Just added 2010-12-17 19:25 GMT...
Latest version 1.002 of 'phlatFoil' and the new 'phoilPal' aerofoil file converter plugin (now attached to this post)

Hi All
Just finished my first ruby tool that creates aerofoils (airfoils from aerofoil files - don't tell me someone else has built one or I'll cry
Attached is a zip file containing "phlatFoil.rb", a couple of cursor image files "cursor_aerofoil_begin.png" & cursor_aerofoil_end.png" - there are also a few test aerofoils (*.foil extension). All the above files (apart from the aerofoils) should reside in the plugins folder. Fire up SU and the tools menu should have two extra menuitems - "Select Aerofoil..." and "Aerofoil". Choose "Select Aerofoil" and navigate to wherever you put the aerofoil files then pick one. The aerofoil data will stay loaded until you choose another foil or change tools. Choose "Aerofoil" then just click click, click drag or click then type in a value in the VCB. The aerofoil will be drawn as a surface (not grouped, you may want to group them first).
It's not been fully tested, but I'm sure some folks will blow it up
The foils only work on the flat [phlatLand ?]] (not in 3D space).
Some massaging of other foil files may be necessary - foil format info can be seen in the rb file (maybe I should have written a readme

It's a quick way to create a set of ribs by using a pair of LE and TE guides with rib stations - just click your way through the wing !

I am extremely impressed with all the phlat stuff for cnc - to the point that I have nearly become a sketchup convert from Vectorworks !

I've only tested this on Mac OSX 10.6.5 & SU 7, but I see no reason for it not to work on a PC - perhaps someone can test it.

Cheers

Neil Attached files Phoilstuff.zip (33.4 KB)Â

 

Indeed very cool. We might just have to add it the the PhlatPlugins when the time comes.
Edit
I should have also added that if you would like it to be added there as well.

 

Where are you getting the airfoils from? I have a heap in DXF format. Can i convert them for this plugin?
Thanks this is a great tool..

PEZ

 

Hi All

Thank you for all the good comments - I'm _very_ impressed with stuff done using curviloft - I haven't seen that yet - must spend more time reading these forums
OK on adding it to PhlatPlugins - no problem, my pleasure and perhaps a small token in return for all the phlat stuff I've downloaded

The aerofoil format issue is certainly an issue in general terms. There are loads of different aerofoil formats (dxf isn't one of them though BTW )).
As a _general_ rule of thumb, you start at 0,0 on the leading edge, go over the top to the trailing edge at 100,0 then return along the bottom to 0,0 again. This can be started at 100,0 in reverse too - although phlatphoil doesn't care nor does it care whether you start going over the top or the bottom.
The technical format that phlatfoil wants for each data point is the following ...
xCo-ordinate TAB yCo-ordinate LF (or CRLF) - where TAB is a Tab character (9), LF is a linefeed character (10) - CR is carriage return character (13). There are usually about 70 co-ordinates per file - again, it doesn't matter how many - the more you get, the better the foil resolution. It is important that you start at 0,0 and finish at 100,0 (or the reverse). If the file were to start at 0,0 to 100,0 over the top then 0,0 to 100,0 over the bottom, then you would end up with a line up the middle of the chord :-(
Some aerofoil files are like this.
Other aerofoil files go from 0,0 to 10,0 - those won't work - you'll end up being 1/10th of the size You can massage (multiply everything by 10) them in something like (Mac) Numbers or Excel (Mac/PC) 'though.

Foils edited for foam cutting software are the easiest to work on as they MUST work their way around the foil (otherwise you end up with slices of discarded foam ) That reminds me about another plugin I might work on....

