Fill a shaped surface with a modeled object?

[Gascat]

Hi,
is there a plugin available that will fill a shape with a selected group or shape and trim it to the shape?

I want to fill shaped roof areas with a roof tile I have modeled. I know I can create an area of these tiles and do an intersect with the roof shape but a plugin would make the process a whole lot easier.

I am using Sketchup V7

cheers...Wayne

[Gascat]

ok, maybe I could re-word this as I could do this another way.

Is there a plugin that acts like a "Cookie Cutter"? (I have searched the forum but I cannot find one.

I need to cookie cut a shape into a group of tiles I have modeled.
I downloaded Sketchup Pro 8 trial and cannot get Solid Tools to do this.

Hope someone can help.

cheers...Wayne

[TIG]

The Pro-way... The penetrated 'slab' group shown has only a slight 'curvature' - but any flat OR shaped 'solid' group can be punched by this method...

[Gascat]

Thanks for your reply TIG.
That is not really what I am trying to achieve.

I have attached some images to explain a bit clearer what I need a plugin to do.


Basically I want to take a shaped roof section and stamp it over a bunch of tiles (objects) that I have created and copied multiple times to cover the area.
Carrying out this process using 'Intersect with selected' in V7 is ok but time consuming and takes forever.
Carrying this out in V8 takes as long maybe even longer and results in a bug splat most times.

If a ruby could project the outline of the roof shape down onto the tiles to be cut to the shape (and not affect or explode any other tiles) I am sure this would be less system resources on the PC and Sketchup..... A bit like a laser cutter I suppose - and not having to explode all the tiles?

Cheers...Wayne

[thomthom]

Your images doesn't show up.

You know you can upload pictures to your post when you write them, right? (There is an "upload attachment" tab under the textbox.)

[Rich O Brien]

Edited post to show images

[Gascat]

Thanks for fixing that Rich.

Sorry Thomas.....I clean missed the upload tab. Now I see it!

cheers...Wayne

[Pilou]

Zorro 2 + CTRL and the objects will be cut!
Problem with components: all will be change as soon as you cut one!
So first make Unique the components to cut! (I don't know if a plug exist for make unique a selection of components: maybe yes)
yes Make unique Selected components (or goups) by the regreated Honolulu

No problem if it's groups

Is that you want ?

[Gascat]

Yes Pilou, this works nice if I explode everything first.
I cant get the CTL function to cut through grouped objects. I have no components so that is not the problem.

This plugin would be even more sensational if I could place a shape over what I want to cut and click on it to activate the cut but I am grateful that it exists and that people take the time to write these ruby's for the Skethcup community.

Thanks for the suggestion as I didn't know this existed.

cheers...Wayne

[Rich O Brien]

There is a plugin that does that but I can't think of it's name. It's commercial and now my head is wrecked trying to think of it.

[d12dozr]

Instant Roof

Here's a PDF showing what I think you want: http://www.valiarchitects.com/sketchup_ ... stant-roof

[Gascat]

Instant Roof is quite amazing!
I use 1001bit Pro to create my roof shape then manually build tiles. It also does metal custom orb beautifully.

Instant roof is a must have by the look of it but it doesn't solve my "applying" individual tiles to a shaped surface. If I could use one of my tiles that I modeled then it would work for me.
My tiles are slightly sloped so when they are laid, you can actually see the step in each row (see attached)

cheers...Wayne

[d12dozr]

I see what you mean. I think Instant Roof is the nearest tool readily available to what you want. Just be aware that a plugin creating numerous unique components (such as the ones trimmed to make the edge of a roof) will make your model geometry skyrocket and performance plummet, so such a tool may not be as useful as it sounds.

[Gascat]

Guess I will stick to the manual method of cookie cutting.gh Zorro is working out ok at the moment so I'll keep using it and maybe less of 'Intersect with Selected'

cheers...Wayne

[jolran]

When you say fit onto a shape, do you mean surface or single face?

If it's a single face you are working with, then I have been experimenting with a tiling-feature in "Hatchfaces" that will allow you to fit 3d components to a single face(like the picture of your roof tiles). It works "ok", and I do think of implementing it into the plugin whenever I can get the time to work on the damned thing (current house renovation takes all my time )

If you don't feel like waiting, anyone trying to turn this into a plugin better be aware that it may not be a very practical feature. If the tiling geometry is dense the computation will be VERY slow. Also doing booleans it's a bit tricky to get the face normals pointing in the right direction sometimes.
But If geometry is kept simple it can be functionable. And still better than modeling it by hand.

I think the problems regarding a plugin like this has been discussed before by TIG and others...

[brookefox]

"Hatchfaces"
If you don't feel like waiting, anyone trying to turn this into a plugin

I thought you were saying we could try your plugin if we wanted to risk it...

Where is it, if so?

If not we will continue to be very, very patient. I once took three years to renovate a small house and it really wasn't very tricky. My bad, not yours.

[jolran]

I thought you were saying we could try your plugin if we wanted to risk it...

If you are referring to Hatchfaces? I think I said I might release a lighter version without some of the experimental features to speed up the release-date. If it sounded like something else, I apologize. It will come, it will come


The point I was trying to make regarding this topic is that "Fill a shaped surface with a modeled object" is fully doable. But it will be very compute-intense, in fact so slow that it might not be usable unless dealing with sparse geometry.

I have been playing with that function. But it's shaky stuff

I think this issue has been discussed before by TIG and others.

[Gascat]

When you say fit onto a shape, do you mean surface or single face?

I figure it is a single face that could be in various shapes.
I would be keen to look at what you have.

cheers...Wayne