Podium 2 beta 2

thomthom

Sepo: there has been a number of comments here in various threads where users has said that some plugins stopped working. It has appeared to co-relate with Podium installation. When the users uninstalled Podium, or moved Podium to the location Google recommends (/Library/Application Support/Google/Google SketchUp [n]/SketchUp/plugins), they they have reported back that their plugins where functioning again.

I'm not a Podium user so I've not experienced it myself - but it's what I've observed in the Plugins forum some time to time.

sepo

We do not have any complaints on the Podium forum. We have a loads of Mac users and have had some problem with clashing plugins but that is all. Saying that if you have a problem with Podium on Mac please report it to back to our support or post on the Podium forum.

"Mate, you are unbelievable! I don't know what I find more insulting, your arrogance or your "I'm spending all of your lovely money by going skiing every weekend" avatar!! "
Don't you mate me as your whole reply is patronising and at least vulgar. I find it rather offensive to be talked in a such manner (or lack of it).
If you are paying customer report your problem to our support and we will deal with it.

sepo

Thomas I remember there was some problems but I beleive the problem has been resolved as we do not have any rescent reports of that nature.

jeff hammond

@sepo said:

We do not have any complaints on the Podium forum. We have a loads of Mac users and have had some problem with clashing plugins but that is all.

there aren't any complaints there because podium works just fine with the current installation..
the complaints happen here because the installer messes up certain plugins. ("so-and-so plugin doesn't work on mac" etc.)

it's a simple fix.
the podium installer creates a plugin folder in the wrong directory when it should be placed in the standard plugin folder. having 2 plugin folders in osx sketchup 'confuses(?)' certain plugins and they will no longer work unless you put them in the new plugin folder created by podium.

i've manually installed podium in the standard plugin folder and deleted the 2nd folder it creates and everything runs fine.

the fix would be a simpler installer so it's not like it's some sort of undertaking to get it correct.. it would actually be less work to do it right.

the path thomthom pointed to:
(/Library/Application Support/Google/Google SketchUp [n]/SketchUp/plugins)
is correct except it's missing the main ingredient.. it should be:
macintoshHD/library/application support/google sketchup 7/sketchup/plugins

that is where the plugin folder is located upon a fresh SU install

podium creates a plugin folder at:
user/library/application support/google sketchup 7/sketchup/plugins

(notice the similarities between the two paths.. there's only a slight difference between the two but it's a major one. i understand how the two can get confused but it should be sorted out)

sepo

Thanks Jeff . I will pass this to our support and report back.

cmeed

After lots of head scratching with plugins not working and missing tool bars etc, on finding the SCF thread that solved the problem by removing the plugins folder at user level that podium created was a great relief and a god send. Podium works fine as jeff pointed out when you move that too.

Podium is fantastic and i thought that i'd link this god send on the podium forum. So I did point out this to the podium people fairly recently (not to the team directly). Also in doing that i asked podium people if i would get any problems. 0 replys and 97 people looked.

podium V2 looks really good and exciting. i love using 1.7 and will be wanting to download the V2 mac beta when its ready. But, i will want to know about installation, because it was podium I'm afraid that was causing the problems. all plugins working after taking the advice of people here. Still Love podium.

sepo

Thanks Cmeed. This is quite interesting. I have forwarded this info to Dave from Cadalog. I was told that we had only one official report of problem in more than thousands of registered Mac Podium users. He told me also that he himself tested it on 3 macs in the office without any problem. Now, I am not saying anything with certainity but could it be that there is also some other plugin which contributes to this problem.
Dave has promissed that we will look at installer again and see what could be done. This is as much as I could report for now.

thomthom

Would it help with links to some of the threads where this has been discussed?

cmeed

You may well be right. But, over the last 4 years of using sketchup I've wanted more out of it and increasingly plugins give me that chance like podium and the fredos et al of this world. So over time there maybe a conflict maybe?. I use alot of plugins, mainly the one seen in the visual index. but also more.
Maybe the majority Mac users of podium don't have as many and don't get conflicts. Podium has always worked fine no matter where you place it. So the line of inquiry starts with us questioning the plugins not working and finding an answer. Certainly the people here that have responded 'passionately' use plugins alot like me. Therefore we have problems and voice them here. luckily for me these are clever people and have sorted a resolution.

My question is - is there a point to having a user level plugins folder? will i get any problems?

everything works now i have deleted the user level folder and placed podium in HD.

cmeed

this explained everthing for me - it VERRRY long but i hope this cuts to the chase
I posted this to su podium forum
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=15182&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60

thomthom

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=15182&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60#p208998

@whaat said:

Since then, I have found the solution to this problem which was been discussed at length here. The problem is related to the Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins") method which will not return the HD subfolder if there exists a Users plugins subfolder

sepo

OK I have reported all of this back. I will inform you of the outcome. Thanks.

thomthom

jeff hammond

@sepo said:

Now, I am not saying anything with certainity but could it be that there is also some other plugin which contributes to this problem.

there are a few different things that can be 'blamed' for this..

SU allows for the 2nd plugin folder to come into play to begin with.
plugin developers using different methods (as this problem affects only some plugins.. not all)
probably some other things..

podium aside, i can easily duplicate this problem simply by creating an empty plugin folder at the user level..

here's a quick video showing:

SU open with a few of the 'trouble' rubys displayed in the drawing area
navigating to user/library/application support/google sketchup 7/sketchup then creating a new plugins folder there.
quitting SU then relaunching
the rubys are now either broken, missing icons, or not there at all
deleting the the plugin folder at the user level then quitting/relaunching SU
all is fine again.

this is basically what the podium installer does.. the problem isn't with podium itself (which runs great on macs).. it's the creation of the user level plugin folder.

[flash=640,385:b7oo5qoy]http://www.youtube.com/v/9nvp81zhq6M&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash:b7oo5qoy]

but yeah, thanks for looking into this! at the very least, you'll probably have ~10 mac users reconsidering purchasing podium

wind-borne

@sepo said:

I was told that we had only one official report of problem in more than thousands of registered Mac Podium users.

WOW, I feel special, I have my stream of emails to Dave. I am the only one to report

Thanks for stirring up the memories with your video Jeff

thomthom

Here's another odd finding related to Podium: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=15182&start=75#p226879

toxicvoxel

How can there be any problems if it was written in C?!

@unknownuser said:

if you want to do simple things go with "simple" languages but after running the simple examples you will have problems that need knowledge of the things that run under the hood.

remus

Sorry, whats that got to do with the podium beta? im confused...

Gaieus

@remus said:

Sorry, whats that got to do with the podium beta? im confused...

Thanks remus.

So it's not just me...

sepo

Honestly, this whole thread was kind of a disaster.