MSPhysics 1.0.3 (16 October 2017)

TIG · 31 Jul 2016, 16:52

You have a non-ASCII character in your Windows user-name [Användaren]
This is a well known and long running problem with Ruby.
Although the newer Ruby with v2016 is more forgiving, there are still some issues...

It's recommended you always avoid accents in your Windows user-name...

Can you try with an alternative user-name ?

The extension's author might be able to "force encoding" to UTF-8 for any strings it uses, like the user-path name etc - when in >=v2015...
But that's his fix for the future...

micceo · 31 Jul 2016, 17:30

I had "ä" as a suspected but didn't try another account.
Searched the forums here, but no hit on UTF-8 or Windows-1252.
Thank you for the swift response. I'll try out with another user account.

Ralphxyz · 1 Aug 2016, 00:14

@micceo said:

Hi! Curious about this plugin but can't get it started.
I'm on SketchUp 2016, 16.1.1449 64 bit, Windows 10 Version 1511 (10586. 494)

Tried the .exe-setup and the .rbz, but it ends with the same error.

micceo, I had this problem! The solution was to use the 2015 Sketchup folder not the 2016 folder!

re: /AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics/

Had to be: /AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics/

This was for Sketchup 15 PRO!

Ralph

Anton_S · 1 Aug 2016, 01:54

Ralph, you probably had another issue because I can reproduce this with SU2016 and Win10 on a custom-created account, named, Användaren.

TIG, MSPhysics does have path.force_encoding('UTF-8') if RUBY_VERSION !~ /1.8/. However, it could be the case that I missed it somewhere. I'll check it out.

Micceo, I'll look into it. Thanks for reporting.

Anton

TIG · 1 Aug 2016, 11:18

Looks like the error occurs when setting up the extension.
Try forcing the encoding of the file path you pass to the extension making code in the loader RB...

pilou · 2 Aug 2016, 01:12

I have that in French 2016 Make (Windows 10)

@unknownuser said:

Erreur de chargement du fichier C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics/main.rb
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method sdl_used?' for MSPhysics:Module> C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics/main.rb:475:in <top (required)>'
C:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp_Fr 2016/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in require' C:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp_Fr 2016/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in load'
C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics.rb:90:in register_extension' C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics.rb:90:in module:MSPhysics'
C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/MSPhysics.rb:72:in `<top (required)>'

Curious because works fine in French 2015 Make! (Windows 10)

Anton_S · 2 Aug 2016, 08:35

TIG, yes, the error occurred while loaded main.rb, which occurs during registration, and I was able to fix it through trial and error.

In case anyone is interested what went wrong, here it is. So, msp_lib.so, the c extension of MSPhysics, is dependent on other dlls, like newton.dll and SDL2.dll. In order to load msp_lib.so it is necessary to first load the required dlls, or specify the path where the dlls are to be found when msp_lib.so is loaded. The ENV['PATH'] variable does just that. It contains a list of paths where the required dlls are to be searched for. Instead of manually loading the required dlls, I append another path to the ENV['PATH'] variable. That way when msp_lib.so is loaded, it knows where to find newton.dll, SDL2.dll, and all the other required dlls, and loads them automatically. Now, here is where to problem came in. The ENV['PATH'] variable accepts paths formatted in Windows-1252 encoding (very similar to ASCII-8BIT encoding). The path I appended was formatted with UTF-8 encoding. It worked without concerns when non-special characters were used; however, as reported, compatibility errors arise when they are used. The fix seemed pretty straightforward, I had to force encode the appended path with ASCII-8BIT encoding. Yet, after that, the path seemed invalid; A different error displayed, saying, "The specified module could not be found," meaning the required dlls could not be found, which indicated that the appended path was corrupted. So, I tried encoding it with Windows-1252, just to see if it it will fix the error, however the path still remained invalid. The only thing that fixed it was unpacking from Unicode and repacking to Chars: path.unpack('U*').pack('C*'), which is by default encoded to ASCII-8BIT. I don't know if this is a universal fix, but it does fix the Encoding::CompatibilityError on an account named, Användaren. What's strange is that force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT') improperly converts from UTF-8 to ASCII-8BIT. Whereas ideally, it should do the same thing as the unpack(U*').pack('C*') does. Anyway, glad that didn't took forever to fix.

I will upload it soon. Once again thanks for reporting.

Anton

Anton_S · 3 Aug 2016, 01:39

Micceo, it's fixed now. Update to 0.9.3.

Faust, I fixed the crash that would occur when loading large replay files.

Anton

faust07 · 3 Aug 2016, 16:33

Anton, saving and loading large simulations works great now! Thank you so much!
I've illustrated the Truster problem on start of a simulation with little GIF-films in the post "MSPhysics tests and questions" ...

ITman496 · 7 Aug 2016, 03:58

This is amazing! Using it to design all sorts of mechanical systems for things I make!

Question, though. I've messed around with the corkscrew and the curvy joints.. Is there an elegant way to simulate a threaded rod actuating a nut? Such as a lead screw? A constraint where you set the ratio of rotations to a certain unit of distance, so that if I have a gear assembly turning a bolt, it can crank a threaded rod that is linked to a piston constraint back and forth? Or vice versa? That appears to be the only thing I can't figure out how to do, other then that, this is the best plugin I've ever downloaded. Nice nice work!

EDIT: after talking to the author!

Simply link a joint to another joint and it is very self explanatory after that!

MALAISE · 19 Aug 2016, 17:08

Hello Guys

Does someone try to export some animation in png files, to merge them into an avi file (Makeavi) ?
When starting the MSPhysics, animating the SKP file then using MSPhysics export to pictures, only the 60 first are generated.

I followed step by step explanations but unsuccessfull, just an "fixed movie" AVI file is made...

Any help appreciated.

Pierre

drafty (w.i.p) sketchup model

faust07 · 20 Aug 2016, 18:20

@ Malaise: there is an object (with the name "echantillon") in your model on z = -5580 m. It is connected to a slider. In my tests it courses the model running out of the viewport. It could be the reason for the export problem.

MALAISE · 21 Aug 2016, 16:22

Hi Faust07

I effectively saw some strange behavior without finding the origine. Many thanks

having answered. For your, It's a part of an Diffractometer linked with automation process. (Echantillon means sample)

Cheers.

Pierre

MALAISE · 21 Aug 2016, 17:24

Hallo Guys

Good to know ( on SketchUp2015 or 2016 /windows 32 bit), It seems that only the 60 first
pictures are exported. Perhaps, it's matter of Windows Version.

Pierre

faust07 · 22 Aug 2016, 16:50

Here the little corrected model. Works flawlessly. The original animation comprises approximately 950 individual images.

cinématique D4 B_2.skp

SynSuka3D · 3 Sept 2016, 18:39

fr: je voudrais faire pivoté un solide dans un groupe please !
eng: I would like to rotate a body found in a compossent !!

Anton_S · 4 Sept 2016, 02:33

You can't rotate body inside components. You can however make the body to rotate with respect to the parent component using joints. This can be done by creating s joint inside s component. Then use the joint connection tool to connect the parent component to the other components.

SynSuka3D · 4 Sept 2016, 14:26

thanks Anton_S. I would like to select a body which is in a group !!
and implement action (rotated, hide, change color ....)

Anton_S · 5 Sept 2016, 01:19

You can do this with MSPhysics but fredoa animation tool would be a lot more suitable for your purpose.

SynSuka3D · 6 Sept 2016, 12:43

I did it! Here is my model