a group is a drawing element so look at

Drawingelement.material=

in the API

john

does this also happen if you use a perspective view...

it seems odd to me that your using PP to try to get a photorealistic look...

john

BTW: UI.messagebox must be clicked to close on a mac, as expected...

john

@ntxdave said:

...the problem with the garage door (look back at image) is the relationship of the size of the panel versus the size of the arch.

the animation logic is the same for any size slat...

click to gif...

translation + rotation from the same base point for each segment...

john

the shutter on one of my vans works more like this...

but I have no idea how to chain more slats easily...

@Fredo, I get a few oddities on my mac, but basically working... [I'll PM you]

john

is it meant to be completely out of square?

john

as a basis for a plugin I would use this workflow...

copy selection into new drawing...

move all axes to centre,centre, bottom [e.g. TT_axes tools]...

create a proxy with same axes, a single line with the length of the most used element and hidden square at one or both ends [to allow scaling]...

select all and replace with proxy...

scale each proxy to intersection points...

this workflow could possibly be automated, but would still require tweaking by eye and addition of missing bits...

trusses-sample-centerlines_001.skp

john

I sample the top menu bar's 'grey' [#dadada] and use 'steel' [#4c4c4c] instead of black...

john

you can't not change that line, "c:/temp/_image.png" IS your image name...

each new one will overwrite the previous...

if you want different names that line has to change...

john

I think, to not develop an entry level web version for schools and new comers would sound death nell for SU...

It could even replace 'Make' entirely and become the free version of the future...

Commercial usage could be bundled with the Pro licence and come in handy when your on the road, etc...

there is always cross fertilisation from seemingly divergent paths and in the long run SU 'desktop' will benefit from the swelling of staff and resources required for this endeavour...

my 2 pence...

john

can you post an example of one of these converted skp files?

also, do they open as pdf's?

john

@dave, you will need to frame the shots for it to remain as a background, like placing a bill board outside a window...

for what I think your talking about, look for the 'sky dome' tutorial that's on here somewhere...

or some time people add images as watermarks, but they are static in the view...

john

File >> Import >> select image file > check 'use as image' > place it behind the model and scale to suit...

john

@garry k said:

...Mac users will have to install Parrallels, Fusion or Boot Camp.

Garry, you do realise that's a $300+ option to do do legally on a mac...

john

Sadly, he died a couple of years ago,

I did fly to Boston one weekend just to meet him, and have a chat before he fell ill...

john

an aside, I use this to replicate system dialogs...

body {
  font-family; sans-serif;
  font; caption;
  font-size; 3.5mm;
  margin; 0;
  padding; 0;
  background-color; Window;
  line-height; 6mm;
}

john

search Sheldon Brown 12" wheels, may not be much there, but he was the first person in the world to start uploading bike stuff on the internet...

I'll measure one a little later on...

my guess is 90mm...

john

hi Fredo,

my hard drive crashed, but I now have a new one and may be able to help on the mac side...

I used Homebrew to install the ffmpeg binary and if I test help /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -h`` from SU it returns this...

Hyper fast Audio and Video encoder
usage; ffmpeg [options] [[infile options] -i infile]... {[outfile options] outfile}...

Getting help;
    -h      -- print basic options
    -h long -- print more options
    -h full -- print all options (including all format and codec specific options, very long)
    -h type=name -- print all options for the named decoder/encoder/demuxer/muxer/filter
    See man ffmpeg for detailed description of the options.

Print help / information / capabilities;
-L                  show license
-h topic            show help
-? topic            show help
-help topic         show help
--help topic        show help
-version            show version
-buildconf          show build configuration
-formats            show available formats
-devices            show available devices
-codecs             show available codecs
-decoders           show available decoders
-encoders           show available encoders
-bsfs               show available bit stream filters
-protocols          show available protocols
-filters            show available filters
-pix_fmts           show available pixel formats
-layouts            show standard channel layouts
-sample_fmts        show available audio sample formats
-colors             show available color names
-opencl_bench       run benchmark on all OpenCL devices and show results
-sources device     list sources of the input device
-sinks device       list sinks of the output device
-hwaccels           show available HW acceleration methods

Global options (affect whole program instead of just one file;
-loglevel loglevel  set logging level
-v loglevel         set logging level
-report             generate a report
-max_alloc bytes    set maximum size of a single allocated block
-opencl_options     set OpenCL environment options
-y                  overwrite output files
-n                  never overwrite output files
-ignore_unknown     Ignore unknown stream types
-stats              print progress report during encoding
-max_error_rate ratio of errors (0.0; no errors, 1.0; 100% error  maximum error rate
-bits_per_raw_sample number  set the number of bits per raw sample
-vol volume         change audio volume (256=normal)

Per-file main options;
-f fmt              force format
-c codec            codec name
-codec codec        codec name
-pre preset         preset name
-map_metadata outfile[,metadata];infile[,metadata]  set metadata information of outfile from infile
-t duration         record or transcode "duration" seconds of audio/video
-to time_stop       record or transcode stop time
-fs limit_size      set the limit file size in bytes
-ss time_off        set the start time offset
-sseof time_off     set the start time offset relative to EOF
-seek_timestamp     enable/disable seeking by timestamp with -ss
-timestamp time     set the recording timestamp ('now' to set the current time)
-metadata string=string  add metadata
-program title=string;st=number...  add program with specified streams
-target type        specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv" or "dv50" with optional prefixes "pal-", "ntsc-" or "film-")
-apad               audio pad
-frames number      set the number of frames to output
-filter filter_graph  set stream filtergraph
-filter_script filename  read stream filtergraph description from a file
-reinit_filter      reinit filtergraph on input parameter changes
-discard            discard
-disposition        disposition

Video options;
-vframes number     set the number of video frames to output
-r rate             set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation)
-s size             set frame size (WxH or abbreviation)
-aspect aspect      set aspect ratio (4;3, 16;9 or 1.3333, 1.7777)
-bits_per_raw_sample number  set the number of bits per raw sample
-vn                 disable video
-vcodec codec       force video codec ('copy' to copy stream)
-timecode hh;mm;ss[;;.]ff  set initial TimeCode value.
-pass n             select the pass number (1 to 3)
-vf filter_graph    set video filters
-ab bitrate         audio bitrate (please use -b;a)
-b bitrate          video bitrate (please use -b;v)
-dn                 disable data

Audio options;
-aframes number     set the number of audio frames to output
-aq quality         set audio quality (codec-specific)
-ar rate            set audio sampling rate (in Hz)
-ac channels        set number of audio channels
-an                 disable audio
-acodec codec       force audio codec ('copy' to copy stream)
-vol volume         change audio volume (256=normal)
-af filter_graph    set audio filters

Subtitle options;
-s size             set frame size (WxH or abbreviation)
-sn                 disable subtitle
-scodec codec       force subtitle codec ('copy' to copy stream)
-stag fourcc/tag    force subtitle tag/fourcc
-fix_sub_duration   fix subtitles duration
-canvas_size size   set canvas size (WxH or abbreviation)
-spre preset        set the subtitle options to the indicated preset

and if I check the Liciense terms it returns...

ffmpeg is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

ffmpeg is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with ffmpeg.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

john

fredo,
you can bundle 64-bit ffmpeg binary with your plugin for use on Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite and El Captain.

it eliminates the need to download, instal, look for, etc...

john

It's in the shop…

the driver caused a kernel panic, when I shut down after failing to run it's Uninstaller.app…

it may well be the straw that broke the camels back, as opposed to being fully responsible…

if they can recover the drive, it should have log info to help work out what happened…

otherwise it's some very expensive data recovery attempt…

john