[Plugin] Component Stringer UPDATED Nov. 16, 2009

[MartinRinehart]

Blows me away, Chris. What was the inspiration?

[Ken]

first attempt....! Thanks Chris.

Click Draw

How did you get the components to overlap? Seems to me, what ever you did could be used to make an anchor chain.

Thanks in advance.

Ken

[TIG]

first attempt....! Thanks Chris.

Click Draw

How did you get the components to overlap? Seems to me, what ever you did could be used to make an anchor chain.

Thanks in advance.

Ken

You make the component and string it along... then edit the component so it is longer or a differing shape and it will overlap etc. I outlined a chain making idea earlier...

[MALAISE]

Very efficient tool to create wood roofs, barrels ,boats and arches.
Maybe Components axis should be shown
PAM

[Click Draw]

Hi Ken,

Like TIG said, make your component and then edit it and do what you like to alter the dimensions and shape and it will update as you do it. Very cool. You also have to make sure the axis is in the proper position on your component. Hope that makes sense. I'll be trying more shapes and posting here soon. Awesome script!
Jeff

[JClements]

If you could also give user options to also scale along the component's other axes:
(1) axes A-B and A-C, or (2) axis A-B, or (3) axis A-C, then you'd have something similar to a blend-along-path.

And if it could then "skin" the sides (vertices) of the components, it would be equivalent to a Scaled-Extrusion Along a Path.

Idea for another Script.png

Idea for another Script 2.png

[wolfy]

Another gem for the jewel box! Thanks Chris

[utiler]

Hi Chris, thanks for this great work!!! It is very close to something i have asked questions about in the past....

Like Pilou, I think it would be great to see some rotation options at each segment. Also the suggestion of nil scaling would be nice too so the component is think dependent on segment length.....

I haven't played with it yet but I can say now that it's a BOMB!!!!!!

[d12dozr]

Blows me away, Chris. What was the inspiration?

viewtopic.php?p=200754#p200754

[Chris Fullmer]

The rotation options are implemented here, so they will be in the next release. I also like John's ideas about scaling the components smaller. But that will take a lot of code writing so I would not count on seeing that soon. And I will not be using this tool to add a skin. That's very complex.

But I will say the rotation is working great and is perfect for chains. Nil scaling would be easy to implement. I'll put that in too. So I'll hopefully get this released within the next 24 hours.

Thanks for all the comments!

Chris

[Chris Fullmer]

UPDATED!

• Added rotation and twist capabilities
• developed and added my menu items for donations and youtube
• Added a no-scaling option

Ok, there you have it. It now lets you rotate components easier for chain making. I updated the video on the main page, or see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ymYoEHiexg

That shows how I would use it to make chains. Have fun!

Chris

[simon le bon]

UPDATED!

• Added rotation and twist capabilities
• developed and added my menu items for donations and youtube
• Added a no-scaling option

Hi Chris, ....!......


Hi Jeff,
Your Black and white chocolat Skeleton his highly... "eatable"

I thought it was not possible to make imbricated components with this Chris' tool...
You show me I was wrong!
I have tried to find your "how to".
We just have to scale up or reajust with Move tool the component once it is distributed along the path.

Scaled Up with FredoScale

simon

[thomthom]

Can you use FredoScale to apply the same scaling to each component en masse?

[simon le bon]

Yes absolutely!

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

*s

[Pilou]

Speedy Chris!
Next add: colors?

[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