Hi, I was looking at plugins for Rhino and noticed that there was a good plugin for windows called BoltGen. I visited the link and sent a contact message if it was available for Rhino for Mac and I was informed it did work but needed feedback. He sent me a file and when I clicked on it with Rhino open it automatically loaded and asked me to restart Rhino.
I did this and all is ok so far when opening Rhino but I cannot work out where to find the Plugin. Can anyone shed a little light on where I can access the plugin toolbars etc and begin experimenting,
Hi Jason I contacted Ray to let him know you have sent him an email thanks, I would imagine any help in getting this going can only be good for Rhino for Mac.
Hi denbutler, within my correspondence with the developer there is mention of a toolbar. I have cut and pasted his message to me for your perusal
Hi Paul.
I have done so. Here is the installer, I do not know if it works, mac has
some issues with Rhinoceros. If not, you can unzip the installer and
manually install the plugin and support files. Please let me know if it
installed. The Rhino developer kit is somewhat sketchy on the auto
installer. The BoltGen programs have been re-written and improved using the
Python programming language.
You must be running on a 64-bit mac computer to use this program.
For the installer, I understand that you can double-click the enclosed
program and it should install. If not:
To add manually;
rename .macrhi to .zip
unzip the file
there are 3 items: a folder with pdf help files, a .rhp program file,
and a .rui menu and toolbar file.
Install the .rhp file as you would normally do. For windows we drag and
drop the .rhp onto Rhinoceros.
Do the same for the .rui file.
Restart Rhino
Go to tools\options\plugins in Rhino, right-click on BoltGen and find
the directory it has been loaded to.
Navigate to the BoltGen installation directory and copy the folder with
the .pdf files to that directory.
( The folder must be placed where the .rhp is located after install. )
Since I have no Mac or access to one, I have only had limited help from
someone in France with a Mac. He verified that BoltGen works and then
stopped communicating, but modifications have been made since then and it
needs someone to check the functions. I have tested these programs on
Windows. Iād be pleased if you would test the 3 programs and toolbars for
me on Mac, then give me feedback. If BoltGen runs properly, it will end
with a message box saying the bolt creation process is finished.
The drop-down menu should give access to the help files as well as the
included programs and toolbars. I have included some special toolbar
buttons that I have found pretty useful for manipulating views and cplanes
as well as other things I use pretty often. There are a couple that are
rarely used, mostly for a temporary specific need.
Regards,
Ray McKaig
Since this email I dragged the file off the email to my desktop as every time I clicked on the file I got the message saying that it was installed in Rhino. From my desktop, I renamed the file as suggested and only one of the three files were there which was a BoltGenMac.rhp file. I clicked on that and then got a message the following message:
The document āBoltGenMac.rhpā could not be opened. Rhinoceros cannot open files in the Rhino Pluginā format
The original BoltGen was written in RhinoScript and has been changed and improved. The new version is written in Python and includes toolbars and drop-down menu items including help files and visual indicators, also sorts bolts in the BoltGen layers. Toolbars run the 4 BoltGen items including a new function to place bolts on surfaces at surface normal angles, and I have included some special toolbar functions that I find useful such as Dup Edge, Intersect, viewport view changes like World Top/Bottom, Front/Back, etc. and construction plane manipulations for new working angles. Python allows cross-platform execution. The original BoltGen needs to be disabled since command names are common, the new plug-in name is BoltGen_py but the commands are BoltGen, etc. I have not included BoltGenAN in the new version since I imagine few people would be interested and conversion to Python is a lot of work.
I havenāt actually released it yet but havenāt found any bugs. If you are interested, I can send you a copy for evaluation, and would appreciate feedback, especially if errors are found.
You can contact me at: ray.mcvan@comcast.net
Hi Jason.
I responded to denbutler about the new python BoltGen. He should have a BoltGen menu drop-down to execute the programs. I havenāt received a message from you (wrong Email address?), but my contact information is: ray.mcvan@comcast.net
Send me an email and I will send you the install package for Mac. Also, I can zip the individual items and send them separately if you want to play with setting up an installer. I donāt seem to be having much success. I do know that you can unzip the installer and extract the individual files from it, but there is a certain way to accomplish it that I do not know. I wish Mac had followed standard folder protocol.
It is possible that BoltGen did install for Paul Noone, but the menus and toolbars did not get activated. If so, typing _BoltGen on the command line should launch it. _BoltGenHelp may also work, as well as _CopyBoltToSurface. Assuming that is the case, then the BoltGen_py.rui file needs to get installed as well (other than dragging it onto Rhino like in Windows, Iām not sure how it can be accomplished). Also I understand that the Plug-in function for Rhino (in options) has not been implemented in Mac Rhino 5 yet, but will be included for Rhino 6.
Jeff,
Please see response to jason. I will send the installer to you also. By the way, BoltGenMac was a mistake. The corrected installer is BoltGen_py.macrhi. ray.mcvan@comcast.net
Iām sorry, the email address had to be changed because of hackers and got broken. I just fixed it and ā¦ goodness, 46 messages in it !!! ray@mcvanaero.com is correct now.
I want to thank you for taking the trouble to help. I really appreciate your efforts.
Here is the .macrhi install file.
Hierarchy for the files:
BoltGen_py.macrhi (zipped install file)
BoltGen_py.rhp (folder)
BoltGen_py.rhp (program)
BoltGen_py.rui (menu and toolbars)
HowToUseBoltGen (folder)
languages.pdf (several files for languages)
BoltType.pdf (for illustration of creation bolt heads)
Also included is a zip file of the parts without the .macrhi final zip rename. If this is a problem, I am also including the .rhp and .rui separately without the folder of help files.
Running the installer did appear to install the plugin. Rhino stated BoltGen was installed and needed restarted.
When I look into the installed location.
~/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/MacPlugIns/
BoltGen_py.rhp is the only installed file
Missing was the BoltGen_py.macrhi file and the HowToUseBoltGen folder.
Mac Rhino does not have a tools\options\plugins menu option, because the plugin manager has not been developed yet for MacRhino. I hear that is not been slated until the V6 release.
I have manually installed these files make sure all the files were in the āMacPluginsā Directory.
I understand the the .rhp, .rui, and the Help folder need to reside in the same directory.
As stated in Rhino - Plugin Installers (Mac)
Putting the whole folder BoltGen_py in the MacPlugins folder should allow it to load.
But I am getting the same error no matter what I do.
Running the installer or manually installing the files give me this error when I restart the program.
I have tried this on WIP and standard release with the same result.
Trying to drap and drop these files on the Rhino window gives me this error.
This post is almost year old so I donāt know if it is still relevant but maybe something to read.
I am also wondering if the .rui file is even supported.
This is what I have done so far, but with Rhino refusing to load the plugin, I not sure how to test any further.
Maybe @dan could give some insight on the issues we are encountering.
Iām looking into this now with @RayMās help. Ray will need to convert those rui files, unfortunately, but we still need to figure out what is going wrong with the packaging/folder structure of the PythonPlugin.
Hi all - When I tested this many moons ago, I tested a py file being installed, via a sort of painful manual ārhiā making process outlined in Danās link - that much worked, at the time, as I recall - as far as other files to be installed from the renamed zip goes, I really donāt know what is expected to work.
-Pascal
There will indeed be a 5.4 update. We donāt have a timeline yet for this. In the meantime, if you are a license holder of 5.3.2, you are always free to use the RhinoWIP.
