Can somebody actually explain how to use this tool

• Move appears to be some fraction of the movement of the actual control point
• scale is not obvious but once you play around you get the idea, I see the intent although it too is a fraction of the actual scaling so again not sure the value
• etc

I tried playing with the power setting 0, 1, 3, 10....doesnt seem to make a difference

What I would have assumed this does is:

• Add some control points
• If I move / scale the control points, movement / scaling based on power
  (ie if power = 1.0...then a 1:1 movement or scaling....power = 10...then 10:1...etc)

ya know, it would be good if a given plugin does what it says it will do
Some guys write solid plugins with good doc (Freddo)... others (to remain nameless) have
some plugins as advertised while others dont deliver even the basics (with some of them
appearing to be an exercise in ruby programming vs providing some actual useful function).

Given this store idea....maybe somebody should have a clearing house on plugins to ensure
quality. Require good doc or (video would be fine but since the videos for this plugin dont load....pointless), ensure the plugin actually does its stated function, etc

I guess its me....who knew that "affecting geometry" did not mean some sort of 1:1 relationship

Well actually neither 2Dtools nor pipingalongpath does exactly what I want to do. However, pipingalongpath does deliver its stated function. So cant really fault that plugin per se.

enough said....moving on

you are right....I keep forgetting the mantra for open source....free but doesnt quite work

Export 2D works great!!! Only issue is having to do it multiple times to make sure it fits in window

Any thought to either a preview panel to let use check it fits....or....zoom to fit and, once exported, return to original zoom level (maybe key off selection of shapes to be exported)

just a thought

To be frank, if I wanted a rich 2D presentation tool for a couple of hundred bucks, I would get visio. All other pluses/minus aside, at least there one can automate the drawing details without scrips, plugins, VBA/Ruby, etc

(autosize text on a shape, change colors based on parameters of shape, etc)

Sketchup is great at 3D "sketching" just not focused on productivity tasks and that is
perfectly fine. However, the key issue I believe is missing is a way to draw thick lines that are usable. I applaud the efforts, but a tessellation of rectangles doesnt work in the generic case.

So Tig, ever thought about extending your plugin to basically spoof thick lines?

• one more menu item: Pipe vs duct
• inner and outer diameters ==> width and height
• In your "getting to real work" section, use the menu item to determine
  if creating a circular face or a rectangle
• etc

It would be a great way to make thick lines and not suffer from the aliasing issue on curves in the other plugin that seems focused on this kind of thing.

on top of spoofing thick lines, I guess, it could be a great way to make a serpentine wall easily (draw the line freehand or whatever, call your plugin and set width height, execute)

For thick line width = say 5mm Height = say 0.1mm
For wall width say 100mm height say 1000mm

too new sketchup to step up yet and make a plugin...no offense intended

RE Selection....np problems with pencil or several other plugins in selected what is desired Fredos stuff works fine

RE read the instructions several times....they need to be more of a cookbook not a blog

RE aliasing on curves...I dont think its the graphics engine....I zoom in enough and can see the gaps form as the rectangle progression bends...if graphics, would have thought as I zoom, the same polka dot pattern would persist....not have cleaner and cleaner breaks as I zoom in.

In thinking about this, the I believe the better way to go is the following
For each segment in selection
place a perpendicular segment at start point and end point
segment length adjusted based on thickness (can default to some value to start)
note the ends of each segment in 2 arrays
left_array has each T segment start point
right_array has T segment end point
end
connect all the left array points with segments
connect all the right array points with segments
May need to remove T segments...but maybe hide is good enough...dont know
connect left array first point to right array first point
connect left array last point to right array last point
ensure closed
apply a color

This will get around the aliasing issue on curves ( at least reasonable curves)
The left segments and right segments, if I understand sketchup, should be preseved
(changing line width later would be to extend the T segments - if hidden, or recreate if deleted via original or scaling using Pythagoras - along their slope

RE faces....I dont know about that (novice)....maybe set up as a group until completed, then explode. At least a group wont get "distracted" by neighboring shapes.

