I am trying to make a scale to put on the base of a Kreg miter gauge I am working on. In the attached file there is a model of the base, a stab at a scale which I made unique to show the before/after, and the result of using TrueBend on the original scale. You can see that the resulting arched object jumbled the numbers instead of keeping the original order. I did the numbers in Excel, did a screenshot and then imported that screenshot to my model. I suspect that is why the output is so strange. I did try earlier creating the scale using 3D text and tried placing the numbers along a rectangle that I could bend. That also turned out to be a mess. Any help will be appreciated, as always.
SketchUp won’t bend a texture image. You could divide the arc into small faces and apply sections of that texture to each small face and rotate it. You could also create a texture image with the text following an arc. What are you going to do with the scale once you have the model complete? If you are going to 3D print it, the texture image won’t show anyway. You might want to use 3D text applied directly to the bent scale. Or you might want to create the texture with the curved text so you can create a label to apply to the real object.
Dave - as always thanks for the quick response.Perhaps I did not describe my dilemma well, but I am not trying to create or apply a texture. The items in my post are solids, albeit thin ones (1/16"). That is what I am trying to bend. I am only making the model to use in another larger model of a work table that I am going to build. Your suggestion of applying 3D text to the bent scale sounds doable, I will try that. Cheers.
The scale in the model you shared is a texture. I thought that’s what you were hoping to bend.
Really for a semicircular scale like that you shouldn’t need to use Shape Bender at all. Just draw the required arcs. If this is only as a representation of the real model, a texture for the scale would be sensible. The texture would be an image something like this, though.
If I were going to use 3D Text for the scale I would start by placing the 0 at the middle and use Rotate/Copy to create an array of zeroes at 5° spacing to the left and right. I would also create 3D text elements for 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. but not place them on the scale. After that it would be a simple matter of selecting the 0 components in the 5° locations, right clicking on the 5 component in the Components panel and then click Replace Selected. Rinse and repat for the other numbers.
I should have made my text objects smaller or the radius largeer but you should get the idea with this.
