[Plugin] FredoTools::CurviShear 1.5a - 25 Aug 11 (ramps)

[Fredo6]

CurviShear is a small standalone script allowing to deform a curve or a set of curves by shearing them vertically along their contour. This is typically what is needed to approximate CURVED RAMPS.

This comes from an interesting discussion initiated by rv1974 (see http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=29102#p253279)

CurviShear illustration.png

RevertCurve is now installed as part of FredoTools.

See the main post for this plugin for Installation

No user manual (see section Quick Start below)

• Language: English and French
• Menus: by default, it is installed in Plugins > Curve Shearing and also appears in the Contextual menu when there is at least one curve in the current selection
• Icon toolbar: No icon provided
• The plugin is free, for private and commercial usage.

Overview
More video to come. Here is a quick one

Ramp Shearing.gif

• Select one or several curves
• Call the Plugin on the selection (main menu or contextual menu “Curve Shearing”)
• The dialog box appears:
  
  CurviShear dialog.png
  
  
  • Set the base height, the maximum height (from the base height). Can be positive or negative.
  • The extremities of the curves which will be the most elevated are highlighted. If you prefer the other ends, then toggle the Reverse flag in the combo box
  • You have an option to generate the ramp within a group.
  • Parameters are kept within the Sketchup session (but not across sessions)
• The new curves are then generated and you exit the plugin
• From there you may want to put a skin on the ramp (with Curviloft or TIG’s extrude tools)

IMPORTANT: For the time being, the Direction for Shearing is the Z AXIS. So your curves should preferrably be in the Horizontal plane.

CurviShear 1.5a - 25 Aug 11: Now part of FredoTools. No major functional change

CurviShear 1.0b - 25 Jun 10 - 22:30 CET: fixed problem of main menu

CurviShear 1.0a - 25 Jun 10 - 19:00 CET: First version

IMPORTANT: Please note that Curviloft is still in Beta and may not be able to generate the skinning of the ramps.

[Chris Fullmer]

Looks awesome Fredo! Congrats yet again,

Chris

[Rich O Brien]

Thanks Fredo, very useful!

Enjoy the weekend

[Pilou]

ça tient bien la rampe

[Didier Bur]

Hi,

Thanks Fredo, good stuff as usual.
Here a part of the file header: Designed November 2010 by Fredo6
Back to the future !

[rv1974]

The huge time saver! So far only 2 minor bugs: Only context menu item starts procedure, no reaction from menu-plugins-curve shearing. The Base ramp negative value
(with "-") generates simple offset- no ramp shape.

[thomthom]

This is brilliant Fredo - we'll have great use of this at the office!

[watkins]

Dear Fredo6,

As always, a tour de force!

Thank you.

Bob

[Fredo6]

The huge time saver! So far only 2 minor bugs: Only context menu item starts procedure, no reaction from menu-plugins-curve shearing. The Base ramp negative value
(with "-") generates simple offset- no ramp shape.

I fixed the problem of main menu in the new release.

For the base height, I don't see the problem. By definition, the base height is precisely an offset (up or down), whereas the top height is the maximum value of the height along the curve, on top of the base height.
Do you have a precise case?

Fredo

[rv1974]

top=0
base=-100
Isn't it supposed to be sloped?

[Fredo6]

top=0
base=-100
Isn't it supposed to be sloped?

No. If top = 0, there is no slope, and base will simply offset the curve(s) up or down.

Note that top and base are given as heights, not Z-coordinates

Fredo

[thomthom]

Top is relative to Base?
And Base is relative to Ground?

[agamemnus]

Looks amazing!

[MALAISE]

Simple and efficient, as usual , THANKS fredo

[make.GQ.china]

Thanks! A useful plug-in

[halroach]

Hi Fredo,

I know the plugin contains the word curve in it ... but would there be a way to get it to work on any geometry that isn't necessarily a curve?

If it is possible to get it to work on any geometry, I believe this plugin should eventually work like the Joint Push Pull series (with preview and all), and even be added as one of them. I'd call it something like "joint push/pull to surface"...!?

Fredo! You make Great Stuff!

[Susy]

Sorry, all powerful Fredo, for interrupting, but what is the entry 'Rail Offset' that is shown in its context menu during the animation of the example? It sounds very interesting (That phrase has taken away the dream for some days) that's it Oh Great Fredo ?

