[Plugin] Extrude Edges by Rails by Face

[simon le bon]

Kirill 2 faces + path exact, exact

[simon le bon]

I pursued my idea with : "La jolie petite fontaine"

*s

[Morphing_24]

Hey TIG
I have just downloaded this plugin and I tried to find an answer here if there is always a default number of ribs . Everytime, I find that there are always 21 ribs and I have no idea how to change it. How can I do it??
thanks

[TIG]

That number depends on the segments in the "rail/profiles's" curve - so add/subtract segments to change that...
Your 'rail/profile' must have 20 segments >> 21 "ends" ???

[Morphing_24]

thanks, problem solved
But now i have one problem and another question.
I use a macbook pro and this only happens on mac not on the PC generally. The problem is that whenever I try to use the extrude edges by rail by face, and most of the time after I choose profiles and rails it crashes and the crashDialogHeader appears . What do you think it might be??
And the other question is if the number of ribs depend on the segments, I made a curve using the line tool but it looks really edgy, and if I draw a line with the bezier tool, how can I control the number of ribs using this tool and at the same time keeping it smooth?
Thanks in advance

[TIG]

The Bezier tool has an Edit option on its toolbar - so use that to change the number of segments in a curve - it's similar to how you can change the segmentation of an Arc in 'Entity Info'.

[charly2008]

Hi TIG,

I find your EEbyFace is very suitable for the construction of Gothic vaults. But one problem I have! How can I predetermine the orientation of the final Profile exactly? So far I have turned the initial profile until I accidentally had the desired direction. Is there a simpler solution?

Charly

[TIG]

When you draw the 'Profile' face flat on the ground its Y [green] axis is used as the Z up axis of the extrusion. If this extrusion starts flat it is kept at Y [?]

[joebamber]

TIG - the other extrusion tools are awesome and i now use them as much as i can,

But the Extrusion by Rail by Face; just has never worked for me, i've included pictures for you to understand...

It always says i haven't selected the face and so wont extrude them across either rails or profiles (though as you can see, i defintly did select it),

I have a MAC pro with sketchup 7 - and on bootcamp in both MAC and PC worlds i get this trouble...

[TIG]

It's because your selected Face isn't made 'FLAT' - i.e. it must line flat on the ground, and its Y [green] axis will be taken as the 'UP' direction when extruding it. It doesn't matter if it faces up or down the tool assumes it's facing up anyway!
Just rotate it about an edge so it's 'flat' on the ground.

[stefx]

Hi TIG,
I use a MacBook too and I have the same problem of Morphin_24....have you got any idea to solve that?
Thank you very much.

Stef.

[TIG]

stefx

You can control the number of points in a Bezier curve - as explained in my earlier response.
Can you give any more info or an example SKP with a failing set of curves ?
PM or posted

[stefx]

It is a simple bunch of curves....could you explain how i can manage the segments with the bezier curves?
thank you very much.

Stef.

[TIG]

You don't have Beziers They are 'Arcs' and you need to use the built-in tool 'Entity Info' to manage those. They have 12 segments which is reasonable. Reduce the face's size/shape to get 'bars' formed...
See this illustration for more details

Capture.PNG

[shoeb_cars]

you are like right outta a scifi movie mahnnn....awesome
RESPECT +++

consider me ur fan...

[joebamber]

Thanks TIG - Noobie error here --> <--

[stefx]

Hi Tig,
Thank you for your tutorial...
managing the number of segments is working...!
In my last attempts I see the ribs are really thick.....see the screenshot...
basically I cannot have the same result of your first post in this topic..

any suggestion?

[d12dozr]

Stefx, the ribs should be exactly the same size as your square(profile/face) on the ground, so maybe make your profile smaller?