I have been considering writing a separate plugin that will convert all (or at least some of the more common types) of the different foil types available into the above - I have done something in realbasic and vectorworks but it is incomplete.
Ruby is new to me, so it might take a wee while

BTW, the foils will also need to have a '*.foil' extension too

Cheers

Neil

 

Hi All (again )

Should have mentioned this link - the UIUC Airfoil Database - pretty much the fount of all aerofoil stuff (even though they can't spell aerofoil )...

http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/ ... abase.html

They DO mention DXF files too - sorry

Cheers

Neil

 

Neil, good work! I just tried it, like Mark did with cuviloft, and worked great to make a wing. I did hack mine, so it makes the airfoils in the vertical plane.

@3dmon, my guess is the .foil extension is just a made up extension, like the phlatscript's .cnc extension. Meaning you won't find any.

-Kwok

 

extension shouldn't matter as long as it follows the format that iGull specified

 

I'm lost what is needed to be done to the .dat files?

 

Hi All

Exactly, there are just so many 'formats' that it is very difficult to do a "one-size fits all" routine - hence the *.foil extension.

While *.dat is the most common extension, sadly, it doesn't mean that the data within are all in the same format. At the last count (I'm currently working on a converter for this BTW) I counted sixteen different *.dat internal formats (of aerofoils that is - not to mention all the other *.dat data types !!!) !! On top of that, you have all the *.cor formats that foamcutters use (indeed there are variations on that too ) plus various historical aerofoil formats and individual stuff that has been created from them (*.dxf/*.dwg/*.igs/*.3ds ad nauseam)
Do we need any more 'standards' ? - perhaps what we need is a STANDARD for US - I'm suggesting that this is the 'standard' (we could have endless committee meetings about it of course or just give in and accept it ...

Start from the "leading edge" at 0,0 - over the top to the trailing edge at 100,0 (or 1,0), back to the leading edge underneath to 0,0. Some aerofoil data of course may not end at 100,0 on the trailing edge - it may be 100, -10 or whatever - it is important that it starts at 0,0 and ends at 100, nn (or 1,nn).
Format for data ...
xCo-rd TAB yCo-ord CRLF
(strictly speaking, either CR or LF would do - I'm bowing to OS history here - it just means that it makes it more human readable if opened on multiple OSs).

As many data points as in the original foil so that no data is hurt in the process.

There's no big reason for 0 to 100 rather than 0 to 1 other than the 100 becomes 100% (which indeed 1 does too - I'm talking myself out of it here - which I'm quite happy to - I argue with myself regularly )

The extension as *.foil - which is probably used for some other format too (I just checked filext.com, it isn't - probably because it's got four letters

It all depends on whether folks want a 'standard' that they know will work with phlatFoil and sketchup.

Personally, I don't want to get too anal about this as it's only a hobby but
if anyone wants a say in this, speak now or forever hold your peace

WARNING - You may wish to bear in mind that a lot of aerofoil data has commercial copyright !

In the interim (as a temporary measure), if anyone wants a specific aerofoil changed to *.foil format for a current project, just PM me (but not with a folder full of files please )

Meanwhile, I'll plod along with the converter.

Cheers

Neil

 

Thanks Neil,
This is a great tool, I like the idea of setting up a standard just for what we do too.

PEZ

 

One more vote for a standard, what ever you would like it to be.

 

All the foils that I have used I took form the place mentioned above, so for ME they are the standard. Having said that, most of the foils that they have start at 0.0 and go to 1.0 to make the upper line. For some reason they go back to 0.0 and start the lower line back to 1.0. It should be like the files included in this tool, Start at 0.0 and end at 0.0. I don't know why they make it the way they do. That they do it to 1.0 and not to 100.0 makes no difference to me since in SU it is easy to scale it up to the size I want.

Just my $0.02

 

Hi All

I am well on with the foil converter, but have come across what seems to be a limitation in SU - perhaps a SU expert can help me here. It pertains to the resolution of a 'point' (I believe the internal measurements are imperial ? That would then assume a maximum resolution of 1/1000th of an inch (0.001" or 0.025mm ) - entirely unhelpful in a 'CAD' environment ??). I can't find any info on this at sketchup.com.

