You just download the basic JQuery, and store it on your web server, and ink to it in the HTML, and then download the special JQuery piece you want to use.

It took me a while to get it working the first time. But the trick to speed things up is to view the page source of their working page to see just what they used and set.
e.g.

<script charset='utf-8' src='http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>
    <script charset='utf-8' src='http://code.vostrel.cz/jquery.reel-edge-bundle.js' type='text/javascript'></script>

I'll try to make a JReel example if I get a chance.

Here is a JavaScript only example: Playground

The mouse doesn't work as well as I would like. But it will give you an idea of what is possible.

{Edit: This example works great in IE, but it does not track the mouse smoothly in Firefox]

Here is a sample. It should be easy to make it work. I'll try later

Javascript Movie Player

(solar.physics.montana.edu)

This sample does't use a mouse. But I seem to remember one which did.

not java, but javascript, which is probably more acceptable

@solo said:

Al, is that soft shadow part of the app? If yes can you remove it?

yes. you just need to read more of he documentation.

I think the documentation assumed that I owned something related to flash.

When they first added the spinning models to the 3D Warehouse I looked at it and it was a Javascript/HTML only solution. I'll have to try to drag that up again.

I downloaded a Flash Solution from another thread, and was able to make this web page:

http://www.renderplus.com/htm/360-renders/sources/webpage.htm

@alan fraser said:

Its going the wrong way!!

I grabbed a 360-degree scene making script by wikii (creat360view.rb) , and modified it to save an image for each view. I just need to reverse the direction of the views.

The "trick" to using the SWF stuff is to modify their XML file (not try to use one with a different name), and then figure out how to put everything on a web page.

I will post more stuff when I get it all working properly.

Except for the difficulty trying to figure out the documentation, this does have a chance.

http://www.renderplus.com/htm/360-renders/sources/webpage.htm

It looks like a good solution.

I'll give it a try

Very impressive graphics and interaction.

I was looking to see if they had an interface to SketchUp. But before I got that rd I checked the price - $1,495.00 and was a bit put off.

Al

@tallbridgeguy said:

I found this site. Demicron and they have a free download.

http://www.demicron.com/index.html

Anybody use it?

3D examples.

http://www.demicron.com/gallery/mediterranean/mediterranean.html
http://www.demicron.com/gallery/perceuse/perceuse.html

There are a couple of things I like to do to Ruby code to make it easier to work with:

1. Use Indents properly to make it easy to follow groups of code

2. Add #xxx after 'end' to make it easier to remember what they are the end of:

#e.g. 
    if (a == b)
        c = d
    end#if

(I really wish the Ruby inventors had not decided to use the same word, 'end', for the end of everything. It would make it a lot easier to track down mistakes.

3. Make blank lines consistent.

So I borrowed a Ruby Beautifier Script from Paul Lutus, (which did #1), and added logic to it to do #2 and #3.

I have attached a copy if you want to try it out.

new version 5/29/2015

Here is what it does to a ruby script which was already in good shape - bomb.rb by Rick Wilson (A free script I downloaded from Smustard)

Original on right, RBeautify version on left

(This output is from Araxis Merge - a great program we use to show changes between versions of source code)

@al hart said:

Is there a compiler switch in MSVC to compile as a .so rather than a DLL?

Is there a compiler switch in MSVC to compile as a .so rather than a DLL?

Is the rest of the logic the same - for example the call to void Init_XXX() where XXX.so is the name of the .so file?

Thanks,

Al

@dan rathbun said:

@alienizer said:

I totally agree, and we should be able to write plugins entirely in a dll.

There is a future pitfall for DLL files. Their support has been removed for the Ruby 1.9.x branch (which we are hoping that Sketchup begins using soon. Unicode string support etc.)
Anyway... the require() method will not load files with a DLL extension in Ruby 1.9.x

You do not need a real DLL file (to write a Sketchup plugin,) unless you are exporting DLL functions for public use by other non-Sketchup / non-Ruby programs.

Compile as a .so (source object) file if a DLL is not necessary.

BTW... you can always use the WinAPI C call LoadLibrary() to load a DLL. You can make the call using the Ruby Win32API.so extension, or Daniel Berger's newer win32-api package.

Some rendering packages, (but not SketchUp), can render shadows directly from the transparent png images.

The shadow mask does not have nearly as much resolution as the tree, but works pretty well when needed

Here is a RpTreeMaker tree.

Here is the medium resolution shadow mask.

Thanks - these shadow masks seem to work quite well. I have to create a polygon which more-or-less matches the leaves so it can make good shadows.

The trees do not appear to be facing the camera properly. Did they work properly in SketchUp?

If some rendering packages are not processing "Always Face Camera" properly, perhaps we can add a function to "freeze" the Components so that they face the camera in the current view before you render them.

@unknownuser said:

Al,

Your right, i turned the shadows on, and also in thearender and the result(quick test) you can see the shadows quite good.

nice new treemaker version

Here's a website with a SketchUp 3D model embedded in it: Embedded Model

@alienizer said:

I totally agree, and we should be able to write plugins entirely in a dll. First, I'm sure it's faster to execute since it's compiled, rather than interpreted by Ruby.

After you get the DLL working, you can access and modify SketchUp classes directly from the C-code. However, it turns out that it is somewhat slower to do things in C-code.

So we left most routines which access SketchUp classes in RUBY. We use the DLL to let us access Windows features, use Windows dialogs, etc. Also, things which do not directly access SketchUp classes are much faster in C++.

One piece of advice for the author of the SketchUp Job Board.

If you want a new concept like this to work, you should make it free for the first year or so, and then try charging for it later.

Google Checkout - who we use for on-line sales - made the service completely free for the first full year (We did not have to pay the credit card fees). But after using it a year, we, and I suspect most users, continued to use it.

However, I see that the site is posted by JobCoin, If that is a third party - then offering it for free may not be possible.

The trees when placed in SketchUp are "always face camera" 2D images.

Full fractal, 3D is only used when they are rendered with IRender nXt

However, the 2D images work quite well in SketchUp for background trees, etc.