View SU files via Web browser

ntxdave

I have another crazy idea for presenting our models. We will be participating in a conference where we want to be able to "show our products" in a 3D environment. I have been thinking about a Web page (see attached image) that would present thumbnail views or perhaps a list of models. I would then like to be able to click on a thumbnail or a text list of model names and have the SKP file displayed in the SU Free Viewer (or some equivalent). This might be an over simplification but I hope you get the idea of what I am thinking.

If you have any idea of how this could be accomplished, I would be interested in your feedback

SU Web Viewer Page.png

pilou

http://www.cl3ver.com/ ?
Save SKP as dae

Aerilius

As long as you just want to "display" a "specific model", it could be achieved with SketchUp's 3D Warehouse viewer. Just take the embed code and every button changes the iframe's url via JavaScript to another model.

However you won't be able to do anything further like switching scenes, changing the camera etc., because the 3D Warehouse viewer has no public API. I'm even unsure if SketchUp plans to further develop the capabilities of the web viewer at all, or turn it into a stand-alone web-app, or if it would ever get an API (an API has the risk of someone (ab)using it to build a modeling application on top of SketchUp's infrastructure).

The alternative webgl frameworks (like threejs) would give you more possibilities to build something but require to convert skp files on your own into an appropriate format.

If you just want to spend time building something (but just want to present on the web), take a look at Pilou's link.

Dan Rathbun

Would this be run on an unattended kiosk, where you wish to prevent walk-up users from browsing anywhere else on the computer or running any programs ?

ntxdave

@dan rathbun said:

Would this be run on an unattended kiosk, where you wish to prevent walk-up users from browsing anywhere else on the computer or running any programs ?

That is not the plan. Last year we had 2 laptops set up with external touch screen monitors. I put together a web site that was loaded on each machine that had links to PDF files and movies of the various models. I also had 5 slide shows running on the page that cycled through PNG files of all of the equipment in each of out 5 categories of equipment.
Bottom line is that it was a very controlled environment. This year I wanted to step it up a notch and be able to have everything available in a 3D environment.

Pilou, I will look at CL3VER but from what I have seen so far, it kind of misses the mark (I think). Our company builds car washes. There are a number of different types and sizes of car washes. I was wanting to be able to show a number of different layouts. Thus the links on the right side of the page was different layouts. I also wanted to be able to use the scenes in my SKP files (models/layouts). The links on the left side of the page would be to facilitate clicking on different pieces of equipment and display the SU files with the ability to zoom, rotate and etc. But as I said, I will go explore the CL3VER tool. I have several months before the show but do not want to wait to the last minute.

Aerillius, You alternative may have some potential as well. I thought I saw somewhere in the thread you like to though that you cannot use SU scenes.

Maybe I just need to adjust my thinking a little. There may be some better alternatives than what I had in mind. I need to find a good viable alternative so I can sell it to management. They like to be the "leader of the pack" and "show off" a little at the show (and I am sure a supporter of that ).

Keep the suggestions coming, I am sure there is a good "show stopper" out there somewhere.

AdamB

You could use LightUp to export them to the LightUp WebPlayer.

See an example here: http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=webplay

ntxdave

@adamb said:

You could use LightUp to export them to the LightUp WebPlayer.

See an example here: http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=webplay

Thanks for the link......this may be a very good alternative to what I want. I think the product info is a little light (no pun intended). If I understand what I was just looking, I can export my SKP files as .luca files and then show them on a web page on my laptop.

Therefore, I can build the web page any way I like and then click on a link on my web page and display the .luca version of the file in your viewer in an IFrame.

I would not anticipate using any of the features of your software other than the export to .luca format.

However, this does present an interesting question that was discussed in another thread. I would like to be able to highlight/zero in on a specific piece of equipment within my model. Any way of accomplishing something like that with LightUp?

ntxdave

I have downloaded the trial version of LightUp. Now I have some very basic questions that I could not understand from the documentation.

