It seems that the world is full of patent trolls nowadays. I think I'll go ahead and patent all my wild ideas so I'll be able to sue a few multinationals some years from now.

Back to discussion, I bought, downloaded and installed Vue Pioneer's RenderUp module in Windows 7. So I switched to XP to see how automatic the synchronization would be. This is the result:
vue8.jpg
I still have to figure out how to get the same module in XP. All I've been able to get is error messages. I guess their licensing system is not perfect after all.

UPDATE: The message I posted went away after entering my e-mail and password again. Now I understand it works pretty much like Windows Live Messenge. And about the module, E-on gives you the option to download and keep an installer for each module. Even if you're such a clueless guy that you lose the downloaded installer, they allow you to download it again, up to five times.

Awesome! Thanks Pete!

Thanks. . .

sorry my bad.

@unknownuser said:

And not part of the plugin at all, but quite interesting, is this little line of code you can enter into the ruby console and it will pop up a :

Sketchup.send_action 10624

thanks chris, i suspected there was more to it, to bad it never got finished. was probably intended to develop into a full fledge animation system??

now if i could figure what any of the stuff in the 'camera control menu' means 😕 it could be useful 😆

if you all really want to know the best way to deal with GSU plugins on macs then check it:
💚

[i won't go into the podium spiel again and how to deal with it but check this post --
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=146352#p146352
that said, for best operation, get rid of the user/lib/etc plugin folder if you have one.. it wasn't there when you originally installed su7 and the only reason it exist is because the podium installer created it...]

ok, here's how you do it..

1.)
go to the sketchup folder:
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp
once there, you'll see the plugin folder.. drag that folder to the finder's sidebar.. this in effect will create a shortcut to your plugin folder so you're not always navigating 6-7 folders deep to get to it
[as a sidenote, i also like to keep my current project folders there.. gives me quick access to see all my files in different views (list,column,cover flow, or icon) + it's right there in all the apps save dialogs as well.. once you're done with a project, just drag it out of the sidebar and it will do the smoke puff thing.. it doesn't erase anything, it's similar to dragging something out of the dock).. fwiw, i always have my su plugin folder there..

2.)
in safari's general preferences, check 'open safe files after downloading'... this will unzip your downloads automatically as they come in.. (and this isn't really necessary.. it's just my preference and it saves an extra step)

also, in the same preference area, set 'save downloaded files to' the downloads folder which should be in the dock

3.)download a ruby from sketchucation, open the download folder, drag the files to the sidebar plugin folder, and start sketchup.. done son..

here's a video showing me setting up the sidebar then downloading chris fullmer's perpendicular face tools, installing it and restarting sketchup..

it's a lot faster and easier to do than typing all of these instructions 😄
good luck

[flash=853,505:71dnuzhj]http://www.youtube.com/v/HOJFjy18mKQ&hl=en&fs=1&[/flash:71dnuzhj]

hey tom,

yeah, i remember hearing about punch a few ago but never really looked into it..

$1700 is pretty much outside of my price range (sharkFX) but the $250 viacad pro is doable.. especially if this 'tangent covers' tool does what i'm thinking it will!
http://www.punchcad.com/products/viacadprov6_features.htm

thanks for the reminder. i'll definitely get the demo and try it out.

@dedmin said:

http://www.sycode.com/products/stl_import_su/index.htm
But the best weapon is DeepExploration!

I did see sycode and that seems to be a feasible option. Are there any thoughts on the functionality of sycode, is it worth the money?

@ashraf said:

OSG Composer http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/osg-composer-main.aspx
is another option it is capable of reading Solidworks (up to 2009), IGES and STEP files and exporting Collada files readable by SketchUp.

I have worked with DeepExploration but not OSG Comoser. Using a third party software would be a last resort because it is inefficient. The ability to translate right from Sketchup would be the best option

Hm, yes, looks like things have taken a turn for the better. Let's wait and see.

You can select once all plant-components in the scene, made in SketchUp, then in the material editor (Basic mode) check and mark "Use color map" them by double-clicking in one window (invert mask, if necessary), then on the context menu RMB or in Edit menu select "Replace by (keep proportions)" with Alpha Plane, then in the menu "Orientation" enter 90 degrees (Pitch). Then the only piece mark that it is Billboard, Adjust plane proportions and Keep vertical should marked too, it is possible in a single window, not closing after each point.

It turns very quickly, I also use a lot of plants in my work 😄

http://s52.radikal.ru/i137/0910/ea/8381b5e0de4bt.jpg

@chango70 said:

Is there a daylight analysis tool (which will be very useful for Architects)?

http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=gallery&p=6

I have played around with the settings and think the ones that most achieve a SketchUp 'lookalike' are 'Cad Optimized Lights' which I think is the default and 'Shaded Illustration'. I attach some screen shots of where the settings are along with a sample, Corner Cubby.

Mike

Corner Cubby.pdf

Cad Optimized Lights.jpg

Shaded Illustration.jpg

@adamb said:

And lets not forget LightUp which will do realtime Insolation analysis based on Geolocation and give Kwh/m^2/day for tracking and non-tracking surfaces.

Adam

I was thinking about LightUp for this purpose Adam. I wonder should you consider going down the 'Energy' road with LightUp as it would appear that you would have the foundations laid! Its all above my head unless its put forward in a simple and straight forward package which Open Studio would not appear to be 😮

If you need guinea pigs for such a development process I am sure that the architects and engineers here would be more than willing to work with you.

For me, while pretty pictures are nice, getting the Green element right is far more important 😉

Mike

Sometimes the path that a mac saves to will default to a recently used folder. Try a spotlight search of your file name, and will probably show you the folder it is defaulting to. I change my paths with a great little program call Onyx. But I'm sure a mac user on the forum can give you the OSX method.

cheers for the help guys!

i defintely feel a lot more clued up on it now!
i guess i would be right in saying that there isn't really one use for it, it's one of those all in one programs.
would you agree solo?

uv unwrapping and exporting in different formats is defintely very cool, maybe i'll research little bits of this softwware at a time!

i did e-mail right hemisphere (the people who wrote deep exploration) asking what it's primay function is, when they get back to me i shall let you all know what they say!

pav

@pixero said:

Unity (and others) may not look as good but at least they have the possibility to make a presentation available thru a webpage or an exe that can be put on a cd.

I couldn´t agree more.
I actually got kind of carried away discussing something that actually has more to do with game modding than with presentation itself.

Hi B uttlamo,

With su 6, you can always go to Google's official site and download the pro version:
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60107
If you don't have a license for it, it will gracefully downgrade to the functionalities of the free version and from then on function like free after the 8 hours of trial working time.

I have only tried it once but I had great results!

I exported my model as Collada .dae

Cheers I will look into it.

We have released new versions of IRender nXt which fix this problem.

Thanks for your help Chris.

oh nice! it makes them very fast too 😄

ok, i think i have enough new info to experiment with for a little while.. i'm sure i'll have some more questions in the future
thanks so much for the help so far!