SketchUp Portable?
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Hello Folks!
I've been working on setting up my whole portfolio(Pictures,Models,Graphic Design Work, etc...) on a memory stick, so that when I go for meetings and interviews, I can plug it into any PC and show examples.
So I was thinking, Is there anyway I could get SketchUp(Even the free one if I have to) running off a Memory Stick?
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I think someone has had some luck doing this, i'll be dammed if i could remember who though.
It might also be worth checking out the sketchup viewer, its a bit lighter than a full version of SU although im not sure how supportive it is of newer features.
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I found some comments that cdubea made on another forum about this topic. Maybe he'll chime in or maybe you could PM him if needed?
Chris
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Hi Jacob,
What I've done is to put my portfolio into a web site. It can then be viewed using a browser either on the net or from your memory stick. You still need to have an internet connection if you want dynamic views of the models. I use the new Google Earth Plug-in for geo-located buildings and Windows player for non-buildings. The Plug-in is still in Beta mode, so it's a little buggy. You get used to it.
Have a look at the result on:
http://www.twharvey.talktalk.net/index.htm
Good luck,
TomOn another, related, note, it would be cool if Google (or somebody) could put the SU Viewer into a Plug-in like GE. The viewer could then manipulate the model to see detail, etc. as they liked.
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Pretty neat stuff Tom, but it is buggy indeed. Also when you try to zoom in on the object it keeps on 'jumping back'
*seems it was also a bug, works now
any way to get this bigger or even full screen maybe
**While I'm at it, is it possible for multiple models to be in one screen?
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@hfm said:
**While I'm at it, is it possible for multiple models to be in one screen?
Hugo,
Yes. If you go back to the site and click on the Bar W tab on the left, there are five seperate models in this scene. They are all downloaded from 3DW and placed in the GE context. I'm working on a town scene that will have a large number of models in it. I can send you all the code if you need it.
Tom
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you can try build a SketchUp portable using vmware thinapp (formerly thinstall) - see screencast on how to do it here - http://www.thinstall.com/demos/vs_beta_intro/
pitty that it costs a lot of money, but it has a 60 days demo
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like I said in the thread, you can start sketchup from USB Stick. But you will have problems with licensing and net framework on other computers. So Layout won't start also
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twharvey, I've thought about Google Earth Plugin, But I'd like to try to keep it all on the stick, without internet.
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@geh4evr said:
Hello Folks!
I've been working on setting up my whole portfolio(Pictures,Models,Graphic Design Work, etc...) on a memory stick, so that when I go for meetings and interviews, I can plug it into any PC and show examples.
So I was thinking, Is there anyway I could get SketchUp(Even the free one if I have to) running off a Memory Stick?
Don't forget there is still the [free] SketchUp Viewer that you can have on your stick without needing a license etc, Then you'd drop the model skp onto its icon and it'd open in view-only format...
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Well I've been fidling around with Google SketchUp 6(Free Version) for a while today, And I've managed to get it working on a USB 2.0 512MB PNY Attache Memory Stick I've had to remove most of the Materials, and all the Ruby Scripts that aren't needed. What I've also done is remove all the pre-loaded components, and put my models in Place. I will have a look at that idea of twharvey's though, I might be able to use that on my site...
Also, While I'm at it, Does anyone know where I can get the MAC version of SketchUp 6(Free) that would be ready to run(i.e. not in .dmg format)?
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I have a 2gb USB stick that I have SU loaded onto. I have several large drawings on it as well. It works fine for me, just a tad slow, but its far better than nothing.
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I've been running SketchUp free off of a USB drive for some time now. As long as DOTNET is installed on the machine you want to run SketchUp on it will run without being installed.
But, SketchUp will write a plethora of stuff to the registry. The good news is that it's pretty much all written in two hives so...
Before we start, this involves digging around in your registry with regedit. You CAN do major damage to your Windows setup if you don't know what you are doing. Don't do any of this if it's the first time you have ever heard the word registry!!!!!
Then, I got my SketchUp configured like I wanted on my home desktop. Menus, settings, etc, etc, etc. After you are done, run regedit and export all the settings contained in:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google].
Save it as iSketchup.reg
Create a registry entry called dSketchup.reg with the following:
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bugsplat]This will delete MOST of the entries created in your registry by SketchUp. There are some other minor traces left, but for the sake of portability we will leave the registry cleansing to these to keys.
Create a batch file with the following:
echo off
regedit.exe /s %CD%\iSketchup.reg
%CD%\bin\sketchup.exe
regedit.exe /s %CD%\dSketchup.regUnfortunately, this will leave a DOS box showing while you are running SketchUp. I use Bat_To_Exe_Converter.exe to make an executable and assign it the SketchUP icon which alleviates this issue. I honestly don't remember where I got Bat_To_Exe_Converter.exe
This works just fine for me with a slew of add-ins loaded, but there are two main issues:
- Any configuration changes WILL be deleted by the registry cleansing part of the batch file.
- SketchUp files must be opened from within SketchUp. This also means there is no preview capability in Windows Explorer which is a major downside, but I don't think it can be avoided.
I run this configuration from both a USB hard drive and a USB thumb drive with no problems. I've got a slew of components and add-ins loaded and it takes up about 300 mb of drive space. Not too bad.
Questions?
chris
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I've modified my batch files to enable saving changes made to the registry while using SketchUp:
rem -------------------start file-----------
echo off
regedit.exe /s %CD%\iSketchup.reg
%CD%\bin\sketchup.exe
reg.exe export HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google %CD%\isketchup.reg
regedit.exe /s %CD%\dSketchup.reg
rem ------------------end file--------------This batch file does the following
first line: Inserts the file "iSketchup.reg" into your registry (this contains all your settings). Make it a blank file for the first startup. It will be updated when you leave Sketchup.
second line: Runs Sketchup
third line: Exports the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google key to a file "iSketchup.reg". This key contains all the information that Sketchup saves to the registry. File locations, previous files, etc.
fourth line: Deletes most of the stuff left behind by Sketchup.
Work well on multiple machines!
chris
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SketchUp works good with Ubuntu installed on a thmbdrive.
Install ubuntu to thumbdrive same as to HDD, for more info see:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=922782
After this install SketchUp, let it install what it suggests
Go to /home/YOURNAME/wine/drive_c/windows/regedit.exe
expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER
expand software, google, sketchup, glconfig, display and click HW_OK
Change the value to 1.
In wine configuration add SketchUp to applications and set windows version to XP.
open SU and close the startup windows as quick as possible, may need a reboot.
SketchUp only works when the thumbdrive is plugged into a computer with Nvidia card.
Hopefully a screenshot is attached. -
The responses in this thread left be baffled.
All I did was install SU, copy the "Google SketchUp 6" directory from "C:\Program Files\Google" to the USB drive. Take it to the new PC and run the "SketchUp.exe" file.
The only plugin that complained was IDX renderer but I just Ok the error message and everything else works fine.
I only use the free version but I don't think that it has a problem opening models produced by the Pro version.
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Hazza, although your method works su writes some stuff to whichever computer you run it on, chris' post was just explaining how you can stop this from happening.
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For personal use (its free, but you have to register) I have MojoPac installed on a portable 250GB USB Hard Disk.
I use nearly all my applications on the move including Adobe Creative Suite and SketchUp.
Plug in to any host PC (providing it has a modern spec), log in, and away you go.
You use your own personal environment on the "guest" PC.
No files or any sign of your activity is left on the host PC when you log off.
It still has a few minor bugs but nothing that has really caused me any serious problems.Visit: http://www.mojopac.com/
Regards
Mr S
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