I have this vague idea that there are a lot of talented designers in the SketchUp community who may be looking for interesting projects on which to hone their SketchUp skills.

I just ran across The Open Prosthetics Project which is producing useful innovations in the field of prosthetics and freely sharing the designs. http://openprosthetics.wikispot.org/Front_Page The following two items from that page caught my eye:

If you have ever built anything with LEGO, you'll be fascinated by http://www.openprosthetics.org/myoelectric which has an Articulated LEGO Hand. Be sure to watch the video of it in motion.

Also, the Vector Prehensor is in need of help to detail the 3D motions of this device that, until recently, had been snagged by potential infringement on a 1954 German patent. http://openprosthetics.wikispot.org/Vector_Prehensor

I hope this helps,
August

I just ran across this and figured that someone here would find it as fascinating as I did. The image is a sample from the web page that has more pictures, discussion of the history of the project, and links to discussions of the math.

http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html

Have fun,
August

In Chris' Ruby Tutorial #2, http://www.sketchucation.com/category/education/tutorials/google-sketchup/ruby-scripting/, The formatting seems fubared and I cannot see most of the code. Is this just a browser glitch for me, or are other people having the same problem?

August

Thanks for the link to the dragon. I just assembled one. There's a comment on that page that it needs to be lit from below. I found that to be true -- strong shadows on the dragon's head make it harder for the false perspective to kick in.

@al hart said:

What is the effect of the second parameter (true/false) in Sketchup.register_extension

[edit]It looks like the .rb file gets loaded whether true or false is set.

I found this page of doc:
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/sketchup.html#register_extension
which includes this section:

Here's the text from that image (so that it is searchable), formatted as best as my experience with SCF will allow:

Sketchup.register_extensionSketchUp [6.0+]

The register_extension method is used to register an extension with SketchUp's extension manager (in SketchUp preferences).

Arguments:

• extension -- A SketchupExtension object.
• registered -- true if extension should be automatically
  loaded the first time it is registered.

Returns:

• status -- true if extension registered properly

utilitiesExtension = SketchupExtension.new "Utilities Tools",
  "Utilities/utilitiesTools.rb"

utilitiesExtension.description = "Adds Tools->Utilities to the " +
  "SketchUp inteface. The Utilities submenu contains two tools; " +
  "Create Face and Query Tool."   

Sketchup.register_extension utilitiesExtension, false

That formatting is way too much trouble. Code boxes should be wider so it will display readably and there really should be some way of indenting, creating lists bullets, etc.

ANYBODY know of any doc for formatting SCF posts that goes beyond the buttons at the top of the text entry window?

I hope this helps,
August

Thanks Al,

@unknownuser said:

The new URL works fine
Also, after emptying the cache, the old URL works fine too

Ditto for me. Both URLs working fine at this point.

August

@urgen said:

.............

So was this an entry in the competition for a real-world instance of the Firefox logo?

Hi Al,

@al hart said:

I have created a new Web Page which will let you read all the SketchUp Blogs on a single page.

Take a look: SketchUp Blogs

I have been trying to access that page all day and and have had no luck.

Have you changed the location, had a server problem, or is just my flaky computer and/or flaky Comcast connection that's again causing me headaches?

Thanks,
August

Hi Jim,

@jim said:

It's almost certainly broken - it is no coincidence since I was working on it this afternoon. I will look at it on Monday - my eyes are blurry.

It appears to still be broken. When I click Submit, I go to http://www.sketchucation.com/wp-comments-post.php which just shows a blank, white page and the comment is not there on the Extensions List page. And I don't seem to be able to test Logged-In vs. Logged-Out because I can no longer find where to log in to that part of SketchUcation. Logging in to the group Forums here is not sufficient.

Meanwhile, the Extensions List page now shows 679 entries while my list has 678. I'd rather not go through the work of regenerating the list just to compare. Do you happen to remember what the newest entry was? If so, could you mention it in the Comments on the Extensions List page?

Adding notes in the Comments seems a good way too keep people updated and would make it easy for me to update both the text list in this thread and the HTML list at http://supowertools.wordpress.com/scfextenslist/

The above is, of course, assuming the Comments function is working. Some kind of search system has added a comment since I reported the problem over a month ago, but it seems to be an automated result for when "Extensions List" is mentioned anywhere within SketchUcation/SCF. Or it could have been done manually, it is only one entry.

Thanks for you efforts, Jim, and I hope this helps,
August

Since this is in the Corner Bar ...

The first screenshots I ever used were actual shots of screens.

