NprTools

[Al Hart]

@richcat said:

I was able to quickly try out soft shadows but even though I selected launch when complete, had to go searching for the image produced in "My Documents\NprTools\SoftShadows"

I had a similar problem launching images on my Vista machine, but I thought I had it fixed.

See This Thread

Try a couple of things for me.

1. In the Ruby console, store the full path of a png image in a variable s1, using

s1 = 'c:/path.../image.png', or
s1 = 'c:\path...\image.png' (with single quote marks, you do not have to escape the back slashes)

Then type in: UI.openURL(s1)

This should launch the image.

s1 = 'C;\docs\NprTools\SoftShadows\Shadows-k.png'
C;\docs\NprTools\SoftShadows\Shadows-k.png
UI.openURL(s1)
true

(every other response here is the outut from Ruby.)

Also see what is returned by UI.openURL (true means that it thinks it worked)

2. If it doesn't launch the image, then navigate to the .PNG file in Windows Explorer, and right click on it. See what verbs are displayed and what the default verb is.

If Open is in this list, and if the default verb (in my case Edit), launches the image then it should work.

3. If UI.openURL does launch the image, then type in:

$nprtools.launch_file(s1)

and see what happens.

[richcat]

Al I'm on XP Pro
Tried the ruby code above and it opened with both versions followed by UI.openURL(s1)and $nprtools.launch_file(s1)also worked.

If I double left click image it opens in image viewer, If I right click I get the menu as below.

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[Al Hart]

@richcat said:

Al I'm on XP Pro
Tried the ruby code above and it opened with both versions followed by UI.openURL(s1)and $nprtools.launch_file(s1)also worked.

If I double left click image it opens in image viewer, If I right click I get the menu as below.

Thanks for the help richcat.

Hopefully NprTools will launch the images properly for you when you get the new version.

[Al Hart]

@unknownuser said:

SOn the NprTools wiki, it says 'diagonals not available' for the thin lines, but I did post them

...Also, anyone have any sketchy shadow examples? I just want to see how they work.

Thanks,

I added the diagonal patterns to todays release.
(It will go our as soon as Rich gets back from feeding himself)

Here is a Sketchy Shadow example with the diagonal thin lines.
(I rotated the house a little so we wouldn't have to see the same old boring model again. )

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[Al Hart]

We put out a new version - ID13npr - which fixes the problems with RpTools preventing the trial version and adds the two missing thin line textures for Sketchy Shadows.

[Al Hart]

We put out a new version - ID13npr - which fixes the problems with RpTools preventing the trial version and adds the two missing thin line textures for Sketchy Shadows.

[richcat]

Thanks Al that did the trick with the trial period.

[Al Hart]

@richcat said:

Thanks Al that did the trick with the trial period.

Great - when you get a chance to test "Sketchy Shadows", post an image (like your bench) for others to see.

Others - If you have some images or comments to share please post them here.

For example, people have liked the idea of color shadows - but every time I try them they look awful.

Another tip - I used the SketchUp Vegetation material for Sketchy Shadows (Sketchy Shadows ignores the color of the pattern) it worked great. Try a few things like this and let us know what you get.

[Pixero]

Any chance to get colored soft shadow without sketchy lines?

[Al Hart]

@unknownuser said:

I installed NprTools but it's not showing under the Plugins menu, I tried a restart with no improvement. do i have to remove irender nxt first?

Make sure NprTools_loader.rb is in your SketchUp/Plugins folder. If not then the install did not work properly.

If it is there, start the SketchUp Ruby console (Windows/Ruby Console), and enter:

load 'NprTools.rb'

and send me the results.

[Al Hart]

@pixero said:

Any chance to get colored soft shadow without sketchy lines?

Yes - make a "textured" material in SketchUp, where the texture is actually a solid black color.

Select the new Material in SketchUp and use the first radio button - "Current Material"

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[thomthom]

I had time to play around with it. Here's the current results along with some comments and questions;

Curves surfaces seem be make shadows that doesn't fit seamlessly together. I understand that could be difficult, but is there possible to improve it? What I find odd is when shadow cast from a curved surface onto a flat surface isn't seamless, as you can see in the side view for instance.

I've set the shadow to 100% opacity, and my custom shadow texture (very nice feature btw) is 100% black. Yet, it looks a bit washed out.

Is there a way to set the output resolution?

How do you save the shadow images? When I click Ok, Picasa opens up and display the image. But I don't know how to save it. (So face I've right-clicked and chosen copy from Picasa preview.

What control the size of the shadow pattern when you use a custom material? I doesn't seem to change when I set the Pattern Scale factor, nor when I set the texture's width/height. (That is, unless I though both properties, then something changes. But I don't know which one is the determining factor.)

[Al Hart]

@unknownuser said:

At 07:33 AM 5/15/2009
Hi Al,
Really neat stuff, wish I had more hours to try these. Question - in a bit of reverse logic, do you have anything to make Revit images "Sketchy"?
Thanks.

We have ported our SketchUp rendering engine - IRender nXt - to Revit. But we have not added any Sketchy Stuff to it yet.

We plan to add some of he Sketchy Shadow stuff to the nXt engine, and when we do it will work for Revit.

SketchUp has 3 "Sketchy" things

• Sketchy Edges
• Sketchy Patterns, and
• Sketchy Watermarks.

We added Sketchy Shadows because SketchUp did not do it.

