Sat opposite an Indian lady on the train today, she shut her eyes and stopped breathing. I thought she was dead, until I saw the red spot on her forehead and realised she was just on standby.

Two Muslims have crashed a speedboat into the Thames barrier in London. Police think it might be the start of Ram-a-dam.

@unknownuser said:

What happens when you try to locate the position of the colour grey in 3D space?

The TREMULATION (as prophetised)?

@unknownuser said:

Less than 1% use portable devices to view so it's not high on the agenda.

That's like TBL saying in the early nineties: "I won't bother developing WWW anymore; very few people use the Internet"

Atheism 2.0

Here endith the lesson - some chance

I see this free business as a way to create new business activities for yourself.

An off-the-wall example - if you wanted to get into publishing (a very long time ago) you would have needed to invent the alphabet or suchlike. Obviously, you could not charge for this at the beginning because no one had any idea what to do with it nor later because it had already been freely copied and integrated.

But it had served your initial purpose establishing your name and fame in the new highly competitive and expanding market you created.

Like Ford or Kodak perhaps.

Moreover always one step ahead you were able to invent new-alphabet based ventures that people were only too happy to pay for.

Isn't this what Google are doing with free search and advertising. Could this be the basis for free Sketchup - models as the means of communication. The new hieroglyphs?

This pay-for premium services is all well and good but rather weak-kneed - a bit of a side show really.

PS great 'where's the coffee story'!

Have you seen Todd's table?

Incidentally I just found this Ted Talk about "Duolingo, which will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free."

Very fascinating!

And why the Irish always say to their bread "be Jesus"

@fxxh said:

@chrisglasier said:

@fxxh said:

@mitcorb said:

Though I have not used this feature, isn't there a type of translator available out there somewhere to assist? And, of course, Sketchucation has special language subforums, right?

Thanks,but I think the googletranslator is not good enough .I will take time to find some other translators .You can understand my words ,don't you?

Interesting ...

I tried to use Google translator here (http://glasier.hk); I kept simplifying the English until it seemed retranslation/translation with Google Chrome made some sense (Wrench> Options> Under the hood> Translate x Offer to translate pages that aren't in a language I read.)

I would be interested to know whether you can understand any of it - no need to be polite!

Hi,thank you for your reply.But I didn't konw what you mean.You are saying the translator is not perfect,yes?

Of course it's not perfect, just interested whether it is usable during development before professional translation at the end.

@fxxh said:

@mitcorb said:

Though I have not used this feature, isn't there a type of translator available out there somewhere to assist? And, of course, Sketchucation has special language subforums, right?

Thanks,but I think the googletranslator is not good enough .I will take time to find some other translators .You can understand my words ,don't you?

Interesting ...

I tried to use Google translator here (http://glasier.hk); I kept simplifying the English until it seemed retranslation/translation with Google Chrome made some sense (Wrench> Options> Under the hood> Translate x Offer to translate pages that aren't in a language I read.)

I would be interested to know whether you can understand any of it - no need to be polite!

@trogluddite said:

...

I don't want to disable SU's internet access completely, as the warehouse is indeed very useful (brilliant examples to learn from), I just want to be able to search only my local HDD collections, or at least have them appear first in the search results. Anyone know if this is possible?

I think you will find or have found that people here are more interested in making models for presentations rather than facilitating their use in work involving getting and assembling components and related data. I am one of the few interested in the latter.

It seems you can alter the component browsers content by changing file preferences , but it also seems you need to also use this from the browser itself. Saved as a template all new skps will access this set of components first ... I think.

What I want to do is collect components from specialist sources like yours if it made commercial sense via the Web. If you or anyone else has ideas for that I'm all ears!

Keep on trogging!

PS just tried with a file link in localhost (website on local machine). With Chrome set to always open this type of file, it will automatically launch Sketchup and open the component - well it's a start!

Now I have got to the stage where I can pop my freestanding php file into a web dialog but so I can run Sketchup either via my localhost or website I need to have a ruby version of this php:

class IP{
	public function Iptrue() {
		if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == "127.0.0.1"){
			echo true;
		}
	}
}	

Can this be done with Sketchup ruby API?

