Just added 2011-02-07 10:12 GMT...
Latest version v1.1 of 'PhlatBone' attached to this post.


Hi All

Happy New Year from snowy Scotland !!

Just completed a wee tool that I needed, so thought I'd share it.
It's a fairly rudimentary dog-bone or t-bone internal corner maker.
Dog-bone or T-bone internal corners are used to remove the radiused corners which are created due to the router bit thereby allowing rectangular corners to fit neatly.
It only works on 90 deg corners however !
There's a 'readme' file showing how to drive it, just follow the instructions carefully.

It can do multiple bones or individual bones - just choose the correct tool. The multiple tool is not particularly intelligent - just suck it and see what it can do - use the normal select tool to select the edges to be boned then click the multi tool or use the single tool to click individual corners.

It seems to work fine on Mac OSX 10.6.5 and SU 7 - needs to be checked on a PC.
Perhaps someone can tell me if they see the tooltips from the toolbar when you hover over them - for some obscure reason, I don't see them (probably self-inflicted

Have fun.

Cheers

Neil Attached files phlatBone1v1.zip (20.9 KB)Â

 

Thanks Neil. Happy New Year!

 

Hi Mark
I didn't specifically set a location to find the toolbar pix (I did for the cursor pix), but they should reside in the /Plugins folder (I'm new to ruby too BTW )
OK on the inside/outside cuts - using single cut, it is easy - just click the corners - trouble is with multi-cut, it just doesn't know what's inside and what's outside - it really depends on what side of the edge you are standing
The easy way out is just to drag a marquee around the part that you want boned and shift click any that you want to miss.
I may look at adding a crystal ball tool to the toolbar
Joking apart, from memory, I seem to remember that lookahead algorithms weren't a lot of fun :? I'll see if I can come up with something when I get more time - if it were a guaranteed surface (with no breaks) then it's certainly possible.

I have a question for you too, how did you get the fixed 'PHLATPRINTER' logo on the template :?: :?:

Cheers

Neil

 

My icons do not show up either (using a PC, not a MAC). Took a quick look at the code but it looked like it was defined the same way as another plugin that does work.

Maybe someone with more Ruby experience like kwok can figure out what is going on.

Sounds like this will be a real useful plugin.

 

Hi
OK on the icons not showing up - they're definitely loose in the Plugins folder and not in a folder within the Plugins folder ?
To be honest, I think a solution like the phlattools etc is a far better proposition. Maybe when things move on, we can come to a better arrangement.

I've had a quick look at the inside/outside corner stuff and it's not as difficult as I first thought (which is why I shied away from it )) I'll get a look at it tomorrow.

Haven't seen the dogbone options in the bezier plugin - no. Had I seen it before, I might not have bothered, I couldn't find a dogbone plugin I'll check it out tomorrow - does it do the same thing as mine ??

Thanks for the info on the watermark setting - hadn't noticed that before

Cheers

Neil

 

iGull,

You should only have 1 loose file, the main .rb. Everything else should be in a separate folder. Otherwise it will be a nightmare to uninstall your plugin.

I figured out the icon problem. It seems sketchup doesn't like it when you don't also specify the small icon. I modified that line and put all the images into a folder:

I also put everything in a module, which you can decide it you want to keep or not. I don't have that much experience with modules, so it could be wrong, but seems to work. Added some "self. and self::"



Oh, btw I did this and tested on Sketchup 8. Attached files phlatBone_modified by kyyu.zip (11 KB)Â

 

Mark,

Yes, that's the simple way. This is how the phlatscript does it. I've seem some plugins do it with more complicated ways. Of course, it's all really about learning how to test. That's the key. I've never actually written a toolbar for a plugin, before.

-Kwok

 

Hi Kwok

Did you happen to notice if the tooltips worked on the toolbar on the PC ? Mine aren't working, but I think I set the MacOS time delay to infinite for another project a while back and I've forgotten how to reset it :roll:

Shaun/Mark, OK on the dogbone shape - to be honest, the easiest (and neatest IMHO) is a simple t-bone. I checked the toolpaths on my cnc system and they were fine - however, it is easy to just increase the tool diameter in the phlatbone dialog box (it's not REALLY a tool diameter, it's the size you want the bones to be I just happened to call it the tool diameter ) This could be done automatically just by adding a smidgen to the diameter in the code - say 0.05mm or maybe 0.002" but that is a dirty way to overcome the issue I suppose
Any thoughts gratefully accepted.

Cheers

Neil

 

Hi Kwok

One more thing, whether it's having created a module, putting pix in a folder or including small icons in the code, the phlatbone tools now appear in the "customise toolbar" option for the system toolbar on the Mac (not the large tool palette 'though) ! That's where I really wanted them in the first place ! All I need now is a 27" iMac instead of my wee 15" MacBook Pro toolbar

Cheers

Neil

 

Hi Neil,

Toolbars probably works different on a pc. Can you combine toolbars on a mac? On a pc every toolbar is separate.

-Kwok

 

Great job on this Neil. It works great on my Mac with SU7. Tool tips work as well so it must be the setting you mentioned on your machine.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

This one goes great with Kwok's loop select tool.

Tim

 

Neil,

All those "self::", I put in the code. Looks like you don't need them.

-Kwok

 

Hi Kwok

Yes, I've removed them - seems OK here too.
I've been working on a couple of things - I've added a new bone type like 3dmon showed - I'm calling it a 'Rad-Bone' That's working just fine now - gives full entry to the tool and doesn't use so much material as the dog/t-bones. Perhaps this is the only bone that's needed ?????? Would certainly loosen up the code a bit.

I'm also working on the 'auto-boner', but as suspected, SU has thrown a few spanners into the works - seems like it doesn't keep its edges in order
I'm needing to find a good edge sorter algorithm (not that it's rocket science, just that my brain is still befuddled from the last few days hic !! )

Cheers

Neil

 

Neil,

Here is something else you can do with a module. You have a bunch of identical methods in each of the 2 classes. So I collected them together into a module and added an include statement at the beginning of each class. Now you only have 1 set of methods to modify, in the future.

Attached files phlatBone (include module).rb (18.7 KB)Â

 

Hi All

Still alive and well after all the celebrations

OK on the methods Kwok. The reason for the multiple methods initially was that the boning section of the bonemulti class _may_ have been completely modified and wouldn't be the same as the bonesingle class, hence the separation (it'll probably end up the same now 'though )

I've been doing a _lot_ of work on a smartboning method, but every time I create something that looks like it may work, along comes a spanner in the works - either sketchup or just simple preference :x

There are a number of problems with a smartboning method ...

1 You may not have selected a face - it _may_ just be a bunch of unrelated edges.
2 If you have selected a face, it may be built using any number of tools - lines/rectangle/arcs - the resultant face will of course be only made of edges, but which of those edges need to be boned. You may NOT want all internal corners boned !
3 The internal corners may not be at 90deg - this leads to a lot of extra coding (my vector geometry is getting stretched )

I am also thinking of removing all the bone type options and just using the 'Rad-Bone'.

So, my current suggestion is to have a single rad-bone type tool and a multi-bone tool that bones all 90 deg internal corners of a face.
Individual preferences would be catered for by the single 90 deg rad-bone tool (ie you chose which corners to bone).

Looking for any comments on this. :?:

Cheers

Neil