[Plugin] Rain - v1.0.0 Beta

thomthom

I'm currently rendering a model so I can't install and try the plugin right now.

But I've been looking at the code - got a couple of suggestion:

Why publish the plugin as a RAR - why not use RBZ so it can be installed directly from within SketchUp? (And no need for extra utilities to unpack.)
You're using Sketchup.find_support_file to determine the path to your support folder. This can give you the wrong path. Plugins isn't installed in the main SketchUp Plugins folder. I for instance install my plugins to a shared Dropbox folder - I cannot do that with plugins that use Sketchup.find_support_file. There's also issues where many OSX users place their plugin in their USER folder instead of the ROOT folder. Because of this it's best to get the actual path of your files using the magic constant __FILE__. Read more here: http://www.thomthom.net/thoughts/2012/09/sketchup-plugins-can-be-installed-anywhere/
Strings are very slow! Avoid using them whenever you can for stuff like states etc. Use Symbols or Integer constants instead. And .typename for determining the type of entity is one of them things that really bothers be about the API docs - because this method is horribly slow since it's returning string. Instead use .is_a?( Sketchup::ComponentInstance ). Read more: http://www.thomthom.net/thoughts/2011/12/never-ever-use-typename/
Your Thunder Effects routine can be re-factored to not repeat it self. You only change a couple of values for each repeated pattern there. Perfect candidate for a method with arguments. Much easier to maintain when you need to make changes.

Hope this helps.

I'll get around to try it out in action when I'm done with my renders.

iichiversii

This is fantastic, the effects are very effective

pilou

Very tricky one!

Next will be to show the level of water grows over the volumes!

Dave R

What a cool idea!

mitcorb

Bravo to you, Renderiza.

renderiza

Thanks everyone for your comments!

thomthom – This type of feedback is very valuable and I’ll be sure to study your suggestion carefully so I can apply them later.

EscapeArtist

I'll be darned. Never would've thought of that within SU. Cool, and thanks for sharing!

3eighty

The water is so real..Excuse me. I have to visit the men's room...

SimFonIA_team

Hello Renderiza,

That is a very interesting and usefull job, thank you )). in a recent message you tried to link your plugin with our animation tool, does it work?

renderiza

EscapeArtist: After watching “Advanced Ruby Scripting for Sketchup” by Scott Lininger I started to get interested in doing these kinds of stuff. Here is a link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FALvwBN5-hc

3eighty: I hope that is not a concurrent symptom problem.

SimFonIA_team: You guys are awesome thanks for your “SimFonIA Animation Tools”!

To answer your question I have been able to run animations made with your tools while simultaneously running animations that I have coded with my own scripts like this rain plugin for example. A current workflow of mine is to try animating my idea with your tool before trying it on code because I find it to be faster that way.

One thing I have not figure out is to make your record video option to recognize my animation but I recently got “Fraps” to record videos which can solve this problem. I need to check if I can disable the “Elapsed” time but that is not that big of a deal.

A future plan of mine is to be able to share animations like flying birds, moving trees, clouds, ect… with your tool through Trimble’s Warehouse since I feel one of the strongest feature of your plugins is that the animation data stays with the object itself.
Thanks!

SimFonIA_team

Hello Renderiza,

It is interesting to have your feedback. We are surprised by your workflow (first using SAT before going into code) : very interesting.

About simultaneous recording of rain_plugin and SAT I suggest you send an email to our developer (I am just an awful physicist). He will give you technical information and search for a solution. You can join him there: bugreport.sat[arobase]simfonia.fr

Best regards,

renderiza

That is very cool to know thank you!

mjeduard

Rafa, felicidades great plugin. keep on the good work.

CHALUPA

renderiza

Hola,

Que bueno saber que personas que hablan español visitan este sitio.

Muchas gracias!