I’d like to show several hundred 1/2" rivets in a panel for a concept that I’m working on. I’ve been struggling with creating the rivet head (simple sphere) but realize it may be do to the small size. Is there a work around for this?
Marc
I’m still pretty new to SU so I’ll have to do some research on textures. I’ll have a look.
Thanks
I’m wondering if a texture would be effective for a whole bunch of individual rivet heads. You’d have to include the base color for the whole area in the texture.
You could model the rivets as a component by using a very low resolution dome (six or fewer segments per arc) completely softened.
-Gully
If you model the rivets there are several plugins that will help you place them.
This is one, Path Copy
2 Likes
I’ve been researching these suggestions and Path Copy looked like a good solution. I couldn’t get it to show up in SU and it appears that it’s now compatible with 2016. According to the install page in EW.
Thanks
The above gif is proof enough that it works in SU 2016.
I can’t still can’t get the plugin to show up in shetchup. I have since downloaded others that work and pathcopy_7.rbz is in ShetchUp2016\Plugins\ with the other .rb files. PathCopy is the only rbz. Not sure why that is.
Marc
.rbz files need to be installed not dropped in the plugin folder. Move it to you desktop or somewhere you can find it. Go to preferences / Extensions and click the install extention button and follow the prompts to the .rbz
Edit. Having said that the link I gave you was to the E Warehouse and it should have installed directly.
You must ‘install’ an RBZ.
You do NOT have to ‘put’ it anywhere - and you rarely need to look in your Plugins folder - leave the RBZ in Downloads, or put it on your Desktop…
Open your SketchUp’s Window > Preferences > Extensions, and then use the Install Extension… button.
Find the RBZ and SketchUp installs it all for you - respond in the affirmative when asked in any resultant dialogs.
Since v8M2 SketchUp has used RBZ archives to make the installation process of plugins and extensions painless, and it avoids many user errors which used to result from manually installing files incorrectly.
Any added tool should appear in the menu item as explained in its usage notes, sometimes you’ll need to activate it in Preferences > Extension [common with a glitch in v2016’s fledgling extension loading policy set up], or even activate a Toolbar, before all UI items appear…
Occasionally restarting SketchUp is also needed to get all files/menu-items loaded appropriately [that’s unlikely with PathCopy though]…
Box and TIG,
Everything is working. Thanks for your patience.
I’m attempting to place the rivets on a curved surface.
It may not prove to be worth it because the surface is large, 94x170 inches and the rivets are 1/2" D. They look like circles (the domes) it a distance.
Marc
You may find just placing a simple circle will give the effect you want. Path copy. Component stringer. Comp stringer. Etc etc can help create the illusion you need in many ways.
Start with the final result in mind and work backwards to achieve it.
Component onto faces may work for you. But it’s all guesses.Give us an image of the concept and you’ll get a better answer.
1 Like
i need for rivets to be placed along a path. but that path is NOT flat. it is on a cone-like geometry. thus TWO different radii and diameters. what can I do?
If it’s just a cone you’re putting the rivets on, place the first one and use Copy/Rotate to array them around the cone.