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This is the readme for phoilPal and phlatFoil.
© Neil D Gillies 2010 neil@igull.co.uk
2010-12-17 15:30
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This readme came with phoilPal v1.001 and phlatFoil v1.002.

phoilPal and phlatFoil are a plugin and tool respectively allowing SketchUp to create aerofoils (airfoils).

The following 4 files which were in the zip file should all be moved to your 'Plugins' folder…

phoilPal.rb
phlatFoil.rb
cursor_aerofoil_begin.png
cursor_aerofoil_end.png

Please allow the system to replace any that were there originally (or move them yourself for safety if you wish).

There were also another three folders …

Type A Foils
Type B Foils
Type C Foils

These can be moved to wherever you would normally keep any aero files on you Mac/PC (_not_ in the 'Plugins' folder 'though please!) - or you can bin them if you wish, but you'll need one *.foil file to play with :-)

Once the files have been moved, you can fire up SketchUp again.

You should see Two menu items under the 'Tools' menu …
'Select Aerofoil..' and 'Aerofoil'
and a further menu item under the 'Plugins' menu …
'PhoilPal'

- PhoilPal -
This plugin allows you to import various types of aerofoil data files and export them to a standard '*.foil' type that will enable phlatFoil to draw them.
The zip file came with three folders of aerofoils which have *.dat and *.cor files along with their converted *.foil equivalents.
To convert any files that you may have, select 'PhoilPal', navigate to the file and hit OK - a 'save as' dialog box will open with the original filename and the extension '.foil' appended - navigate to wherever you want the converted file saved then hit OK.
PhoilPal will NOT convert anything other than fairly standard aerofoil files - no dxf/dwg/jpeg/xml or scans of ancient hieroglyphic sections on papyrus please ! 
Most aerofoils can be found at the UIUC Airfoil Data site …

http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html

- phlatFoil -
These tools allow you to draw aerofoils.
Select 'Select Aerofoil..' from the 'Tools' menu - navigate to a '*.foil' aerofoil file (that you may have just converted) and click OK.
Select 'Aerofoil' - from the 'Tools' menu - the cursor may change to an aerofoil cursor with a red dot at the leading edge - click where you want the aerofoil to start - the cursor changes to a red dot at the trailing edge.
Move to the right then click to finish - or drag and click or type a value in the VCB and hit enter.
The aerofoil wil then be created between the two points.
The aerofoil is a grouped surface, so if you wish to edit it, you will need to explode it or 'edit group'.
You can continue clicking foils with the chosen aerofoil section until either you choose another foil or change tools.
The aerofoils will only be drawn on the horizontal axis and are 'phlat' :-) Clicking from right to left will draw the foil inverted.

If you find any standard aerofoil files that don't work with this plugin, mail me an example and I'll attempt to include it in the next release of phoilPal. Please - no dxf/dwg/jpeg/xml files ! You can have a quick look inside your aerofoil file using [say] 
TextEdit on the Mac or NotePad on a PC - the file should just be a couple of columns of numbers with maybe some text at the beginning - anything else, and it's not a 'standard' aerofoil file.

The format for the new *.foil files are …

xCo-ordinate TAB yCo-Ordinate CRLF

The data starts at 0,0 over the top to 1,0 then back underneath to 0,0 again


Most of all, have fun - and remember it's only a hobby !

Feel free to PM me.

Best regards

Neil





