Open the ruby console, and type in:

Sketchup.find_support_file('Plugins') [and tap enter]

I suspect it may not point where we expect.

We expect it to return:

C:/Users/John Alsina/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/SketchUp/Plugins/

Then try

Sketchup.find_support_file('Plugins/polygonmaker.rb')

If it does not return a fill path, then polygonmaker.rb is not in your plugins folder.

A camera might be a good idea.

I've been trying out a couple of cartoon figures.

I thought I would ask for ideas, because the last time I tried one of these rending sample threads, the model I chose turned out to be awful

Can you run SketchUp again and load the about dialog to make sure you are running the proper version?

Open the SketchUp Ruby console, and type in:

load 'polygonmaker.rb' and hit enter, and see if it can find it, or if you get any error messages.

If the Ruby Console responds 'true', then load the SketchUp Preferences extension menu to make sure it is enabled.

I am thinking of a new set of rendering samples to post at the SketchUpRendering.com Samples page. (This page posts renderings of the same scene using various rendering engines)

A good studio scene would be an object someone wants to highlight or market, which is rendered alone, (no specific background or environment). Some people use a piece of studio geometry to reflect light well on the model, and some people use HDRi images to provide lighting (or both)

At one time Solo provided this background which can be used for Studio Renderings

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?redirect=1%26amp;mid=ebc91c36e92e7c0e971df5c4458c07f7

Here is a simple example of a studio rendering using HDRi lighting

Good Model for us all to render

The point of this post, is what would be a good model for people to use for a sample Studio rendering. (I would like people to use the same model with various rendering packages - but to use their favorite studio lighting ideas.

We could use a 3D challenge model, like this one, or perhaps you can suggest a better idea.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=5215e6fc6d3463e4ca6903a0c474f53f

We have a user who put an Apostrophe in her windows user name.

Thus her app_data folder is:

C:\Users\SueO'Reilly\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins

(not her real name)

This was causing our plugin to fail (I can think of lots of reason's why an apostrophe in a path could break plugins which were not planning for it. For instance if you pass the pathname to a DOS or Windows command and enclose it in single quotes.)

To check for this, we created a new user on our machine with an apostrophe in the user name, and SketchUp 2014 itself could not start properly - with an error about not being able to initiate the sandbox.

Has any else run into a problem like this?

Prior to the new 3D Warehouse, we had a neat routine which would search groups in the 3D Warehouse, fond the models in the group, and create a file of the model name, image from the 3D Warehouse and a download link.

For instance, we placed mirrors in this group:

3D Warehouse

3D Warehouse is a website of searchable, pre-made 3D models that works seamlessly with SketchUp.

(3dwarehouse.sketchup.com)

And then our routine could get the names of the mirrors, the image of the mirror and a download link for the mirror, and display them in our mirror wizard.

Our apps could then show users only components from certain 3D Warehouse groups, then download the .SKP for the component and load the SKP into the SketchUp model.

We could have gotten the name, image and download URL from the Warehouse by hand and stored them in a CSV or MySQL file by hand, but it was awfully handy to get the information directly from the 3D warehouse. For example, we we added new components, removed things or made changes all we had to do was rerun our extract program and build a new list of items to show on the wizard.

With the new Warehouse, we can still get the Component names and descriptions, and the image from the 3D Warehouse pages. But getting a download link is proving to be a challenge.

Has anyone else find a way to extract this king of data, or does SketchUp provide a way to extract information from 3D Warehouse groups.

@driven said:

@Al,
for your clients path, shouldn't it be Sketchup.find_support_file("RPS") as it doesn't include "Plugins"?

john

In my example, RPS was a subfolder in Plugins.

It was supposed to be in:

C:/Users/alh/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/SketchUp/Plugins

where we install it, but there was a rouge copy in:

C:/Program Files (x86)/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/Plugins/RPS

because the user had either copied the SU 2013 version there, or tried to install the SU 2014 version of the plugin in the wrong place.

My point is that if both of these folders exist, Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins/RPS") should only return the one in the proper Plugins folder.

We have solved the problem by first locating

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins") which works properly, and then verifying that

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins") + "/RPS" exists.

But we think that Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins/RPS") should have found to correct file.

@tig said:

@driven said:

if your prepared to use 'Ruby Console'

copy paste this

UI.openpanel(Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins"))

then hit enter...

@TIG, maybe SCF_ could have a 'Plugins folder' menu item???

john
Good tip.
Good idea...

