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It turns out a Focal Length of 25mm (FOV 70.84 deg) translates (via the KeyShot plugin) to 5.763 in KeyShot, which (FOV of 144.5)
So, when the camera imports from SketchUp into KeyShot, it looks like this:
I believe the only thing OFF in KeyShot is the FOV/Focal Length. Any idea on how one would go about converting it correctly? Thanks for shedding any light on this.
@pilou said:
Very efficient!
have you in target to remake the same robot than Bulgarov ?
Nope. That's about it. I did another in Lightwave about a year ago.
http://youtu.be/V5eC_AQU-2Q
They're good exercises in helping to evaluate workflows.
Many of you perhaps have seen Vitaly Bulgarov's 10 days of Mechs. Pretty cool stuff. Impressive how quickly he can model. Here's a video of him creating one of the mechs in XSI.
I've recreated the first part of the video in SketchUp just to see what's involved. I've been using SU a lot lately for a Hyperloop project.
Plugins used:
Artisan knife by Whaat
Vertex Tools by thomthom
Joint Push Pull Interactive by Fredo6
Round Corner by Fredo6
Solid Inspector by thomthom
Select Curve by thomthom
Thanks everyone for such quick replies! VERY much appreciated.
Consider this image:
I'd like to be able to soften the vertices (2) as they are shown in (1). Any ideas on how to do this? Thanks!
Well, it turns out folderactions can't do the job. They're evidently broke when it comes to 'acting' upon the same named file in the same folder.
I'll keep looking. Thanks anyway.
@driven said:
there are many ways...
none of them simple...
I've written about 8 un-published plugins...the easiest to date is called 'View Port Ratio' which aids you in set predefined aspect ratios...
I've PM'd it to a number of people, and had little or no complaints...[attachment=0:lbzr0hcy]<!-- ia0 -->vp_resize.gif<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:lbzr0hcy]
I keep changing it, so if you want a copy ask and I'll PM one in return for feed back...others who have used it could comment here...
john
Absolutely PERFECT. Much thanks 
@driven said:
@chipp
you should add mac to the topic titles and fill in your profile...if I had known it was for a mac I would have suggested a using a 'folder action' that saves incremental copies without using SU to do it...
You can basically say, whenever a file in folder 'xxx' is updated, create copy of file 'filename.appended'...
I don't have one up my sleeve but it's very common to find these on the internet...
john
Good idea! Thanks John. I'll update my prefs now.
ON A MAC.
Just interested in knowing if this is possible.
I know about Advanced Camera Tools, but it doesn't set the display viewport, and the renders are larger.
IIRC, Podium, about a hundred years ago, used to have some sort of tool that did this. I don't know if it ever made it as an available download.
Thanks for any thoughts or ideas on this!
@rich o brien said:
Save a Copy As
Saves a copy suffixed with #
It also keeps your working model with the original name.
So in essence the original is the master and the suffixed # versions are the saved steps along the way
Hmmm
Mine just saves a copy with the word "copy" appended. In any case, I'm using the fine Archiver plugin mapped to Shift+S.
Thanks everyone for the superb help!!
@dave r said:
Have you tried File>Save as...? You'd have to supply the 01, 02, etc.
Hi Dave,
Yes, that is the feature, but I'd prefer having it as a single click or keyboard shortcut. I've gotten in the habit in other 3D programs to just hit a keyboard shortcut and it automatically incrementally saves. I think I'll try the previous solution you suggested. Thanks!!
@dave r said:
I think there's a plugin that can do something like that. Archiver sticks in my head but i disremember the author. Maybe TIG?
Edit: my memory is better than I remembered.
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=Archiver
Thanks Dave,
Almost there. Unfortunately it only archives and does not load the archived version into SketchUp. Still, it's the best so far!
@rich o brien said:
Hi Chipp,
Save a Copy As does this.
Hi Rich,
Much thanks for answering...
But it's not really what I'm after. Want I would like is for it to
Save the file, but append an incremental number to it. So, if a file was fred.skp it would save it as: fred_01.skp, then it would USE the newly saved file. So, in the titlebar of Sketchup, it would show fred_01.skp until I incrementally saved again, then it would say fred_02.skp.
That's pretty much the workflow I'm looking for. Do you know if this is possible?
Lots of 3D programs these days allow for a shift-command+S to SAVE with a version number appended. While this can result in lots of disk space being used, it also helps with workflow-- especially if you need to 'go back in time' to access a template or reference object-- or find out you accidentally deleted something 3 saves ago.
Is there a plugin or other feature I don't know about which allows for this? Thanks!
@andybot said:
Did you look into the option Devin mentioned about using VPN from your office to host a license server you can grab from your home? Seems like that could solve the physical issue.
Hi Andy, thanks for your concern. I do not own a dongle or a copy of V-Ray. I was looking into purchasing a copy for some work I'm doing as my research showed it to be a good solution, but the very existence of a dongle was a deal killer for me.
And, FWIW, hanging the hardware dongle on a physical machine in another location seems quite the hassle. VPN's can be so clumsy and slow. Seems to me it would be better if V-Ray just hung everyone's hardware dongle on their servers and then there would never be a hardware issue!
