[Plugin] Sketchup Ivy

TIG

Wow. This is awesome. Thanks so much.
Two questions:

Maxing "Adhesion" still leaves a significant amount of branches moving away from a wall surface. Is there any way to make the branches stay in contact more? Or to have a may zone that the branches may occupy (say, 6" thick, like real ivy)

Is it possible to add user-defined jpegs for leaves and bark textures?
I only made 'compatibility' revisions to the OP's code...
If you a look at the code in the various files, then you can try adjust a few things and see what happens...
You can add your own leaf component cutouts - based on your own image textures...
Save them as SKP files in the subfolder ..Plugins//LiveIvy/Textures...
They are available when the tool is first used.
The 'stem.jpg' is used for the stalks' textures, so if you replace that with another it changes in your future ivies...

blackdogsketch

Thanks TIG
Sounds like there's no clear method of getting more ivy to "stick" to the wall.
Hey-While I'm here...thank you for all your incredible work for the SU community!
You make my workflow and professional results better.

namelessone

Perhaps I missed the option, but is it possible to make branches less angular/zip-zappy? The Quality slider adds only more parallel faces, not perpendicular segments I'd like to make ivy looking better at close ups.

EDIT: If there's no option for that, I guess I could try smoothing/subdividing tools.

itcampos

Dude, that plugin is trully amazing! Congratulations!
Sadly, I wasn't able to use it within SU2015. The following is the Ruby error log:

Error: #<Encoding::UndefinedConversionError: "\x8D" to UTF-8 in conversion from Windows-1252 to UTF-8>
C:/Users/ÍtallodeAndrade/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/LiveIvy/LiveIvy_tool.rb:10:in exist?' C:/Users/ÍtallodeAndrade/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/LiveIvy/LiveIvy_tool.rb:10:in tidyup'
C:/Users/ÍtallodeAndrade/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/LiveIvy/LiveIvy_tool.rb:18:in <module:LiveIvy>' C:/Users/ÍtallodeAndrade/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/LiveIvy/LiveIvy_tool.rb:5:in <top (required)>'
D:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/Tools/RubyStdLib/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in require' D:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/Tools/RubyStdLib/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in require'
C:/Users/ÍtallodeAndrade/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins/LiveIvy.rb:6:in `<top (required)>'

I really hope it helps.

Thanks!

cfeldman

Thank you !, for this plugins.
Nice work.

( i had too these idea a lot of time in the mind,--years--
but i know nothing about Programing-actions).

Best regards,
Claudio

Kjammer

Using Sketchup 2015 and the plugin forms the branches but will not form the leaves at all. When I CTRL + Click no leaves are generated, there are no placemarkers for them either.....

Oxer

First you can select one or more leaves in the Leaves Tab

TIG

You must select one or more leave types in the dialog... They highlight blue when selected

Sergio Morera

Sorry guys but I have the same problem, After selecting leaves in the tab it will not generate them in sketchup 2015. I have the latest version of the plugin too. I have also reset all the parameters to their default values as suggested by TIG.Any ideas?

TIG

When you select the Leaves images in the dialog are they highlighted in 'blue frames' [see the image].
One click on it selects it, click on it again to deselect it.
As you click in the model the ivy stems grow [in red lines].
To grow towards the cursor use Alt+click.
To add leaves you Ctrl+click [green stars are added as leaf proxies].
To complete that piece of ivy do a Shift-click...
It is made.
To start new ivy press 'i'
Please read the dialog's Usage and Keys tabs...

Sergio Morera

I got the plugin to work in sketchup 2015 at last. The problem I found is that for the ivy to work, the faces of the surface where you want it to grow have to be oriented correctly. It will not work if you try it on a reversed face. I hope this help other users as well. Once again many thanks to those involved in its development.

Mra

Does this plugin still work? All I get is the parameters tab and no other tabs as in the screenshot a few posts above?

pilou

@unknownuser said:

Does this plugin still work? All I get is the parameters tab and no other tabs as in the screenshot a few posts above?

Seems work very fine in 2015 - 2016!

