And Solo also did some renders. Perhaps he can post them?

And some more... In particular, look at the tight radiuses on the close up. Looks like it was done in a spline modeler!

Yup, here is a sketch, and some of the renders for the LightCycle. In the video tute, it shows how the first half was made. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of how to use it from the video. I'll post it when it's ready.

Yes. TBD, you and I discussed Podium and sales quite a few moons ago. You now have V2 out-- congrats on that! And on being a full time plugin developer for SU.

Price elasticity strategies for software has come a long way, now with the ability to carefully track statistics and do A/B modeling.

One of the misleading aspects about the iPhone AppStore is the concept everyone there is getting rich. Last I read (in April, before the release of iPad), the top 100 performers there generate a total revenue of ~$300K per day. If we assume there are one million apps in the store, that equates to 0.01% of all apps.

And the upside for all this? The top 3000 apps are earning an average below minimum wage, and the others are earning between $4/day and zero. Not something we can butter our bread with. Even if we double or triple these numbers, due to todays numbers, things don't get much better.

But, getting back to the article, I suspect a key to the alleged success is having availablity to the marketing channel to 'get the message OUT!' along with the nature of the channel itself (as Liam points out). In an extreme vertical market segment like SU Plugins, with such limited access (not to mention the questionable business ethic of mostly free plugins), you'll have a tough time discounting and driving sales-- unless you have a direct channel to your customers.

There's a thought among private software marketeers whom I spoken with, that price points are 'staged' and no matter where in the stage range you price your product, it will sell about the same-- given all other factors being even. These ranges are:

under $10
under $19.99
under $34.99

So, if you're going to sell a product for $25, you might as well sell it for $34.95. I tried this with my ButtonGadget product V2, and was surprised that the product did really well at that pricepoint ($34.95) when V1 had been priced at just over 20.

To some extent, Sketchucation represents the ability to 'get the word out,' but not enough. I imagine a small percentage of the individuals who use SU actually visit here, and an even smaller percentage click on your ad.

Which brings me to another (controversial) subject. While I've lurked here for years, on and off, I have noticed the pressure on developers to release their products for free. Sure, a weld.rb seems like a good idea. But, I have a question to pose, does it do the community and longevity of the product good to have someone like Fredo's Tool on Surface (for instance) plugins for free?

I suppose it has a lot to do with the motivation of the author. Still, assuming all his plugins could garner 50,000 sales at $20 per (reasonable, I think), that equates to $1,000,000. Does a million bucks change his life so he could work full time on his plugins? And how much better could the plugins be if he did? (I know, they're great now! Hell, I don't know, maybe he DOES work on them full time!)

I really don't know the dynamics of this group, so that is why I'm actually posing the question. But I do know the dynamics of mostly freeware plugins, and IMO, they present marketing issues for authors who can't afford to develop for free. Can you imagine a set of Fredo's plugins for Max given away for free? Never. But, certainly, it all has to do with community at some point.

And, I don't know Fredo, or many of the plugin authors, but I hope they all have a chance to make a real living doing what they love-- as I think SU and the community would all be better because of it. Of course, as always, just my 2 cents

Truly a most remarkable plugin. And so sensible as well. Congratulations on not only brillant scripting, but wonderful imagination as well!

Yes, that is certainly one fine script! Look forward to seeing more

@gaieus said:

I wouln't worry after a couple of hours only - maybe after a couple of days...

OK, It's going on 5 days now and I still have zero answers from Google. I'm still waiting for my already paid for SketchUp 7 upgrade registration information. I've tried contacting them 4 times now through the contact information they gave in the receipt email. I use Gmail and have checked my SPAM.

Does anyone have a phone number or a different way to get in contact with the Google SketchUp folks? I have to say, I love SketchUp, but I'm quickly growing to hate Google support.

TIA,
Chipp

I went ahead and bought Google SU7 Pro, received an email telling me I purchased it, but so far no license sent. Is this standard? I was thinking a license would be sent in the first hour or so, but now it's over four hours. Anyone shed any light on this situation? Much appreciated.

Oh, I should say I've checked all my spam filters (gmail) and nothing is there, either.

Hi Pete. Just saw this thread and thought I'd add my non-solicited 2 pennies.

I think they are all great starts-- some better than others. A hundred years ago, in design school, we would structure design projects similarly. Ideate on a sofa or chair, and provide 30-50 iterations. Now, select 2 or 3 of the favorites, and begin the refinement process. Consider creating 10 variations (refinements) for each of the selected favorites. This refinement process is very important to the final overall success of the design. Usually, somewhere around 8,9 or the 10th variation, something starts to really click. God is most definitely in the details.

Hope this helps some.

Your work always rocks!
Chipp

Wow. Sweet. Thanks so very much! You are very talented

Good one Pete!!!

Wonderful! I don't even know how I could create the model below in other 3D modelers! Much appreciated

I use SU Pro a lot with Vue. I work in feet units in SU and Imperial Auto in Vue. I export as OBJ from SU and import it into Vue.

To convert from SU to Vue:
Export from SU as OBJ with the following settings:
X Export only current selection (optional)
X Triangulate all faces

X Swap YZ coordinates (Y is up)
Units = inches

Import into Vue the OBJ with the following settings.

X Center object (leave off if you want to maintain center)
X Resize object
x Manual resizing = 0.254

Hope this helps.

-Chipp

Yep, this tool is seriously cool. And when you combine it with Dale's Crease tool and Jim's soon to be released Jitter-- you can do some amazing things! BTW, Dales Crease tool should be a product unto itself, it's so useful, especially in parallel projection mode.

Look at the very bottom of the first post-- under the animating demo. There's an attachment called:
SketchyBevel.rb

That's what you click on. If that doesn't work for you, then tell us what browser and OS you are using.

Geez Dale-- prolific is the word which comes to mind. Great stuff!

Very much appreciated!

Thanks. So, then I suppose there's not an easy way to select all the faces in disparate groups which have the same material. It makes sense as editing faces in groups is modal.

Is it possible to select all faces for a given material? So that I could delete them, or copy them, or group them? TIA, Chipp