What's the compatibility issue again? I'm kinda out-of-date for a while.

@aceshigh said:

this looks like a great, quite interesting plugin. But what I want to know is if its compatibility problems were solved already...

@gaieus said:

Hi Tavi,

Just a short list:

• navigation around (orbiting, panning, zooming)
• scenes with different layers on/off
• ability to change (obviously pre-defined) textures say on walls or roof tiles or colours of window frames
  

Hmmm...I'm asking for more actually. Here is mine:

• Navigation.
• Rendering options.
• Making changes to the model. Textures and also geometries.
• Collaboration. People can make modification simultaneously.
  Ideally, it will be like online doc/spreadsheet. But I have no idea where we should start from?

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been discussed again and again but I don't know if anyone's still working on it. (let me know if there are any, thank you.)

We've got Modelers (Alias AutoCAD UG CATIA just to name a few) and Web applications (WireFusion, Papervision3D) but so far there is few develop environment that allows us to code both models and its online interaction. Java3D maybe?

I saw Sketchup macro editor from TBD but seems like it's not working at this moment. Any idea?

@jim said:

@antantantant said:

Hi all,

Is there a way to rotate one object (group) according to its own axes while other stuff on the screen stand still? or Anyone has tried anything like that? Thank you!

-Max

Hi Max. You just create a new Transformation object using any Point3d, Vector3d, and an angle; then apply it to the Group.

The following rotates a Group around the it's own Z_AXIS by 90 degrees.

> # First, select a Group
> group = Sketchup.active_model.selection[0]
> group.transform! Geom;;Transformation.rotation(group.transformation.origin, Z_AXIS, 90.degrees)
> 

Thank you and sorry...
What I really mean is "orbit". My question is:

Is there a way to divide the screen into smaller scenes so that I can orbit each one independently?

Thank you again!

-Max

Hi all,

Is there a way to rotate one object (group) according to its own axes while other stuff on the screen stand still? or Anyone has tried anything like that? Thank you!

-Max

@geh4evr said:

Max, I finally got around to mucking around with Matchbox, and I came up with a lovely little futuristic car, So I decided to make it one of my projects!(Along with building a whole city and making a detailed model of a house)

Anyway, I've added some details to it, and popped it into Hypershot for a quick render.

Enjoy!

Thanks so much for such a great plugin!

Jacob, Thank you for providing an inspiring view of this plugin. Still working on it!

@simon b said:

Have you heard of spore?

http://www.spore.com/ftl

Incorporating evolution between bacterial development to galactic conquest - the creatures are not fully autonomous though.

I guess they used the concept of evolution for promotion, but in fact it is still an environment where the players make decision. I found some other not-so-ancient projects related to virtual creature and this one looks pretty interesting:http: http://www.darwinathome.org/video.html.

Anyway, to me Sketchup is quite a natural environment for this kind of projects to evolve.

@craigbic said:

By the way - I uninstalled Lightup (I didn't like it anyway) and that fixed that problem, although that's probably something to note, but I use Tools on Surface heavily so I can't just uninstall it. I don't know if it's unique to me so if anyone else is having the same problem, please chime in.

Thanks!

Wait a sec! I can use Tools on Surface on other objects but not on my "car"s. The issue is that I scaled those cars before they are displayed. So their actual geometries are not what visually displayed. Hope that solves one piece of the puzzle.

@craigbic said:

However, I have found that either it interferes with Lightup (see error screen cap) or Lightup interferes with it and with Matchbox installed, it seems to prevent Fredo6's Tools on Surface x 1.3 from working at all. You can choose a tool, the icon changes to reflect your tool choice but it will not do anything from there. I uninstalled Matchbox and the Tools on Surface works just fine. Any thoughts?

Thank you, Craigbic.

I don't have a specific problem as yours (I don't have those plug-ins), but yes, my code does interfere with other plug-ins. I haven't figured out why cos I'm an amateur at coding. I think I packed all my codes under my own classes and assumed that doing this will avoid interference. Anyone have idea about this?

Dear all,

I was totally fascinated by this ancient video from Karl Sims(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0OHycypSG8) and the Breve project(http://www.spiderland.org/). Really hope this could be rebuilt in Sketchup with the help of Ruby and Sketchy physics. This would be the best game I'd ever have. What do you think?

Attached is the paper "Evolved Virtual Creatures" by Karl Sims.