I want to take an existing model, not apply any special lighting at this point, and then save/export the model as a .luca file so I can view it in my browser (IE 11) to test how this would work for our show/convention. I can not figure out how to save the model as a .luca file!!!

I did finally figure out that I could export as a 3D .dae file but that cannot be played in the LightUp Player I downloaded.

I think there is a possibility for other things but I need a cleaner starting point.

Rich O Brien

Can I share the file?

ntxdave

@rich o brien said:

Can I share the file?

What file are you asking about?

Rich O Brien

I meant can u share file.

Rich O Brien

http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=story%26amp;p=120

Here the export for Luca.

ntxdave

@rich o brien said:

http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=story&p=120

Here the export for Luca.

Thanks for the link to the tutorial. However, I never see the LightUp Player menu.

So far, I am having ZERO luck in accomplishing anything. I installed the tool, opened a model and just want to export it to the .luca format. The only export I ever see is the standard SU Export.

I am really feeling silly. This should not be this hard I would not think.

Rich, I still do not know what file you want me to share

ntxdave

Thought I would post an update on my research relative to this topic:

There are some good products out there such as C3LEVER, Spread3D, Sketchfab and several others. However, they require me to have an internet connection. They require me to upload my models to their site and then view via the internet. I cannot always depend on an internet connection (especially at a show/conference or even at a customer side). I need to be able to view via the browser on my local machine.

In some threads, I have seen products like Hypercosim (and others) mentioned but when I tried to go their web site I get "page not found" or (in the specific case of Hypercosim they say they are no longer supporting or making their viewer available).

I have tried Light-Up and think it is good product for the right situation. I am not interesting in the lighting features (which look very good). I just want to be able to view my model in a browser environment. I also need for it to work on a touch screen with no keyboard intervention. I did get it to work but, as I have discussed with AdamB, I am not confident it is going to get me where I ultimately want to go.

I also found 3DBOP which is built on the CubicVR JavaScript. All of the online demos look like it would do exactly what I want to do. I downloaded their example zip file but have not had any success getting it to work. All I get is a blank page. I have tried various things like modifying the path name to my .dae files, changing a couple of styles, and even added some document.write statements in the JavaScript to see where it stops running (I do not get any type of error messages - just a blank page). I found some online references to CubicVR where others had a similar problem. When I tried the things other people reported, I still get the blank page.

One positive result was that I could see that I am not the only one who has the desire to view 3D models via my browser on a local machine without the internet connection.

If anyone has any additional suggestions or knows how to resolve the CubicVR issue, I would certainly be open to your suggestions. I have written some JavaScript in the past but do not consider myself a real coder in any sense.

If it helps, my environment is Win 8.1 with IE 11.096..............

Dan Rathbun

@ntxdave said:

I have tried various things like modifying the path name to my .dae files, ...
If it helps, my environment is Win 8.1 with IE 11.096..............

You may need to prefix with file:// or file://localhost/

ntxdave

@dan rathbun said:

@ntxdave said:

I have tried various things like modifying the path name to my .dae files, ...
If it helps, my environment is Win 8.1 with IE 11.096..............

You may need to prefix with file:// or file://localhost/

Thanks for the reply.........

Here are the statements that reference the file name and location (this is the way the sample code that I downloaded was coded and the .dae file was located in a subdirectory of where I put the downloaded code)

    // Specifier le chemin du fichier collada | specify path for collada file
    var scene = CubicVR.loadCollada("Sketchup/solaire.dae","Sketchup");

    var objectBounds = scene.getSceneObject("Sketchup").getAABB();

I tried several variations of your suggestion including the file:// and the full path name on the hard drive to the file. Still nothing but a blank page.

It should be noted that I am not running server software but this is the only page that has failed to display. The page does come up but it is blank.

BTW: There is also a css style coded as canvas{
background: #fff url('voie-lactee.jpg') center no-repeat !important;
}
which does not display either. If I change canvas to body, the image background is displayed.

Again, any feedback that anyone can give me is greatly appreciated.