[Plugin] Component Stringer UPDATED May 23, 2013

[thomthom]

You just need to enter one of the components, select all the geometry, and scale it

Ah! ofcourse - you open up the component! doh! I was thinking it scaled each instance.

[Pilou]

Suggestion: a vertical rotation of each component in the same time between them

vertical.jpg

Another thing actualy plug works fine with path welded or not
but not with curves "disconnected" : is that normal

yes_no.jpg

[c.plassais]

Hi Chris,

Perfect as always

Christophe

[plot-paris]

fantastic plugin, Chris. there are going to be a lot of funny spine images in the gallery section now...

just two minor suggestion/question: when running your script it asks you whether start and end of the curve are right. then it lets you define the parameters. that means you will always have to perform at least two clicks, even if the curve direction is correct.

therefore my question: is it possible to go straight to the dialog box, while labeling start and end of the curve and having a check-box for 'reverse curve'?
ideally the 'start' and 'end' labels would dynamically change, when ticking/unticking the check-box.

and secondly: could you make the script remember former input during a SketchUp session? (except for the 'reverse curve' check-box of course). that might speed up workflow as well.

[Ecuadorian]

I certainly hope Chris and other Ruby geniuses get hired by the Google SketchUp team. SU might be a dead end if you want NURBS, but there's still a lot to be done with polygonal faces.

[Click Draw]

Hey Chris,

This is awesome! Thank you so much. I'm glad to see the PayPal link as well. You deserve it. I also love the crickets sound effects on your tutorials. Your obviously up late at night doing these. Thank you....

Jeff

[Pilou]

And you can after use the Shape Bender!
Not here

Here yes, each link itself is now curvated after the general Shape bender
So a double curvature

sbender.jpg

[EscapeArtist]

Chris, that is amazing. Thank you so much for the quick response to the ideas everyone posted.

Another fantastic plugin. Thanks!!

[Bob James]

Simply fantastic, Chris. Thank you so much for all your hard work: what would SU be without guys like you???
Again, thank you.

[utiler]

Suggestion: a vertical rotation of each component in the same time between them

vertical.jpg

Another thing actualy plug works fine with path welded or not
but not with curves "disconnected" : is that normal

yes_no.jpg

Another wish of mine, Pilou. see viewtopic.php?f=180&t=19204
The plugin in is getting sooooo close to a suggestion i had a while back; thanks again, Chris!!!!

Would be great to have the option of rotation around all 3 axis and the order of rotation as well as with TIG's GROW plugin.....

[Pilou]

Yes!
Scripters are amazing people

[leixing]

Thank you Chris
itis wonderful!
i find a little bug.if the compoents only have one face -- that means the componet is a 2d ojb ,then run the plu and nothing start. the ruby console said "Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method `position' for nil:NilClass>"
a very little bug ,just make a uimessage to tell people they must have a 3d components.
thank you again!!

[massimo]

Thank you Chris. Tried this on SU6 free but i had some problems. The try was made with "scaling>uniform" and "0" rotation.

[Ken]

Chris, thanks for this plugin. I am almost on the way to making anchor chains of any length or curvature. However, I notice that on curves, it is still hard to get the links to stay the same size, as the different curves connected together will have different section lengths.

So, I was wondering, how hard it would be to add a plugin called "Draw Line by Set Length". So I could pick this plugin, input the length of line I wish to draw. Say I inputted a line of 12" and all lines drawn would be 12" in length. So I could a draw a series of connected lines, they all would be 12" in length and curve to any direction. Than when I apply component stringer, my chain link's length would all be the same length along this many segmented line.

Again, thanks for the plugin.

Ken

[simon le bon]

Great comments and feedback. I agree there are lots of great possibilities on this one. The main things I would like to tackle first are:

Major to do list

• Make it work with closed loops!
• Also it can crash if you select edges that are connected to other edges that are not selected - fix that!
• The scale is messed up if the component axis is set in the middle of the component - fix that.

After that

• Add multiple component support - random and ordered placement
• Rotation - overall rotation and each component rotation settings.
• Branching edges support
• Edges that are not connected support
• Add some pre-made dinosaur bones to the plugin folder for Thom

Those are the main things that come to mind and that I've seen suggested that I think are good suggestions. I think that covers most things?

So I should probably go write this instead of sitting here on the forum.

Chris

I think that covers most things?

Hi Chris,

Here is my (first) wish! important one for many I guess!
I wish it were possible to drive a component in an invariable direction along the path like those stakes of the fence:

Important remark:

I have found no solution to make the flat stakes to follow the path while they are planted vertically (=invariable direction+ following direction)

(PS: I'm thinking about your PayPal link )
*simon

[TIG]

The major to do's - like loops and connected curves - are pretty much sorted in my ExtrudeEdgesToEdges... for the upcoming version I have borrowed some of the sorting edge-vertices code etc from Chris's script (which Chris probably borrowed from RickW [or my borrow of it?]!!!). Chris should then be able to transpose these fixes back into his script? My updated script will be out shortly...

[simon le bon]

Some help to produce the component to copy along a path.

I)Put the good axes:

If it is for you like for me , positionning axes of the component I want to copy along a path is not so evident.
So, make a cube, make it as a component, and......


II)How to conceive a chain link:
Using one or other method to produce a chain, necklace and many others fences and so on, you will need to think about the shape of the links.
Here is my tip. Just think to draw a portion of curve with the smallest radius you think you are going to use for your path...


simon

[simon le bon]

Hi Chris, Hi SketchY fellows,
I'm following Component Stringer Study.

