Augmented Reality Plug-in for Google Sketch-Up released

Graziano Terenzi

Thank you Jim for your detailed review, it helps me to give some information about improvements and refinements we're already working on.

@jim said:

I could not control the size of the video - it was full screen or nothing. For me that was bad because my old computer can't manage full-screen video without choking. Also it's impossible to take a screen capture at that size (for me) so I can't show you anything.

The possibility to toggle full screen mode on/off will be available soon, as well as other improvments such as scaling the model depending on user needs.

@jim said:

The model (a default-colored cube) was completely black onscreen, not sure why. There was an option to switch to wireframe mode which made things better, but sort of defeats the purpose.

Depending on how you draw your model, sometimes you'll need
to reverse the model's faces in order to be sure that the model itself is not 'inside-out' and so look black (you can reverse faces by selecting the model, right clicking on the selection and choosing 'Reverse Faces') .

@jim said:

Also, the cube was too large taking up most of the on screen video. Scaling the cube down in SketchUp did not make any difference to the size of the cube in the video.

Once the model is displayed in augmented reality it is automatically scaled in such a way that it will be visible from a distance. The fixed scaling factor has been chosen considering that most times users will use the plugin with complex models (lets think about a portion of a city...) with lot of 'empties' but whose extension/extremes can be wide so making the model smaller would make it also not visible very well, even though its 'bounding box' would be completely visible.
Of course the improvement will be an adjustable scaling factor and, as stated above, we're already working on it and will be available soon.

Thank you very much again
Best Regards

Graziano

Mike Lucey

Nice Plug-In Graziano. It has great possibilities. I have sent you a PM on the subject.

Mike

sepo

It seems quite good value for money...it is less than 100Euros.

mirjman

I second the need to control the scale of the displayed model. I also noticed that the software had trouble recognizing the marker at very shallow angles- is there any way to overcome this problem by using two markers on planes that are perpendicular to each other? (a "floor" plane and a "wall" plane)? otherwise I noticed that the plug-in worked as advertised, thanks!

Graziano Terenzi

The ARplug-in as such does implement basic augmented reality functionalities.
However it is possible to introduce further functionalities like the ones you are mentioning. Both scaling the model and allowing bottom-up perspective by using two orthogonal markers can be integrated in the plug-in. Thank you for sharing with us suggestions which we will surely be implemented in a future upgrade of ARplug-in.

With reference to a comment by BTM

@unknownuser said:

•BTM on Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:00 pm
Any mac versions out yet/ set to come out soon?

we plan to release a mac version not soon, but we will surely release one.

MALAISE

Quite impressive plugin, I allready see some purposes around technical explanations for complex devices.

Great. I'll test this plugin very soon.

MALAISE

JClements

Chris: please read your personal messages.

Graziano: Would your display paper "substrate" work on a vertical surface? For instance, to display an instrument panel.

matteo

graziano,
that's utterly fantastic!

complimenti.
/matteo

Chris Fullmer

ok, I had a chance to test it out. AWESOME! Very cool indeed! I have no idea what I would use it for, but who cares! Its great. I had recently seen this technology showcased somewhere else and thought it was way cool, too bad I'd never use it. Then within a week you come posting the plugin for my favorite (only) 3d software. Very cool, thanks!

Chris

Graziano Terenzi

Thank you again. Any suggestion for improving the ARplugin is welcome. So feel free to comment. I have seen many portfolios of ours...you are doing great work with Sketchup! This is really a lively comunity.
Graziano

JClements

Graziano:

What can you tell us about running an animated model.

I saw one animation on You Tube. Can the animation be controlled (started, stopped) from within SketchUp?

Are there plans to enhance animation capabilities?

Chris Fullmer

I tried it with an animated dynamic component. It didn't work. I think my DC made me wait until it was done animating before I was allowed to activate anything else - including the arplugin. It would be cool.

Chris

Graziano Terenzi

Well, with reference to animated models I have to remark that the general framework of ARmedia allows the visualization of animated models as well as the definition of suitable control actions over the models themselves. For what concerns Sketchup, we are studying to which extent Sketchup is compatible with the treatment of animations within our framework and enventually which steps should be taken in order to extend the Plugin.

Graziano

chrisglasier

@unknownuser said:

For what concerns Sketchup, we are studying to which extent Sketchup is compatible with the treatment of animations within our framework ...