Thanks

Thanks

@iichiversii said:

Hi Chris, just wondering have you taught about posting a tutorial video on how to set up a character for this feature, i downloaded the plugin but have no idea where to start with it

I hadn't ... but as I am experimenting with using macro-type animation directly in the original interface (see demos in the lab of my website) ... I am thinking perhaps this could be another example of use.

Meanwhile here is a quick video. Actually the action in SU itself is very much smoother. You can see by using QuinSkel 4 frames.skp from QuinSkps.zip and base extension 1.02. Then ... View > Skel_animation > Run

View My Video

Now I need to find out how I did it!

It looks good but I find the drawer pulls a bit odd, particularly having three on the centre one. Lend us a hand kinda thing?

I don't know if you have seen the thread about layers but here is what I suggested:

%(#0040BF)[It seems to me a longer term goal would be to get rid of layers altogether. After all layers exist only to control visibility of components (ignoring for expediency notes and dimensions). A component can only be placed in one layer. And there is no provision to group layers into named collections other than scenes, and that only at a single level. Making groups greatly restricts any workable flexibility in organisation and outliner, good perhaps for nesting sub-components makes working more complicated as it does not provide for named collections. Perhaps not so importantly, what I found in making a fairly simple but multi layered and scened model I had to constantly move or open and close layer, outliner, scene manager, entity info, style and other windows in order to see the display.

Dare I suggest then the whole organisational part of Sketchup is dealt with as a hierarchy of components that moves from the project "collection" through building, floor, space type collections to each component? Linked to that hierarchy is a similarly structured hierarchy of pertinence that moves through categories such as design, client, supervision, trade, purchases into sub categories and then individual scenes.

The components are turned on and off in at all levels of its hierarchy. One component can belong to many collections and one collection can belong to many scenes. Moreover individual components can take up different xyzs in different scenes showing position in relation to time or position relating to presentation (like a schedule) for example.]

which seems to me to be a kind of performance spec utiler is looking for in native SU.

At the top of that thread J Bacus quotes himself from "improve layers":

SketchUp’s “Layers” aren’t really like what you’d traditionally find in a CAD package. As many of you have heard me say before, Groups and Components are really more like what you’re accustomed to with layer systems in other CAD apps. Both of the most popular Layer suggestions (make them lockable, make them heirarchical) are already accomodated by Groups and Components through the Outliner.

It seems to me something is wrong when a product manager (in an intuitive software world) needs to explain that SU layers are not really layers like in CAD programs. I can see dimension and label layers being straight forward like a tracing paper overlay to your screen but calling a collection of possibly diverse objects a layer is extremely strange.

Also strange logic is that a component can only have one layer. If, for example I wanted to show all sanitaryware and all its pipework in one scene and a single bathroom with everything in another imagine the complexity there when it could be so simple.

Finally just to complete my early morning workout both components and layers get hidden or turned off by their visibility methods - both get hidden. At one stage I did an excercise where only components that were switched on were imported. The rest were really switched off.

And finally finally why don't you resurrect the layer improvement thread? You will get closer to improving native SU there.

@watkins said:

It would be nice to have a button to lock layers when either off or on so empty layers do not get purged. I like to use a template of layers when drawing, which means they are all empty at the start of modelling.

Regards,
Bob

With respect Bob it doesn't seem to me to make sense adding more to something that should really be made redundant. What you want is inherent in what I have suggested.

Ref DaveR's comments

What I went on to do mostly because I want to work outside Sketchup and then jump back in to manipulate its components, is to forget about layers and substitute them with group headers, sub headers and so on. This way you can hide or show any parts of the component nesting not just for Sketchup component display but for purchase orders, cutlists, hoisting schedules and all that boring stuff. Components and component groups can be linked back to different headers so that scenes can really show unlimited combinations. All this takes time to develop comprehensively, but I think an interim step could be made by making cgScenes component list expand and collapse like outliner, if anyone wants to do that.

I also brought up this subject at http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sketchup/thread?tid=0f33ebbad0479704&hl=en - at the bottom - last call - where I usually end up!

You can have a look at http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=19629. It says for Mac but there is also an older PC version. It was made for managing scenes but to do so it also manages layers and hiding and showing components as far as I can remember. I also made this: video. Perhaps you can get someone to enhance cgScenes to better suit your needs (I have been on something else for a while).

@juanv.soler said:

Hi **Chris**see if it is ok. sent you a pm.

Thank's Juan it's fine.

You're a gent!