Vertex Tools for Google SketchUp

Vertex Tools • version 1.11st edition – 8 August 2012

Thomas Thomassen © 2010 –2012http://www.thomthom.net/software/vertex_tools/

C o n t e n t sR e l e a s e N o t e s f o r Ve r s i o n 1 . 15 • NewFeatures5 • Improvements/Changes5 • Fixes

G e t t i n g S t a r t e d6 • Installing6 • Installing RBZ Package6 • Installing ZIP Package7 • Uninstalling7 • Activating/Deactivating

Us e r I n t e r f ac e8 • Menus8 • ContextMenus8 • Auto-Smooth8 • Show Normals9 • Lock UV Mapping9 • Toolbars9 • Vertex Mode Toolbar9 • SketchUp Toolbar9 • InformationPanel

Too l s10 • Select10 • Selection Shapes11 • Soft Selection11 • Ignore Backfaces11 • Select Only Visible12 • ManipulatorGizmo12 • Move12 • Rotate12 • Scale12 • Extrude Edges12 • Alignment13 • Orientation Lock13 • Move13 • Rotate14 • Scale14 • Insert14 • MakePlanar14 • MergeVertices14 • MergeCloseVertices

Shor t c u t s15 • ProxyFunctions15 • Available Proxy Functions16 • Example

Pr e f e r e n c e s17 • Language17 • InitialTool17 • VertexSize17 • NormalSize17 • ContextMenu19 • .langFileFormatSpecification20 • Tipsandrecommendations

Known I s s u e s / L i m i ta t i on s

Known Bugs

C r e d i t s

Contac t

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R e l e a s e N o t e s f o r Ve r s i o n 1 . 1NewFeATUReS

• ManipulatorGizmo• extrudeedges• MergeVertices• MergeCloseVertices• PreservesUVmappingfortrianglesandquads.• SelectOnlyVisible

IMPROVeMeNTS / ChANGeS• Addedtranslation:ChineseTraditional.• Addedtranslation:Slovenian.• Addedtranslation:Portuguese.• Generalperformanceimprovements.• Movetoolacceptsabsoluteandrelativecoordinates.• Movetoolautomaticallyselectvertexifnothingispre-selected.• MoveandRotatetoolnowmergeentities.• IgnoreBackfacesnowconsiderperpendicularfacestobevisible.• Makesauto-foldednativequadscompatiblewithQuadFaceTools.• eraseVerticesmergesco-linearedges.• MakePlanarnowactivatesVertexModeifnotalreadyactivated.• ContextmenucanbetoggledwithoutrestartingSketchUp.• Removedspecialtreatmentoftoolbarunderwindows.• UpgradedtojQuery1.7.2withIe9support.

F IxeS• Verticesforhiddengeometryisnolongerdisplayed.• InvertSelectionnowworkingoutsideVertexMode.• SelectAllnowworkingoutsideVertexMode.• Deletekeynowfunctionsunderwindows.• Vertexnormalsaremoreaccurate.• Movetoolbugwherepreviewwasnotdisplayed.• Rotatetoolprotractorchangedplaneifcursorwasmovedquicklyafterfirstclick.• Setscrollabletofalseforconfigwebdialog.ensuresnoframeinSU8.

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G e t t i n g S t a r t e dINSTALL ING

Installing RBZ PackageIfyouareusingSketchUp8MaintenanceRelease2ornewer,thisisthepreferredwaytoinstallVertexTools.

DownloadtheRBZpackagetoyourcomputer.OpentheextensionmanagerWindow » Preferences » Extensions,clicktheInstallextensionbuttonandbrowsetotheRBZpackage.SketchUpwillinstallandactivateVertexTools.