[TIG]

Ditto.
If you look in the picture in the first topic the face is quite tiny compared to the rib spacing...
The cross-section of the ribs will be made to match the face.
Scale it smaller if needed...
Small face >>> thin ribs
Big face >>> fat ribs
Face long in Y [green] >>> 'tall' ribs
Face long in X [red] >>> 'wide' ribs
etc

[joebamber]

hello TIG ! - I'm trying to make a double curved mesh with only square faces.

With 'extrusion by rails'; if more than 1 rail is used; erasing coplanar edges (in the post curve production) cannot make the faces square and do not delete coplanar edges.

Do you get this too? (sorry if this another noobie error with these tools)

Joe

[Jeff Hammond]

Hey Joe,

Those lines aren't coplaner so they won't delete without deleting the adjoining faces as well

To make a quad, you need at least two of the edges to be parallel. With complex curved surfaces like you're trying create, very rarely will a quad happen and even then, they're sporadically located throughout the mesh.

Why do you need quads though if you don't mind me asking?

[joebamber]

Am trying to get quads so I can use *Paracloud for applying components across a mesh in sketchup, though if I use triangles, I get less control over the application of these components. I could always use soap and skin plugin, and then free-form, but was just wondering if it was possible with TIGs tools, as the curves are more accurate.

Joe

[stefx]

Tig and the other guys,
sorry for the late!
Thank you for all your help!
trying with small faces, it is working as I need.

Stefx

[lapx]

Hello Tig,

Will this work with a circle face and diagonal like the lattice by rail. Lattice by rail allows the diagonal. I notice the diagonal dialogue is not a choice with the rail by face.
Is this correct? I would like to have pipes that cross diagonal to each other with glassin between.

Thanks

[TIG]

No... but you can use the EEbyRailsToLattice > diagonal edges... and then use the results to extrude the circular face along those paths [tip: add a cpoint at its center and select that too].

Capture.PNG

The are also other tools line 'Lines2cyl' or 'PipeAlongPath'that could do the second step in a slightly different way...

[lapx]

Thanks Tig,
I got the diagonals from the EEbyrailstolattice but got lost At EEbyface. I would post a screen shot but I got a bugsplat error. Do I explode both sets if diagonals and then use eebyface? When I used eebyface it made the rails orthagonal. I did try the linsetocylinder and got that to worked. I missing one of your steps.

[TIG]

You make two groups of diagonals with EEbyRailsToLattice- one for for the two 'directions' - which vary depending on the picked order of profiles/rails.
Edit one groped set of diagonals and you'll find that the curves are also individually grouped.
Select all of the curve-groups and explode them so that the curves are now in the group's context.
Now you can use all of those curves with EEbyFace - HOWEVER, just before that you need to edit>copy the circular face and a center cpoint and edit>paste-in-paste them inside the same context as the curves.
Now 'select all' and run EEbyFace to make one set of diagonal 'tubes' using those curves.
Now, simply repeat the whole thing for the other direction diagonal set of curves...
Finally selected the four profile/rails curves and used those for the third EEbyFace using the original circular face + cpoint to make perimeter 'tubes'!

[lapx]

Ok, I'm inside a group of exploded rails with a circle and point. How do I select the rails after the command prompts to select them?
If i put them inside the group of exploded curves w the circle and point, it will break the perimeter curves in itty bitty lines and does not work.

Thanks Tig! sorry for my density

[TIG]

You have the two sets of diagonal curves in separate groups [the curves should be exploded from their individual subgroups].
Process each set in turn.
You first add the circle and cpoint into the group [you are in the group-edit?].
Now Edit>SelectAll.
Everything inside the group is selected.
Now run EEbyFace, answer 'Yes' to continue when it tells you that the curves are 'in bits', and the circle is extruded along each curve.
Repeat for the other set of curves.
Do a similar operation of the profile/rail curves if you want edge tubes.
You CAN explode the groups etc together IF you want to, then select all and intersect together to form 'cuts' as the tubes pass through each other...

[lapx]

Thanks Tig, I got it! I was using the wrong command when I should have been using EEbyFace not faces not face and rail, but "extrude edges by face" . duh!