However, adding Sketchy stuff to the nXt renderer will let us apply similar shadow techniques to interior lighting.

We plan to add Sketchy Watermarks to the nXt renderer. (This makes images Sketchy by applying a watermark to the entire image)

And the Sketchy Patterns can already be used with the nXt renderer already.

It is more of a challenge for us to figure out how to do Sketchy Edges in the rendering engine. But we do plan to take a look at it, and then might be able to add it to Revit.

Al

[sorgesu]

Al, Congratulations on the release of NPR Tools. This is a wonderful and useful addtion to the SketchUp Modeling arsenal. I can't wait to see all the great looking output that I am expecting, using this great tool.

[Al Hart]

@thomthom said:

I had time to play around with it. Here's the current results along with some comments and questions;

@unknownuser said:

Curves surfaces seem be make shadows that doesn't fit seamlessly together. I understand that could be difficult, but is there possible to improve it? What I find odd is when shadow cast from a curved surface onto a flat surface isn't seamless, as you can see in the side view for instance.

Take a look at the folder: My Documents\NprTools\TemporaryImages - that is where we store the temporary images which are later combined for the final image. We make the shadow pattern by placing the shadow texture on every surface in your model. This causes the pattern itself look strange on some surfaces.

We did this because some people want the shadow pattern to alter based on the plane of the surface where the shadow appears.

We plan to offer another option where the shadow mask is applied as a watermark. In this case the patter will be the same wherever it is cast, and will not get smaller in the distance. But it will make more regular shadows for some applications.

@unknownuser said:

I've set the shadow to 100% opacity, and my custom shadow texture (very nice feature btw) is 100% black. Yet, it looks a bit washed out.

The angle patterns which we provide are already a bit grey. So the shadow can't get much darker than the pattern used to create it.

I do run the patterns through a "histogram filter" to darken them, but if you want even darker shadows, you may need to create darker patterns.

@unknownuser said:

Is there a way to set the output resolution?

Currently we use the resolution of the SketchUp screen.

We could add a multiplication factor (1.5X, 2X, etc.), or specify a resolution like SketchUp does when saving 2D images. (We use the SketchUp 2D image saving routine for saving the images which we later process.)

@unknownuser said:

How do you save the shadow images? When I click Ok, Picasa opens up and display the image. But I don't know how to save it. (So face I've right-clicked and chosen copy from Picasa preview.

The images are all saved in My Documents/NprTools before your image editing software loads them.

There are several sub folders: SkethyShadows, SoftShadows, SoftEdges, etc.

@unknownuser said:

What control the size of the shadow pattern when you use a custom material? I doesn't seem to change when I set the Pattern Scale factor, nor when I set the texture's width/height. (That is, unless I though both properties, then something changes. But I don't know which one is the determining factor.)

When you use an existing SketchUp material for the pattern, we use the size defined in the SketchUp material editor.

I will try to override this with the scale factor. Bot for now you need to change the SketchUp Material size yourself.

[Al Hart]

@sorgesu said:

Al, Congratulations on the release of NPR Tools. This is a wonderful and useful addtion to the SketchUp Modeling arsenal. I can't wait to see all the great looking output that I am expecting, using this great tool.

Thanks Susan,

I will be very interested in your ideas when you get a chance to play with it.

One thing I want to add is the ability to make shadows darker when they are further from the eye.

Something like this: (Image NOT created with Sketchy Shadows)

The shadows are not really darker further from the eye, but I could alter the cross hatch based on the distance from the eye.

I am thinking that Piranesi EPX format saves the Z-depth of the pixels into the image. Are you aware of any software which would let me access or read the EPX file without using Piranesi itself?

[sorgesu]

No Al, I can't think of anything like that. But there is a neat demonstration somewhere where you can use the "fog" setting within SketchUp to accomplish the same sort of thing. Something in "black" that conveys the depth by degrees of gray in the alpha channel

That is essentially how it works in Piranesi. If you were to look at the "depth channel" ,which you can indeed do, for any image imported from SketchUp, it is displayed as degrees of Grey ( Gray?) and I believe that is how it is recognized in Piranesi as having differing depth.

[sorgesu]

Al, below are 2 images. the first is using a black "Fog" in SketchUp on a Hidden line drawing. I should probably have used Monochrome mode with no edges showing instead. But you get the idea. the next one is the same view within Piranesi's Depth Chanel. The background red is the "infinity" of the Sky.[attachment=1]gapFOG.jpg[/attachment

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[Al Hart]

@sorgesu said:

No Al, I can't think of anything like that. But there is a neat demonstration somewhere where you can use the "fog" setting within SketchUp to accomplish the same sort of thing. Something in "black" that conveys the depth by degrees of gray in the alpha channel.

Great idea - Fog - This is a shadow image with fog turned on:

I can treat the "lighter" shadows as being further away and make them darker or use more hatching.

Also, the fog makes the roof darker as it is further away.
(This is difficult for me to see - but a paint program verifies it)

I can do two things:

1. Apply "fog" darkening to only a specific material (so you can apply a dummy material to the roof and darken only the roof)

2. Use this "fog" darkening to apply cross hatch to the roof, going from single lines, to cross hatch lines as the roof gets further away.

Stay tuned...

[thomthom]

One more thing, in the thread where I posted the pictures; the view from the top - there's shadows missing on the ground.