SketchUphelp-InstallingRubyPlugins

Installing ZIP PackageIfusinganolderversionofSketchUpthepluginmustbeinstalledmanually.DownloadtheZIPfiletoyourcomputerandfollowtheseinstructions:

ThezipfilewithVertexToolscontainsafile,tt_vertex.rbandafolderTT_Vertex.TheseshouldbeextractedtoSketchUp’spluginfolder.Thelocationofthisfolderdiffersfromplatformtoplatform.OnwindowsitisinwhateverfolderSketchUpwasinstalledto.OnOSxitisatafixedlocation.

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winDows32-Bit:(DEFAULT LOCATION FOR SKETCHUP 7)C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\Plugins\

winDows64-Bit:(DEFAULT LOCATION FOR SKETCHUP 7)C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 7\Plugins\

OSx:(SKETCHUP 7)/Library/Application Support/Google/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp/plugins/

ForotherSketchUpversionreplacetheversionnumberinthepath.

NoteOSxusers:ThepathisundertherootLibraryfolder,notunderyouruserfolder!

ThefootprintofVertexToolsinthePluginsfolderis:• [..]/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp/plugins/TT_Vertex/

• [..]/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp/plugins/tt_vertex.rb

Ifyourunintoproblemsinstallingensurethatthefilesarelocatedinthecorrectlocation.

UNINSTALL INGRemovethefilett_vertex.rbandthefolderTT_VertexfolderfromwhereVertexToolswasinstalled.

ACTIVAT ING/ DeACTIVAT INGVertexToolscanbeactivatedanddeactivatedviaSketchUp’sextensionmanager.Ifyoudon'tseeVer-texToolsinyourToolsmenu,ensurethatthepluginisenabledunderwindow»Preferences»extensions.

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Use r I n t e r f ac eMeNUSVertexTools’menusarelocatedunderSketchUp’sToolmenu.Vertexeditingmodecanbeactivatedfromitssubmenus.editVerticesandPreferencesarethemainitemsinthesub-menu.Theothermenus,suchasMove,Rotate,Scale,etc.arethereprimarilytoactasshortcuthookssothatSketchUp’sShortcutmanagercanbeusedtoassignshortcutstothevariousfunctions.ThisisdescribedindetailintheShortcutssection.

CONTexT MeNUSwhilevertexeditingadifferentcontextmenuisavailable.Itgivesaccesstofunctionsandpreferencesdependentontheactivevertexeditingtool.Thecontextmenucontainssomeitemsthatareonlyaccessiblefromthecontextmenu:

Auto-Smoothwhenafaceisdeformedinsuchawaythatitsverticesarenolongercoplanar,SketchupAutofoldsthefacebyaddingnewedges.Theseedgesarenormallynotsoftorsmoothwhichasaresultproduceafacetedsurface.

whenAuto-Smoothisenabledthesenewedgeswillbesoftenedandsmoothedensuringacontinuoussurface.

Show NormalsTurnthisonforvisualcluerepresentingthenormalsforthesurfacesconnectedtothevertex.Thenormalspointinthesamedirectionasthefrontsideoftheconnectedfaces.

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Lock UV MappingwhenenableditwilllocktheUVmappingoftexturedfaceswhenmanipulated.Thisworksbestonquadsandtriangles.

TOOLBARS

Vertex Mode ToolbarVertexTools’maintoolbarappearsonlywhenvertexeditingmodeisactivated.ItisdrawndirectlyontoSketchUp’sviewportandbecauseofthatitdoesnotbehaveexactlylikethenormaltoolbarsinSketchUp.

• Itcannotfloatoverotherwindows.• ItcannotmoveoutsideSketchUp’sviewport.

SketchUp ToolbarAnormalSketchUptoolbarisavailablethatprovidesasinglebuttontoactivatevertexmode.Thistoolbarisbydefaultnotvisible.

Availablefrom:View»Toolbars»VertexTools

INFORMATIONPANeLTheinformationpanelfloatsonthescreenwhileeditingverticesdisplayingvertexstatisticsofthecurrentselection.Itcanbemovedaroundbyclickinganddraggingwithinthedottedframethatappearwhenthemouseisoverit.