Here is a very simple example ...

model = Sketchup.active_model
entities = model.active_entities
pts = []
pts[0] = [0, 0, 0]
pts[1] = [100, 0, 0]
pts[2] = [100, 100, 0]
pts[3] = [0, 100, 0]
pts[4] = [0.0001, 100, 0]
# Add the face to the entities in the model
face = entities.add_face pts

This will fail for "(eval):12:in `add_face': Duplicate points in array"
It thinks that 0 in [pt3] and 0.00001 in [pt4] are the same value.
However, if I change 0.0001 to 0.001 in pts[4], then it works OK.
I really can't believe that an application with such a standing as SU can have a limitation like this ??? As we have no control of the data within aerofoils - nor the sizes that the end user might want (although a wing chord of say 60/1000" would require some real quality balsa ), then this is a serious 'limitation'.

Tell me that there is a preference to set this smaller please !!

TIA

Neil

PS Perhaps I should post this elsewhere, my apologies if this is a misdemeanour =;-??

 

Yes, I've read that sketchup's limit is 0.001" resolution. I take this to mean drawing dimension, not internal variable value. You can always check with the ruby gurus at the sketchucation developer's forum: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewforum.php?f=180

I've just done a quick test and nope you can't make an edge between two points, 0.0009" apart. 0.001" works fine. Sample code:

model = Sketchup.active_model
ent = model.entities
t1 = [0,0,0]
p1 = Geom:oint3d.new t1
t2 = [0.001,0,0]
p2 = Geom:oint3d.new t2
line = ent.add_line p1,p2
puts p1, p2, line

The obvious solution would be to scale up your data. I think I've just faced this problem for the 1st time, in my latest plugin. Although not directly. I was slicing up a model in very thing slices, and having problems with anomalies. Scaling the model up, I got less and less problems. Now I am scaling the model to 10,000 inches (that's 10 thousand if you guys use the comma different than we do) and it's working fine now.

-Kwok

 

Hi All

Thanks Kwok - that pretty much verified what I found, so I've scaled all the data instead.

I've completed the aerofoil converter (to the best of my knowledge ) and have attached it and an updated version of phlatFoil to accommodate the new type of *.foil files.
In the spirit of fun, the converter is call 'phoilPal'
You just need to open a 'standard' aerofoil file and then click save - nothing complicated, no choices or decisions to make other than where you want to save the file. phlatFoil works the same as before of course.
I've include a 'readme' with some simple instructions :roll:

Cheers

Neil Attached files Phoilstuff.zip (33.4 KB)Â

 

Oh man, Neil, that is so sweet! Together with the loft plugin it's a winner! The conversion worked excellent.

Why did you put them in two different places? Can you make it like Kwok did and put them in one sub-directory?

Allso,can you put the zip file in the first post? Someone who comes to this thread will download the from the first post, normally, and if this thread will become a big one, it will be easier to find the latest updates.

Thanks you, Neil, good show.

 

Hi Yoram

Well, phlatFoil is a tool (the foil select part I kept next to it because it seemed logical), phoilPal is really a utility - hence the reason for putting it in plugins.
It can surely be put in the tools menu if folks feel strongly about it ?
I nearly rolled the whole thing into one and keep the original foil format of the data and just do an internal conversion of the file without saving anything at all - just passing the data internally to the draw routines ??? I kept them separate in case anyone had a need for the files - again I'm open to suggestion.

I'm still feeling my way around sketchup and ruby and am not completely at home with it yet. I was going to create tool icons for a toolbar, but it looks like I can't get toolbars on the Mac - is this the case ??? (and if I can't have them on my Mac then you're not getting them on your PCs - so there )

As Yoram suggested, I've put the latest download in the first post of the series.

Cheers

Neil

 

Knew I shouldn't have included a readme

Everything goes in the plugins folder bar the aerofoils (keep them somewhere else).
The software sorts out which menus it attaches itself to - phlatFoil attaches to the 'Tools' menu and phoilPal to the 'Plugins' menu automagically.
Hope that helps.

Cheers

Neil