sketchucation logo sketchucation
    • Login
    ℹ️ Licensed Extensions | FredoBatch, ElevationProfile, FredoSketch, LayOps, MatSim and Pic2Shape will require license from Sept 1st More Info

    Fractal Tree Maker for SketchUp - Free add-on

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Extensions & Applications Discussions
    extensions
    158 Posts 44 Posters 45.1k Views 44 Watching
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • AnssiA Offline
      Anssi
      last edited by

      @al hart said:

      Actually that was supposed to say "run" faster, not "ruin" faster.

      Can you look at your performance with Task Manager and make sure that you have not reached your memory limit when you start the TreeMaker process.

      I'll take a look and make sure that SketchUp is idle while the tree maker is running.

      Al

      I understood about "ruin"-I just didn't want to spoil my little joke with smilies.

      Actually, I think you might have nailed it. Looking at Task Manager when SU and RPTreeMaker are running shows that they don't use very much memory, but together they use about 100% of the processor, with SU keeping more than 95%, and the RP TreeMaker process somewhere at 2-3%. Of course it might just be the Windows way of displaying things.

      So it might be that this only occurs with a single-threaded processor, as it works much better on a slightly slower HT computer.

      Cheers,

      Anssi

      securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Al HartA Offline
        Al Hart
        last edited by

        @anssi said:

        @al hart said:

        Actually, I think you might have nailed it. Looking at Task Manager when SU and RPTreeMaker are running shows that they don't use very much memory, but together they use about 100% of the processor, with SU keeping more than 95%, and the RP TreeMaker process somewhere at 2-3%. Of course it might just be the Windows way of displaying things.

        So it might be that this only occurs with a single-threaded processor, as it works much better on a slightly slower HT computer.

        Cheers,

        Anssi

        Oof - you're right. The way we are calling RpTreeMaker from SketchUp causes SketchUp to keep using machine cycles. And since RpTreeMaker runs at a low priority when it is rendering, SketchUp steals all the cycles from a single processor machine.

        In the display below, on a dual processor machine, SketchUp is using 1/2 and the TreeMaker the other 1/2.

        process_times.png

        Here is how we are calling it now:

        system($path + "\\TreeEditor.exe")
        

        We must have found this in the Ruby manual somewhere, but it obviously is not a good way to call a .exe from SketchUp.

        If any other ruby programmers are out there, give me some hints on a better way to call a .exe from SketchUp. Meanwhile - I will look around.

        Al Hart

        http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
        IRender nXt from Render Plus

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Al HartA Offline
          Al Hart
          last edited by

          We found a way to have SketchUp wait for the tree maker without using up 1/4, 1/2 or almost all of you processing power.

          Look for a new version Monday.

          Al Hart

          http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
          IRender nXt from Render Plus

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M Offline
            matthew.robert
            last edited by

            Anyone else getting the error...

            Error Loading File RpTreeMaker_loader.rb
            126; The specified module could not be found.   - C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/Win32API.so
            

            after installing the tree maker with the "Click here to install RpTreeMaker 2_HK24tm.exe" file and starting up SketchUp?

            Any thoughts?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • J Offline
              Jorgensen
              last edited by

              I can't figure out how to make it work with VRAY 😞

              Does it export a aplha channel ?

              sketchup pro 2016 16.1.1449 64 bit | windows 10 pro | i7-3770k @3.5 GHz | 16gb ram | gtx 780 ti / gtx 980 ti | nvidia driver 368.39

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J Offline
                Jorgensen
                last edited by

                Ah. I found a solution.

                sketchup pro 2016 16.1.1449 64 bit | windows 10 pro | i7-3770k @3.5 GHz | 16gb ram | gtx 780 ti / gtx 980 ti | nvidia driver 368.39

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Al HartA Offline
                  Al Hart
                  last edited by

                  @tobobo said:

                  Al,

                  Could you add in standard tree shapes as defaults?

                  One of the reasons we released RpTreeMaker as a free product is that we are hoping some SketchUp users will help us create some standard trees and save them on the 3D warehouse to share with other users.

                  The definition for each tree can be accessed as a .ArPlant file, and then used as the starting point for changes, or for other trees.

                  This doesn't work yet because:

                  1. If you use custom leaves or bark, we need to save them in the .SKP file as well. (We plan to do this, but haven;t done it yet). That way the .SKP file for a tree will have everything it needs to recreate the tree, or save similar trees.