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Too l sThetoolsavailabletomodifyverticestriestomirrorSketchUp’snativetoolsascloselyaspossible.wherenewtoolsareintroducedwithoutanativecounterparttheirbehaviourtriestokeepwithnormalSketchUpconventions.

KnownIssue:DuetolimitationofSketchUp6,localaxesisnotcorrect,insteadonlyworldaxisisused.

SeLeCTAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»SelectActivatesthelastusedselectionshapetool.Normalselectionmodifiesappliestoallselectionshapes:

• Addingtoselection:PressandholdCtrl(Microsoftwindows)orOptions(OSx).• Toggleselectionstatus:PressandholdShift.• Removefromselection:PressandholdCtrlandShift(Microsoftwindows)orOption(OSx).

whenaselectiontoolisactiveasecondrowofbuttonsbecomesavailable.

Selection ShapesRectangularSelect–Pressandholddowntheleftmousebuttontocreatearectangularselectionareaorclickavertex

toaddindividualvertices.CircularSelect–Pressandholddowntheleftmousebuttontocreateacircularselectionareaorclickavertextoadd

individualvertices.PolygonSelect–Clicktoaddpointstopolygonselection.Doubleclicktofinishpolygon.FreehandSelect–Pressandholddowntheleftmousebuttonwhilemovingthecursortocreateafreehandselection

shape.

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Soft SelectionSoftSelectionissetbytypinginaLengthintheVCBwhileaselectiontoolisactive.Verticeswithinthisdistancefromtheselectedverticesarealsoaffectedbytoolsthatmodifythegeometry.Thefurtherawayfromtheselection,thelesstheyareaffected.Thisisillustratedbycolour-codingtheverticesfromRed,Orange,Yellow,GreenandBlue–whereRedis100%andBlueis0%.Therearetwotypesoffall-offforthesoft-selctionradius:

Linearfall-off Cosinefall-off

Linearfalloffaffectstheverticesdirectlyproportionaltotheirdistancefromtheselected.Cosinefalloffaffectstheverticesusingacosinecurve.

Ignore BackfacesTurnthisontopreventselectingverticesattachedtofacespointingawayfromthecamera.Facesperpendiculartothecameraisconsideredvisible.

Notethatthisisnotthesameasselectingonlyvisiblevertices.Verticesconnectedtofacespointingtowardsthecamerabutobscuredbyotherobjectswillstillbeselected.

Select Only VisibleAccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»SelectOnlyVisibleAlsoaccessibleviaContextMenu»SelectOnlyVisibleUsethisfunctionifyouwanttofilteroutonlytheselectedverticesthatisvisibletothecamera.Itisaslowfunctionthatmighttakeawhileifyouhavemanyverticesinyourselection.

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MANIPULATORGIZMOTheGizmoallowsforquickmanipulationswithoutswitchingoutofselectionmode.AllitsactionscanbeadjustedbytheVCBforfinalprecisionadjustments.AfteryoumadeanactionwiththeGizmoyoucanreverttocontrollingthesoft-selectionwiththeVCBbypressingESC.

MovePressandholddowntheleftmousebuttonononeofthearrowstomoveitinthedirectionofthepickedaxis.

RotatePressandholddowntheleftmousebuttonononeoftherotationarcs.Therotationyoucandointheviewportrangesfrom-180to180degrees.TorotatebeyondthisrangeusetheVCBtoadjust.

ScalePressandholddowntheleftmousebuttonononeofthescalingaxes.holddownShifttoperforma3-dimensionalscaling.

Extrude EdgeswhileinteractingwiththeMovehandles,holddownCtrl(Microsoftwindows)orOptions(OSx)toextrudefacesfromyourselection.Thefacesarecreatedfromtheedgesbetweentheselectedvertices.