We had a professional photographer who set up a black tent over a monitor to prevent reflections off the screen while he took separate shots with different camera backs on the same body/lens/tripod setup. A Polaroid instant print would let us check the screen image, then he'd do a film version that would get halftoned for the magazine production.

Last minute changes, like discovering that the application data on display didn't match the text of the article and the "right" answer was to update the photo, not the text, those could get pretty expensive when he had to come in on short notice and set up again for a single shot.

So the idea of being able to grab a screen image and paste a URL for it into something I'm writing -- while I'm still in mid-sentence! -- is pretty damn remarkable.

August

Thanks Solo,

@solo said:

It captures the whole screen, including browser tabs.
and yes it needs to be installed.

I'm still not clear if it captures only the browser window (tabs and all is fine) or whether you can use this ImageShack tool to capture other applicatons, like a SketchUp window.

It seems, from your screenshot, to be in a browser toolbar. That makes me think it might only capture the browser window. Or the toolbar icon could possibly launch a separate application that could do more than that.

Then when you use the words "whole screen" I think "whole monitor" or "whole desktop" which makes me think that, yes, it can do more, but when you modify that with "including browser tabs" that pops the monitor or desktop idea and returns me to the browser window only.

So I'm still confused by what this actually does, and I'm reluctant to add yet another browser toolbar taking up screen space and slowing things down and conflicting with the other toolbars, just to test it.

Thanks,
August

@honoluludesktop said:

Go here for PC's. ...

Thanks for that tip. I'll have to compare features with my current favorite: Gadwin Print Screen.

So far, Gadwin is the only one I've found that will capture specialized cursors, like SketchUp uses. I've seen many others that advertise that they capture the cursor, but the actually only capture the cursor position and then add a generic cursor at that position. Gadwin gets everything that SU displays. But to use it you have to go through the long production route.

As I said in my original post,

@unknownuser said:

Yeah, there are lots of ways of doing the same thing, but this one with its automatic upload and URL capture is definitely fast, two quick steps instead of having to open an application in which to paste the capture, save that, then upload to a file sharing site, then capture the URL there.

My point was that if you have to open an app, paste, save it locally, then upload it, etc. it becomes a production workflow to produce a screenshot as a product, not something you want to take time for while in conversation. This JetScreenShot you can use while twittering.

@Solo: About the Imageshack tool. It looks like you have to install the ImageShack Toolbar to get it, right? As a browser tool, does it capture things outside the browser window, like SketchUp screens?

August

@chris fullmer said:

... I also like Jing, which will do the same more or less. ... http://www.jingproject.com

It also does videos, which I use frequently. ...

Thanks for the tip to Jing, Chris. Five minutes can be plenty of time for a captured video. I'll try that myself (gotta find a mic first).

August

I ran across an interesting freeware application for doing screen captures. It seems like a useful tool for bug reports, quickie tutorials, etc.

The concept that makes it stand apart is that it automatically uploads the capture to their server and automatically puts the resulting URL into your clipboard, so the whole process is reduced to a couple of clicks.

As a quick test, I grabbed a portion of the page on which I'm writing this note.

If you're not registered with them (free) then the file remains for 24 hours, like this one, which presumably will show an error after sometime tomorrow:

[EDIT: FYI, one month later, 7/19/09, the file is still there.]
[EDIT: FYI, over another month later still, 9/03/09, the file isstillthere.]

Here's the same file, downloaded to my machine before uploading to SCF.

Yeah, there are lots of ways of doing the same thing, but this one with its automatic upload and URL capture is definitely fast, two quick steps instead of having to open an application in which to paste the capture, save that, then upload to a file sharing site, then capture the URL there.

And a minor catch, the string in the clipboard is missing the ".jpg" and takes you to a page with ads for their other software with your image in the middle. Add the ".jpg" manually, and you and your readers bypass that.

Download Jet Screenshot and exchange screen snaps via the internet, share screensnap

(www.jetscreenshot.com)

Yours,
August

@edmon242004 said:

... If we could open all scenes at one time in one window that would be good.

Many, many models, and especially tutorials, are built with dozens of scenes. IIRC, someone once experimentally made a file with 800+ scenes. There would have to be an upper limit on how many were shown at once and then ways of specifying which scenes were displayed in which positions.

I suspect Google will be reluctant to include this in the base product because you can look at multiple scenes on the same "page" and specify which scenes are in what order and crop them etc. -- in Layout. That's part of the added value that sells Pro that finances all the Free distribution.

