The Construction Line Tool allows you to draw constructions lines in a similar way as the Pencil Tool.
Toolbar: View > Toolbars > Construction Line Tool
Menu: Draw > Construction Lines
Usage
- Activate the tool using the Construction Lines Toolbar or Menu item.
- Use the Ctrl key to cycle thru 3 modes: End-Points, No End-Points, or Infinite Construction Lines.
- Use the Tab key to cycle thru the 4 line styles (stipple).
- Use the Shift key to lock inference.
History
2011-01-05
- Fixed potential bug when using the Measurements Box.
- Enable/Disable the plugin using SketchUp's Extension Dialog.
- Tab key cycles thru line stipple instead of raising a dialog. Watch a partially drawn line to see the stipple change.
2010-02-17 - Version 1.0
- Added infinite Construction Line creation. Hit Ctrl again to cycle.
- Added selecting the 4 Construction lines types available in SU.
- Fixed clipping on start-up.
- Created a Windows Installer.
- Changed the name of the Toolbar to JF Tools. (Sorry!)
2009-07-12 - The construction points are not overlayed added. (Henry Schorradt)
07/19/08 - Use the Ctrl key to toggle creation of construction points. Modify length of last drawn line in VCB.
06/09/08 - Updated to draw the lines in the current active context - when editing a Group, for example. Thank again, John.
06/08/08 - Updated to use John Clements' Toolbar icon
Thanks John!02/14/08 - Added a Toolbar button for convenience.
02/22/08 - Fixed small bug ($exString undefined)
03/02/08 - Added a better Toolbar icon. Added a 'clinetool' folder for the images.
Download
Download clinetool.zip
Image of file hierarchy in the Plugins folder:
37 comments:
Hi Jim...
If i put the clinetool.png in the plugins folder it dosen´t show up... but if i put the icon on the desktop it works every time.
Daniel S
Ah, thanks Daniel! I have made a small change and will upload in a bit.
Ok done. I found and fixed another small annoyance too. Thanks.
Thank you!! Now is working fine here :)
Jim, I really like this little gem with one request. I dont usually ask for someone to change something they wrote, but I like to use the right click to do things such as this. How easy would it be to change or add to the right click?
I added a Toolbar button to activate the tool. Enable it in the View > Toolbars menu.
Great job on the tool bar add. I love it already and have only looked at it. Far better than my right click idea. Cudo's on the excellent work as usual.
I noticed it doesn't auto-start a new line after a line is made (the way the official Line tool works).
In some ways this is actually nice to have. For consistency, it'd be cool to have it match the Line tool method.
Now if that method is make the Const. Line tool auto-start or remove the auto-start from the Line tool is up for debate :)
Dear Jim, i am using daily as a basic tool your Contruction Line Tool for a long time. (Thx+++ for it). I've just downoaded this last update. Well,, i'm not sure i always need those two end construction points even if they are sometimes very useful. I often erase those lines, and erase a construction point is not so easy. This is the reason why i think it would be great to have the two in the toolbar: with and without end points. :-)simon
Simon, I agree and I'm glad you mentioned it. Maybe I can use a modifier key, such as Shift or Ctrl to toggle end-point creation?
Ok, new version uploaded. Use the Ctrl key to toggle creation of the cpoints.
"Super génial" exactly the good tool.
+++to you Jim. Simon
HELLO , thanks for this stuff,
can you make more "magic" of this plugin: transform the "object" to grid-line ? (example: the house) ?
I downloaded and unzipped the zip file but I still can not see it in SketchUp. Anyone knows what should I do?
Guang, make sure when you unzipped the files that the folder were preserved. There needs to one file and one folder in the Plugins folder
Plugins/
clinetool.rb
clintool/
clinetool_cursor.png
clinetool_cursor_p.png
clinetool_icon_lg.png
clinetool_icon_sm.png
hi ,everybody ,i want to make friend with you, my email is ;future_dream_xu@hotmail.com
I added the clinetool plugin to my SketchUp V 6.4.112 and it worked fine. A friend has V 7 and it won't load SketchUP after we added the files. Comments?
