Augmented Reality Plug-in for Google Sketch-Up released

Graziano Terenzi · 8 Jan 2009, 10:42

I will announce a new release of ARplugin soon. It will include a scaling option, a newer and much more flexible license management system, and finally a stundent and an educational license.

In the meanwhile, I must confess that an upload on our website of a version of ARplugin endowed with the first two aforementioned features has been made today.
If you want, you can download it
http://www.inglobetechnologies.com/en/products/arplugin_su/info.php.

Graziano

brk · 10 Jan 2009, 09:18

Any updates on the mac version?

MALAISE · 10 Jan 2009, 10:06

Hi Graziano

Back after a while (service-travel..), I've downloaded the "modified version" but encountering some trouble with licensing. After proper uninstall of the previous version ( the one without scale option ), I put the newest one. The licencing procedure never runs correctly, no chance to reach the one-line licensing module and so I can't activate the full program... Back to the previous version, then all works perfectly even the licensing process.

May be, I do something wrong, or some files are missing..Please, let's see the Userguide pdf files they contain broken or very old URL, and according to me, the licensing explanation procedure is quite less clear than before.

Regards

MALAISE

Graziano Terenzi · 10 Jan 2009, 13:16

@malaise said:

Back after a while (service-travel..), I've downloaded the "modified version" but encountering some trouble with licensing. After proper uninstall of the previous version ( the one without scale option ), I put the newest one. The licencing procedure never runs correctly, no chance to reach the one-line licensing module and so I can't activate the full program... Back to the previous version, then all works perfectly even the licensing process.

May be, I do something wrong, or some files are missing..Please, let's see the Userguide pdf files they contain broken or very old URL, and according to me, the licensing explanation procedure is quite less clear than before.

Regards

MALAISE

Dear Malaise,

sorry for the problems. Before explaining the new licensing procedure, here is the rationale behind the change: the previous licensing model forced users to bind their license to a single machine quite tightly and had no simple license transfer procedure. On the other hand, with the new procedure users can 'transfer' their licenses among their machines easily.

Briefly, the new procedure is as follow:

users freely register on the website
users log in in a reserved area where they can:
2.1 buy one or more licenses
2.2 activate a license (if already bought some licenses)
2.3 release a license (if already activated)

The activate/release process is required to let users "transfer" a license. The main advantage of this approach is that it all happens in realtime, so you do not have to wait for any email.

So, talking about your case, it looks like you have to do the registration on the website (we could do it on behalf of you, but you should do it by yourself in order to choose a personal password). Of course you do not need to follow step 2.1, but when you will be registered we'll make a license available for you. Once we make the license available, you can login to get the license ID for new request ID your plugin will generate.

I have to remark however that old links do not work anymore since they have been substituted by the completely new mechanism.

Thank you again for your precious feedback.

If you keep encountering any problem, don't hesitate to contact us. But as usual we welcome open discussion on this forum.

With reference to the MAC version of ARplugin

@brk said:

Any updates on the mac version?

we are working on it. We will keep you informed.

Regards

Graziano

MALAISE · 10 Jan 2009, 19:21

Hi Graziano and Alessandro

I got your message about the new procedure. Clearly a lot of advantages with such a procedure. I followed instructions given in the private message, but i've done something wrong. Because I could't achieve the new installation, I stored the ID given in a short file. Then I uninstall this new release
(10 Jan 09) and back to the previous one ( 26 dec 08) which works well in licenced mode.

Then, in order to activate the new licence you send me, I copy this stored ID when asked . Of course by reinstalling the new release, an other ID has been generated which doesn't fit with the new licence. So now I'm totaly blocked and this licence is obsolete, no chance to use it. Once more time, I'm back to Arplugin ( 26 Dec 08).

Any advice would be welcome

Regards and sorry for confusion

MALAISE

Graziano Terenzi · 11 Jan 2009, 10:44

@malaise said:

Hi Graziano and Alessandro

I got your message about the new procedure. Clearly a lot of advantages with such a procedure. I followed instructions given in the private message, but i've done something wrong. Because I could't achieve the new installation, I stored the ID given in a short file. Then I uninstall this new release
(10 Jan 09) and back to the previous one ( 26 dec 08) which works well in licenced mode.

Then, in order to activate the new licence you send me, I copy this stored ID when asked . Of course by reinstalling the new release, an other ID has been generated which doesn't fit with the new licence. So now I'm totaly blocked and this licence is obsolete, no chance to use it. Once more time, I'm back to Arplugin ( 26 Dec 08).

Any advice would be welcome

Regards and sorry for confusion

MALAISE

Dear MALAISE,
we are sorry for your problems, we had a subtle issue with licensing on XP that we just fixed, so, please, follow these steps:

remove any installation of the plugin from your system
download it again (last version 11th Jan)
copy the NEW request ID that will be generated by the license manager
use the request ID obtained from step 3 with the online procedure to obtain the new license ID

This should solve the problem. We already have made your license available again in our database. Please feel free to contact us for any question.

Graziano

Graziano Terenzi · 12 Jan 2009, 12:34

Hi all,

I'm happy to announce that both the Student Licenseand the Educational License have been released.
http://www.inglobetechnologies.com/en/products/arplugin_su/info.php

Also a new real-time 3D optimization method is being implemented that will overcome problems with not-optimal 3D models.

Regards

Graziano

alpmeadow · 13 Jan 2009, 12:03

Very Impressed with this presentation format. I am wondering out loud how to best use a google earth import in SU and view terrain and model with this plugin. In the future, is there interest in making this plugin works with Google Earth?
Thanks for this.
Cheers
alpmeadow

Graziano just noticed that the spelling for Sketchup on your site needs correcting.

Graziano Terenzi · 14 Jan 2009, 08:31

Alpmeadow,
thank you very much both for sharing ideas and for your remarks.
With reference to relating the ARplugin to GE, actually we have been thinking about
that for a while. We will keep you informed on future development which will relate to this fashinating topic.
Thank you again
Graziano

jcostaribeiro · 21 Jan 2009, 16:22

Hi!

Just installed the Armedia demo plug-in and I consider it has an enormous potential.
I encountered a small problem: the augmented reality renders a rotating cube with the Armedia logo on screen instead of the (simple) model drawn on Sketchup.
What is problem?

Thank you in advance,

João

Graziano Terenzi · 21 Jan 2009, 17:20

João,
thank you for reporting us with any problem.
Actually this one sounds new to us.

There can be two main reasons for the plugin behaving like this.
The first is that you or SketchUp are aborting in some way the exporting process.
The other is that your PC or Operative System is doing something wrong (What is your OS? Which version of SketchUp?).

To make a check, try to load a model from the SketchUp 3d Warehouse and come back to us, keeping in mind that the time limit of the demo will not allow a proper visualization of a too much complex model.

In case, don't hesitate to send us by email the model you have been trying.
Thank you again
Regards

Graziano

jcostaribeiro · 22 Jan 2009, 10:27

Dear Graziano,

I was testing the plugin with a very simple model (a 2x2x2 meter cube).
So this is not an issue.

My Sketchup version in 6.0.515 on a Windows XP.

Best regards,

João

Graziano Terenzi · 22 Jan 2009, 14:46

Dear João,

to our knowledge there is nothing wrong with the plugin as well as with the version of SketchUp you have been using. Therefore there must be something in your computer settings that makes the plugin work this way.

Something like that could also take place sometimes when you are using an account which does not grant you the right privileges on your OS. Are you accessing SketchUp as an administrator? If not, try it out.

Best regards

Graziano

MALAISE · 25 Jan 2009, 10:16

Hi Graziano and Inglobe Team

A short question : I bought a brand new computer last week. Could you tell us how to transfer the licence to that new computer ?

Thanks for that incredible program.
Regards

MALAISE

Graziano Terenzi · 26 Jan 2009, 08:54

@malaise said:

Hi Graziano and Inglobe Team

A short question : I bought a brand new computer last week. Could you tell us how to transfer the licence to that new computer ?

Thanks for that incredible program.
Regards

MALAISE

Dear MALAISE,
there are two possibilities to transfer a license from a machine to another:

1: by uninstalling a registerd version of the plugin: by doing so, after the unistallation process, you'll be automatically provided with a "Release ID" that will be copied into the clipboard. Then you need to paste that ID in the online license manager in order to have your license available again for another installation

OR

by simply running your local license manager on the machine with the registered version, and:
a) clicking the "Release a License" button
b) confirming your intention to release the license (by clicking on "yes")
c) copying to the clipboard the generated "Release ID"
d) pasting the "Release ID" on our online license manager in order to have your license available again for a new activation

If you need further assistance do not hesitate to write. Regards.
Graziano

tpjonckh · 27 Jan 2009, 15:33

I noticed an update today?

Can you tell us what was implemented...

Thanks

Graziano Terenzi · 28 Jan 2009, 10:05

Dear tpjonckh,
the new update only contains a minor improvement of the licensing interface.
Thank you

Graziano

Graziano Terenzi · 29 Jan 2009, 15:21

Dear all,
today we have uploaded an update of the ARplugin (29th January, 2009) and of the documentation which includes an upgrade that will surely be of some interest to many of you.

The upgrade consists in a functionality which improves objects stability in bad circumstances.
As some of you might have noted, in some circumstances you may see your model a bit trilling. This can be due to different reasons, just like the distance between the camera and the marker and a bad adjustment of camera parameters (brightness, contrast etc.), just to mention some.
With this upgrade now you can reduce this undesired effect simply by pressing the key "a".

You can download both the updated version and documentation from the usual webpage

Maintenance

(www.inglobetechnologies.com)

For those who bought a license we have prepared a patch that will be available very soon on the same page. By using the patch you won't need to repeat the license activation procedure. So, keep checking our website for updates.

Regards

Graziano

Siebe · 23 Feb 2009, 12:35

This is soooo cool! I got it working, using my own Sketchup model. Great stuff.

However, the plugin crashes after, say 20 seconds. Anywhere I can report this to the developers?
I'm running Windows XP on a MacBook Pro, using the built-in webcam.

Does anyone know how to record this, besides running a screen-capturing program?

Cheers,
Siebe

Chris Fullmer · 23 Feb 2009, 19:02

Crashes after 20 seconds or just stops? It is set to run for a short time then turn off. That way you can see what it does and it should entice you to buy the plugin if you want the full functionality (and it won't stop after 20-30 seconds).

Chris