@krisidious said:
V-Ray was famously pirated... like autocad. it's not you they don't trust. it's the pirates who hack it.
A Google search for "cracked vray" gives "About 364,000 results." My guess is there's a version out there which is cracked.
dkendig was correct about one thing: "Licensing just keeps honest people honest."
Then he also said,
@dkendig said:
...but the dongle licensing is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to troubleshoot/fix, it's mobile, and it doesn't require someone at our company to manually process a request to simply REINSTALL the product (on the same computer), like our software licensing did. You should have seen the difference in our support inbox once we switched licensing to dongles.
I thought this argument on how much easier it is for Vray's support was a specious one. As a customer, I'm particularly concerned a company is wiling to trade off hardship for their customer (dongle) to make things easier for themselves. I can't imagine it's too difficult for a company support staff to manage licensing. Somehow, someway, other companies seem to be able to conquer this task without too much of a hurdle.
IMO as a software developer who has designed copy protection systems, I'm of the following opinions:
No copy protection is perfect.
Someone WILL crack your software, somewhere at sometime.
True pirates will NEVER pay for software. So you lose not a single sale to those guys.
The real goal is make it difficult for HONEST people to use unlicensed software. Licensing with nothing more than a serial number without limits on the number of licenses DOES NOT do this. It needs to be more difficult than just passing a serial number around.
OTOH, the license shouldn't be too restrictive that a penalty is paid each and every time one uses the software. Hardware dongles IMO fail this test.
FWIW, there are many folks who have elegantly solved this problem, Luxion KeyShot is one of them. I can license it on two computers, any more and it won't work and I have to contact tech support. Over the holidays, I retired an old machine and purchased a new one. I also had a deadline on a project and forgot about the 2 computer limit. When KeyShot wouldn't license (in the middle of the night), I sent an email to support and had a new license number the next hour. Can't ask for quicker turnaround than that!
Another strategy I have seen involves embedding the buyers email address in the software license. This way if someone gives it out, they are giving their email address along with it. Not perfect, but it will deter many 'honest' users from consciously 'giving away' the software.
Sure, you can expend tons of development and support resources, including forcing your users to buy a dongle and forever tether them to you physically. But for me, I'd rather see the time you guys spend trying to force an antiquated copy protection scheme to rather be spent on making the render engine faster or more robust. Just my 2 cents.
@dkendig said:
chippwalters: I would be interested in hearing what your significant issues are with dongle licensing, perhaps there are some items on your list that we could address. If you are stuck using an older version of our product, because of your concerns with dongle licensing, you are really missing out, and I would like to fix that asap.
There are so many problems, I just don't know where to start. Let's see, first off I work both at home and at the office. My commute is 45 minutes 1 way into work. If for some reason I forget the dongle, I'm up the creek with out a..dongle.
Next, I don't have lot's of available ports on my computer, and I really don't want to add a whole mess of wires of a USB hub just for a stupid dongle-- which is a physical reminder the company I've chosen to do business with doesn't trust me.
Don't get me started on the whole "lose dongle" issue. One time a dongle I was using quit working. I had to send it back to the company and they sent me a new one-- 3 days after it quit working I could get back to work. That wasn't the end of the horror story. The next week I received an email from their lawyer threatening a lawsuit because in their opinion the dongle malfunctioned only because I was trying to 'hack' it. Really??? A month later I received another email telling me they were sorry, but that there was some sort of virus going around which 'corrupted' dongles. Sheesh! That was the very last time I ever paid for a dongle.
I quit using Lightwave because of hardware dongles (different company than the previous one mentioned) and started back using it when their license protection became software only. I own KeyShot, Lightwave, FormZ, Thea, SU Pro, MoI3d and a host of other powerful and more or less expensive 3D programs than yours and NONE have a dongle.
I'm betting you guys are out of the dongle business in a year. I can't imagine paying customers will continue to put up with it...especially since there is so much competition in the rendering space. I'll review your offering again when you get rid of the hardware protection.
So your defense of using a hardware dongle is that your previous software solution was bad? Perhaps you should look how your competitors solve the problem. There are still too many significant problems with hardware dongles, including how to instantly replace lost or damaged ones, for my company to seriously consider it.
I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd add in my dongle horror stories for past products. It used to be every expensive 3D or effect software had to have a hardware dongle. I had many and one day, during a particularly difficult project, working at both home and the office, the dongle went missing. I called the company and they said I needed to pay for a brand new license. I couldn't believe it! I actually ended up having to purchase a new copy of the software because they didn't trust me as a customer. Later they said they would replace it if I would file them a police report and send it to them. The extremely sad part is that even with all the pain and suffering they put their paying customers through with the dongle, there are/were cracked versions of the software available on the Internet.
Another time, during a stressful and time boxed deadline (aren't they all that way?), the damn dongle just quit working. Took 2 days to get a replacement, again extreme problems all because the company couldn't and wouldn't trust their paying customers. There are too many great products out there to have to submit to being held hostage by a hardware dongle and one should think twice before ever getting into bed with a company that treats their customers with such disdain.
There will always be pirates and ANY software can be cracked. Please, companies, have a bit more respect for your customers and use other, more serviceable means to protect your intellectual property!