                  2. We need to write a function to save the .ArPlant file, which defines a tree, from the .SKP file.

                  We will get to these things soon. Currently we are trying to get the new version released which allows rotation of the trees and higher resolutions. We should have a new version in the next day or so,

                  Also, we are working on a shadow mask for the tree which will make useful shadows in SketchUp, and work better with renderers like Podium and Vray. (The IRender rendering engine already re-processes the trees creating new fractal trees during the rendering process).

                  Al Hart

                  http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                  IRender nXt from Render Plus

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Al HartA Offline
                    Al Hart
                    last edited by

                    @matthew.robert said:

                    Anyone else getting the error...

                    Error Loading File RpTreeMaker_loader.rb
                    > 126; The specified module could not be found.   - C;/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/Win32API.so
                    

                    after installing the tree maker with the "Click here to install RpTreeMaker 2_HK24tm.exe" file and starting up SketchUp?

                    Any thoughts?

                    C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/Win32API.so should have been installed as part of RpTreeMaker.

                    1. Is SketchUp installed on your machine in: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7

                    2. Did SketchUp put RpTreeMaker_loader.rb into C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\plugins or did you copy it there by hand?

                    3. Uninstall RpTreeMaker, and reinstall it being careful to select the proper location for SketchUp.

                    4. After reinstalling it verify that RpTreeMaker_loader.rb and Win32API.so are located in the SketchUp plugins folder.

                    Al Hart

                    http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                    IRender nXt from Render Plus

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M Offline
                      matthew.robert
                      last edited by

                      @al hart said:

                      1. Is SketchUp installed on your machine in: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7

                      2. Did SketchUp put RpTreeMaker_loader.rb into C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\plugins or did you copy it there by hand?

                      3. Uninstall RpTreeMaker, and reinstall it being careful to select the proper location for SketchUp.

                      4. After reinstalling it verify that RpTreeMaker_loader.rb and Win32API.so are located in the SketchUp plugins folder.

                      Hi Al, tried all those with no luck. For 2, I did not do any manual copying. My SketchUp Pro install is about as clean as it can get BUT I am running it on XP SP3 with Parallels ver. 4 (as a non-bootcamp VM). I have Vista installed via Bootcamp, I will give that a shot.

                      I will attach the files that got installed in my plugins folder. They are either encrypted, corrupt, or both (maybe?). Should a separate treeeditor.exe file be installed somewhere, I am not seeing that.

                      Matt


                      files.zip

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • M Offline
                        matthew.robert
                        last edited by

                        I must be missing some important step... I had the exact same issue on my Bootcamp Vista partition, which for all practical purposes is a different os its own partitioned HD space.

                        If someone were to send me the necessary files, could I just move them into place manually?

                        Matt

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Al HartA Offline
                          Al Hart
                          last edited by

                          @matthew.robert said:

                          I must be missing some important step... I had the exact same issue on my Bootcamp Vista partition, which for all practical purposes is a different os its own partitioned HD space.

                          If someone were to send me the necessary files, could I just move them into place manually?

                          Matt

                          1. Try typing these two lines into the Ruby Console:

                          require 'Win32API'

                          RegCloseKey = Win32API.new('advapi32', 'RegCloseKey', 'L', 'L')

                          (copy and paste them into the ruby console)

                          1. Are you running on a Mac?

                          Al Hart

                          http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                          IRender nXt from Render Plus

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • M Offline
                            matthew.robert
                            last edited by

                            Ok, tried that. I had to do each line separately, would've that made a difference? Attached is a screen shot of the results.

                            Yup on running a Mac. I have XP running as a VM and Vista that I occasionally boot into natively. Think that might be causing the issues? Its a unibody MBP.

                            Matt


                            Picture 1.png

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Al HartA Offline
                              Al Hart
                              last edited by

                              @matthew.robert said:

                              Yup on running a Mac. I have XP running as a VM and Vista that I occasionally boot into natively. Think that might be causing the issues? Its a unibody MBP.
                              Matt

                              Hmm.

                              After "require Win32API",

                              if you type in just:

                              Win32API on a Windows machine, it responds with something.