AlignmentFromtheContextMenuyoucanadjustthealignmentoftheGizmo.Bydefaultitalignstothelocalaxis-beitcustommodelaxisortheactivecontext.FromtheContextMenuyoucanpickotheroptions:

VieWTheGizmowillalwaysaligntheZaxis(blue)tothedirectionofthecamera.

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WorldTheGizmowillaligntotheabsoluteworldaxis-theoneyougetwhenyouareintherootcontextandresettheaxis.

LocalTheGizmowillaligntothecurrentmodelaxisortheopengroup/component'slocalaxis.

CustomAligntheGizmobypickingpointsin3Dspace.YoucanalsopickorientationbyholdingShiftandpickingafaceoredge.

Orientation Lockwhenenabledthegizmowillretainitsorientationwhenyourotate.whendisabledthegizmowillmovewiththerotationactionsyouperform.

MOVeAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»Move1. Pickapointfortheoriginofthemove.

2. Movethecursortomovetheselectedvertices.ThedistanceisdisplayedintheVCB.3. Tocompletethemove,eitherclickasecondtimeorenteradistanceintheVCBforanaccuratedisplacement.

InferenceandaxislockisavailablefortheMovetool.AftercompletingaMoveoperationthedistancecanbecorrectedbytypingalengthintheVCBimmediatelyafterwards.Absoluteandrelativecoordinatescanbeenteredinsteadofalength.UsethesameformatthenativeMovetooluses-with[x, y, z]forglobalcoordinatesand<x, y, z>forlocalcoordinates.IfnothingispreselectedbeforeactivatingtheMovetoolitwillautomaticallyselecttheverticesyouhoverover.Thisallowsyoutoquicklypickandmoveverticeswithprecision.

ROTATeAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»Rotate1. Pickapointfortheoriginoftherotation.Likethenativerotatetoolyoucaninferandlocktheplaneofrotationby

pressingandholdingShiftbeforeplacingthefirstpoint.Thesamegoesfortheclick-dragmethodofdefiningtherotationplane.2. Pickasecondpointtodefineareferenceaxis.3. Movethecursortorotate.TheangleisdisplayedintheVCB.4. Tocompletetherotation,eitherclickathirdtimeorenteranangleintheVCBforaccuraterotation.

AftercompletingarotationtheanglecanbeadjustedbytypinganewangleintheVCB.If‘enableanglesnapping’ischeckedintheUnitsPaneloftheModelInfodialoguewindow,theprotractorwillsnaptothespecifiedangle—justlikethenativeRotatetool.

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SCALeAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»Scale1. PickthecentrepointtoscaleaboutortypeascaleratiointotheVCB.IftheVCBisusedthecentrepointofthe

selectionisusedasthepointtoscaleabout.2. Pickasecondpointtodefineareferencelength.3. Movethecursortoscale.ThescaleisdisplayedintheVCB.4. Tocompletethescaling,clickathirdtimeorenterascaleratio.

AftercompletingascaleoperationtheratiocanbeadjustedbytypinganewvalueintotheVCB.

INSeRTAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»InsertVertex1. PickapointonanedgeoraFace.

edgesaresplitatthepointpicked.whenthepointpickedisonaFace,newedgesarecreatedfromeachvertexoftheFacetowardsthepointprovidedtheydonotcrossanyexistingedges.PressCtrltotogglebetweensoft&smoothversushardedges.Thetoolmakesuseofsnappinginference,butnoinferencelocking.

MAKe PLANARAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»MakePlanarSelectedverticeswillbeprojectedtoabestfittingplane.

Softselectedverticesareaffectedbutdonotcontributetothecomputationoftheplane.

MeRGe VeRT ICeSAlsoaccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»MergeVerticesCollapsestheselectionintoasinglepointwhichistheaveragepositionoftheselection.

