[Plugin] Tools On Surface - v1.8a - 12 Jan 11

[fredo6]

Tools on Surface is a Suite of Tools drawing on curved surfaces, with lines, various shapes, offset and Freehand / Polyline. It provides an inference mechanism, a Contour Editor and a dedicated Eraser.

moreshapes.jpg

Shapes includes:

• Circle and Polygon
• Rectangle, defined by its length and width
• Parallelogram, defined by its length, width and angle
• Ellipses, defined by axes
• Circle defined by 3 points
• Arcs (circular)
• Sectors, defined by origin, direction and angle

All shapes have in addition the option to draw Rings, that is, the same contour offset by a negative or positive distance. And of course, all generated contours can be later edited by the Contour Edition tool.

The inference mechanism tries to simulate some stickiness when lines are drawn along some remarkable directions. There is also a Lock inference mechanism to force drawing in a particular direction. A Protractor can help to pick particular angles.

ToolsOnSurface also works to draw lines and shapes 'without' a surface.
See videos in the tutorial

Quickcard - ToolsOnSurface - English - v1.5 - 12 Sep 09.pdf

Quickcard - ToolsOnSurface - French - v1.5 - 12 Sep 09.pdf

• Language: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian
• Menus: by default, it is installed in Tools > Fredo6 Collection > ToolsOnSurface
• Icon toolbar: by Default ‘Tools on Surface’. A lot of icons are available, but you can configure which ones to display (menu Default Parameters…). There is also a generic icon which launch the last tools used. Then you can switch to another tool for the lateral button palette.
• The plugin is free, for private and commercial usage. There is a donation menu however.

1) Download and Open the archive
2) Select All (Ctrl A)
3) Extract into the Sketchup Plugin Directory
4) Answer YES to overwrite all existing files if any

The footprint in the SU Plugin Directory must be:

TOS 18 footprint.jpg

On Mac the SU plugin directory should be:
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp/plugins

CAUTION: NEVER rename or move files from their folders. If you are unsure of your unzip operation, do it in a neutral folder and check that you reconstruct the right footprint. Then transfer the folders and files to the SU Plugin Directory.

DOWNLOAD ToolsOnSurface 1.6c – 15 May 10

ToolsOnSurface 1.8a - 12 Jan 11.zip

IMPORTANT: Requires to download LibFredo6 3.6 or higher if not already installed

Addtional Language file:

ToolsOnSurface_RU.lang

by Resistor

Tutorial in English
Tutorial en francais

• Line tool: use it pretty much as the native SU line tool
• Shape tools: Shape are specified with one or two axes directions to have an accurate positioning
• for other tools, please refer to documentation

Note: Tools on Surface works better when the surface is not closed (i.e. when there only one path from a point to another one).

Tools on Surface 1.8a - 12 Jan 11: Technical upgrade along with LibFredo6 3.6. No functional changes, but it is advised to upgrade for support.

Tools on Surface 1.6c - 11 Nov 09: Critical upgrade
This version fixes a number of critical bugs:
- the bug contributing to the menu gray-out issue.
- a bug introduced in 1.6b on inference for Line on Surface
As a bonus, TOS v1.6 includes a new feature allowing to draw shapes perpendicular to lonely edges or couple of edges (i.e. without a surface).
v 1.6 also includes a revised Spanish translation by Defisto.

Tools on Surface 1.6a - 11 Nov 09: Major functional upgrade
Here are the main evolutions of versions 1.5 and 1.6:

• Button palette to view and access all options (also available from contextual menu and Short cuts)
• You can Switch to Any tool from within Any tool, with the side palette
• There is a generic icon button, keeping in memory the latest selected tool when used. Actually you can keep only this button in the toolbar if you have real estate problems.
• All parameters are preserved across Sketchup sessions (by default)
• The VCB accept formulas and unit specification for Length (for instance 3.2mm+0.4cm will mean 0.72cm). Angles can be specifed in degrees, radians, grades or % for slope.
• Rings for Shapes can be visualized in a special palette (but can still be entered in the VCB with offset folowed by 'x')
• Freehand On Surface now includes a Point & Click mode, in addition to the existing drag-over mode. You can mix up drawing with and without inferences (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdqsYAbUfTE)
• Line On Surface now generate faces
• Angular Shapes like Rectangle, Parallelogram and Sector are generated as discrete curves so that you keep the sharp angles as plain lines when doing a Push Pull
• The script comes with my ugly icons at installation, but you can switch to CadFather's ones, much nicer, in the Default Parameter dialog box, and also select the one you want to keep and discard.
• And it's good to know that ToolsOnSurface also works without a surface. There is a trick explained in the doc to select the plane (mouse over a face and just press SHIFT, without clicking)

I did not change the algorithm for computing contours on surface. So you'll find the same limitations, especially on closed surfaces. I'll do something in a next release.

