[Extension] FredoSpline - Bezier, Spline, Polycorner, Polyline division

The link says the extension is not published yet. There may be an issue at sketchUcation?

I installed the update about 45 minutes ago via the Sketchucation Tool.

Maybe you got in ahead of Fredo doing something more? I don’t see this version on the sketchUcation store now and clicking the link in his post yields this:

Maybe.

Just now, though.
Screenshot - 4_29_2020 , 8_57_08 AM

Just hit the Extension store. Two successful Fredo updates, Spline and Lib

Yes, it now worked for me too. The plugin store must have been delayed for some reason, but now up to date again.

Edit: And so far on initial tests it hasn’t crashed on my Mac!

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Good news. Which OSX do you have?

Also, do you see problems of performance?

I have macOS 10.15.4 Catalina. I didn’t do an extensive test, just a quick trial of what had caused a crash before (simple traditional spline), but it seemed to perform fine on that. Something is interfering with changing the active model tab right now. Do you have an observer that might do that?

Strange. I don’t know what it can be and did not even know you could change the model via the Ruby API. The only observer I used, very briefly, is to catch Undo versus Redo.

Could you describe more what you observe (I don’t have a Mac, so I can’t figure out).

By the way, I recommend you upgrade to LibFredo6 10.3a, just released, because there is a problem that affected Curviloft, curvizard and the Convert tool of FredoSpline.

I don’t know that it is due to your extension, just that’s the most recent thing I installed.

On Mac, SketchUp can open multiple models in the same app. It can show them as tabs across the top of the SketchUp window, and I can shift from viewing one model to another by clicking the tabs. Sometimes when I do this, the view changes momentarily to the tab I clicked and then jumps back to the prior one. It is inconsistent, though. I haven’t found some situation that will trigger it consistently. So just grasping at straws that some observer may be guilty.

OK. I see.
FredoSpline does nothing special that my other plugins would not do. Actually there is little dependency on the platform (the crash was due to a corrupted PDF cursor file, first time I use SVG/PDF for cursors).

FredoSpline is an excellent extension which is a great addition to SketchUp- Thanks you so much Fredo6. Its filled with so much capability but for furniture design I use either the Bezier Classic or the Local Fit spline

I can use some help with the following:

  1. With the Bezier Classic, if have only a start point (starting on the end of a straight line) and an end point with a single control point, is there an indicator when tangency is achieved ?
    I have tried moving the control point along the straight line but no indication. I thought maybe the bezier curve would turn cyan.
  2. Is their a way to have a point of the Bezier Curve stop at a fixed point like a guideline. Take an example, (see below) If I want to draw a curved table apron that is 2 1/4" wide with a curve that is 13/16" up at the center. Currently I start and end the Bezier Curve on the apron and move the control point up by eye so the center is close to the 13/16 guideline. I would like to know the curve is exactly on that guideline. So its a Bezier Curve with a fixed local point.

I may have answered my own question to issue #2. Using a global fit spline looks like it does the trick.

In your example there’s nothing for the ends of the curve to be tangent to.

If there was an edge for the curve to be tangent to as in my example, below, you will get an indication.

  1. You could also set a guideline at the middle of the apron and one that is 1-5/8" up from the bottom and snap the control point to it.

Dave,
Perhaps the wording of my example was not the best. I am trying to draw a curved leg like the one on the Moser Wing Hall Table which you showed in a video on the FWW blog Dec 19, 2011.
(in the video you used the Bezier Curve extension also by Fredo6)
When I draw the curve I want to see an indicator that the bezier curve is tangent to the edge of the leg blank.
In the screenshot below I show the curve on the right portion of the leg blank. I am moving the control point along the leg. Should I expect a cyan tangency indicator ?

I used that because FredoSpline had not been released yet.

The curve will be tangent to the vertical edge of the leg if the control point is on the edge as you show in the screen shot.

No. See above.

This may indicate ignorance of the fundamentals of Bezier curves. With a control point at each end, the curve is tangent to the lines from the center control point to each of the end points. If you have target tangency at both ends, you must place the center control point at the intersection of the two desired tangent lines.

Thanks @DaveR and @slbaumgartner for taking the time to answer.
Yes, since the Bezier Curve has one of its points on the line which I want to be tangent to, moving the control point along that line will insure tangency. I can of course move the control point off of that line. So what I was looking for was a color indicator of tangency but as Dave answered no, that will not occur.
I have used the FredoSpline and previous Bezier extension but many times making fair curves does not always occur, especially if I use (and move) more then one control point. Having an indicator of tangency , similar to the way curves are drawn in Layout would help. I don’t know if that same type of indication/control exists with FredoSpline.

In some cases, as I showed in my first reply to you today, FredoSpline will indicated tangency but not always. There are a couple of things I often do when to make sure I wind up with fair curves. The first is to set out guidelines and make sure I get guidelines on them as appropriate. The other is basically the same as in the shop. I will sight down the curve from the ends to make sure there nothing weird or unwanted. That’s done by orbiting in SU.

Thanks Dave so much for you advice.
I was thinking exactly the same about making fair curves in the shop, sighting down the curve, often with much squinting of eyes. As I said, I was hoping this indication of tangency was reliable and built in to the extension to insure a fair curve is drawn. I’ll try and make use of plenty of guidelines and orbiting and do several more curved leg examples. Moser’s website is a great place to work these issues with pictures of completed pieces.

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