Aside from the 3D Printing Toolbox, Blender 2.67 has another cool feature coming up that'll make precision modeling much easier. Check out this video by Blender 3D Architect. I'm getting REALLY excited about this release :)
Alan Britto writes:
A new feature of Blender will probably help architectural visualization artists that want even more control over precision modeling. A 3d ruler and protractor were added to the latest builds of Blender and will most likely be available on the next stable release (2.67). If you want to check this new feature right away, you can download the latest build of Blender from the Blender BuildBot. Just a warning, those are Blender builds that are not considered stable, so be aware of bugs and potential problems. Do not use them for important projects!
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33 Comments
Wow, this means I don't need to calculate slope and convert to degrees anymore? This is a fantastic addon. Will definitely save some time. Thank you!
Awesome! I've been waiting for something like this for ages.
I would have been happy with just the ruler, but a protractor to boot? Nice.
Looks simple and user-friendly, just the way I like it. Can't wait for 2.67.
Great job guys, keep it up!
What a coincidence, just a while ago I was charting out my house in Blender. The whole time I was wishing that features like this were in it.
a couple of abilities i would like to be added to this would be the ability to select 2 faces and it automatically gives the angle (like i can do in solidworks)the same with edges select edge, measurement of edge pops up. simple??
also would be cool to be able to use this to change the actual size of said edge or angle on the fly(parametric?)
awesome stuff
Good suggestion! added edge-angle drawing (will be in any new buildbot build and 2.67 of course)
http://markmail.org/message/4byfu2ttvhtdbk5c
You've gotta love open source and responsive developers!
Can you imagine blender in 5 years?
I have some hopes :-) what are you looking forward to?
Oh and if I may add a request :) Maybe this one belongs more in the '3d printing toolbox'. A REALLY useful feature that we (Shapeways) use in some high-end software *all* the time is the ability to click anywhere on a wall and measure the thickness at that point.
Having an indicator and label 'floating' on the object just like the measurements in this extension would be wonderful.
Ah, sure that fits well in the 3D print toolbox. Ill check on adding next week.
committed r55754
http://markmail.org/message/ziiwlqz4v3z7xiqk
Duuuuuuuuude! How much beer do I owe you for that?
Awesome !!! It's perfect : Thanks :)
Great tool .
BTW: I remember that some old blender builds have a AutoCAD 3d view ruler and the CAD cursor. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.4/Py/Scripts/CAD/Ruler2
Extremely useful for my day to day work. Great job.
A couple of sugestions/wishes:
- Precision: Two decimal places should be enough for most cases. Could this be configured?
- Dynamic dimensions. Could dimension be linked to their verts so when verts are moved (stretching walls, etc) they show the new messure in real time?
Blender is getting really exciting.
This is a very professional resource. This will conquer more users like architects, engineers, projectists and filmmakers.
After my disappointment with Macouno's "Caliper" this is a welcome addition. It's elegant and easy to use while Caliper is terribly clunky. I supported the Caliper crowd-sourcing campaign but have been horribly disappointed with what appears to have turned out to be a half-hearted attempt. The new tool doesn't appear to provide a render-able dimension but that's much less important to me than the measuring abilities. I can make much better looking dimensions than Caliper creates by modeling them myself and filling in the numbers with a simple text object.
Very interesting tool ! Well done !
Mr. Barton you are the bestest.
In my opinion the measuring tool is about one of the most important features that the interface lacked so far.
Using blender for archviz will be much more reliable even if its just checkmeasuing things in 3d in case colleagues ask for distances or overall consistency of exported CAD meshes.
Best thing since sliced bread for me!
Happy Easter everyone!!!
Was this done in C or in Python? Is something like this even possible to do in python, or does it require reaching into the guts of blender?
This was done in C, almost all of it is possible in python,
the only thing thats not currently is ray-casting into the scene (for snapping), but I intend to expose this to python too soon.
Thanks for the fast reply!
I wonder how difficult it would be to let the user change the dimension/angle to update onto the object (like solidwork's reference dimensions, etc http://help.solidworks.com/2012/English/SolidWorks/sldworks/c_Dimensions_in_Drawings.htm). I imagine this would be a whole nother can of worms!
It can be done of course, but this kind of feature has to be integrated well - probably not something we'll spend time on.
That's understandable. Thanks for this great feature and opening rays to python!
added scene.ray_cast(), so now its possible to write in py.
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Why does a cube with a scale of 1,1,1 measure 2,2,2?
because the cube is 2 blender units wide.
Thanks for the quick reply...can I change the Blender units to match the Ruler units?
See links: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Rayek/Doc:2.6/Manual/Interface/Units
http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/254/how-do-blender-units-and-meters-feet-or-yards-correlate/258#258
Thanks, I got it now...I switched to imperial units and changed the scale. I just started using Blender, (a few days ago) so I'm still overwhelmed.
Thanks again
Hi, I think the ruler is a great extension, much nicer and elegant than the caliper... It is dealing with a big lack of Blender's functionality that many users desire.
I have some suggestions/comments to make it better fulfill its purpose:
- Snap is not working. There is no way I can get a precise measurement between two objects. Even though I see the circle when I release the ruler end does not adjust its position. It also seems snap is active on the edges, and I think it will be more useful if it worked only with vertexes.
- Precision. As mentioned in a previous point, precision should be configurable.
- Lack of editing capability. This is a suggestion to give a workaround to the previous points: the user should be able to "override" the measurement and type the right dimension (when the grid is used for precision work, we know what the right dimension should be). This ideally could be made by double clicking on the measurement line, and make a Ctrl+Click (or another key combination) to transform the ruler to measure angles.
Thanks!
One last suggestion: the text should be above or bellow the measurement line. Right now the line crosses the text and make it harder to read.
To this great addon good fit my addon that adds dimension. You can download it here: http://cwolf3d.korostyshev.net/index.php/portfolio/python/148-python-script-for-blender-added-dimension