[Plugin] Superellipse 1.2
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[Plugin] Superellipse 1.2Hi everyone,
First of all, let me say that this forum has been a helpful resource. I have often found answers for my own plugin development problems already addressed here. It is also interesting to follow the continuing evolution of new SketchUp plugins posted here. I wrote a few plugins over the years that are just languishing on my hard drive. My plan is to write them up on a blog, and then announce them on your forum. This first plugin draws a superellipse. It is pretty simple, but as far as I know it hasn't been done before. A superellipse is a shape that is in between an ellipse and a rectangle, (or a circle and a square, if both axes are equal). For example, here is a cube with superellipse shaped windows. A parameter, n, controls the degree of "squareness." As n gets larger, the curve looks more and more like a rectangle with rounded corners. # CHANGELOG # 1.1 - June 23, 2010 # * Implements new scale to describe squareness. # 1.2 - July 7, 2010 # * Remembers last dialog box values between sessions. The Superellipse plugin is at: regularpolygon.org/plugins/superellipse.php. Thanks. Last edited by Regular Polygon on Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse![]() Welcome to SCF! ![]() Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseWow, yeah thats great! Welcome, thanks for the plugin,
Chris
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
Yeah, that sounds like a plugin I would work on. They tend to have that sort of mathematical flavor.
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseWelcome! Another great and simple plugin.
It works really well, though I have a note on the Exponent value. There is no known scale for the exponent input that I could tell. As of now its pretty much a shot in the dark as to how square the superellipse will come out. Perhaps having a scale of 1-100 (100 being a perfect square) the plugin would be more manageable? Good job! ![]() Living Einstein's dream through SketchUp.
"Imagination is a preview of life's coming attractions" - Albert Einstein Joe Simhon ~ SketchUp Plugin Reviews Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseWhy replace one arbitrary scale with another? they'll both serve the same purpose, and as long as the user understands 'big n = more square' you cant go too far wrong.
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
Thanks for your review! I can see your point. It is not real intuitive to me either how square the superellipse will be for a given exponent value. We could replace the exponent with a scale that runs from 1-100. If 1 represents a completely round shape, then we would associate it with an ellipse. At the other end, 100 represents a completely square shape, so we associate it with a rectangle. But it is not so obvious to me what the numbers in the middle represent. Which superellispe should correspond to a scale factor of say 50?
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseOh man, I could have used this about 4 days ago. This is one of those quick scripts I imagine using quite often.
Thank you very much. ![]()
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseIs "Regular Polygon" a reference to Flat Land?
Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseThank you for this plugin. It is very nice.
I think the exponent makes sense. After all, it's a logical input considering the formula you're solving. Length and width are a and b so why not define n? I would prefer that to some arbitrary 1-100 scale. Etaoin Shrdlu
% (THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE) G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0 M30 %
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseSilly me thought you figured that formula out for yourself, Dave. Since I have no sense at this point where the exponent variable will take me, though I guess that comes with practice, the 1-100 option has some appeal. I should hold my tongue until I practice, but I won't. Thanks for the contribution, rp, and for adding the loci to the ellipse. ~ Brooke
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseA quick question about using values of n<1 if i may: how do you handle it, because surely you'll end up trying to take roots of negative numbers which'll give you imaginary numbers, unless you just take the imaginary part and use that?
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
No, not really. "Regular Polygon" is kind of a play on words. It could mean an ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill polygon (i.e. the basic element of 3D graphics). But, in the mathematical sense, it means a symmetrical polygon whose angles and edges are all equal. Last edited by Regular Polygon on Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
Here is the code that computes the coordinates.
The only trick is to take the absolute value before you raise a number to a fractional power. After that, multiply it by +1 or -1, depending on the sign the original number had.
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseI have just released a new version 1.1 of the Superellipse plugin. This version allows you to specify the "squareness" of a superellipse using a scale. The exact association between the scale and the squareness is spelled out in gory detail in the post on my blog. But a picture is probably worth a 1000 words.
Basically, 0 corresponds to an ellipse, 100 corresponds to a rectangle, and a scale factor of 50 corresponds to a superellipse that stretches 50% of the way in between. I think this makes assigning a squareness value fairly intuitive. You can run both versions (1.0 and 1.1) at the same time to compare them. To download the plugin, or read more about it, please visit my blog at http://regularpolygon.blogspot.com/ Thanks.
Re: [Plugin] Superellipsethanks for sharing
![]() we will see, but it would prove itself often useful in time ++simon Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseHey, thanks everyone for the big welcome, and your show of support, for this first -- albeit simple -- plugin.
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseReally nice... but it reminds me... I used to use POV-Ray some years ago, in which it was possible to create a 3d-superellipsoid.
Could you make that??? ![]() Perhaps in SU it would need a variable for level of detail, though...
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
Thanks, glad you like it. Funny you should ask because, in fact, I do have a superellipsoid plugin. It lets the user enter the number of lines of latitude and longitude to control the level of detail. It was interesting to see how POV-Ray is dealing with the exponents in the formula. They let the user specify a Roundedness value, whereas I came up with a Squareness value. I'll have to try out both approaches to see which I like better. Anyway, I should get the superellipsoid plugin polished up, and posted on my blog, sometime next week. Stay tuned!
Re: [Plugin] SuperellipseLooking good! Definitely works better, will update the review.
![]() Living Einstein's dream through SketchUp.
"Imagination is a preview of life's coming attractions" - Albert Einstein Joe Simhon ~ SketchUp Plugin Reviews Re: [Plugin] Superellipse
That is +1 vote for the new squareness scale in version 1.1. I think it improved the plugin, thanks for the suggestion.
Re: [Plugin] Superellipse 1.2Update to version 1.2
Previous versions started off each session with arbitrary default values in the dialog box for the Superellipse parameters. This version remembers your last dialog box values between sessions.
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