3D Truss Models

medeek · 16 Nov 2017, 16:29

Version 2.0.7 - 11.16.2017

Added license tab to the global settings.
Minor updates to the licensing system.

I've spent a couple days on adding language support but was unable to roll it out with this latest release. I will keep working on this in the next few days and hopefully have something to show for my efforts with the next major release.

As far as languages go I am planning on producing language files for each of the SU supported languages.

Any help with translating some of these very construction specific terms and phrases would be greatly appreciated. Google translate seems to work quite well but I don't completely trust some of its translations.

medeek · 17 Nov 2017, 07:00

Starting to make some head way on the translation / language support:

I've decided to devise my own language handler since I could not get the built in one to work.

The upside is that this allows me so support any language I choose, not just the languages supported by SketchUp. I will be adding in an option in the general settings where the user can select their language of choice.

I will also be storing the language data in a new sub-folder "lang". My intent is to be able to make it possible for the user to add their own language file and translations if they need to.

medeek · 17 Nov 2017, 16:02

I've identified a couple of major bugs with the gutter module when using metric templates. I will address those later today and roll out a sub-release. I apologize for not catching those earlier.

medeek · 18 Nov 2017, 07:21

My first menu in Japanese:

Fortunately, I know a little Japanese so I think I've got these more or less correct. I will probably need to have a native Japanese speaker who is familiar with the construction industry check these over for me.

medeek · 18 Nov 2017, 18:57

I've added in a language option into the General tab of the Global Settings:

I currently have nine languages that I will support however if there are any others that you would like to see added please feel free to suggest one.

I think this method is preferable over using the locale of the installed plugin since someone that is running a french version of SketchUp may want to run the plugin in English or some other combination. This allows the user to customize their user experience exactly.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 07:29

Version 2.0.8 - 11.18.2017

Added language support for the following languages: French, Spanish, German, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese.
Added a language option in to the "General Tab" of the Global Settings.
Fixed a bug in the gutter module for metric templates.

There is still a huge amount of work to get all of the menus translated into the eight languages given above.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 17:48

I apologize Version 2.0.8 had a fatal flaw in it that thankfully someone pointed out to me this morning. Please re-download sub-rev. 2.0.8b which addresses this issue immdediately.

The problem is that I am encrypting the .rb files into .rbs when I sign the plugin. I don't want to encrypt the language files in the "lang" folder however the signing page did not know to discriminate so it encrypted those files as well and hence broke my links to them from the plugin load module.

Once I sign the extension and encrypted it I had to re-open the .rbz and put back in the unencrypted language files, problem solved.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 18:24

Found this image on Mitek's South African Website, its insane how big that truss assembly is:

This one is enlightening in that is shows the system of battens being used on the roof:

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 18:45

Based on Mitek's worldwide coverage alone I should probably also support the following additional languages:

Czech
Polish
Portugese (Brazil)
Finish
Romanian

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 06:46

Web based (HTML) user inputs will also require translation. These are a little more challenging than the regular (non-graphical) UI but nothing a little javascript could not overcome.

Here is the gutter tab of the global settings translated into Japanese:

The translation (creation of language files) for each menu and alert will take some time and effort.

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 20:05

I'm not really happy about SketchUp's move to discontinue its Make version. I've already posted my thoughts on the SU forum about it in another thread but to reiterate my points I will post it here as well:

@unknownuser said:

I’ve invested a lot of my time (the last two years of every free moment I’ve had) and effort into developing a couple of plugins for SketchUp. Granted my intended audience is the PRO user by in large but I think SketchUp is really shooting itself in the foot and also negatively impacting its many plugin developers like myself by pushing a web based platform that does not allow for the installation of extensions and is completely missing the Ruby engine.

As far as doing anything productive I have never used a web based app except for the simplest operations. Even email, I still check with Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook, I can’t stand web mail. Web based apps and the web in general is great for online maps, simple games, news sites, Wikipedia and disseminating information. Name one other major CAD platform that has a significant amount of its users using some sort of web based CAD utility, they don’t exist, and probably for a good reason.

I really think SketchUp and Trimble should reconsider this move. If you push people like myself away, that help make SketchUp more useful, you will lose it all. Yes, your established user base will stay, but its your new incoming user base that will fall off. Without a solid full feature free version the new kids coming up through high school and college will find something else. No one is going to seriously use the web based version, it’s too slow and limited. Other software will spring up to fill the void, and you will slowly loose whatever market share you might already have.

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 20:58

and...

@unknownuser said:

I think I can read between the lines. Trimble is wanting to squeeze more of the casual-pro users into upgrading to a Pro license by eliminating the gravy train known as Make. The vast majority of the customer base is probably Make users with a small percentage of Pro (paying) customers. To make SketchUp viable they need a larger volume of paying customers, I get it, I have the same problem with my own plugin income, the volume is too low.

The problem is that in order to charge a Pro price you really need to offer a full fledged “Pro” product. This is where I feel that SketchUp has let itself and its user base down. Only recently has layout become a more serious tool. Without the ability to seamlessly produce production drawings (the real world product of designers and engineers) SketchUp is merely a conceptual tool that no one takes too seriously.

