Automatic Sketchup book can now be freely downloaded
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(EDITED for accuracy reasons - the entire book is actually available by clicking on the "access pdf version" link.)
But the business model you mentioned is not uncommon. Many authors (ok, well a few authors) publish something entirely online for free, or you can buy a hard copy if you want a tangible copy to hold and touch.
Chris
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@danbig said:
I'm not complaining, but I'm not sure I understand the business model.
Buy my book, or download it for free?
Having been a co-author, I also understand this reasoning - get the information out to as many people as possible. Then, if you find it intriguing, go and buy the book. More exposure = more sales.
Personally, I would rather have a book in front of me to scribble into. And since I only have a single monitor, online pdfs make it difficult to follow along in a semi-organized manner.
I'm speaking for myself - others might love the online book thing, but I haven't caught that vision.
Rick
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I don't like reading large chunks of text on a monitor. Hard copy is my preference.
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@unknownuser said:
Its only the first 3 chapters that are available actually.
the full book is available here with "There are no conditions or restrictions - feel free to download and distribute the PDF as you like. However, objective reviews of the content are always welcome. "
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Hi Chris:
It's not the 3 chapters, it's the complete book.
@chris fullmer said:
Its only the first 3 chapters that are available actually.
But the business model you mentioned is not uncommon. Many authors (ok, well a few authors) publish something entirely online for free, or you can buy a hard copy if you want a tangible copy to hold and touch.
Chris
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Thanks for the clarification folks. The site is misleading a little bit. But indeed it is the entire book that is available. I edited my post above so as to not confuse anyone anymore
Thanks! I am excited to look this book over,Chris
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Appears to no longer be available on link provided - I get a Google Docs message:
"Sorry, the page (or document) you have requested is not available."
This is whether I use the Google docs link provided above or the link from [link removed]May be a "not USA web address" issue? I'm in AU.
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I'm getting the same error here in the USA. THat is odd.
Chris
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Same here in France
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mmmm....strange thingies are going on here....
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So no one know what happened? Or better, no one know where can we download it?!
The site is still showing a link, but someone took it out from google docs...
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Awesome
! I can't wait to download this to my iPod Touch. I've been wanting to do some ruby scripts, seeing their the only frontier ventured, but not devveloped by me. I've done iPhone apps, beta testing for Facebook and Yahoo, 3DS games, etc... But this seems like a promissing frontier. Oh yeah, did I mentoin I'm only 13 
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Or maybe I won't download it?
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Hello all,
Sorry for the confusion. I'm surprised the Google Docs link wasn't reliable.
I've updated the HTML at [link removed] so that "Access PDF version" links directly to the PDF instead of Google.
In fact, the direct link is [link removed].
If there are any further problems, please let me know. And if SCF (or anyone else) would be willing to host the file, that would be fine by me.
Best,
Matt Scarpino -
Great, thanks Matt!
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A potentially VERY useful book - many of us scripters could do with learning how to do properly what we are doing
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HI,
Great book, thanks Matthew !@unknownuser said:
And if SCF (or anyone else) would be willing to host the file, that would be fine by me.
Hosting the file somewhere on my site would be nice, don't you think ?
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Thanks Matt - will probably buy the dead trees version as well.
But now I don't have to wait for sea-going snail mail to reach here! -
Got my printed version today. Thanks, looking good.
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An update about 5 years later...
At the link above, to Matt's original announcement of the PDF, is the link to a Google Docs page:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1JtraED8shnNGZkNzM4ZmQtMTVmNS00Zjc4LWI2NjMtYzliZGVjYzQyNTU5/view?ddrp=1%26amp;hl=en#As of today, that works for me.
I also found the PDF at http://www.crai.archi.fr/rld/pdf/Automatic_SketchUp.pdf
Those help with the fact that http://www.automaticsketchup.com and http://www.autosketuchup.com appear to be redirects to a page with only a link to a legal disclaimer. That's too bad.
As for paper vs PDF, I have the paper book open for reading and I'm using the PDF to be able to do text searches. I can copy the code out of the PDF to past it into the Ruby console. And just like with music, buying the book supports the author where freebies, bootleg or not, do not.
Unfortunately in this case, the book is out of print. You can get a used one for $250.00 on Amazon or a new one for $570.00 to $800.00. Yeah. More for this book than for SU Pro. And I bet not a dime of that gets to the author.
Seems like it's time for an update to the newer versions of SU. The book was published in 2010 for SU 7.1.
Does anyone know how to get hold of Matt Scarpino? I bet this group could do a crowd-sourced update of it pretty quickly.
Just ideas,
August
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