Hi Chris. The map in the image is a model I downloaded from the Sketchup warehouse. I'm attaching it to this post. By the way, you have some great video tutorials at youtube, I was watching them before reading your reply. @chris fullmer said: Sure, it might be able to be done. Changing the shadows when the cursor moves is probably do-able. Mapping the coordinates of the map to the altitude/latitude and timezone is another matter, and probably rather time consuming. It could be an interesting project though if someone really wanted to tackle it. And actually I think that your first example might be able to work. Do you have a nice model with a map built into like the one in your images? It might be easier to play around with if the map was supplied. Chris LANDJE-PIK (THE GAME).skp

| V Automatic_SketchUp_example_code.zip

Hi and thanks for everybody who has taken the time to read my post. I'm not a programmer but would like to make this plug-in, so I'm wondering if someone can help me find similar plug-ins or codes that would help me understand and program it. Thanks.

Thanks Kyyu, will try it out right now. Javier @kyyu said: This should get you started. I really can't help you more. It just happens, I am researching something similar, so familiar with the rotation commands. I am starting from your 2nd picture and assuming the plane normal is the green axis. The simple script just rotates whatever is selected with the assumed normal. About the origin, 30 deg and then 50 deg. So just select the parts, and type this into the ruby console to run the script (correct the path to where you have the script): load 'c:/Rotate_Plane_example.rb'

The email server is up and running again, just received my trial key. Just wanted to inform this for anyone who had communication problems with the site and/or with it's admiminstrator.

Dan, no astronomy, no calculation, no ancient dates are needed, no RA and DEC anymore. I'm using another coordinate system that uses SU horizontal plane and north. Please read this post: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=27480&start=15#p238823 I will do all the astronomy, calendar calculations and math. Just need a script that tells a vector to rotate around blue axis given an angular measure and then raise that vector with another angular measure as I explained with the pictures in the post, and lastly align the Zaxis of a given plane to the vector. Thanks Dan and all you people that are investing their time to help. @dan rathbun said: @chris fullmer said: I think none of us want to learn how to calculate the position of the stars 8,000 years ago. Besides it cannot be done in Ruby. Standard Ruby (and Sketchup Embedded Ruby,) use the included class Time which has an initial date of January 1, 1970 CE(AD). I have tried to set Sketchup dates before this, and the app does not allow it. (In addition, the MAX year is 2037.)* The ShadowInfo['ShadowTime'] attribute takes and returns only Time class. (It actually does not not raise an Exception if you say give it an Integer, but the value will be unchanged.) This post actually began over at GoogleGroups, and there I posted some info for the requester, that if he wanted to be historically accurate, the plugin would need to ignore Sketchup's built-in Sun positioning and Time keeping. The plugin would need to keep it's own date and time (with a dialog to set them,) and the Moon (Luna) and Sun (Sol) would be treated as just stars (like all the rest.) In addition, the plugin would need to use the Ruby Extended class Date, which can go back 6723 years MAX, as the initial date is January 1, 4713 BCE (4712 BC, accounting for year 0). I would think this implies that future versions of software utilizing Ruby should move to using the Date class (and it's DateTime subclass,) sometime in the next 27 years. I did a bit of checking, I'm looking for calculation software that runs on remote web servers, so a plugin could query that server for a particuler star's RA and DEC, from a specific geolocation and date; rather than do it itself. I did find some code, at an Italian University but it's written in IPL, and would need to be translated to C or Ruby. I don't know IPL.

Thom: I would greatly appreciate it if you can do this. Thanks again for your help. @thomthom said: @construsol said: Thank you very much, this is just what I needed with the "Face Sun" Plug-in. I tested it by putting a perpendicular line to the plane that is facing the sun and it does not cast shadows, so it looks that it works great. One question, ¿How can a plane of a cube be selected and then the entire cube, not just the plane, faces the sun? Thanks again. @thomthom said: Made a quick plugin: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=27499 I could make it orient the connected geometry to the selected faces. Doubt I have time until after the weekend though.

Hi Morisdov: As I wrote on the first post, one of the uses of the plugin is helping in the research of how the bodies in the night sky can be used to contemporary design (please do not mistake this for astrology). So a lot of rotating goes along, orienting a single face to various points in the sky until finding the right one. Since this thread, I have simplified my request of the plugin here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=27876 Regards. @morisdov said: Hi Javier, I cant guess which faces in your 3D model should have the ability to reorient themselves towards anything. The "archeological site construction" which is the only 3D model is frozen by history and must be locked for any changes whatsoever. you should place in that 3D model many Skethcup "cameras" and orient only them to face certain directions towards the sky at a certain date and time point. (like the sky of the longest day of year 500 BC or 1492). You can ANIMATEvia sketchups standard view animation features to "look" form the cameras - this will be your demonstration of this whole idea. You may add lines from the cameras to the cameras target point(star in the sky) to emphesize and "prove" and "explore" that the archeological site was indeed constructed in ancient times in accordance and perspective related to stars positions of specific dates and times. As an unrelated side note - i recommend exploring when "perspective" was first "invented" in each cultures paintings Cheers, Moris