sketchUcation

Overview of FredoScale

With FredoScale you can orientate the selection box around a set of objects and interactively apply a number of geometric transformations, such as Scaling, Tapering, Stretching, Planar Shear, Twisting, Bending and Rotation. By extension, some transformations can be performed without a selection box.

Discussion forum

Links to Sketchucation Forum: Main Post   Latest Release

Installation of FredoScale

FredoScale is released as a regular RBZ extension file on the Sketchucation Site.

To download the RBZ file, use the red button on the right side of this page:

•  Download  If your are already logged in.
•  Log in to get it!  otherwise, in order to log in or to register to Sketchucation as a new user (this is FREE). Then you will be able to download the RBZ file.

Then, you can install the RBZ file from within Sketchup, via the Sketchup Extension Manager

If you are not familiar with the installation of Sketchup extensions and Sketchucation, it is advised to watch the video LibFredo6 installation.

IMPORTANT: Whatever way you choose, you MUST quit and restart Sketchup to get FredoScale (and LibFredo6) properly loaded.

After the installation, you should have the following footprint in the Sketchup Plugins directory:

Generic usage of FredoScale

Here is generic way to use the plugin for all tools:

1. Select one or several objects (faces, edges, groups or components)
2. Click on the icon of one tool, for instance Scaling
3. You can orientate the selection box:
   • Arrow Up will align on model axes
   • Arrow Left and Arrow Right will cycle through axes of components at highest level
   • Arrow Down will restore the initial alignment when selecting
4. Gently click and drag on the handles to perform the deformation. Toggle the CTRL key to perform the deformation from the center.
5. You can type relevant values in the VCB or via a dialog box (TAB key)

For Twist and Bend, F4 toggles a Slicer on and off

For Stretch, F4 toggles a Divider on and off

It is a good idea to check the contextual menu to see available options, as well as to have a look at the PDF documentation.

Video with the Scale and Taper tools

Video with the other tools

There are also a few video tutorials publicly available

And more specifically on the Box Stretching functionality

Menu for FredoScale

By default, FredoScale menu entry is in Tools > Fredo6 Collection > FredoScale...

Documentation

The documentation might be a little bit outdated, but gives you an idea of most features of Fredoscale for Free Scaling and Tapering: FredoScale User Manual - English - v2.5 - 01 Sep 13.pdf

FredoScale User Manual - French - v2.5 - 01 Sep 13.pdf

There is also a quite comprehensive tutorial on FredoScale by Tutorials Up

Custom Ruby commands to launch FredoScale

If you have a custom toolbar (or a plugin for that), you can safely launch the FredoScale tools with the following Ruby code:

F6_FredoScale.launch_action(action_code)

where action_code is a Symbol (respect the case), with value:

• :ScaleB --> Scale - Box mode
• :ScaleT --> Scale - Target mode
• :TaperB --> Taper - Box mode
• :TaperT --> Scale - Target mode
• :PlanarShearB --> Planar Shear - Box mode
• :PlanarShearT --> Planar Shear - Target mode
• :PlanarShearA --> Planar Shear - Free mode
• :StretchB --> Stretch - Box mode
• :StretchT --> Stretch - Target mode
• :TwistB --> Twist - Box mode
• :RotateB --> Rotate - Box mode
• :RotateA --> Rotate - Free mode
• :RadialBendA --> Radial Bending - Free mode
• :MakeUniqueU --> Make Unique - Utility

If you need the icons, they are in the subfolder Fredo6_FredoScale/IMAGES_Standard.

Links to Sketchucation Forum: Main Post   Latest Release

FredoScale 3.6a - 01 Apr 24: Future compatibility

FredoScale 3.5a - 31 Jul 22: Bug fixing and removal of validity period

FredoScale 3.4b - 11 Mar 22: Inferences outside context and updated Chinese translation by Arc

FredoScale 3.4a - 15 Feb 22: Fix a big problem for all to-target tools (Invalid Origin)

FredoScale 3.3a - 13 Feb 22: Compatibility with SpaceMouse

FredoScale 3.2a - 30 Jan 22: QuickLauncher and divider by default for the Stretch tool

FredoScale 3.1a - 18 Dec 18: Workaround to a major bug in SU2022 about the modal dimension dialog box (invoked by TAB)

FredoScale 3.0a - 14 Jan 17: Maintenance release correcting problems introduced in v2.9b

FredoScale 2.9b - 02 Jan 17: Maintenance release (re-)fixing bugs in Radial Bend and Twist for SU2017

FredoScale 2.9a - 24 Dec 16: Maintenance release fixing bugs in Radial Bend for SU2017

FredoScale 2.8a - 13 Nov 15: Maintenance release

FredoScale 2.7a - 19 Oct 14: required for support of non-ascii username in SU14.

FredoScale 2.6b - 05 Feb 14: Fixes a bug on rounding improperly scale factors for Box target mode (signaled by JQL).

FredoScale 2.6a - 27 Nov 13: Release for future Sketchup compatibility

FredoScale 2.5b - 15 Sep 13: Small update fixing a problem preventing the language translation files to load. No functional changes Here is the release start post.

FredoScale 2.5a - 30 Aug 13: Technical update with new naming conventions to comply with Sketchup EWH and LibFredo6 5.2. No functional changes Here is the release start post.

FredoScale 2.4a - 22 Aug 13: Technical update with new naming conventions to comply with Sketchup EWH. No functional changes Here is the release start post.

FredoScale 2.2a - 24 Jul 11: small update to manage the display of handles when some dimensions of the box appear small on the screen (based on a request by Cunningham). Also, the Dice option (activated by F4) is active by default. See release note for details.

FredoScale 2.1a - 12 Jan 11: Technical update along with LibFredo6, with two-phase loading. No functional change, but it is advised to upgrade for support.

FredoScale 2.0i - 08 Apr 10: Same as 2.0h, but includes the Chinese translation.

FredoScale 2.0h - 26 Nov 09: Stable version