If you make a component and place it several times then anything you do to one instance affects all of the others - unless you use 'make_unique' on it first. Using groups and copying them avoids this, BUT a recently noted but undocumented quirk in the SUp Ruby coding means you must use 'make_unique' on a group as you copy it... otherwise that copy is treated as an 'instance' (just as if it were a component anyway !!!) and then both might change as you alter one...

@tomot said:

How do I code a radial array of cubes about a central point?
tia

Look into my "Grow.rb" script to see how to do all types of matrix arraying etc - Move, Rotate and Scale of copies...

I smile inside.

The twisting is a part of followme. To keep it flat needs a new followme writing, which would be too much for mortal man - when he's not getting paid !

See the adjacent thread about make 'logs'. Didier already has a Balustrade tool...

You could make a ExtrudeSelectedFaceAlongPath.rb... A sort of combination of my set of ...AlongPath... tools and RickW's CopyAlongPath... script

Then you could draw any face shape you like - half pipe, cornice etc without the need to orient it at 90 degrees to the start of the path. You'd select the face and the path and it'd do it for you ? Alternatively you could use external face components - like Didier's Balustrade... script and extrude those along the path - ExtrudeSelectedComponentsFaceAlongPath.rb...

This is all possible... but is it worth doing when you can already draw and do this with a little effort and pushpull/followme ? Perhaps an alternative idea would be a script that orients a selected face at 90 degrees to the start of a selected path for the later pushpull or followme... that way you use the inbuilt base tools for the main work, but we'd have a neat tool to start you off - OrientFaceToPath.rb ?

If it's too difficult to code in Ruby (though drawing two coplanar arcs that will face doesn't seem that impossible ?), then why not change tack and follow Didier's example in his 'Balustrade.rb' script (or even Todd's 3Dtext tool) ?

This method allows you to draw any section you like... In your case you'd draw up a a set of simple outlines with the curved top and the bottom slot etc, with a face centred at 0,0,0... and then save them as say log300,skp, log400.skp etc. These are the 'component' "log" faces your script will load into the model... as you might choose from a dialog's list (which itself is made by looking into your ../Plugins/../Logs/ folder and listing its current contents - that way you can add to/subtract from the available log section component faces as you wish). Your script would then place the desired face component and explode it, then take its face and pushpull it by the amount you specified in the other entry in the dialog...

Can't you use the joist tool anyway ? First do a bit of preparation - decide the board width, and thickness(=depth) and spacing(=centers) = board + gap, e.g. let's say your plank width is 6" and say its depth is 2", then with a gap=0.5" > centers=6"+0.5"=6.5". Enter these into the joist tool as the three parameters in their order.

You get your board-walk planking...

Updated SectionCutFace.rb ruby script is here
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=1517

@unknownuser said:

...the french name went away but there still is something weird going on. what you can see in the attached picture is the result of clicking twice along the green axis (and thus defining a line parallel to it) and then return. it did mirror the box but the new one is below the ground plane. what could be the reason for that?

edson

I can't get that error to occur on my PC. What's your platform, version of SUp, units, size/scale of cube etc ?

Didier's site seems to have a glitch with Mirror.rb - 'lost in translation'. The imperial AND metric versions should be the same, except that Didier translates the text/prompts to French in his metric version. Either version will work in any units. You can get the English one from: Dead link

Save this into the Plugins folder - it's Mirror.rb: delete any similar files in that folder, e.g. Mirror3.1.rb...

In principle you'd have some 'observer' auto-made in each model that's watching for new geometry to be added. If it forms an arc or circle a simple script adds a centre point ?

Feel free... it's the only way we learn...

Typically at the end of an interactive script there's a menu section, something like:

if( not file_loaded?("............."))

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

file_loaded="..........."

The "............." is the script's name and the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX part is the menu definition - this is so it only loads once if for some reason you manually load the script etc you'll only get one menu item.