That means it's up to the Ruby Extensions crew to decide if they would personally get enough out of this, or if they think enough users would get enough out of it, to be worth figuring out how to do it and then building it.

Since you are a Max user, I suspect the whole issue is summarized by Chris' comment

@chris fullmer said:

I can't model in Max without it, but in SU I've never missed it.

What I think is going on is that the SU Inference Engine supplies the information that you need the other windows for in Max.

If you set up your Preferences > Shortcuts so that View/Animation/Next Scene and View/Animation/Previous Scene are in convenient locations under your non-mouse hand (they default to Page Down and Page Up which could be on either side of your keyboard) then you can switch between scene views very quickly and easily.

I hope this helps,
August

Thanks Remus, thanks Thomthom,

You nailed it.

The choices are "Faster", "Medium", and "Nicer" and it was set to "Faster". When I switch from "Faster" to "Medium" the transparency layering in the image changes from error to proper.

![Changing Window>Styles>Edit>Transparency Quality from "Faster" to "Medium" fixes the problem.](/uploads/imported_attachments/0Eje_Mistakentransparency2.jpg "Changing Window>Styles>Edit>Transparency Quality from "Faster" to "Medium" fixes the problem.")

Thanks again,
August

Thanks Thomthom,

@thomthom said:

Is the transparency set to Best?

I don't recall that setting. Where? OpenGL settings on video card? It's not in the SketchUp > Preferences > OpenGL settings, and I can't figure out where else it would be.

Or are you talking a Renderer setting? The image is 100% SketchUp.

Thanks for looking into this,
August

Apparently SketchUp does not handle too much transparency.

I'm working on what I hoped would be a simple, catchy illustration to go with an article title of "Too Many Rubies". I found a nice faceted gem in the warehouse (2Crts_Diamond_10x_scale.skp).

[An aside for other perfectionists: This is the only gem I could find that actually had the stone's girdle properly faceted. (Others either had no girdle or had round girdles with curved lines at the upper and lower facets as if the stone had been lathe-turned instead of faceted.) The original file had some minor glitches of hidden lines that should have been visible and drawn lines that should have been removed, but it still is the most accurately done gemstone in the warehouse.]

I changed the transparent color that had been applied to it and copied the whole stone. This is what I got. When you orbit to the other side you see what you expect, but from this side the entire far stone is shown in front of the nearer one. Within each stone, the transparency is correct in the near and far facets, and the transparency between the stones has no glitches, except the obvious one.

I've tried variations on deleting and removing, to see if creation order made any difference, but it does not.

Anybody got any ideas what is going on and if there is a way to fix it, or is this just a nasty BUG? Some kind of workaround would be nice, but I'm out of ideas.

Thanks,
August

Mistaken transparency.skp

Hi Eric,

@unknownuser said:

This is a cabinet door that I created. ... Perhaps some of you may find it useful! ... My thought is that ... you .. could use this door ... and get actual door sizes based on tolerances set in the "Reveal" setting.

I'm surprised that you've gotten no comments on this so far. This is a very well designed Dynamic Component that clearly follows the guideline of having all the options embedded in a single component so you don't have to hunt, you can just change.

Your video provides a very clear explanation of it too. I particularly like the way you zoom in on exactly what you are talking about to show what the user needs to know. What recording/editing tool did you use?

The concept of displaying the finished size of the door in the DC dialog, doing all the clearance calculations in the DC, rather that having dimension lines in the drawing, is also a good one.

I like it a lot.

Yours,
August

@chris fullmer said:

Do you ever turn off any plugins through the extensions list in the preferences menu?
Hi Chris,

I don't think I have ever turned on the "Google Earth Ocean Modeling" extension.

Also, while we're on the subject of the Extensions list, the description of the "Ruby Script Examples" is out of date; in v7 it describes three tools (Draw->Box, Plugins->Cost and Camera->Animations) and omits Point At Center (in contextmenu.rb), linetool.rb, and selection.rb.

I suspect Google didn't update it in the v7 release because it would have meant updating all the translation files too, which key their translation entries from the exact English text. If they leave the English alone, nothing breaks and everything is uniformly out of date and the workaround is to "tick every checkbox in the list" to be able to get Point At Center enabled. Myself, I find that sloppy. Understandable, but sloppy.

Also, do any of the plugin developers use this feature? Are there any plugins besides the ones Google provides in the installation that actually use this feature? I'm writing an article on how to use it and if anyone already does, I'd like to mention either the developer or their scripts by name.