Skalp - Dynamic Sections Plugin released

JQL · 9 Jun 2014, 15:40

Hi Skalp Team...

Nice of you to drop by.

Until your trial is out, I'd be willing to ask you a few questions if you don't mind:

Would you consider that Island detection feature on your plugin?
Is your plugin somehow able to deal with layout exports, converting those 2d skalp hatch images to dwg hatches? Are you considering this in the future or is it impossible through layout?

Thank you,

João

caronte01 · 9 Jun 2014, 21:10

Hi all,

I don´t want to spam this topic, but, anyone with experience with both skalp and richsection, how do they compare?

I´ve been using richsection for about two months (using it with layout), and found it works really well. It also seems to work better with solids, but once that is dealt with, you get section materials by layer/material, projections, 2d section slices separated by layers, ready to export to dwg. Sections have to be manually updated (rs redraws them automatically), but that is simple enough.

I´ve seen videos of skalp, but without a demo, there is no easy way to know.

Santiago

Tandem · 10 Jun 2014, 06:17

@skalp said:

Hello Tandem,

We will start offering free 14 day trial versions of Skalp asap, but it might take a few weeks.

Skalp Team

Thank you Skalp, that sounds great.

JasonWD · 25 Jun 2014, 18:57

I have been using Skalp from the moment it was released and it has changed my workflow dramatically

I tested it out last week with a furniture project in LayOut (scrap of one of many sheets attached). I did this without even reading any literature but not using patterns (our practice uses colours to represent sections) and now I am doing all the building GAs and details for a new project using it.

After meeting Jeroen and Guy at Basecamp last year I didn't hesitate in laying down the cash; these guys have a lot more up their sleeve and I am keen to support their efforts.

If anyone is interested in a workflow gotomeeting I am thinking of doing one next week to discuss Skalp?

JQL · 25 Jun 2014, 20:47

Well, I need something like this...

TommyK · 29 Jun 2014, 11:00

@jql said:

Well, I need something like this...

[attachment=0:2ggeenww]Alves de Sousa - Desenhos Parciais.png[/attachment:2ggeenww]

You can make something like that with Skalp for sure. You would have a thick outline around each material that is cut through though, instead of the outline around the outer edge of the walls/floor/stairs as shown in your drawing. Also, no clear way of showing cuts of rough sawn timber (the one with the single cross), but you would expect that, I guess.

I haven't experimented with using textures instead of hatches for section cuts yet, but I know it is possible.

JasonWD · 29 Jun 2014, 14:22

@tommyk said:

I haven't experimented with using textures instead of hatches for section cuts yet, but I know it is possible.

It is actually easier to simply use a SketchUp material for the section cut in Skalp - create the section texture and name it appropriately then assign it as you would a hatch in the pull down menu. Normal SU materials appear below the Skalp hatches.

Skalp dynamically creates SketchUp materials, that live in the normal materials pallet, on the fly. You can see this if you change the scale in Skalp.

Skalp · 19 Jul 2014, 17:30

Skalp v1.0 beta 6 is released...

NEW 'Pattern by Texture' Skalp Style option to use the material attached to a group / component as it's section pattern.

NEW 'Define Pattern by Layer' dialog.

NEW 'Pattern by Layer' Skalp Style option to map section patterns as defined in the new 'Define Pattern by Layer' dialog.

NEWdefault layer setting: 'Skalp Pattern Layer'. It places the section results on layers named 'Skalp Pattern Layer - <pattern name>'. these Layers are auto-created on the fly when needed. 
Intended for advanced use in combination with SketchUp 'Color by Layer' setting. You need to manually attach a pattern / texture to each of these created layers. Click on the color box to the right of the layer name in the SketchUp layer dialog. This process can't be automated because the SketchUp API does not have a function to attach textures to the layers.

NEW 'Create Skalp Pattern Layers' added to the menu. May be used in conjunction with the new default layer setting: 'Skalp Pattern Layer'.

NEW **'Skalp Scales'**changing the scale of a scene will now correctly scale its section patterns. This is applied to the active scene only.

NEWYou can use different units for setting the size of the pattern in the dialog

JQL · 19 Jul 2014, 22:44

Hi Skalp,

I'm still very curious about your plugin... Have you got island detection yet? So we can hatch a column that is inside a wall automatically?

That might be the key feature that would get me on board...