MeRGe CLOSe VeRT ICeSAccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»MergeCloseVerticesAlsoaccessibleviaContextMenu»MergeCloseVerticesCollapsesverticesthatiswithinthegivenrangeofeachothertoasinglepoint.

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Shor t c u t sShortcutstoVertexTools’functionsareassignedusingSketchUpshortcutmanager–window»Preferences»Shortcuts.

ToquicklylocateVertexTool’sfunctionsusetheFilterboxabovethefunctionlist.

PROxYFUNCTIONSSomeofVertexTools'menushavedoublefunctions.UsingTools»VertexTools»Moveasanexample:

• whenvertexmodeisactivethistriggerVertexTools’Movetool.• whennoteditingverticesthistriggerSketchUp’snativeMovetool.

Thisallowsusertohavetheirshortcutsfunctioninginsideandoutsidevertexmodebecausethemenusactasproxiesthatknowswhichtooltoactivate.

Available Proxy Functions• Select(All select variant will trigger the native select tool when outside vertex mode)• Move• Rotate• Scale• SelectAll• SelectNone• InvertSelection

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ExampleIfanyofVertexTools’menusforSelectisactivatedwhileavertexselecttoolsisalreadyactiveitwillexitvertexmode:

1. SpacehasbeenassignedtoVertexTools»Select:2. Vertexmodeisactive;theMovetoolistheactivetool.3. TheuserpressesSpace,theVertexSelecttoolisactivated.4. TheuserpressesSpaceasecondtime,vertexmodeisendedandSketchUp’snativeSelecttoolsbecomeactive.

Limitations:TheDeletekeycan’tberemappedinSketchUp.ThisisaSketchUplimitation.

Note:whenchangingthelanguageofVertexToolsanyshortcutsmustbereassigned.ThisisbecauseSketchUpusethemenutexttoidentifythecorrectfunctiontotrigger.

Note:IfshortcutsareassignedtoVertexTools’functionsandVertexToolsisuninstalled,theshortcutsmustbemanuallymappedbacktotheiroriginalfunctions.SketchUpwillnotdothisautomatically.

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Pr e f e r e n c e sAccessibleviaTools»VertexTools»Preferences

LANGUAGeListofavailablelanguagesforVertexTools.SketchUpmustberestartedforthenewlanguagetotakeeffect.

Note:IfshortcutshasbeenassignedtoVertexTools’functionstheymustberemappedafterchanginglanguage.

INIT IAL TOOLBydefaultVertexToolswillstartwiththelastusedvertextoolwhenenteringvertexmode.Thiscanbeoverriddenheretoalwaysselectaspecifictool.

VeRTex S IZeThisvalueaffectsthevisualsizeandclickableareaofavertex.Thevaluemustbebetween4and10.

NORMAL S IZeVertexnormalsindicatethedirectionofthefacesconnectedtoeachvertex.Facesconnectedbyasoftedgewillshareanormalindicatoraveragingthenormalsofthefaces.

CONTexT MeNUenablethistoadda"editVertices"menuiteminSketchUp’scontextmenutoactivatevertexmode.

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Trans l a t i on sVertexToolscanbetranslatedintodifferentlanguagesbycreatingsimple.langfileslocatedintheLocalisation folder.

UsetheNorwegianlanguagefile(no-nb.lang)asatemplatewhentranslatingasitwillalwaysbeupdatedandcontainallthestringsavailable.Additionallyitincludescommentswithhintsandadescriptionofthefileformat.

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. LANGF I Le FORMAT SPeCIF ICAT IONI. FileMUSTbeplaintextUTF-8encoded.BOMissupported.Ifany.langfileisnotUTF-8encodedstrange

characterswillappearanditcanaffectallothertranslations.RefertoyourchosentexteditorforhowtoencodefilesinUTF-8.

