[request] Cline from Camera Eye to Sun

derei

Hy, I need to position a Light Emitting plane for my scene, to replace SUN for rendering, but I want to position it exactly in place of sun (to have same shadows). For that, I need an axis to point from Camera View to Sun direction. Any plugin for that? Or is possible with some code directly from ruby console?

TIG

Untried.
model=Sketchup.active_model sdir=model.shadow_info["SunDirection"] Vector3d(0.259928, -0.492601, 0.830531) cama=model.active_view.camera ceye=cama.eye ctar=cama.target vec2=ctar.vector_to(ceye) vect=Geom::Vector3d.linear_combination(0.5, sdir, 0.5, vec2)
Perhaps vect is the vector from the eye to the sun ?
OR perhaps just sdir is the vector ? Test it and see...

Didier Bur

Just for fun, this one-line command creates a guide line from eye to sun.

Sketchup.active_model.entities.add_cline(Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.eye,Geom;;Vector3d.linear_combination(0.5,Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info["SunDirection"],0.5,Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.target.vector_to(Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.eye)))

TIG

@didier bur said:

Just for fun, this one-line command creates a guide line from eye to sun.

Sketchup.active_model.entities.add_cline(Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.eye,Geom;;Vector3d.linear_combination(0.5,Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info["SunDirection"],0.5,Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.target.vector_to(Sketchup.active_model.active_view.camera.eye)))
>

Thanks Didier, I knew it was some permutation of those things

derei

Thank you very much for this, but it seems to be some problem. See the images.
If I look from downside, the line is mirrored. Instead of ascending from camera eye to back, where is the sun, it goes in opposite direction.

TIG

Since the sun is assumed to be infinitely far away you can make a cline 'ray' from the eye in the direction of its vector thus...
model=Sketchup.active_model svec=model.shadow_info["SunDirection"] peye=model.active_view.camera.eye clin=model.active_entities.add_cline(peye, svec) clin.end=nil clin.start=peye

makes a ray extending from the eye to infinity...

Here it is in one line

model=Sketchup.active_model;svec=model.shadow_info["SunDirection"];peye=model.active_view.camera.eye;clin=model.active_entities.add_cline(peye, svec);clin.end=nil;clin.start=peye

derei

Thank you TIG, this is exactly what I wanted.