CurveInfo (script on Rhino 8 PackageManager)

I uploaded a script I was working on a while back to the packagemanager (Look for CurveInfo in Rhino 8 Packagemanager)

I initially started this script to see if I could add a bit more 2D curve info for graphic design usage in industries that use 2D cutters / plotters.

I wanted to put it out here as a conversation starter, to see if this is any useful at all, what works and what not, as input for Rhino 9

Currently this is what it can do:

  1. Give information about single selected curves only.
  2. Recognize single lines and polylines (Note: if you draw a polyline with two points, it is still a polyline until you simplify it)
  3. Lines’ start and end points can be edited in this dialog. It also detects and reports if the line is horizontal or vertical.
  4. Detect arcs and circles. Their center and radius can be set in the dialog.
  5. Recognize rectangles. Start and end point can be set in the dialog.
  6. Shows Degree, span and point count for curves.
  7. Shows if the curve is SubD friendly or not.
  8. Shows area of closed curves.
  9. Shows if curves are planar (aligned with the WorldXY plane)

WARNINGS:
Save your work before running this tool
Currently Undo is not hooked up yet

Ideally I would love to see the edits move away from the dialog directly to the viewport.

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Hi Gijs, I like the idea of object property panels, great idea.
On my Mac i am not seeing anything like you are showing above.
Downloaded ok, the command appears when typed, but i get this in the history box.
This list on the side is updating and does not seem to show the history anymore (line selected) once Curveinfo is activated. Needs a restart to get back to normal.

Yikes, I should have tested this on my Mac
I’ll see if I can solve that. I hope it didn’t cause too much trouble.

@JP13 I’ve uploaded a new version that should now display the dialog correctly. But it nowhere functions as it should, because it looses focus as soon as you type something in that dialog, so for now it is still practically useless on Mac.

I guess I need some help from bigger brains to solve this.

Hi Gijs, many thanks, the new version works well. I am learning something about the terminology, like spans, object types, degree, points etc.
I find the display seems permanent, like a floating info box (Similar as drag Strength), even when i type another command, create a line or curve etc.
The current curve selected shows 5 points, but i only count 3?
Ok, just for fun I have 3 screens in front of me, i just tried to drag the (Curveinfo) window onto a 2nd screen and it disappeared behind all. I could only see it by using the Mac F3 (show all open windows) it is still there and functioning but i could not drag it back into view without quitting and restarting.
Re the bigger brains, you’re doing great, this is waay above my pay grade, so keep it up.

The dialog on Mac behaves weird, but I’ll come back to that.

As for the curve, since it is a SubD Friendly curve it has two additional control points you cannot edit (the gray ones)

Thanks, i see the grey points now when i zoomed in. Learned something new. I have not used subd yet.

Should the dialog also allow for rebuilding, simplifying and Elmoing curves? For soms reason, that seems to be an appropriate use case to me - as a diagnostics and trouble shooting tool.

I was thinking about adding a simplify option, not sure about the rebuild tools.
Although these could be started from there as well, it would not help much imo, since these commands have their own interface anyway.

But first I need to solve the annoying focus issue on Mac. I know what needs to be done for that, just haven’t gotten around to it. Some refactoring is necessary.

3 posts were split to a new topic: Surface info panel

@JP13 @Intuos I just uploaded a newer version to PackageManager that should address the issues I had with the controls loosing focus.
Thanks to @curtisw for solving.
For future reference:

If you are making a dialog, derive from Eto.Forms.FloatingDialog
Disabling controls make them loose focus.
The above is esp. important on Mac.

Oh one more thing, it could list whether a curve is closed or not. So if there’s no area, display: Curve is open

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Thanks Gijs, thats looking quite good.

I’ve rewriting this because of

sneak preview:

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So far 0.1.6.9069 working great on windows. Fully supporting history for downstream child objects without issue as well.

Good to hear, it works by replacing object ids, so as long as the structure stays the same, it should have no issues.

that one will be fixed as well in the upcoming, but still figuring out what is the best approach for that.

Very interesting tool!!

It seems that even if I make a closed NurbsCurve with SubDFriendly = No, it is still considered Yes.

Rhino8 SR12.
CurveInfo Version 0.1.6.9069

That’s because it is automatically when it is a degree 3 closed curve.

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I didn’t study enough,. :sweat_smile: