18-06-2013, 11:38 AM
An Intermediate Google SketchUp Tutorial - Part 3
An Intermediate Google.pdf (Size: 1.54 MB / Downloads: 26)
In this installment we are going to introduce some new tools that allow us to use curves other than circles or circle segments (arcs). These curves fall in a class called Bezier Curves (or Splines). For the technically inclined you can go to Wikipedia for a detailed description. Our interests as woodworkers are in using Bezier curves to form complex shapes such as Queen Anne legs. The bad news is the tools needed do not exist in the SketchUp. The good news is you can get them in a Ruby script and install them into SketchUp.
The Ruby script we will use is actually a number of scripts, icons and other files. So you have to download a .zip file called bezierspline.zip. I recommend downloading it and saving it to disk before unzipping. I am not going to explain how to use ZIP files or how to install Ruby scripts into SketchUp. I assume you know how to do that by now. If you don’t there are many places on the Internet to get help, or contact me through email or phone and I will help you (see Contact menu above). Maybe I will put this on a list of future tutorials. But for now you are on your own. Download bezierspline.zip and install the unzipped files. In the unzipped files you will see a number of Adobe files. One is a user’s manual and one is a quick help file that explains installation. You might want to read the latter at least.