Notice that:

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins")

returns the right path even if a "Plugins" folder exists in program Files, e.g.

C;/Program Files (x86)/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/Plugins

But, if, like one of our clients, you have created a subfolder of Plugins in Program Files, such as:

C;/Program Files (x86)/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/RPS

then

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins/RPS") returns the wrong folder - the one in Program Files when it should have found the one in AppData where we installed it.

(even though the client put it there, it is the wrong place)

I suspect this is a bug in SketchUp 2014.

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins")
C:/Users/alh/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/SketchUp/Plugins
Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins/RPS")
C:/Program Files (x86)/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/Plugins/RPS

@charly2008 said:

I am still very skeptical about the future development. Will plugins (Ruby 2.0), developed for Sketchup 2014 still be backward compatible in the future?

Will we then have two SketchUp groups here in the Forum?

With a little work ruby developers can make their rubies work for both SU 2014 and earlier versions.

Many of the changes we had to make were required in Ruby 2.0, but still work in Ruby 1.8

In other cases, we can check the ruby version, and execute different code for both versions. e.g. (.index in Ruby 1,8 had to be replaced by .key in Ruby 2.0)

[pre:2k60l9ti]if (RUBY_VERSION.to_f >= 2.0)
sname = material_names.key(current_mesh.material_index)
else
sname = material_names.index(current_mesh.material_index)
end#if[/pre:2k60l9ti]

It turned out to be much easier for us to make our ruby code compatible with both 2.0 and 1.8 since we have customers who want to run new versions of our plugins with old versions of SketchUp

I'm pretty excited about this new feature Rich has put together for IRender nXt.

The View Wizard makes it easy to save SketchUp Views, share them between models, and use them for rendering.

The really exciting features are:

1. Load a view which was automatically stored in the JPG Image you saved after rendering.

This make it easy to restore a view form a previous rendering, even if the view is not currently saved in your SketchUp model.

2. Render in s saved view, even though it is not the current SketchUp View.

This makes it easy to adjust lights, etc. which are not even visible in the current view, and then re-render without having to switch views. You can zoom in on the light, but re-render the desired view.

3. Load a view saved with one model into a different model

How often have you wished you could easily share views between different versions of the same model, or between similar models. Just save the view in one model and load it in the second model.

4. Save default views in a "dummy" model of standard views and quickly load them into other models.

This is especially great it you have a few favorite views you like to use for rendering.

For more information, see: View Wizard

or download the latest version of IRender nXt..

A client reported this problem. Has anyone else run into this and/or have any suggestions for a better solution?

We offered this solution which seemed to work:

In some cases after installing GoPro Studio, other applications may report an error that states: "Error at loading if ippSP library - No DLLS were Found in the Waterfall procedure".

If this occurs the solution is to browse to: C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and then remove these files:

    ippcore-6.1
    ippj-6.1
    ippjw7-6 .. 1
    IPPS-6.1
    ippvc-6.1

@kaas said:

An old thread but nobody posted an image made with the LightUp plugin - my favorite 'renderer' (it's more than that - you can walk around in real-time in this rendered scene).

I added some IES lights and some light emitters in front of the windows. Calculation time was just about 9 minutes.

Greetings, Max

Thanks,

I added your image to the SketchUp Rendering site as well.

Those are some of the "cleanest" lights of any of the samples.

@unknownuser said:

@Al
You have IRender nXt from Render Plus in your signature, why not render your car with it inside SU?

I'm working on it. Trying to get a good environment, add a dome light, etc.

Also, I am kind of hoping some other IRender nXt users will find this thread. They are probably much better than I am at rendering cars.

@jpalm32 said:

Comes in at over 32 feet for me, need adjustment for good textures

You're right. Can you scale it down?

@box said:

Are you after photo realistic renders only, or just nice renders?

We mainly want to encourage people that SketchUp is a good program for both 3D models and nice renderings. So any nice renderings would be helpful.

Oops - this thread has been hijacked.

Would you guys mind continuing the discussion of how to use VRay in a new thread?

@tadema said:

Hope I'm not too late.
Xonpt that colour looks great.
John

Nice overall scene - nice reflection on the car

What renderer did you use? Any other comments to add to the image?

Thanks for the quick responses to this. I have placed the rendered images onto the SketchUp Rendering site.

I will add more as we get them. Let me know if you want to change your comment or credits.

That's the one I wanted one more vote for.

Lets use it.

Jaguar XKR-S

I am changing the name of this thread, and the link in the first post, etc.