Dear Didier, I cannot seem to get Option 4 to work (drawing a line perpendicular to a face through a point). It draws a temporary line through the centroid, but it won't let me select a point of enter a length. Your perp_line_plane.rb works just fine, and I assumed you had integrated that script into the new collection (hence the 13th icon). Ah, that's it! The 13th Icon!. I like the way your perp_line_plane.rb works: select surface/face and cpoint (on face), then select 'Line perpendicular to face' from Plugins. Enter length in dialogue box and 'bingo', the line is drawn. Beautiful! Kind regards, Bob

I'm getting back to thinking about a single AppObserver that everyone can (hopefully) agree on and use. I want to focus on how to use this observer over how it is implemented, i.e. its interface. In that vein, what about a simple interface as follows? require 'sketchup' require 'sk/app_observer' module SelectToolAtStartup def self.selectSelectTool Sketchup.send_action "selectSelectionTool;" end end Sk;;AppObserver.instance.register(;onNewModel) { SelectToolAtStartup.selectSelectTool } Sk;;AppObserver.instance.register(;onOpenModel) { Sketchup.send_action "selectSelectionTool;" } There would be one and only one AppObserver. The Observer transparently attaches itself when a method is registered, and removes itself when all methods have been unregistered. So any plugin which needs an AppObserver only need require it, and register a method. This same type of interface could be used for all the other "single instance" observers available in SketchUp. I'd like to go ahead and code them all up so plugin devs can start using observers, instead of everyone implementing them individually. I think a library of standard observers would greatly enhance a lot of current plugins, and make writing new plugins with advanced features easier and quicker. But being an amateur, I'd like to hear from more experienced devs on the matter.

WX probably refers to the WxWidgets namespace. A GUI Toolkit like FoxGUI. I can't really see anything. What type of computer is the client running on?

Thanks for your fast answer Jim. For what I've seen most of the plugins do generate a direct menu access. I'll modify the code the ones I use who don't. Thanks again for your excellent toolbar plugin

A .sat file importer/exporter would be very useful for those using mechanical design software.

It is sad. So maybe SU SDK could help, but it isn't within my abilities to play with it. def SU2KT;;texture_distorted?(e,mat,mat_dir) distorted=false temp_tw=Sketchup.create_texture_writer model = Sketchup.active_model entities = model.active_entities model.start_operation "Group" #For Undo group=entities.add_group group.material = mat g_handle=temp_tw.load(group) temp_handle=temp_tw.load(e,mat_dir) entities.erase_entities group Sketchup.undo distorted=true if temp_handle!=g_handle temp_tw=nil return distorted end Here is what I am doing in SU2KT, but it is slow, memory consuming and dirty. Btw. Todd - have you noticed that .materialType doesn't change from 2 back to 1 if a material is not longer colorized. Am I correct? Thanks Tomasz

Gotcha. That's why some of the icons were not at first showing up, I'd left them in their parent folder in the original Ruby folder. Now hat I've moved the parent into Plugins, they work. If anyone can follow that convoluted English. I've also discovered the embedded tutorials, usually in the Directory folder, which certainly help— they include explanations of where the files go. What a great contribution these coders are making to Sketchup. This explains how a lot of effects are generated. Thanks, folks. Jim

TIG Thanks for the quick reply. Not sure where I got the script that is modified. I know I am not capable of modifying the script. I tried you new code, and still have the same results. Thanks for your help. Ken

Thanks Clark. I copied this to the Ruby Forum so more people will see it.

for scripts that you bought from Smustard you could download their "MySmustard" plugin which will check the installed (paid/bought) plugins against your account. It's the easy way of always being up to date.

Thanks Todd I just checked the docs and I should have looked a bit closer rather than doing a straight copy. A bit of word blindness going on - my apologies.

This is no book for Ruby in SketchUp, per se. There are Ruby books and there are SketchUp books. The book I use as a reference for Ruby is called the Pickaxe book. An older copy is available online here: http://phrogz.net/ProgrammingRuby/frameset.html Todd

Well, let MEbe the first to kick your @ss http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=6913&hilit=Plugin It does even morethan you wish.

Okay, hopefully I can get the observer written and working next week.

Here's the situation: When you bring an image into SketchUp for use as a texture, a Material object is created. That object stores the original path to that texture file, so a location already exists. The free version will look in that stored location for reloading materials, and will reload it if it exists. The pro version will let the user specify a folder to search for matching file names. I had not thought about this too much before, but I suppose each texture could be given a specific replacement. That would not be as fast for the user if they chose to do that, but it would be more flexible. The fastest/easiest way for the user would be to specify a folder for replacements. Any need for exporting the images in a model to a folder? I know something exists that does that, but it could be added in...

1 - make faces 2 - extrude lines up, extrude lines using 2 points, etc... all them extrude lines commands. 3 - Windowizer (creates a curtainwall) 4 - select all instances - is that a ruby, or built-in... I forget now... 5 - Joint Push Pull (for push-pulling curves) 6 - pushpull face in any direction (using 2 points), and other pushpull face commands... along normal, along Z, etc. 7 - stair generator 8 - SU2KT (SketchUp 2 Kerkythea) 9 - Proper Animation - (great for showing diff. options for furniture, or doors swinging open) 10 - Scene Exporter pro - once get used to having it... can't live without. 11 - Automated 2D Output 12 - Mirror Selection 13 - Deselect Edges (Deselect Faces) - I think these are rubies... 14 - Offset on surface (and tools on surface) 15 - Purge (this should be number 2) 16 - Layers and Materials plugin by Didier Bur 17 - Intersect overlapping lines 18 - Selection Memory 19 - Soap Skin Bubble 20 - Protrude (closest thing we have to greeble plugin for SU)

The other bug I've noticed with Vista has nothing to do with ruby, but with dialogs in general: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10719 Not sure if it's affecting your web dialogs. CB.

nope. I've asked Google for this possibility. We'll see...

a SPAN does not have a value. If there is no other HTML in the span, then you can get the contents by innerHTML. I am not sure if using the WebDialog method "get_element_value" will work in this case. // javascript var txt = document.getElementById("TestElement").innerHTML

Its one of the things I have not been able to resolve. I will give your suggestion a try, in the near future. thanks!