[fredo6]

Additional doc on Offset on Surface (which I could not attach to previous message, as It exceeded the limit of 2 Mb). Just drop it in the TOS_Dir_13 subfolder.

[chango70]

OMG! you work tirelessly to make Sketchup the tool that it is today! Hail!

[stanmarsh]

Thanks Fredo6! very useful plugin!

[Gaieus]

Now, Fredo, I totally get rid of my native "Draw" toolbar and replace it with yours!


Thanks a bunch!

[fredo6]

On Matt666's suggestion (right before I released), it could be possible to configure ToolsOnSurface as an extension of Sketchup (like Sandbox), which you can turn on and off from the Menu Preferences--> Extensions.

This way, you can decide whether you want to load it, or can turn it off when you troubleshoot your plugins.

As I don't know what would be the best for users, I would simply ask all of you about what you think is more appropriate.

For the version configured as Extension, you just need to replace the file ZLoader__OnSurface.rb with the one attached in the Sketchup plugins directory.

Also, I indicate the time of loading the ToolsOnSurface scripts in the About menu item of the ToolsOnSurface menu. Can you check if you see abnormal load times in your environment(on mine it is below 100 ms)

Thanks for your feedback

Fredo

[remus]

whyd i have to see this jsut before i went to work! ill be thinking about this all day now!

cheers

[ilay7k]

Fredo, thank you!

[Gaieus]

Hi Fredo,

Although I have removed all older files and folders, every time I click on any of the tools the first time I start SU it gives this popup:

TnT_4_001.jpg

Not a very big deal however, since it only pops up once in a session - just telling...

[Frederik]

I have same issue as Csaba...
Strange thing is, that I haven't any of the sub-folders mentioned (TOS and/or OFS), since I haven't installed previous versions of this plug-in...

It's no big deal, but I assume that it's something that will be fixed soon..?!?

Any way... THANKS for another GREAT plug-in..!!

[Burkhard]

Mistake!

[fredo6]

The Warning message is simply a bug. Thanks to signal it and sorry for that.
I have updated the Zip file in the main message of this thread. I also integrate the code to make the script a proper Sketchup Extension, based on a suggestion from Matt666. You'll need to activate the script after first installation in the Preferences-Extension dialog box.

Hope this is fine now

Fredo

[Gaieus]

OK, thanks Fredo! - and again, for this great tool!

[fredo6]

OK, thanks Fredo! - and again, for this great tool!

I did too fast. The bug was still present.
The correct version is now online in the main message (after 12h45 today)

[Gaieus]

Never mind - I have not downloaded it yet anyway because I had other stuff to finish first

[Stu]

Wow Fredo, more fantastic stuff!!
Thanks a million!!

[Edson]

hi fredo,

thanks again for one more great script.

1. i am also getting the message about looking for older versions of the script.

2. why do i have the line drawing tool twice on my menu? see picture.

regards.

[Gaieus]

2. why do i have the line drawing tool twice on my menu? see picture...

That's a bonus for Mac users, Edson!

[fredo6]

hi fredo,

thanks again for one more great script.

1. i am also getting the message about looking for older versions of the script.

2. why do i have the line drawing tool twice on my menu? see picture.

regards.

Edson,

It looks like you have something rescued from version 1.1. Did you delete the older files?

[Daniel S]

Fantastic!! Thank you Fredo!!! Love the new tools and the inference mechanism (these visual cues makes all much easier and faster)

Thank you again,
Daniel S
PS. Hope that the next update goes for your Round Edge (by Bezier) tool.

[OTB Designworks]

Fantastic!

This script is amazing and I don't know how I survived without it.

Thank you so much for the update; YAY!!

[Gaieus]

...I don't know how I survived without it...

I guess it spares about 70-80% of previous, tedious intersection works now!

[kwistenbiebel]

wow...Thank you Fredo for this wonderful plgin.
Much appreciated and a great contribution to the SU community.

[tomasz]

Thanks a lot Fredo! Great work!

[MALAISE]

Fredo6, only one word : Great ....
Thx from members of the community

[gaganraj]

for some reason after installing the new script, my entire Tools On Surface tool box disappeared?!

[solo]

Thanks a ton mate, your tools are now native to my workflow, without them I would be so less productive.

[Matt666]

for some reason after installing the new script, my entire Tools On Surface tool box disappeared?!

Go to the menu "Window/Preferences/Extensions/" and check the fredo line !

[gaganraj]

thanks! doh!

[Teezer]

Thank you, sir!