It all works fluidly and wonderfully now! Thank you so much. I'll upload another file once I get one done that it built and runs with SP. Have a good one

I see...

Well for internet data transfer you can do it several ways, easiest being opening up the web-dialog and reading data from that, the interactivity is a bit limited but it has all sorts of uses .
I used it for automated plug-in updating, so when I upload a new script the plugin on users end can update itself without file transfer.

Another way is direct UDP/TCP connection, if you add another file to SU then Ruby can connect to other people directly.
I used this for a small multiplayer game experiment, and it works quite well, tho setting up p2p connections it not without it's faults.
But a friend is doing an upgraded version with a user database where people log-in, chat, multiplayer game lobbies/lists/scores, that may take a while tho.

There was also quite some talk of interactive modeling, but the biggest problem is Ruby still hasn't got the full access to SU, so the synchronizing would probably haveto rebuild the full geometry on the other end(not an ideal solution with bigger models).

Sometimes it is best to start over, delete/replace a joint or explode/remake the group that is causing problems.

Moving and rotating shouldn't be an issue at all, unless you moved joint off center in wheels or anything.
Scaling can go nuts tho, my advice is to scale only internal groups/geometry and not the external groups, or if you already scaled try exloping/remaking the group to reset it (this is also very important with static-mesh as it doesn't like scale).

Also it's always best to upload the problematic model so we can see what is going on.

It's hard to say without seeing your model, could you upload it?

But here are some known issues:

exploding/recreating a group will sever the connection connections will only work on external groups you can only connect one object to controlled joints(motor, servo, piston,..) joints can only be one grouping layer deep

It would probably be better if you make an example model and post it, otherwise it's hard to grasp or even explain.

But here are some pointers:

if you want movable joints add them to a movable group(create a box, then create a hinge, now group them together) if you want those joints stuck to a static object simply create a new box, make it static, then connect the movable joint to the static box

That is a tough one, it's probably not the ideal setup for people animation.
SP is great for solid part animation but with bodies it will always look wooden, so I guess it's up to you to decide if that is acceptable.

The good part about SP is you can record your animation and then do playback while recording in any desirable camera angle, you can also export the recording and render it with other plugins.

SP + rendering:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=21826
Results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHRXDq8fuPk

At this point it's not possible to do it directly, the entity name is just for show.

SP has it's internal names in entity attributes so the ID's stay the same and it wont come to overlapping or missing connections.
But if you really want to rename them then get Attribute Manager plugin for SU, and then edit the joint names with it.

Ok, seems to be obtained by increasing both Damp and Acceleration.

Regards

That is just a glitch...Chris hasn't made the change in the logline yet.

Enjoy

On a semi related link I noticed on the model below that block defined as static meshes performed slightly
differently than those defined as boxes that were made static. The latter seems to better describe reality. This model was done with SP32.

Static blocks versus static mesh

Hehe, thanks for the link!

@adyall said:

Michael how exactly did you solve this problem? I have the identical one. I placed the downloaded folder into the plugins folder under /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp, then restarted SU but cannot see the toolbar. I've looked for it under view>tool palettes

Thanks,
Andrew

Andrew,
Sorry for the delay in replying
I'm pretty sure that my original download was damaged or incomplete, so ...
First I trashed all trace of the first attempt, and then emptied the Trash.
Then I downloaded again, and copied the unzipped items into place.
... after which [as they say] "it just worked".

N.B.
1: it seems to be essential that the plugins folder is in the tree starting "Macintosh HD" not the one starting at your home folder. i.e. under DEVICES not under PLACES
2: you need to copy across everything that unzips ... the "loose" files as well as the folder.

Hope that helps.
MichaelG.

Thanks Sofie9536. I Think I understand. If I got it right, you have group the hinge/servo together with the frame for the next servo below it to use them together.

Just out of curosity did you find some one?

Paul

You know, Jean, that you, as a moderator, can even move the topic there!
😉

(Now topic moved...)

MoveTopic.png

That would be me....

Let me know.

Regards

Interesting. Thanks very much!

--PinkSkink

I have found a small work-around, if you click on the control panel slider without grabbing it, it jumps left to the zero position.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Thanks so much! I've got it to work with that script!

Can you give me the exact steps you use when it fails?