TIG

All SketchUp dialogs use Internet Explorer on PC*** [or Safari on MAC] irrespective of your day-to-day browser.
***Please complete your Member profile so we know better what OS/version etc when replying...
Ensure you have the latest IE installed [11?].
Also ensure your Internet Options are not too restrictive/strict - many dialogs use javascript, and it you are limiting its use that can also cause issues.
So if you have an older IE version it might not support some dialog functions...

As far as I know this tool works in all SketchUp versions from at least v8 upwards - although in v2016 you will need to have selected the 'Unrestricted' security policy in SketchUp's Preferences [the shipped default], otherwise - like many other RBZs that have not been 'signed' by Trimble - it will not load at all.

mansfen

Hi TIG and all other users of this beautiful plugin,

At first I would like to thank the developer for all the support
and the work to get this off the ground. I was wondering, if you could
post some more leaf textures or just let me know where I could dl
some more leafs ...?

Your help is much appreciated.

With many thanks!

TIG

@mansfen said:

Hi TIG and all other users of this beautiful plugin,

At first I would like to thank the developer for all the support
and the work to get this off the ground. I was wondering, if you could
post some more leaf textures or just let me know where I could dl
some more leafs ...?

Your help is much appreciated.

With many thanks!
There are several leaf collections attached to posts in this thread.
They are relatively easy to make.
Make a SKP containing a face roughly shaped to the leaf's outline.
Apply a texture to it that is a PNG with transparency - that is so the bits of the model behind it will show through.
Its face will cast a shadow approximating to the outline.
These go in the folder ../Plugins/LiveIvy/Textures
When the tool loads, any SKPs in that folder are used for the leaves offered in the dialog.

halroach

@gordy_z said:

Thank you Pierreden for all the work you've put in on your ivy generator and thank you Gilles63 for providing different shaped leaves.

In order to understand how the different variables affected the morphology of the ivy, I tested each variable on separate white walls. After doing this I modeled the ivy for the model I'm working on by choosing the best starting point for any variable by looking in the "ivy library" then exploring the nearby values of that variable on a test wall with my model's texture on it. I've uploaded the model that shows these first two steps so that you can see how the variables behave.

Then I mixed and matched variables to get the final look for my model (not shown in the upload). I think mixing and matching gives unexpected results, so if you use the library, please use it only as a very general guide.

It's an approximately 45 MB file, is at DropBox address https://dl.dropbox.com/u/79073930/Sketchup%20Ivy%200pt6pt3%20Tests.skp , and seems to work better with View/Face Style set to as simple a style as you can (you probably don't need to see the textures on my test walls). I tried to upload it here but couldn't, presumably because of the file size. If a file this size can be included here, let me know how and I'll do it. I hope it helps!

Gordy_Z

Hi,
The library looks very useful, yet the dropbox link above is offline.
Any chance for a re-up?

halroach

When I use Vray to render geometry generated with Sketchup Ivy, the leaves don't render the same size as they appear in sketchup.
I've seen this issue noted by others here, when using Thea render if I'm not mistaken.
Other than exploding all the leaf components before rendering, I haven't found any other solution to solve this issue.
Exploding all the leaves causes model sizes to be quite large.

Is there any way to render the ivy without exploding? (I've combed the forum here, and all over the internet, so forgive me if I've missed something).

Attached are 2 images illustrating the issue.

Thanks for an amazing plugin!
Image from Sketchup
Image from Vray

ZaludovaK

Hi,
this is really amazing tool, but i have the same problem as Jersago, I have skp2015x64, i install de .rbz file with custom>extension..but when i open skp the subfolder menu doesn´t appear, only the Liveivy icon, but don´t work, don´t do anything. Instalatin was succesfull, i restarted sketchup, i tryed to run it from 'Draw' menu, but it's still not work. Do you know how to help me somehow.
Thanks Kristyna

TIG

Have you tried running it with the Ruby Console open ?
Can you provide a screen-shot of what you have got and what error messages you see [if any].

Also is your Windows user-name SketchUp/Ruby friendly ?
I notice you have accented characters in your 'real name'.
Sometimes extensions have issues it the path to the user's Plugins folder contains unusual letters...
Can you copy+paste+<enter> this text into the Ruby Console and post the returned path...
Sketchup.find_support_file('Plugins')
It should be something like:
C:/Users/YourUserName/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins