Fractal Tree Maker for SketchUp - Free add-on

Jorgensen · 6 Dec 2008, 12:39

I can't figure out how to make it work with VRAY

Does it export a aplha channel ?

Jorgensen · 6 Dec 2008, 13:01

Ah. I found a solution.

Al Hart · 6 Dec 2008, 14:19

Al,

Could you add in standard tree shapes as defaults?

One of the reasons we released RpTreeMaker as a free product is that we are hoping some SketchUp users will help us create some standard trees and save them on the 3D warehouse to share with other users.

The definition for each tree can be accessed as a .ArPlant file, and then used as the starting point for changes, or for other trees.

This doesn't work yet because:

If you use custom leaves or bark, we need to save them in the .SKP file as well. (We plan to do this, but haven;t done it yet). That way the .SKP file for a tree will have everything it needs to recreate the tree, or save similar trees.
We need to write a function to save the .ArPlant file, which defines a tree, from the .SKP file.

We will get to these things soon. Currently we are trying to get the new version released which allows rotation of the trees and higher resolutions. We should have a new version in the next day or so,

Also, we are working on a shadow mask for the tree which will make useful shadows in SketchUp, and work better with renderers like Podium and Vray. (The IRender rendering engine already re-processes the trees creating new fractal trees during the rendering process).

Al Hart · 6 Dec 2008, 14:25

@matthew.robert said:

Anyone else getting the error...

Error Loading File RpTreeMaker_loader.rb
> 126; The specified module could not be found.   - C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/Win32API.so

after installing the tree maker with the "Click here to install RpTreeMaker 2_HK24tm.exe" file and starting up SketchUp?

Any thoughts?

C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/Win32API.so should have been installed as part of RpTreeMaker.

Is SketchUp installed on your machine in: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7
Did SketchUp put RpTreeMaker_loader.rb into C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\plugins or did you copy it there by hand?
Uninstall RpTreeMaker, and reinstall it being careful to select the proper location for SketchUp.
After reinstalling it verify that RpTreeMaker_loader.rb and Win32API.so are located in the SketchUp plugins folder.

matthew.robert · 6 Dec 2008, 20:36

@al hart said:

Is SketchUp installed on your machine in: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7

Did SketchUp put RpTreeMaker_loader.rb into C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\plugins or did you copy it there by hand?

Uninstall RpTreeMaker, and reinstall it being careful to select the proper location for SketchUp.

After reinstalling it verify that RpTreeMaker_loader.rb and Win32API.so are located in the SketchUp plugins folder.

Hi Al, tried all those with no luck. For 2, I did not do any manual copying. My SketchUp Pro install is about as clean as it can get BUT I am running it on XP SP3 with Parallels ver. 4 (as a non-bootcamp VM). I have Vista installed via Bootcamp, I will give that a shot.

I will attach the files that got installed in my plugins folder. They are either encrypted, corrupt, or both (maybe?). Should a separate treeeditor.exe file be installed somewhere, I am not seeing that.

Matt

files.zip

matthew.robert · 6 Dec 2008, 22:42

I must be missing some important step... I had the exact same issue on my Bootcamp Vista partition, which for all practical purposes is a different os its own partitioned HD space.

If someone were to send me the necessary files, could I just move them into place manually?

Matt

Al Hart · 6 Dec 2008, 23:20

@matthew.robert said:

I must be missing some important step... I had the exact same issue on my Bootcamp Vista partition, which for all practical purposes is a different os its own partitioned HD space.

If someone were to send me the necessary files, could I just move them into place manually?

Matt

Try typing these two lines into the Ruby Console:

require 'Win32API'

RegCloseKey = Win32API.new('advapi32', 'RegCloseKey', 'L', 'L')

(copy and paste them into the ruby console)

Are you running on a Mac?

matthew.robert · 7 Dec 2008, 07:26

Ok, tried that. I had to do each line separately, would've that made a difference? Attached is a screen shot of the results.

Yup on running a Mac. I have XP running as a VM and Vista that I occasionally boot into natively. Think that might be causing the issues? Its a unibody MBP.

Matt

Al Hart · 7 Dec 2008, 07:48

@matthew.robert said:

Yup on running a Mac. I have XP running as a VM and Vista that I occasionally boot into natively. Think that might be causing the issues? Its a unibody MBP.
Matt

Hmm.

After "require Win32API",

if you type in just:

Win32API on a Windows machine, it responds with something.

