###
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
require 'sketchup.rb'
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
def materialimporter
   model= Sketchup.active_model
   materials= model.materials
   model.start_operation ("Import Materials") ###undo - see commit at end
   pwd= Dir.getwd.split("/").join("\\")+"\\" ### fix for SU
   dry= UI.openpanel "To Pick this Directory; Pick Any Image File + OK...", pwd , "*.???"
   ### for jpg or png
   return nil if not dry
   dry= File.dirname(dry)
   return nil if not dry
   cwd= Dir.chdir(dry)
   images= Dir["*.{jpg,png,tif,bmp,gif,tga,epx}"]### for all supported image file types
   for image in images
      imgname= image.split(".")[0..-2].join(".") ### removes .jpg etc from end
      mat= materials.add imgname
      mat.texture= image
   end#for image###
   model.commit_operation ###undo all if needed
end#def###
if(not file_loaded?("massmaterialimporter.rb"))
    menu=UI.menu("Plugins")
    menu.add_separator
    menu.add_item("Import Materials") { materialimporter }
end
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
file_loaded("massmaterialimporter.rb")
#

Works fine for me ?

Version 2 now out see this thread instead...

http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=1519

The good news is... I have had a 'Pauline Moment' [road to Damascus and all that...]. I have seen the light... I am setting off re-writing the gable (and pyramid) tools so that you will only need to select point-one then point-two that will define where the line for where the gable (or pyramid pitch) starts and then point-three which gives the 'depth' of the gable-roof's base (or the pyramid's other side) - the point will be translated to a common 'z' anyway, so its exact location isn't critical, however, best to keep it square to the first two points as it'll return the true perpendicular distance from line pt1-pt2 to pt-3 anyway.

The bad news is... you'll have to live with the deficiencies of v1.3 a bit longer while I fix all of this in "v2.0" with a new help .mht file...

It'll take 'a few days'...

@tomot said:

fantastic script TIG!
Please allow me to make the following small observation:
see attachment

The roof that is created is a 'true' hip with all of the faces at the same angle/slope. If you want a single springing point for all the apse rafters then make the apse-end a semi-circle, OR be prepared to make an uneven pitched roof by hand...

@iglesias said:

Hello,

The problem could be solve making one of the wings a block.

You got there ahead of me ! However, we do need a kinder gable-roof rectangle checking routine - I'm on to it...

@davekn said:

Tig

The following comments are in the Ruby console
Hipped Roof -
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method dialog_hip' for Roof:Class> (eval):210:in hip'
(eval):2749
(eval):210:in `call'
(eval):210

Mansard Roof -
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method dialog_man' for Roof:Class> (eval):802:in mansard'
(eval):2750
(eval):210:in `call'
(eval):210

Gable roof -
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method dialog_gable' for Roof:Class> (eval):1514:in gable'
(eval):2751
(eval):802:in `call'
(eval):802

Pyramid roof -
I still get the instruction to pick a rectangular face & edge etc

Dave

Mac must call sub def's differently from PC. I'll look into redoing these sub-def dialogs...

@dtrarch said:

TIG
Super and very much needed script but the Gable still is iffy for me and some faces that are created square are refused by the script and will not execute.
Dave

This error seems to be because the face although seemingly a rectangle has 5 sides ? I'm working on a fix for some other gable related problems and will try to fix this then. In the meanwhile draw a line on the gable edge, group it and edit the group and then draw a rectangle over the original, gable roof the lot new face in the group. Explode the group and you should still have the gable roof group. A fix is in progress...