To add a right-click context-menu you need to add some code - like azuby's or similar forms. You replace the title and 'action' to suit... so in "Mirror.rb" it's:
...
UI.add_context_menu_handler do |menu|
if Sketchup.active_model.selection
menu.add_separator
menu.add_item("Mirror Selection") { Sketchup.active_model.select_tool MirrorTool.new}
end#if
end#do menu
...
inside the if loop at the end as well as the normal Plugins Menu instructions...

Azuby's equivalent way would be:
...
UI.add_context_menu_handler{|menu|menu.add_separator;menu.add_item("Mirror Selection"){Sketchup.active_model.select_tool MirrorTool.new}}
...

Glad my script is useful...

Try a full virus check. But it might be something that even a good virus checker fails to spot like ye olde 'nashi-worm' ? You can catch all sorts of things in hotels....

Here's v1.6.

It sorts out file/folder paths slightly differently, which might avoid the Mac crash. It also corrects the typo in a dialog reported by Didier...

301 Moved Permanently

(www.sketchucation.com)

...AND don't forget that my script only lists what is the basic built-in info within any SUP model. IF you were to give components (or any lesser or higher geometry a parts) 'attributes' then these are list-able too... Theoretically every single bit of a model could have a wealth of extra information attached to it via attributes - on a one by one basis - that could then be extracted for later use, or used in the way it interacts withother entities or the user.

Examples of using attributes are the examples of Parametric shapes, or RickW's Windowizer - in which windowized faces 'know' they are windowized and generate an appropriate context-menu entry... OR my Xref Manager that has attributes inserted into Xref skp components (or even dwf/dwg inserts) and checks to see if they are still valid or have been changed since the last insertion. It also has a method (for PC only at present since Macs vary in the way the Ruby runs at startup - but that should be fixed), whereby an attribute is attached to the whole model which then tells Xref Manager on startup if it's to check if Xrefs need updating IF you have set it to do so previously in a simple dialog...

This approach could be the basis of of full BIM BUT it needs a lot of work...

Here's v1.5
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=6688#p6688
Areas are now in current units... however there is guidance on how to set areas to sq m if you work in mm etc...

@gata said:

TIG, Your files go to the right directory now No message that the files were completed though - if you still coded for that.

It might be more useful if your three files were three pages in one Excel document.

I noticed that you cannot save adjusted column widths in the csv format. Interesting. I suppose such limitations disallows pages in csv too.

Also, area doesn't have units listed.

You should always get a dialog at the end telling you where the three files went ?
It is difficult to make multi-page csv's - that's why you get three !
The easy way to use a .csv file with formatting is to make a separate full blown Excel .xls file - using the same name seems logical (XXX-Component+Report.csv and XXX-Component+Report.xls). Then open the cvs and xls. We need to link them so that the xls keeps its formatting while the csv can be rewritten and the data reflected in the linked xls without loss of formatting [There's Excel help on this too]. Here's how..

Open both files.
Have the csv at the front.
Select the cells in the csv that you want to link into the xls.
Ctrl+C to copy.
Switch to xls window.
Menu > Edit > Paste Special...
In the dialog click the bottom 'As Link' button.
Now the csv is linked into the xls.
Format the xls as you wish.
Whenever the csv changes the xls will too when it next opens.
You'll need to edit the blank fields that come mover as '0' and if the csv rows increase you'll need to re-link the csv into the xls...
See Excel Help for more details...

Areas. The XYZ dims are in current units BUT the areas report in the system default 'sq inches'. I'll adjust it to come in current units - look out for an update...

I've rewritten the Component+Reporter to get the model's directory another way, which then avoids any such problems.

Miner now goes all the way...

Also took the chance to trap for commas in the names into ';' otherwise = messed up .csv files. Although it allowed, it's still best to avoid commas in Component, Group and Layer names.

Also made a 3rd report on 'parentage' a la Outliner...

Also sorted out the File Already Open Error...

v1.4 is here: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=6687#p6687