Another quick example to the one posted before in this thread shows animation of a Sketchup component made and controlled by html and javascript in a Sketchup web dialog box: [flash=425,344:3n0xxamk]http://www.youtube.com/v/kDtHvf4wd8w[/flash:3n0xxamk]
I too would be interested whether there could be any interoperability with ARmedia.

Chris
Edit: BTW please note that a number of component instances can move along different paths at different speeds at the same time.

Gaieus

Wow, Chris, I'd really like a loo like that. Moving around in the apt would be cool while potting! I even thought you'd go downstairs in that elevator...

Joking aside; really cool animation

(I saw the other one with the vertical bath tub the other day and funny ideas came to my mind as well)

chrisglasier

@gaieus said:

... I even thought you'd go downstairs in that elevator...

Can you wait a couple of weeks?

@gaieus said:

(I saw the other one with the vertical bath tub the other day and funny ideas came to my mind as well)

I think I should explain that I don't have a sanitaryware fetish, I use its components because they have the most awkward sizes and shapes, have multiple plumbing connections, strange relationships with accessories like toilet roll holders and all have to be fitted into the smallest of spaces. I hope I have made my case (or do you think I'm overcompensating?)

Chris

Gaieus

@chrisglasier said:

I think I should explain that I don't have a sanitaryware fetish, ... (or do you think I'm overcompensating?)

I didn't mean that... just joking...

ScottPara

I am wondering about the capabilities of this plugin in regards to:

are the file size limitations to this plugin? whether it be number of faces or overall file size. We ran a large model (400+mb) at it and it never recognized the model before the 30 second limitation was up.

Can there be multiple markers within a single model? Meaning, can we have one marker for a conference room and then transfer to a marker in an office without loading a seperate model? Other AR's offer a function like this I am just wondering if this could be a possibility with this plug in.

What else is offered with a purchased license that we not have with the demo?

Scott

MALAISE

Hi Graziano

I'm encountering some difficulties when using ARplugin. I'm asked for connecting a cam whereas it's already connected but not recognized.

Questions : do we have to use Sketchup V7 ? ( I still use V6 )
Is the size of the skp file is involve into image calculation ( more then 30 s are needed) ?
Does the cam automatically switch on, when the plugin is running ?

I tested a similar software and it had worked (ARTAG demo).

Thanks for any, even short advices

MALAISE

Graziano Terenzi

Hi Scott,
I'm going to answer your questions:

@unknownuser said:

I am wondering about the capabilities of this plugin in regards to:
are the file size limitations to this plugin? whether it be number of faces or overall file size. We ran a large model (400+mb) at it and it never recognized the model before the 30 second limitation was up.

Talking about the recognition capabilities of the plugin, models size is not a limitation nor it is the models complexity. Of course users must have enough resources to treat such big models like in any real-time application. Specifically, one point that deserves attention is texturing: many 3D graphic cards that cannot treat non-power of 2 textures dimensions, usually will try to rescale textures on-the-fly each time the model should 'appear' on screen, so if there are lots of such textures and not enough video memory, you could experience delays before the object is actually displayed. I'd like to remark that models that should be rendered in real-time deserve attention both in keeping a low polygons count and in using 'standard' size textures.

@unknownuser said:

Can there be multiple markers within a single model? Meaning, can we have one marker for a conference room and then transfer to a marker in an office without loading a seperate model? Other AR's offer a function like this I am just wondering if this could be a possibility with this plug in.

Basically, our framework allows to have the same object associated to many markers, as well as to have many objects associated to the same marker or different markers. It also allows to have some relationship among markers for the same objects. If you mean to have two distinct models associated with two distinct markers, it is possible within ARmedia, even though it is not yet implemented in the ARplugin as such. This functionality will surely come with a future upgrade. On the other hand, if you refer to a single distributed application running on two or more machines at the same time, this also could be implemented on demand but would be far beyond the scope of a basic version of ARplugin.

@unknownuser said:

What else is offered with a purchased license that we not have with the demo?
Scott

The licensed version allows you to have a customizable message, no time limit. We are also adding other functionalities that will be released soon after this first market test, that will be provided to customers of the previous release with no additional cost.

I hope I covered each point
Regards

Graziano