                              Win32API
                                  Win32API
                              Win32API.class
                                  Class
                              Win32API.id
                                  95261808
                              

                              We'll have to see if there is a version of Win32API.so which works on the Mac partition.

                              Try running the two executables (.exe) in C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker (or it s equivalent). TreeEditor.exe and RpTreeMaker.exe. (If they don't run then we have a long way to go to get this to work.

                              If Win32API is the only problem, we may be able to work around it.

                              Al Hart

                              http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                              IRender nXt from Render Plus

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Al HartA Offline
                                Al Hart
                                last edited by

                                @unknownuser said:

                                One of the perks I saw was RP Trees, however I found out it creates 2.5D trees, not true 3D trees so it doesn't really fit my needs (Im a landscape designer).

                                For now I am sticking with Kerkythea, I am quite happy with it, however in the future I may check out your pdf tool-I can see that being useful to me.

                                When you make trees with RpTreeMaker, they create 2D trees in SketchUp, but when you render the model with IRender, the 2D tree is re-rendered as a 3D fractal tree. (They aren't "true" 3d because we use a 2D leaf and rotate it around) However, we do get very good results.

                                This is a RpTreeMaker tree rendered with IRender. Note the subtle shadows from the sky on the ground.

                                http://wiki.renderplus.com/images/f/fb/Tree-w-IRender.jpg

                                Al Hart

                                http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                IRender nXt from Render Plus

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • M Offline
                                  matthew.robert
                                  last edited by

                                  @al hart said:

                                  Try running the two executables (.exe) in C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker (or it s equivalent). TreeEditor.exe and RpTreeMaker.exe. (If they don't run then we have a long way to go to get this to work.

                                  If Win32API is the only problem, we may be able to work around it.

                                  That worked for both my XP VM and Vista BC install. The RpTreeMaker app seemed to run as expected. Must have something to do with running on the Mac hardware?

                                  Matt

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • L Offline
                                    L. Banasky
                                    last edited by

                                    This solved my problem with Vista32, SU7, Win32API.so, and certain plugins.
                                    Re: Some plugins don't work SU 7. Organizer.rb at fault?
                                    by L. Banasky on Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:06 am

                                    CadalogBeamTool.rb is now working. I did a side by side comparison of the files in the main program folder of SU6 and SU7, and moved the missing files from SU6 to SU7 one by one. The file that is required by SU7 that is missing is msvcr71.dll. I tried to enclose the file, but .dll's are not allowed.
                                    Thanks again for all your help,
                                    Larry

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Al HartA Offline
                                      Al Hart
                                      last edited by

                                      There is a new version 0 see New Version.

                                      I started a new thread for it. I'm not sure why???

                                      Al Hart

                                      http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                      IRender nXt from Render Plus

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • F Offline
                                        firestrike
                                        last edited by

                                        Hi, this could be a really stupid question, but where are the tree images saved?. I originally found them here

                                        : C:\Users\chris\appdata\Local\Temp\RPS_TreeMaker_Images

                                        but now it doesnt seem to be saving any new tree images their.

                                        thanks for your help and thanks for a great program.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • Al HartA Offline
                                          Al Hart
                                          last edited by

                                          @firestrike said:

                                          Hi, this could be a really stupid question, but where are the tree images saved?. I originally found them here

                                          : C:\Users\chris\appdata\Local\Temp\RPS_TreeMaker_Images

                                          but now it doesnt seem to be saving any new tree images their.

                                          thanks for your help and thanks for a great program.

                                          After placing the tree in SketchUp, load the SketchUp Materials Window, select 'In Model', select the image of the tree, and then select the 'Browse' button to the right of the tree name. It will start browsing in the same folder as the image.

                                          The images to not stay there long. However, to the right of the browse button (in SU 7) there is an "Edit Image" button which will load the image from the material itself into an editor - and then you can save the image somewhere.

                                          Al Hart

                                          http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                          IRender nXt from Render Plus

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • 6 Offline
                                            6284732
                                            last edited by

                                            oh i can not understand

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 4
                                            • 5
                                            • 6
                                            • 7
                                            • 8
                                            • 7 / 8
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Buy SketchPlus
                                            Buy SUbD
                                            Buy WrapR
                                            Buy eBook
                                            Buy Modelur
                                            Buy Vertex Tools
                                            Buy SketchCuisine
                                            Buy FormFonts

                                            Advertisement