Texture Toolbox Gadget

[seanm]

Texture Toolbox



This gadget was created to solve an idea i had whilst preparing my presentation on the new Textures features from the new V8 Software, for the Vectric User Group 2015 meeting we had very recently.

The current options we have available for toolpathing, cutting along a vector in 2d & 2.5D terms, is a 2D profile which will cut to a specific depth the whole way across the vector and then the 2.5D Texture Toolpath, which will take each individual vector and cut each of them at a different depth, between the values you specify.
The idea was to see what textures i could come up with if i had the ability to cut in and out of the material along a single vector multiple times, and then perhaps have the software cut into each different vector a different amount of times to see what it looked like.

Well the idea soon transformed itself into something i could actually use and then added a couple other options like the ability to control the cutting direction of the vectors to give different effects and the ability to rotate vectors 180 degrees.

Those that attended the User Group Meeting 2015 will have had a pre-release version of this gadget on the Vectric Memory Stick that came with your Meeting Packs, You can now update this version by downloading the version which is on the Gadgets Website for a direct link to the Gadgets page to find out more, please click here

I recommend watching the video to get a thorough understanding of what each of the different options capabilities are.

[Ms Wolffie]

That's going to be a fun one

[Ms Wolffie]

Yoy have me confused here
In the tutorial the screenshot of the create repeating vector texture patterns, you have the Angle on 20 and the slider on -90 degrees.

How did you manage that?
Wherever I set the angle, the slider goes to the same number.

[Ms Wolffie]

My edit was too slow
Also, the minimum and maximum change rate, is that units or still inches?
Wish you would give both mm and inches
Actually, it would be even easier if one did not have to change once the initial choice between inches and mm was set.
If numbers were just units, many costly mistakes would be avoided, especially by noobies and old fuzzy brains like mine.

[seanm]

the change rate is units, how many times you want the tool to plunge in and out of the material along a single vector.

The Gadget itself does just take units and then dependent on your job setup will equate that accordingly

for instance 0.25 in the gadget is just the numerical value 0.25, if your job is in inches then that 0.25 will be interpreted as a quarter inch, however if your job is in MM then that will just be a quarter of a millimeter.
In the software itself in most places which hold values of measurement, you can just type in whatever the value in inches that has been quoted is

for instance 40 inches, in the box holding the value you can just type in 40*m=
this will convert the inches value to mm for you. though unfortunately the gadget will not do this.

Hope this has helped and have fun

Sean

[scottp55]

Too bad it doesn't fit on a laptop screen:(

[Ms Wolffie]

for instance 40 inches, in the box holding the value you can just type in 40*m=
this will convert the inches value to mm for you.
Hope this has helped and have fun

Sean

That is exactly the problem, in the heat of the moment old fuzzy has forgotten that
All you Vectric people live in the metric world, so why sticking so stubbornly to Imperial?

[Adrian]

Because the vast majority of the user base are in the 6% or so of the Worlds population that still use the imperial system.

I must admit I never quite understand the problems you have with metric/imperial though. If you work in metric all the time (as I do) then you never need to worry about imperial measurements. The software won't arbitrarily put an imperial measurement in there unless you tell it to.

[Ms Wolffie]

Good for you Adrian that you don't find it difficult.
Not so very long since the UK changed from Imperial to metric, so you must have grown up with inches and can probably think in both units.
I, on the other hand, spent all of my life in metric and inches, especially fractions, continue to be a mystery to me.
My best friend, who grew up with inches, finds metric very difficult to understand.

Well, I just tried to help someone who wanted to use a 0.75" tool.
I only have metric tools in my database.
I tried to use 0.75*m and got 0.75mm, quite a difference in the end result when it should be 19.05 mm. I doubt they make metric tools that size.
The tool database does not do automatic conversions like the job setup does.
So I ask again, would it really be so very difficult to accommodate the 84% of the world's population and give one of the conversions in brackets?

[Adrian]

I don't think in imperial at all. I was only taught metric and decimal at school. It drives me nuts that so much of the UK still thinks in imperial. Apart from the simplest fractions I have to resort to lots of scribbling unlike our American cousins who can do it all in their heads.

The tool database has all the same calculation fields that the rest of the product does. If you enter 0.75*m= into it you will get 19.05 as the result.

In the case of this gadget the actual values are units not measurements so it wouldn't make sense to put conversion in brackets besides the value.

It would really clutter up the rest of the interface if everywhere showed both metric and imperial measurements all the time. I can appreciate that there are special circumstances, like helping your friend for instance, but for the vast majority of people it would be a needless clutter 99% of the time IMO.

[seanm]

Too bad it doesn't fit on a laptop screen:(

I will be making an update to this gadget today to shrink the amount of screen space the gadget requires to make it user friendly for smaller screens.

Look out for V1.2

[seanm]

Update V1.2 has been uploaded to the gadgets website.

This basically has added an option to collapse and expand the instructions on how to use the gadget so that users of smaller resolution screens can now see the ok and cancel buttons to run or exit out of the gadget.

[scottp55]

Thank you Sean!

[garylmast]

I don't think in imperial at all. I was only taught metric and decimal at school. It drives me nuts that so much of the UK still thinks in imperial. Apart from the simplest fractions I have to resort to lots of scribbling unlike our American cousins who can do it all in their heads.

I made up a conversion chart I have on my computer and a copy hung on the wall for easy reference. You're right, imperial I can do in my head, where metric I have to look on the chart or do a caluation

[ChrisInEstes]

Signing on to the topic so I can find it...

Thanks!