Thanks,

João

TommyK · 25 Jul 2014, 10:18

I think there is a minor design flaw / bug with the Skalp sections planes. Skalp section planes contain visible edges around the material that it cuts through. This can be a pain in certain situations.

In the example below, each wall on each floor is in its own group (to allow working on separate floors more easily), but the bottom and top faces of each group are hidden. Sketchup's native Section tool ignores hidden faces (doesn't create a thick line denoting a cut), but these hidden faces are picked up as Skalp leaves edges around its patterns.

I would think Skalp would better make all edges in its section planes hidden, and let Sketchup's native section tool create the visible lines.

... although that may cause problems with object snapping in Layout... I'm sure a solution can be found.

Skalp · 31 Jul 2014, 18:01

Skalp Holiday Sale. Get 25% off until August 10, with the following coupon code HOLIDAY

[attachment=0:2v68r0yr]Holyday sale[/attachment:2v68r0yr]

The Skalp Team

Skalp · 31 Jul 2014, 18:02

Tommy,

For faster response please send feature requests, questions, bugs, ... directly to support@skalp4sketchup.com
We will look into this problem.

Regards,

The Skalp Team

rfox · 21 Aug 2014, 05:34

I was having an installation problem since the day i purchased, I use "regular" Windows 7 Ultimate. email the issue to them, got couple of feedbacks but it didn't seem help. I try to contact them several times....no respond.such a bad developer. at least they give me some good technical explanation regarding the issue.

Skalp · 21 Aug 2014, 05:47

@rfox said:

I was having an installation problem since the day i purchased, I use "regular" Windows 7 Ultimate. email the issue to them, got couple of feedbacks but it didn't seem help. I try to contact them several times....no respond.such a bad developer. at least they give me some good technical explanation regarding the issue.

Can you give me your support case number. So I can look to it. I know we have some open cases regarding unicode problems (special characters in path names) and we are still looking what causes the problem windows?, ruby?, sketchup? or Skalp?

regards,

The Skalp Team.

rfox · 21 Aug 2014, 07:02

here it is : 451_ej9kg1g4mmq9s9c6

Krisidious · 21 Aug 2014, 08:18

Does Skalp need SketchUp 2014 to work or does it need Layout 2014? Could one use Skalp in SketchUp 2013 and then use Layout 2014 to make use of Skalp sections?

jiminy-billy-bob · 21 Aug 2014, 08:25

I guess it needs SU2014 for the new API methods regarding sections.

@unknownuser said:

New! - SectionPlane additions

Please see the new API docs for how to implement these classes and methods.
Added support for creating and activating SectionPlane entities.
New methods are:
Entities.add_section_plane
Entities.active_section_plane
Entities.active_section_plane=
SectionPlane.activate
SectionPlane.active?
Added EntitiesObserver.onActiveSectionPlaneChanged
RenderingOptions now exposes a new key 'DisplaySectionPlanes' that can be used to show or hide section planes. e.g Sketchup.active_model.rendering_options['DisplaySectionPlanes'] = false

Skalp · 21 Aug 2014, 08:34

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

I guess it needs SU2014 for the new API methods regarding sections.

@unknownuser said:

New! - SectionPlane additions

Please see the new API docs for how to implement these classes and methods.
Added support for creating and activating SectionPlane entities.
New methods are:
Entities.add_section_plane
Entities.active_section_plane
Entities.active_section_plane=
SectionPlane.activate
SectionPlane.active?
Added EntitiesObserver.onActiveSectionPlaneChanged
RenderingOptions now exposes a new key 'DisplaySectionPlanes' that can be used to show or hide section planes. e.g Sketchup.active_model.rendering_options['DisplaySectionPlanes'] = false

This new features are feature which are implemented in SketchUp because we asked for them. But the most important reason why we only work on 2014 is ruby 2.0 and the use of the ruby standard library.

The Skalp Team.

Skalp · 21 Aug 2014, 08:36

@krisidious said:

Does Skalp need SketchUp 2014 to work or does it need Layout 2014? Could one use Skalp in SketchUp 2013 and then use Layout 2014 to make use of Skalp sections?

No we need SketchUp 2014 and if you like you can use Layout 2013.

The Skalp Team.

jiminy-billy-bob · 21 Aug 2014, 08:40

@skalp said:

But the most important reason why we only work on 2014 is ruby 2.0 and the use of the ruby standard library.

Oh man, I know what you mean