Chains are now so easy to produce

>>"Component rotation" = 90° ; Fredoscale by Center

Helical study:

See Http for some explanation:
A PoorFlatEllipsoidIndian Bowl

The joints are not welding perfectly, but if we need a good welding, we can use this one as a gauge..
>>"Scaling Uniform"; "Component Rotation" 15°

Double use of Component Stringer
(With a smart use of "Total Rotation" 15°




+++Making a straight line as it was a curve in order to use it as the "path" to copy components on.
>> 1) a reverse line is added to our line (or else, our line is right clic and divided by minimum two) in order to apply "Weld" because Weld need at least two elements to be applied..

2)This welded line is now (Bezier curves installed) right clic converted to segmented polyline.
3)Now apply "Component Stringer" on this "straight curve" "Scaling Stretch" ; "Component Rotation" 15° (in case -15° )

Same action on a Bezier Curve

*simon

[simon le bon]

As usual I am tiring everybody with my extensions. I promise that this is the last one. You know , when I begin something I go on surrounds until I can think I have finished. May be those studies will brought some help to someone in some future

../VARIATIONS on Helical matter\..

The main point to obtain a good result is to work firmly on the curve, in order to give it the real number of segments: individual in orientation and indentical in length

Another variation: Triple use! of Component Stringer

The result isn't so beautiful Well, it is just for example

simon

[thomthom]

Wow! Very cool Simon.

I've been tracking this thread and I like all the shapes being produces. About time I actually read how it's done.

[simon le bon]

Hi Thomas,

thanks for this nice word good to me..
I haven't enough time as I would like to study this way every great plugin you and other cheerful authors offer to us day after day.

I'm secondly very pleased for you to come , 'cause I was just intending to ask you something as the better specialist in this place about selecting matters.

I haven't the first knowledge of if it is possible or not, and if it is, if it is complicated or not, but a great tool which I have found is missing would be a tool which give a number to a face or a component along a path and then give the choice to select elements in an incremental way or into an array of data.
This way for example to give a redundant place to some type of pillar along a long fence or barricade; organize a driveway pavers etc...

simon

[Chris Fullmer]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking for on that one Simon. But here's a guess.

You would likt to be able to automatically select every 10th pillar in that image for example? Or every 5th pillar? Is that the idea?

That could be built into my tool, but it would only work with components placed using my tool. But it would be do-able.

Chris

PS. I'm doing more work on this plugin. I have it set so it works with edges that are not connected - more than one spline. Or even just a large of amount of single edges. Hopefully a few more surprises before I release the next round.

[EscapeArtist]

Just for fun, a little "DNA":

[Jeff Hammond]

ha Simon..
i love the stuff you come up with using some of the scripts that pop up.

[kostas_designer]

Great plugin Chris!

I was trying it while working on an industrial component, i kind of chain.
Problem is that i cannot edit the single component because ita has a *given* dimension.
So, arraying straight segments is not a problem as i can use the Copy Array Groups or Components plugin, but when it comes to follow a curve things get tough (at least for me! )
I agree that having the control of sthe spacing would be best for many applications.

See some screenshots for explanation:

[plot-paris]

...having the control of the spacing would be best for many applications.

+1

Simon, I love your stuff. keep it coming. these show off nicely, what the plugin can do...

[simon le bon]

Hi jeff and Jakob, Thanks for nice words.. So I can be restful: I am not that sort of bat vampirising the threads I sometime feel I am (my small paranoia I'm afraid.)

Hi Kostas!
I'm sorry, I don't understand your problem (I can't see the details of your pictures!).
Mercy for us, get a real print screen and make close ups

having the control of sthe spacing would be best for many applications.

For me the spacing in a chain is invariant so..
May be you want to do something like that:

If it is the case , you can apply this solution:
Copy Array Along Path tool...have a look.

Hi Chris,

You would like to be able to automatically select every 10th pillar in that image for example? Or every 5th pillar? Is that the idea?

Yes You've got it!
But I would like be able to do many other various things: may be in this exemple above > put 3 components in place of pillars every 10 pillars...
This is the reason why I think what we need is mainly a special selecting tool with an incremental feature, (but also an array to select freely into it, and also may be a feature of aleatory choice)
And very important to be able to do the reverse selection.

this way we can -do a first pass, delete what we want to change,
- Do another pass with the other component and delete everything but the previous holes
and put the two passes together.
This way we can do the number of passes we want.
We can also mix variant and invariant (in direction) components....

That could be built into my tool, but it would only work with components placed using my tool. But it would be do-able.

But this special feature would be simply top cool

simon

[plot-paris]

actually, that may be a good idea for a different ruby request... a selection tool, that automatically recognizes component arrays (whether distributed on an even grid or along a path...) and then lets you do various selection scenarios. ideally a dialog would pop up that let you change your selections dynamically (or, at least have an update butten, that lets you change selections without closing the dialog)...

[Gaieus]

Simon,

I absolutely love the way you fully exploit these different (and of course, wonderful) tools and model things probably even the author didn't even dream about!

Cheers and keep posting, please!

[simon le bon]

Dear Gaieus

Your so kind words me!!

and then lets you do various selection scenarios. ideally a dialog would pop up that let you change your selections dynamically

+1

EscapeArtist (Jeff) shows with his Dna

A very cool other use of what I have in mind with this possible selecting tool:
Using sequences of the same component colored differently. In the particular case of a dna, the possibility of selecting elements into an array of data would be probably the most useful..

simon