Hi,

In case anyone here has not looked at the MS Train Sim forum...

http://www.amabilis.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=3DCanvasProMSTS;action=display;num=1055522789

This plugin probably has a million other uses...

I'm seriously considering creating a new version of 3D Canvas called "Paul's scripting release" 'cause I am sure you can come up with much more clever stuff than me if I just give you the tools you need!

Richard

I Support That Idea! ;D

Thankyou Richard for providing an excellent tool in the first place.

I'm particularly proud of the pipe builder, the algorithms and math were "entertaining" to write.
It needed to work out all the points and the correct sequence for processing an extruded path (lots of sorting with collections)
The vectors between the points are used to rotate and position the new points - and the rotational shear of the junctions involves quiet a lot of vector math too

I should have qualified my "last plugin" statement in the other thread - we still have MSTS2 on the horizon and a whole new set of challenges.
The first will be active 3D cabs - the pipe builder could be extremely useful here.

I understand "entertaining" very well. Chamfer and Chamfer scaling were very "entertaining".

Richard

Paul,

It was sort an adventure finding out what it did and didn't like to process for edges on my source object... :-/

It does seem that a detailed curve is a no-no... too many small increments?

Once I figured out what to do about it, I was still left wondering how YOU figured it out. What a novel approach!

Are you though with tweaking it?

Yes, it's an excellent tool for creating a bend less than say 75 degrees and the fact that it follow an edge as a source is ingenious. This means a huge saving in time and hair pulling to obtain different railing shapes.

Thanks Paul once again for such an important tool and your efforts to all our lives easier.

[quote author=pwillard link=board=3DCanvasProScripting;num=1055755205;start=0#5 date=06/17/03 at 19:42:42]It does seem that a detailed curve is a no-no... too many small increments?

Are you though with tweaking it?
[/quote]

It failed for me for the first time last night - it seems diameters less than 0.02 and small increments can cause an overflow error.

I'm reasonably sure the plugin is correct for most situations. I will always try and fix bugs in all of the plugins, as I come across them. I'll post any patch info here.

Well, I encountered a #6 Overflow error when using a .038 Diameter, 4 sided shape and  complex (6 segment 90 degree bend with about a .2 meter radius) curve.

I simplified it to have longer segments (3 bends versus 6) and it was fine.  If you look at the screen shot I posted, its the part of the railing on the tankcar that turns downward to meet the ladder on the side.

I may have fixed the overflow error...

Slightly different URL for this one as I don't have access to my normal web site at the moment.

http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod/PipeBuilder.htm

(And if you'd like to see smoe more of my completed 3DC works... http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod )

wow I finally downloaded the lot and started using your plugins.
Good Work an thx for giving it to us.  I'll try to steal some of your code one day.

George

any time George

Just let me know which one's you're interested in and I send the source...