II. ThefilenameMUSTbesavedwithASCIIrangecharacters.SketchUp’sRubyversion(1.8)doesnothandlefileswithnon-ASCIIcharacters.

III. Pleasenameyour.langfileusingthelanguagecodeSketchUpreportsforthatlanguage.ThiswillensurethatVertexToolstriestoloadthelanguagewhichmatchesthecurrentSketchUplanguage.Alistoflanguagecodescanbefoundhere: http://download.sketchup.com/OnlineDoc/gsu6_ruby/Docs/ruby-sketchup.html#get_locale exampleforFrenchlanguagefile:“fr.lang”Ifyoucan’tfindthelanguagelisted,justuseanynameaslongasitdoesnotconflictwithanyofthelanguagecodesonthelist.

IV. @titleMUSTbethefirstlineinthefile.ThisisaspecialtagthatcontainsthenameofthelanguagewhichappearsinthelistofavailableLanguagesunderPreferences.Thetitleshouldbethenameofthelanguageinitsnativelanguage–notenglish.

V. @authorand@contactaretwooptionaltagsthatMUSTappearrightafterthe@titletaginanyorder.ThisisthecreditandcontactinformationthatappearunderthechosenlanguageunderPreferences.

VI. @contacttagMUSTstartwith“http://”,“https://”or“mailto:”.

VII. excepttheheadertagsthecontentofthefilecanbeinanyorder.

VIII. Aftertheheadertagscommentscanbeaddedbyprefixingthelinewith#.

Ix. The%symbolisaspecialcharacter.ItrepresentsavariableandMUSTbeincluded.Ifyouneedtoaddapercentsymboltothestringsyoucandosobyusingadoublepercentsign:%%example:“Hello %% World”becomes“Hello % World”Allthestringsaresprintfformatted.Formoreinfo:http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Kernel.html#M005962

x. Anothersetofvariablesare@@n-wherenrepresentanumber.Theseareusedbywebdialogs.whenpresentintheoriginalstringtheyMUSTappearinthetranslatedstring.example:“Hello @@1 World”becomes“Hello 123 World”

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xI. Donotinsertlinebreaks.Thestringsmustappearonasingleline.

T IPS ANDReCOMMeNDATIONSPleaseincludeyourname,contactinfoandthedatethefilewaslastrevised.TocheckformissingstringyoucanopentheRubyConsoleandtypeTT_Vertex::S.checkThiswillcompareallthelanguagefilesagainsttheNorwegianfileandlistanymissingstringsforallthelanguages.Donotliterallytranslatethewords,translatethemeaning.Ifpossible,usethesametermsusedinSketchUpifSketchUpexistinthetargetlanguage.Lookatother3dmodellingandgraphicsoftwareproductstofigureoutwhatthenormis.GreatrepositoryoftranslationstermsinMicrosoft’sproducts:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/goglobal/bb688105.aspxLookforguidancefortranslatingtoyourownlanguage.OftenyoucanfindguidesprovidedbyOpenSourceprojects.

Known I s s u e s / L i m i ta t i on s• SketchUp6doesnotrecognizeuserdefinedmodelaxis.

Known Bugs• InsertVertexoccasionallycreatesnewfaceswhenthereareholesintheface.Investigating.• RotationGizmo’sguidelinedoesnotalwaysappearasaninfiniteline.Investigating.

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C r e d i t sThankstoallthebetatestersthatprovidedinvaluablefeedbackandsupport.Thankstothetranslatorswhocontributedtranslationsandinterestingsemanticdiscussions.ThankstoSketchucationforthesupportduringthedevelopment.ThankstoGoogleforlettingmeusesomeofSketchUp’scursorsandtoolbaricons.BigthankstoTBDandAdamBforhelpingmegetstartedwithRubyCextensionswhenIneededtocrunchnumbersinaspeedymanner.

Con tac tUsethecontactformatVertexTools’websiteforanyquestionsorfeedback.http://www.thomthom.net/software/vertex_tools/contactIcanalsobefoundlingeringaroundtheforumsatSketchucation.