@jim said: The conclusion I keep coming to is that a WebDialog-based User Interface Manager is the solution. But I'm not sure what that would look like. One idea I've been playing with recently: a tool that launches other tools. Then you could hide all toolbars. When you want to switch tool, you hit a shortcut that activates the tool that brings up a set of toolbars drawn on the viewport - like Fredo's tools.

@jmjira said: Hello: I'd like to write a ruby script for a pipe flange and rather than input the dimensions of the flange (pipe size, thickness, outside diameter...) Thanks Joe Sorry can't help with the coding stuff, have you tried engineeringtoolbox.rb http://sketchup.engineeringtoolbox.com/ or the piping ruby at http://www.3skeng.com/ both work and are free john

+1 Jim. Very interesting stuff there. Thanks for posting it, Chris

@pixero said: Is there a plugin to export what's selected? I'm trying to make a plugin for a special purpose that would triangulate and export everything in a selection with a given prefix and fileformat(.dae) and then hide it, all at the click of a button. Also how do I make it iterate through all groups and components to triangulate? Can the triangulation be made at export time so it wouldnt affect the geometry in the scene? Any help appreciated. Use the ideas in my export_selection.rb for the export. As you have the selection you can iterate through its items and use e.hidden=true ? Your best bet for the triangulation would be to make a new group of the selection, copy the group, explode the original new group back where it was [and also 'hide' its contents] - now you have a copy of everything for export - simply group.erase! when you are done to get rid of the unwanted now triangulated stuff? To make the triangulations use my triangulateFace.rb ideas. Iterate through the group.entities and triangulate any faces, if it's a group iterate through its contents subgroup.entities.to_a and triangulate any faces in it [make a def to process these subgroups that can be recalled within itself to process groups in groups etc]... To triangulate faces inside any component instances will be more fraught since changing a definition could affect instances outside of the selection... So if having components in the exported set is unimportant then you can take each component-instance add it to a new subgroup [which is given the same name/description if required] and explode the instance - that way the contents are kept but can be changed independent of the definition... as it's now in a group process it as other groups to triangulate it - you need to trap for instances that are inside groups and inside instances and group/explode them the same...

@pauline01 said: Just one things, for add keyboard shortcuts, what's is the function? That's something the user sets up.

My fault, it is ISkpDocument*, not ISketchUpDocument*. Now it works! Thank you very much!

Upload a sample model, and I will see if I can find the utility to create a bump map. The model should be just the terrain, because I create the bump map by rendering the model from a top view, retaining the Z-values, and then using them to create the bump map.

Awesome -- all very helpful bits of info!

You might just try and keep the state of the control in your own Js variable, and then use onclick or onchange events to toggle the variable ON/OFF value. I do it for 'toggle buttons' such as buttons that collapse / uncollapse a <DIV>.

@jim said: Just a note - Sketchup.format_area manages the conversion from sq. in. to model units. If the Model Units are mm; Sketchup.format_area(1.0).to_f > ==> 645.16 One of the more useless aspects of this 'method' [ .format_area] is that you will often draw in mmor cmbut want areas in sqm! Like drawing in inchesand wanting areas in sqft... SUp has many methods that are easily done another way but lacks so many methods it still really needs...

It's almost always best to leave the active layer as Layer0 and simply assign other layers to things as you make them... You usually wan to leave 'raw geometry' [edges/faces] on Layer0 - you can then set other layers for Groups/Component_Instances/Text etc to control their visibility...

Thanks for passing on the word Andrew. (would it help the case if I put in an official request myself? - or by any of the other users?) Just to add to my last statement - I work in an architectural company, lots of very heavy software, Autodesk's suite of AutoCAD and Revit etc, Adobe... They all consume more and more resources. We just recently upgraded our computers, and when I did we chose 64bit as we no point in staying with 32bit any more. We need 64bit in order to make our hardware keep with the software - but now we're left with missing thumbnails for .skp files and even .pdf files (unless we open 32bit apps just to be able to browse visually.)

Thanks for the explanation, Tig! I have a better perceptive on why things were happening the way they were.

Hello and welcome! Google Sketchup FAQ: http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/faq.html The API manual: http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/index.html More links and info in the Stickies in this forum section - such as this one: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=10142 Some other tips: Wrap your code in a module to avoid conflicts with other scripts. Don't modify base classes - as other scripts might rely on their original behaviour. Beware observers - many are bugged.

AdamB, cheers for the reply, before attempting to write any rubies myself I'm trying to analyze what I can and can't see using Xcode and Console (in combination) it appears (to me) that if a ruby or it's loader.rb and subfolder reside in SU Plugin folder they will be initiated on start-up whether required or not and generate error reports if they have a prerequisite for "xxx" which is not available/selected prior to start-up(which, of course it's not) This type of error does't seem to be generated for rubies that are placed inside their own sub-folder with a non-automatic step in their path i.e. rudy console, or a separate toolbar ruby that has it's own sub-folder that contains a on/off-button for an in-folder loader ruby that opens/closes the desired ruby. Not even sure I follow that myself, but main lightup ruby (for example) appears to have to a degree of separation (for activation at least) and cannot generate errors and cause conflicts, unless it's actually being used and there's a problem. What I think I'm after is a way to active/de-active any ruby, from within SU using a single(per ruby) external action. Do you know if that's even realistic en-mass? Which Xcode template is appropriate for SU rubies? or is there an importable or custom layout that's preferable? cheers john

Thanks but onunload doesn't work. I will give the appObserver a try later on.

I like those lines of code Chris, I want to test those later tonight. Chris

Yes, .move! is great for animations for those reasons. It should not be compared to .transform! though, as they are dissimilar methods. It should be compared only to .transformation = . As that is what the .move! method is acutally doing. Chris

@thomthom said: But I do like the sound of the @tags it has available. Appear to leave more control than plain RDoc. Such as parameter types and return types and version numbering. It's sounding better all the time! Keep us advised.

@pout said: Am I correct? Is it not possible to create a toolbar, from in the ruby console, using these commands? The danger is that the console is running inside Object, and you are using local variables (cmd and toolbar.) Any other 'unwrapped' script that afterward uses the same variable names, will make those 'symbols' point to other UI::Command and UI::Toolbar objects, and you will lose access to them. (Ruby will still know what they are, and the command and toolbar should still work. But you will not be able to make any changes, such as changing the tooltip text.) IF that's OK, or your just testing, no harm. But if you want later access to your command or toolbar objects, you will need to keep them in unique variable identifiers. For example, you could store them in a Hash. MyToolbars={'FancyCommand' => cmd, 'PoutTools' => toolbar } Then later on: MyToolbars['FancyCommand'].tooltip="Select object before doing something Fancy!" See this post for more info: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=15621&p=220266#p219128