-Max

Evolving virtual Creatures.pdf

[off:21zs6jkv]This plugin has been quarantined.[/off:21zs6jkv]

Dear all,

I fixed some bugs and added more features to my previous Matchbox code. Now you can let these "boxes" evolve and create some strange looking cars. You can also save/load car(s). I haven't got time to add windows and lights though, but I will.

I'm not very sure about this whole idea (besides my own research purpose) like where it should go to make it more meaningful and really appreciate if you guys can provide more thoughts.

A simple readme file is also in the folder.

BTW, if you saved something, would you please post it here? So that I can check bugs you find or interesting things you bring up.

@marian said:

Could this script be made to make other shapes, like asteroids, craters, generic airplanes stuff like that?

I also dreamed about that, Marian. But not for now.

@rayochoa said:

Well if you look at it like that i guess your right but if you look at my cars (well the recent ones anyway) I make them with mostly only one tool: the line tool and if you use it right it will get you some pretty good results. Oh and when i was using it sometimes it woulsd generate a car with the rear panel stretched out like an airplane so yeah.

I checked some on the warehouse. Pretty awesome! But I cannot imagine building surfaces with line tool...how long does that take? I recommend Alias/Catia if you really enjoy building concept vehicles by hand. The current SketchUp will not bring you to the next level.

I noticed that bug...and I hope you enjoy it along with all other bugs.

@rayochoa said:

all it does for me is generate random cars. is that what its supposed to do? Nice plugin although it takes a bit out of using your imagination

Thanks Ochoa. I'll say this is an alpha prototype and yes, that's all it does for now. From my opinion, Sketchup is not only a efficient tool to convey ideas MANUALLY, but also a promising way to create things using artificial intelligence, e.g. let SketchUp gradually learn what kind of cars people are looking for and generate them automatically, or build a house that has enough light in it but doesn't cost too much on the windows. What do you think?

@crazy eyes said:

Great script, I am amazed with the possibilities, but I think it might need a re-write so we can alter the wheel well size. A 700mm wheel well just isn't big enough to fit the wheels nicely.Would it be too difficult to alter the script so the wheel well doesn't factor in the wheelbase?

Thanks Crazy Eyes,

That is a good question. Several parameters should be further linked with the wheel size. I'll fix them soon. Good observation!

@unknownuser said:

I hit the button like crazy but nothing happens.

Hmmm.... That's weird. You should have one entering file "MatchboxPlugin.rb" and a folder with the same name. Do not move files out of that folder.

@marian said:

Are you using a separate script for linking together multiple bezier curves? and if so can you release it as a separate ruby, it will also be very usefull for making cars.

I'm sorry for the messed-up code. This is actually my first Ruby code anyway...
I link curves/surfs together in a way that they have continuous tangent or curvature. And I would like to release a separate ruby so that people can attach a curve to a existing one and make sure they linked smoothly. But I don't have a schedule for that...

Thanks Pixero,

The backside-out thing is my fault, but easy to fix. Also I'm with you about adding bumpers and wheels. However, I don't want to change the wheel design cos this whole thing is focused on the car body. What do you think? I plan to add user-control if the non-controllable interactive genetic algorithm turns out to be not convergent.

Bezier_surf is from 'Victor Liu' on Google SketchUp group. I attached his standalone plug-in: bez-patch.zip (bez-patch.rb should be the entering point).
My contribution to it is to make connected Bezier curve/surfaces have smooth tangent/curvature.

-Max

Oops. Did I attach anything? Here you go: MatchboxPlugin.zip

Dear all,

Attached is the very first version of a 3D car modeler which is named 'Matchbox' (Remember Matchbox toy cars? )

The whole fancy idea is to generate car models in some fashion (I plan to use interactive genetic algorithm, but now only randomization) so that people can model cars efficiently with styles they prefer. Also, I have to used it for my research to detect trade-offs between styling and engineering criteria.

Right now the model has at least tangent continuities at most places but it still lacks details like wheels and windows. (See the figure attached) And I'm still hesitating if I should add them. What do you think?

BTW, I'm new to SketchUp and Ruby and I'm always encouraged by what people on this forum achieved. Especially, I'm interested in the interactive SketchUp concept where people can manipulate models simultaneously. This will make a virtual design environment possible where people can make choices on automatically evolved objects (e.g. cars). Just my day dream..

Installation: You only need to unzip the files into the plugin folder then click the button appears on the toolbar. You can further smooth the model by removing the comment on line 993 in Matchbox_r.rb

Enjoy.

-Max