HOLY CRAP (the new one) WORKS FOR BOTH MY MAC AND PC!!!!

AWESOME! Thank you both Especially you TIG!!!

The folder structure is different on the MAC side. This is what it looks like:

"/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/Sketchup/Components/Proximity Components"

(note that the "Components" folder in not located in the Google Sketchup application folder itself)

Can you alter the .rb to work with both Mac and PC?

Thank you for posting the revamped script! Half GREAT news! On Windows XP running SU6 (Pro) it WORKED!!!!!!

The Half BAD news, on my Mac (my primary computer) in both SU 6 (Free) and SU 7 (Free) I get a NEW error

Error; #<TypeError; can't convert nil into String>
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;552;in `open'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;552;in `entries'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;552;in `proximity'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;687
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;552;in `call'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;552

So, again, thank you for your patience (I owe you huge after this) - does this error (from my mac) tell you anything new?

I've attached a screen shot of where I have my "Proximity Components" folder:

1. Is there anything wrong (that you can tell) with this folder?
2. Is this folder in the wrong place?

![The location of "Proximity Components" folder on my MAC](/uploads/imported_attachments/YEBw_Picture11.png "The location of "Proximity Components" folder on my MAC")

1. Okay, I have created the correct (but empty) folders for both versions 6 (free) and 7 (free)

2. Still no effect

3. With Ruby Console open - running the script - I got this message

Error; #<NoMethodError; undefined method `+' for nil;NilClass>
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;550;in `proximity'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;686
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;550;in `call'
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins/MatrixProximity.rb;550

Does this mean anything to you? Or is this a generic error?

I thank you again sir!

TIG - First off - again, I REALLY appreciate your immence patience! And thank you for taking the screen shot of my file ACTUALLY WORKING - it made my heart jump

Unfortunately I'm still getting no results, even though I just tested it on:
*****Windows 7, running SU 7 (free)
*****Windows XP, running SU 6 (Pro)
*****Mac OSx 10.4.11, SU 6 (free)
*****Mac OSx 10.4.11, SU 7 (free)

I'm hoping I have an old / out of date plugin... is this the most recent version of the Matrix/Proximity plugin?

#     Version ; 1.0  21/11/05	First release.
#		1.6  20/12/05 Ditto - corrected...
#   1.7  09/02/08 Glitch with Proximity Components directory finding 
#                 now fixed (Thanks to GreyHead)

Edit 1:
I see a comment in the Rubyscript itself that reads "require 'sketchup.rb'" And I looked in my plugin folder, and did not see a "sketchup.rb" - is this a file I need to find / download / place in the plugins folder? Is the "sketchup.rb" an essential file?

EDIT 2:
Only the Mac tests had a folder called "Proximity Components" in the components folder with all three "-" "~" "+" components .skp files in it - I just want to to be thorough - NONE of the testing it working, but just in case that part is essential, just thought I'd add that note.

I followed your instructions closely to no effect.

So I started from scratch thinking that I had screwed things up so much I may as well start over - building the components from scratch - everything from scratch, still no effect.

Attached is the brand new version, with reasonable insertion points and axises - nothing is working.

Please let me know if anything is wrong with the way this brand new file is built, and when you get it to work please post a screen shot of what it looked like when it worked, and the numbers you used to get the result.

Thank you again for your help TIG, I feel so frustrated and angry at myself for not grasping this it's hard to describe.

Edit: I just tried the Proximity plug in on yet another PC, running SU7, on Windows 7, still no effect.

Version 3, built from scratch

You are correct, that the scale was really wacky! Thank you for pointing it out to me!

I have corrected the scale, re-making each of the components to be around 15 meters tall (the approximate size for a 5 story tall building).

After that, still no success.

Undaunted, I created a viewable measuring distance guide, so I could see out from 0M to 100M from the camera, and no matter what numbers I input to the Proximity plugin - I still see no change.

I have tried this on my PC, using SKU6 Pro, and my Mac using SKU 6 and 7 (non- pro) and no difference, I just can not get the Proximity plug-in to work for me.

Some points of clarity here, these are my assumptions: Are my assumptions correct?
*Now that I have rebuilt the components, and the test file, that my models are to a reasonable scale, and should be usable for the Proximity plug-in.
*As soon as I enter the numbers, and hit OK, the close components should change in appearance immediately, I shouldn't have to activate anything else.
*I do NOT need to stack the components on top of each other ie. occupying the same footprint, instead only placing the "-" version of the component throughout.

Please look at the files I've attached, the .png, is a screen shot of the file, with the measuring radius visible, and the second attachment is the sketchup file itself.

Please tell me if I have built this incorrectly, please any help would be great!