The reason the Pro user base is too small is because it is not full featured enough. The solution is to beef up Pro even more so it can really compete in the marketplace against the big boys. A better product will draw more customers, build it and they will come, as they say. Trying to squeeze your customer base is never a great idea, its only a road to a slow demise.

faust07 · 20 Nov 2017, 21:42

Thank you for your incredible efforts to develop plug-ins for building construction solutions. Even the renderings are getting better and better. I'm thinking about whether the techniques are also suitable for the requirements of building constructions in Germany... Keep up the good work!

pbacot · 20 Nov 2017, 22:11

Good points. Thanks for your work on these applications!

medeek · 21 Nov 2017, 05:54

@faust07 said:

Thank you for your incredible efforts to develop plug-ins for building construction solutions. Even the renderings are getting better and better. I'm thinking about whether the techniques are also suitable for the requirements of building constructions in Germany... Keep up the good work!

I'm not familiar with the building industry or codes in Germany but I would interested in learning more. I've also been working on translating the plugin into various languages this last couple of weeks and German is high on my list to get incorporated into the new language files. Please feel free to message me or send email if you have any specific questions, requests or resources on building in Germany.

glro · 21 Nov 2017, 08:40

@medeek said:

@faust07 said:

Thank you for your incredible efforts to develop plug-ins for building construction solutions. Even the renderings are getting better and better. I'm thinking about whether the techniques are also suitable for the requirements of building constructions in Germany... Keep up the good work!

I'm not familiar with the building industry or codes in Germany but I would interested in learning more. I've also been working on translating the plugin into various languages this last couple of weeks and German is high on my list to get incorporated into the new language files. Please feel free to message me or send email if you have any specific questions, requests or resources on building in Germany.

My experience is that translating a software is not only about words. Wooden houses are built in each country using technics that are not exactly the same. So translating words from one language to another is not sufficient.
Maybe the first step would be to check if technics are similar or not in the country you plan and if yes, then look for a a bi lingual technician

just an idea and with respect... personnaly, it would take me many lives to do the work you have done in just 2 years ...

glro · 21 Nov 2017, 08:51

@medeek said:

and...

@unknownuser said:

I think I can read between the lines. Trimble is wanting to squeeze more of the casual-pro users into upgrading to a Pro license by eliminating the gravy train known as Make. The vast majority of the customer base is probably Make users with a small percentage of Pro (paying) customers. To make SketchUp viable they need a larger volume of paying customers, I get it, I have the same problem with my own plugin income, the volume is too low.

The problem is that in order to charge a Pro price you really need to offer a full fledged “Pro” product. This is where I feel that SketchUp has let itself and its user base down. Only recently has layout become a more serious tool. Without the ability to seamlessly produce production drawings (the real world product of designers and engineers) SketchUp is merely a conceptual tool that no one takes too seriously.

The reason the Pro user base is too small is because it is not full featured enough. The solution is to beef up Pro even more so it can really compete in the marketplace against the big boys. A better product will draw more customers, build it and they will come, as they say. Trying to squeeze your customer base is never a great idea, its only a road to a slow demise.

my understanding is that a customer is somebody who pays for something; people using Make are not customers, thay are users, because they don't pay

you cannot expect a company to give for free and for ever its product, so i am not surprised by Trimble's decision not to update the Make version

I even find it a fair decision to keep the 2017 Make version online in the next years, so that people can adjust

Sketchup.free cannot be used by professionals, but it is a good way to learn about 3D, and hopefully, it will be able to manage extensions some day in the future

it is just my point of view...

medeek · 21 Nov 2017, 14:38

@giro

I agree that offering Make for free indefinitely is not a viable business decision either. Rather than drop Make entirely they should offer it in a $50 - $150 price range for the casual user. At that price most users would be willing to bite and even the most modest income of your average middle class (non-professional) user should be able to justify and afford it. By eliminating the mid-range flagship product they are essentially eliminating a whole swath of the user base and more importantly the new up and coming user base.

Whomever is making this business decision at the top needs to reconsider and come up with a better solution.

I have been a big advocate for SketchUp and not just because I've created some plugins for it. I still firmly believe it is the most intuitive and easy to use 3D design software out there. I've used Solidworks, Catia, ProE, AutoCAD (3D work), Revit and Chief Architect. All of these other softwares have their strong points and hence are used in their respective industries but they all feel clunky and dated when compared with SketchUp.

I'm not religious about SketchUp, if something drastically better comes along then I will make the switch but I haven't found anything better yet.

I just would really hate to see Trimble take SketchUp down the wrong path.

medeek · 21 Nov 2017, 15:15

@glro said:

My experience is that translating a software is not only about words. Wooden houses are built in each country using technics that are not exactly the same. So translating words from one language to another is not sufficient.
Maybe the first step would be to check if technics are similar or not in the country you plan and if yes, then look for a a bi lingual technician

I agree, my translation word for word is merely a start. Ultimately, I will need a native speaker in each language that is familiar with the lingo of the construction industry in their native tongue. To properly translate the plugin will involve others and I am currently seeking out those individuals.

In fact, in that vein, I am offering a free license to any user who would be willing to help with the translation into their native tongue. I am still compiling a list of words and phrases but it should only number about 100 to 150 at best.

pilou · 21 Nov 2017, 19:20

I can make the French part for the fun like an objective tour de force!
But don't ask that for the BlackFriday!
Several specialized dictionaries are required!