Win32API
    Win32API
Win32API.class
    Class
Win32API.id
    95261808

We'll have to see if there is a version of Win32API.so which works on the Mac partition.

Try running the two executables (.exe) in C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker (or it s equivalent). TreeEditor.exe and RpTreeMaker.exe. (If they don't run then we have a long way to go to get this to work.

If Win32API is the only problem, we may be able to work around it.

Al Hart · 7 Dec 2008, 18:09

@unknownuser said:

One of the perks I saw was RP Trees, however I found out it creates 2.5D trees, not true 3D trees so it doesn't really fit my needs (Im a landscape designer).

For now I am sticking with Kerkythea, I am quite happy with it, however in the future I may check out your pdf tool-I can see that being useful to me.

When you make trees with RpTreeMaker, they create 2D trees in SketchUp, but when you render the model with IRender, the 2D tree is re-rendered as a 3D fractal tree. (They aren't "true" 3d because we use a 2D leaf and rotate it around) However, we do get very good results.

This is a RpTreeMaker tree rendered with IRender. Note the subtle shadows from the sky on the ground.

matthew.robert · 9 Dec 2008, 03:12

@al hart said:

Try running the two executables (.exe) in C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker (or it s equivalent). TreeEditor.exe and RpTreeMaker.exe. (If they don't run then we have a long way to go to get this to work.

If Win32API is the only problem, we may be able to work around it.

That worked for both my XP VM and Vista BC install. The RpTreeMaker app seemed to run as expected. Must have something to do with running on the Mac hardware?

Matt

L. Banasky · 12 Dec 2008, 12:25

This solved my problem with Vista32, SU7, Win32API.so, and certain plugins.
Re: Some plugins don't work SU 7. Organizer.rb at fault?
by L. Banasky on Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:06 am

CadalogBeamTool.rb is now working. I did a side by side comparison of the files in the main program folder of SU6 and SU7, and moved the missing files from SU6 to SU7 one by one. The file that is required by SU7 that is missing is msvcr71.dll. I tried to enclose the file, but .dll's are not allowed.
Thanks again for all your help,
Larry

Al Hart · 13 Dec 2008, 01:29

There is a new version 0 see New Version.

I started a new thread for it. I'm not sure why???

firestrike · 3 May 2009, 10:36

Hi, this could be a really stupid question, but where are the tree images saved?. I originally found them here

: C:\Users\chris\appdata\Local\Temp\RPS_TreeMaker_Images

but now it doesnt seem to be saving any new tree images their.

thanks for your help and thanks for a great program.

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 13:35

@firestrike said:

Hi, this could be a really stupid question, but where are the tree images saved?. I originally found them here

: C:\Users\chris\appdata\Local\Temp\RPS_TreeMaker_Images

but now it doesnt seem to be saving any new tree images their.

thanks for your help and thanks for a great program.

After placing the tree in SketchUp, load the SketchUp Materials Window, select 'In Model', select the image of the tree, and then select the 'Browse' button to the right of the tree name. It will start browsing in the same folder as the image.

The images to not stay there long. However, to the right of the browse button (in SU 7) there is an "Edit Image" button which will load the image from the material itself into an editor - and then you can save the image somewhere.

6284732 · 5 May 2009, 08:20

oh i can not understand

Al Hart · 5 May 2009, 13:16

@6284732 said:

oh i can not understand

After creating a tree and placing it in SketchUp, click Window/Materials.

When the SketchUp Material Window comes up;

select the "In Model" icon
select the material for the tree, and
select the Edit tab

From the Edit tab:

Select the "Edit texture in an external editor" icon, which will load a photo or image editor program.

In the image editor, go to File/Save As.

In the Save As dialog, use the drop down to the right of the folder name to get the complete path of the folder.

AcesHigh · 6 May 2009, 16:17

Al, do you think its possible to create Paraná Pines (a type of Araucaria tree that is very common in my area) in RPTreeMaker?

Chris Fullmer · 6 May 2009, 16:24

(off topic) I spent some time in Itajuba (em Minas Gerais) and Campos do Jordao and there are lots of the parana arucaria there. Absoultely some of the most amazing trees I've ever seen! They are HUGE. Good request Aces,

Chris

Al Hart · 6 May 2009, 17:04

@aceshigh said:

Al, do you think its possible to create Paraná Pines (a type of Araucaria tree that is very common in my area) in RPTreeMaker?

I pass this on to Roy, who wrote RpTreeMaker, and see if he has any ideas.

Can you get something similar by overlapping two trees - one for the top branches, and one for the lower branches?