Dont get me wrong....I applaud what you have done and are trying to do....honestly, just trying to be helpful

some background:

What I am trying to do is what make line connectors between shapes to illustrate a network diagram. Think a "4" without the upper right segment. I want to make the corners rounded
Now to be far, I completely realize sketchup is not visio, but in visio, this can be highly automated without any VBA or code. Instead, control handles can be defined for user to move things as needed. Unfortunately, after struggling with 2Dtools for a week, I decided to make my own connectors and edit / adjust the standard sketchup way.

First the good news:

• I applaud the intent and effort of this plugin...something like this is badly needed
• I appreciate how complex this must be to do

Now the bad news:

• This plugin has a way to go to being useful
  • line selection is intermittent at best (may take up to 10 tries to pick the lines
    (and that is even in an open area looking down from the top...no shapes near by)
  • For Line style...Not sure the merit of creating 1000s of faces along a path.
    Wouldnt it be easier to take the selected lines, copy them, and offset them from
    original, and tie end points together. At least that way you dont get all the
    aliasing on curves? If you are really into 1000s of faces, then trapazoids
    or triangles would be better.
  • Color selection really doesnt work....I end up ungrouping to lowest level and pick
    color from palate or whatever then regroup them. (other than black, the selected
    lines disappear.
  • Since this tool doesnt line stretch like the native line tool, wouldnt make sense
    to keep/hide original line and offer the option to return to it for movement and
    such....maybe use the original line a guide the user can adjust, the resulting
    line follows the adjustment. For example, assume you make a sort of "S" line.
    With the default tools, you can move the center horizontal and left/right
    verticals tag along. Your tool breaks that connection so that user has to
    stretch /shrink (is that the idea of the "adjust" tool??)

Again...I applaud the efforts so far

I am looking for a plugin that does lines along an axis

For example, assume I want to draw a line from (0,0,0) to (10,10,10 such that the path is
is something like 5 on the X axis, 10 on Y, 10 on Z, 5 on X. Aka all right angles.

Moreover, it would be ideal if it would be great if it broke things up along axis based on user input....maybe even define the break points

Anything like that....or a tutorial on how to do that in general somehow with out having to draw each segment by hand

Thx

Still pretty new to sketchup, but

I really dont understand the intent of this tool

• softpen appears to do nothing
• I see what some of the other pens do...I guess there must be a need for their functions

Can you give me specific scenario/sequence on doing something with softpen
(I was hoping that it would "round" line corners and such).

It turns out its not your pluggin but the other guys issue.....apologies

New to Sketchup (the UI is really arcane....RPN with hints of the old dec VI editor....between android bugs, chrome crashes and this, google really needs better programmers)
In contrast...your plugins are very very handle....well done...maybe you should go work for google and teach them how to program

Anyway, I think there may be a bug in the bezierspline plugin.

Basically, I am trying to make a cable: block connectors on each end....free flowing soft cable between them.
I want to be able to scale such that block connectors remain same size but move with scale....cable grows or shrinks appropriately
It appears your shear scale (diag blue/green arrows) does this kind of thing.

Basically, I do the following (
-Use polyline to make some irregular path
-Convert to uniform spline (seems to be the only way to get the general / gradual curves I am looking for)
-Use the pipe along the path plugin to make it a cable.
-Use your tools to scale the cable.

The problem is that the control points do not scale with your plugin that is sort of a light green/yellow box) with the uniform bspline itself...so in essence, I get 2 covered lines

• one that the pipe along has turned into a cable...scaled to the new size
• one that is just a simple line with all the control points on it...stayed at original size

I tried ungroup, explode, etc....pretty much no matter what I do, if I delete the control points both the pipe and the control points are erased.

Novice that I am, I could be wrong, but I think this is more on your plugin than on pipe along, since that scales appropriately.

• This may be an artifact of how sketchup handles lines (cant round them, cant thicken them, etc)
• I tried various axis on your shear scale (blue/green diagonal arrow icon)....same behavior regardless.
• your standard scale and sketchup standard scale work fine
• I could be that pipe along only picks up some of your info....so control points not treated a part of the shape...dont know

It almost looks like the plugin(s) treat the control points differently and scaling tools dont recognize them for scaling and such

If there is a better way to make a "pipe" or "cable" with soft rounded bends such that can scale without having to manual move connector blocks....please let me know.