# Caliper

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

#### Downloadable Files

- BlenderCaliper.1.4 (5252)
- BlenderCaliper.1.3 (802)
- BlenderCaliper.1.2 (687)
- BlenderCaliper.1.1 (631)
- BlenderCaliper.1.0 (665)

## HELP REALISE THE NEW CALIPER FOR BLENDER 2.6X

This script measures the distance between 2 points, and converts it to a real world equivalent.

It also can create a mesh and text object to display the result in a renderable format.
The script was developed commercially for: Render Reality LLC.

A big thank you to the company for allowing the script to be released under the GPL license!

# Requirements

This script is written for use with blender 2.43 and up to 2.49.

# The Gui

# The Top

At the very top you can see what version of the script you are using.

In the results and messages block you normally get to see the measurement result.

In case of an error a message explaining the error should appear.

# Object settings

Here you can set a nr of general things concerning the objects the script creates.

Text

When selected the script will create a 3d text object to display the measurement result.

Arrow

When selected the script will create a 3d mesh object to display what points were measured.

Clean

When selected the script will remove any previous measurement objects made between these two measured points.Will not work in case you renamed your objects after the last run of the script. May not work correctly if the object names are very long. May not work if you edited your meshes since the previous run. Cleaned objects won’t be truly removed until your save and reload your file twice!

Tip: if you deselect Text and Arrow but have Clean selected you can remove the measurement object and clean your scene.

Layers

In the block of small toggle buttons you can select on what layers the measurement objects should be created.

Color

In this dropdown box you can select what the initial color of the measurement material should be. The script will only create the material once. You can adapt the material after it has been created.

# Arrow style

Arrow type

In the arrow type dropdown box you can select what arrow shape you want created.

Arrow alignment

Here you can set how the arrow and text objects for the measurement will align. The options are front, top, rear & bottom. If your measurement aligns to the left and you want it aligned to the right switch from front to rear or top to bottom to invert the objects.

Arrow scale

In the scale setting you set the relative size of the arrow object. The arrow will always stretch between the measured points. Changing the scale will make the arrow fatter or skinnier.

# Text style

Bevel

Will set the bevel value for the created text object.

Ext

Will set the extrusion level (depth) of the created text object.

Size

Sets the size of the created text object.

Offset

Sets the offset of the created text object.

Tip:

if you create a larger arrow object you want to change this value.

# Measurement settings

Measure the distance in

Here you can select what object types you want to measure between or in.

Measurement Constraint

Here you can constrain the measurement to a specific axis. So if you select X for instance only the distance along the x axis will be measured.

Tip Remember that when you do a “closest/furthest” measurement the script will first get the location and then constrain the result to that axis! So if you constrain along the x axis, you will still get the closest points but perhaps not the closest along the x axis!

Constrain objects

This option is only available if the measurement constraint option is active. When selected the created objects displaying the measurement will also align on the axis to which the measurement was constrained. The objects will be positioned relative to the point measured in the object/vert/edge/face you selected second. This selection can give you multiple options in the next box. Two objects Selecting this allows you to measure the distance between two object centers of selected objects.

Two meshes

Selecting two meshes gives you a nr of choices that should explain themselves. One mesh Selecting one mesh allows you not only to measure between some preset defaults but selected parts as well. You must select the parts in edit mode. Edit mode will be exited by the script!

# Output style

In this section you set what measurement result format you want.

Measurement output type

Here you set the largest value you want to measure in.

Measurement levels

Only available if your largest value isn’t the smallest available or blender units. Here you set the smallest increment in your measurement result. So if your output type is in km and you set the levels to mm you might get: 1 km 1 m 1 cm 1 m

Measurement detail

Here you can select how much detail you want in the smallest increment of your measurement. If the smallest measurement is in inches the selector will allow you to set divisions, otherwise it’s how many digits behind the comma.

# Input style

Here you set how a blender unit is interpreted by the script.

Measurement input type

You can set here to what base value the blender unit should be converted.

Scale

The scale value what a blender unit converts to in the base value.

# Major functions

Here you can set what action the script should undertake.

Measure

When clicked the script will measure accoring to your settings and selections.

Exit

When clicked the script will exit. Alternatively you can click the escape button on your keyboard.

# That’s it

Dolf