Thanks,
Tom
tomschaefer@cfl.rr.com
Hey- awesome addition. I do a lot of kitchen and bath design work with sketchup and needed a dashed line feature. Any centerline nomanclature in the near future? What about dashed rectangles or other shapes?
No plans for centerlines. The dashed lines are the default for Construction geometry in SketchUp. There are a few options the Construction Geometry can accept. Valid strings are:
"."
"-"
"_"
"-.-"
I may make a dialog to allow the user to select one of these styles. If a different style is needed, it would need to be done in a totlay different way - by breaking and hiding existing lines. There is already a script to do that: http://www.smustard.com/script/DashedLines
Jim
Thank you for all the work you do on these plugins. I have downloaded clinetool and put it into the plugins directory. It does not show up in the plugins in sketchup 7 though. I have checked off all extensions. I missing something. Your hello-world worked as a test though.
Tx
Morgan
Great tool but is it possible to make curved lines or arcs?
Jim, I'm new to SketchUp7 and was checking out your Construction Line Tool. I was wondering what the file - Thumbs.db - was? It was in the clinetool dir when I unzipped the file. Joe
Joe: The Thumbs.db is a Windows thumbnail file and can be safely deleted. Oops. Thanks for the feedback.
When I try to open and extract the Zip file, I get a message that the zip file is either invalid or corrupted.
Help??
Zac,
I don't know - I downloaded and tested the .zip archive and it checks out OK on my computer. Just make sure it is being downloaded fully.
Hello,
I have installed SketchUp 7 (7.1.4870) on Mac OSX. I have downloaded the plugin and uncompressed it under:
/Applications/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp.app/Contents/PlugIns
I have restarted SketchUp and still don't see it. I tried going to "View > Customize Toolbars..." but I couldn't find the clinetool.
This is what I have at filesystem level:
ls -l
total 32
drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 19 Feb 2009 3DSImporter.plugin/
drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 19 Feb 2009 DEMImporter.plugin/
drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 19 Feb 2009 FbxExporter.plugin/
drwxrwxr-x@ 7 root admin 238 11 Oct 19:12 clinetool/
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root admin 13198 7 Jul 16:29 clinetool.rb*
drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 17 Sep 19:12 collada.plugin/
and also:
ls -l clinetool/
total 40
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 867 29 Feb 2008 clinetool_cursor.png*
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 793 11 Jul 2008 clinetool_cursor_p.png*
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 3660 11 May 2008 clinetool_icon.png*
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 1133 8 Jun 2008 clinetool_icon_lg.png*
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 805 8 Jun 2008 clinetool_icon_sm.png*
Could you please help me? I know somebody mentioned problems with version 7. Is this still an issue? If not, what I am doing wrong?
Thanks,
FGS
I find that when using a combination of construction lines and cline I am not able to easily delete say a long construction line leaving the shorter dotted line detail. It selects the short detail even when the long line is targeted. Any ideas?
Hi there Jim
I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing the work for this, no matter how simple you might have found it, and for putting it out there for free. Very much appreciated.
Best wishes,
David
This works awesome in SketchUp 7 (7.0.10247). Remember: after copying to plugins folder, close and reopen SketchUp, then View -> Toolbars -> Construction Line Tool.
Great tool!!
I do have one request though, unless I don't realize it already has this function. Is there a way to make a continuous construction line that goes forever on either end?
This option would make this plugin perfect!
Thanks for your great work!
Genius, pure genius. Thank you.
jim,
this is a wonderful tool. it works fine on mac. the only difference is that the toggle key is alt/option not control.
edson
This is a nifty little tool Thank so much.
Hi
Been too long ago since I've worked with plug-ins....what is it I do after downloading the Clinetool folder?
Thanx
Allan
Hi, this plugin is very useful. Just this little thing when you use construction line tool, and you choose the one with endpoints. If i want endpoints to be unvisible and i toogle them off in style window options, point at the ends of construction lines stay visible. it would be really cool if you could fix that. also, is there any plugin that enables using lines with different thickness?
Hi Jim, fantastic plugin. One question, when I export a pdf, none of the lines I've made with cline show up. Any idea what's happening there?
Nice, Thank you for sharing!
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