[davidlouis]

Firstly: fantastic script Fredo! This has really helped a desperate architect frustrated by the 'old' manual way of making ramps, curved kerbs on a slope etc etc...

Secondly: Could I make a small request? Basically, it would be great if the top height value could be input driven relative to the context of the model.... a bit like the 'projection' tools which require you to define a vector (lenght) along which to perform the function. I often make use of this tool with a '0' base height as its easy to extrude the base shape later but if you can think of integrating this variable in the same way that would be cool too.

With the current interface things are easy if you're dealing with whole measurements but a little difficult if you're reading dimensions off a complex model in which non whole numbers are displayed relative to one's setting for the decimal places and in my case often shortened by the ~ prefix in which case i don't know what the exact dimension is.

Hopefully you can see the value in this too...

Thanks again.

David

[Fredo6]

Secondly: Could I make a small request? Basically, it would be great if the top height value could be input driven relative to the context of the model....

David,

This plugin was written in a few hours and does not include all the bell and whistles that it may deserve. It could be interactive, and with preview, etc...
I can however fix your problem by extending the dialog box to accept altitude, instead of height to the base.

Also, keep in mind that CurviShear is only an approximate solution to the problem. To have a real ramp as a regular surface, you need to have homologue curves, because each curve vertex si deformed according its individual curvilinear distance, not by reference to a common rail.
If I have time, I will also enhance the script to provide something more accurate.

Fredo

[Fredo6]

Sorry, all powerful Fredo, for interrupting, but what is the entry 'Rail Offset' that is shown in its context menu during the animation of the example? It sounds very interesting (That phrase has taken away the dream for some days) that's it Oh Great Fredo ?

RailOffset is a small script that I wrote for myself to test Curviloft. Nothing fancy, just 3D offsetting.

Fredo

[mitcorb]

Now, this is a nice little "gem" by a really talented guy.

Edit: However, something in my installation will not complete the skinning process? Also, notably, I ran the ruby once with the console open to track the activity and nothing displayed, so I cannot provide any info beyond the following:
WinXPtabletpc pro edition SU7.1xxx
Curvishear.rb placed in Plugins folder.

EDIT, AGAIN: Ok, I was dazzled by the video clip, and did not read at the bottom that automatic skinning is not available, yet. But, I will leave this post here as a lesson to myself that I must pay attention.

[CodyV1]

This is great! How ironic I find this on the site when X Games rolls in. I think this would be great if it somehow incorperated banking. I'll be saving time by the hours with this on road courses

[halroach]

Hi Fredo,

I know the plugin contains the word curve in it ... but would there be a way to get it to work on any geometry that isn't necessarily a curve?

I may have confused the plugin's functionality.
I guess I was thinking of something a bit different for ramp creations. You would push a curved surface onto a straight plane. Like Joint Push Pull but to a horizontal surface. You would use it when you have the ramp already created but don't have the base for it... how does that sound?

[Macker]

Would it be able to do a ramp with say a "T junction" half way up? I'm just thinking about how to go about doing roads on uneven sites, which often have various junctions and so on.

[mitcorb]

@Macker:
I just tried a simple T Junction with Bezier curves, but I stubbed the ends with straight segments and ran the ruby. The script could not decide which end to set as the low elevation and which to set as the high. So it basically did both elevations for all four stubs, leaving a wire frame mesh as a group.
However, after throwing that away, I did a simple ramp and added Bezier plan profiles to the curvishear ramp and pushpulled the stubs up to the nearest point above and then adjusted them to coincide with the main slope. Not necessarily the best way, but one possible solution while we wait for any enhancements to this handy little tool.
Best Regards,
mitcorb

[kobus]

Respect, Fredo.
Every once in a while a gem like this is there exactly when I need it.
I'm going to include "difficult ramp for parking" here so people get this topic at the top of the list when searching. Many thanks !

[grim]

fredo

i realise this was just a quickie ruby but it is a good one that i use

however i am haveing trouble in SU8 is there a problem and does it need updating

regards
grim

[thomthom]

however i am haveing trouble in SU8 is there a problem and does it need updating

It helps to describe what the trouble is.
(Operations fails, error messages, messages in the Ruby Console?)

[Krisidious]

punctuation helps too... are those questions or statements?

[Pilou]

If some modifications are made for the V8, what are the results for the previous versions?