If you are getting this to work - please:
*Post the measurements you used to get the desired result
*Pose a screen shot, after the plugin has been successfully used

Thank you all again!

SU File: Revised components and measuring radius added

I'm attaching my test sketchup file here (with all 3 types of components loaded in it), is there any way someone can tell if I am setting this file up incorrectly?

I am still unable to get this to work, and the most frustrating thing, is that it's one of the most powerful tools I've ever heard of, and it's just out of my grasp of understanding.

Can someone give this a shot and tell me where I am going wrong?

And just to be clear - when we speak of distance from the camera - I have been assuming that "Camera" means however we are looking at the model - THAT is the camera, meaning when I save a scene, the scene acts like a camera - as opposed to the "Camera tool" is that correct?

If you get it to work, please tell me what numbers you use as well.

My furthered apologies!

Proximity Sketchup test

Oh boy, I'm sorry, I'l have to continue to wear out my welcome.

Attached are screen shots I've taken of what I'm trying and still failing here.

I've tried and re-tried, and re-read the instructions, and tried again, and I'm still not getting anywhere.

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong here, or direct me to some same files, like the ones mentioned in the pdf, but that could not find?

Or would it help if I posted the components I've created?

Thank you again everyone, I appreciate it!

I've spent all day attempting to get the Proximity ruby to work, to no sucsess, the Matrix part worked the first time, but the Proximity one has baffled me!

The plugin doesn't error, I just don't know what I'm doing here.

This is what I've done:

1. I've created a folder on my hard drive called "Proximity Components"
2. Within it I have 3 sketchup files.
3. Each file is the same building at different levels of detail, and are labeled appropriately, ie
   Bldg-001+.skp
   Bldg-001~.skp
   Bldg-001-.skp
4. Each of these files have no extra components, or layers or styles, and each have the same insert point and location (as they were built in one master file).

From there - I have NO idea what to do - I've tried making new document, and bringing in each of those components in register, each on a different layer, then running the Proximity script, but to no effect.

I've also tried making a 4th file, that has placed in register, on separate layers, each of those 3 components, and making a component file from that, and bringing that in in a brand new sketchup file - and still no results.

The .pdf file is not as explanatory as I need it to be I have read- and reread it, as I am such a noob (only 2 pages for the proximity part of the script) - I'm not sure where I am going wrong here.

I feel pretty frustrated and stupid at this point, can someone either tell me where I am going wrong, or do a youtube vid showing the correct way? I greatly apologize for my incompetence!

Thank you again!

@gaieus said:

Hi Checker and all,

I am not sure what video you saw but there is TIG's MatrixProximity plugin

This sounds great!

I am a real noob, is there a tutorial on how to use this plugin? I know where to add it in the plugins folder, and how to activate it in SkU, but I have no idea after that - when I activate the proximity plugin, it has no visual change.

Does a tutorial exist?

I thank you greatly!

Although you may be correct, as I don't know the name of the option they were using in the video, he kept expressing that even in the view settings while he was working in the file, the further away geometry was simplifying, not just blocking up or a bunch of little lines bunching up to look black etc.

Hello all!

Short version of the question:
Is there a feature in Google Sketchup7 that will simplify detail as you zoom out?

Long version of the question:
About 8-12 months ago, I stumbled across a Youtube video that (from what I remember) showed some cool new features in GSU7, and one feature, I saw, but didn't note how to do it, and foolishly didn't bookmark the video - was a demo where the instructor showed a model of a house, where there is a bunch of detailed furniture you can see while looking through the window- As the instructor zoomed out, the detail of the objects on the furniture simpified, which I'm assuming would avoid the problem of all the detail getting muddy, for long shots etc.

I have looked a bit for that feature in GSU7 and can not find it.

Does this sound familiar to anyone, can you guys point me in the right direction?

Thank you all!

Here is the end result the transparent background turns black

Hello all!

Just upgraded to Sketchup 7 for Mac, and now when I try to export a tif with a transparent Background, then open that tif in photoshop, the background in black.

I did some searching research on the SketchUcation forums, and found some similar problems, but no solutions,

Has anyone uncovered this mystery?

Attached are some examples of what I mean.

Can any of you fine folks help me?

I thank you greatly!

My apologies of this has already been posted, but how do I actually use these styles? When I browse from the styles pallet, I can't use the ones I've downloaded from this thread, as they are not marked as ".style" files, which is what I'm used to looking for.

Any help will be most appreciated!

Thank you!

Just want to say "Hi" and wow, there is a ton of great stuff here, that I can't wait to read through!

I'm going to be studying quite a bit, so I may not be posting a lot, but just wanted to say I appreciate this forum as a resource!

Glad I found this site!