Introduction

JJ_pointknife.py will slice through geometry based on a couple of point selections. It basically constrains the slice tool to the points you select and then operates on any of the three axes.

• Quick and accurate way of slicing geometry
  
• Respects poly selections ie. will only slice selected polys if you have a poly selection
  
• modo 2.0 only

Two point slice Here, all polys between the two vertices are sliced which lets you slice across tris...

Across unconnected geometry Because, underneath the hood, it's using the slice tool it will cut all geometry even unconnected.

Poly Selection Constraint Only selected polys get cut.

How to Install JJ_PointKnife with the Form

There are currently two components to jj_pointknife - the script itself, and a configuration file to set up the form. Using the inbuilt arguments you can use the script from a key without having to install the form if you want e.g. jj_pointknife x will knife between the points along x.

The two components are:

jj_pointknife.pl - the perl script itself
jj_pointknife.cfg - the file that creates the form.

Option 1
On both a PC and Mac you have a default location for Application Data. Inside the application data directory there is a Luxology directory which usually hosts your config/preference files and licence data. Within that directory modo provides the ultra useful Configs and Scripts directories. Any scripts and configs you place in here will be automatically available to you. This has to be the preferred option.

On a PC they're usually located here(by default the visibility setting for the Application Data directory might be set to invisible):
C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Luxology

On a Mac:
/Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/Luxology

Option 2
The way the form is configured at the moment means that if you place it directly into your modo resrc folder (on OSX you'll need to open the modo package contents and place it in the Resources folder), the form will become available to you next time you launch the application. This relies on modo's default behaviour but can result in a very cluttered resrc directory. If you then place the script itself in the same directory as modo.app/modo.exe it will be available to the form without any further alterations being required.

Option 3
Alternatively, you can create your own location to store both the script and config file but will need to adjust the path locations in the jj_pointknife.cfg file. The benefit of this approach is that you have control over where you keep your external files and they won't get overwritten should you update modo.

It doesn't really matter where you put them so long as you make sure you have correct paths in the relevant files.

Once you've chosen a location for both files then you need to open up the jj_pointknife.cfg file in a text editor and put in the relevant path to the actual script using search and replace so that every time the script is called it has the correct path. Here's an example of how a single entry should look (but, remember, every entry for the script should be changed to the correct path using a single search and replace).

On a Mac:

<list type="Control" val="cmd @{/Users/julianjo/Desktop/current pbs/jj_pointknife.py}">
<atom type="Label">JJ_Pointknife</atom>
<atom type="Hash">54409416674:control</atom>
</list>

On a PC:

<list type="Control" val="cmd @{C:\Directory with Spaces\subdirectory\jj_pointknife.py}">
<atom type="Label">JJ_Pointknife</atom>
<atom type="Hash">54409416674:control</atom>
</list>


If the path has a space in it then the script needs to enclosed in curly brackets e.g.

@{/Users/julianjo/folder with spaces/jj_wrap.pl}

It's easy to mistakenly delete a quote mark or a space, so make sure you find and replace just the path.

Once you've configured the path in the config file you're nearly ready to roll. Fire up modo, go to File:Config Import and import the jj_pointknife.cfg file you've just amended. This tells modo to load that file, every time you launch modo.

For ease of access to the form simply assign the form to a key.

Versions

Version 1.11: jj_pointknife v1.11.zip
- Fix for error message pop up when not on a main layer where the script wouldn't run even though there was a valid vert selection. 10/08/2006.

Version 1.0: jj_pointknife.py
- Original released version 04.07.2006

Julian Johnson
julian@exch.demon.co.uk