@unknownuser said:
Even my computer bogs down when using too many 3D trees, and I have 24Gigs of ram.
So I use as many 2d trees as possible.
I render with Podium that comes with a lot of it's own 2d trees and shrubs.
Otherwise I use kerkythea.
24gigs of ram. Wow. I remember the days not so long ago when my ram was 24mb and
that was pimp ! 
The holy poly trees available on the SU warehouse are designed to be used in very
conservative numbers - maybe like 2 max. They are placed near the house to create a nice
visual field. For almost everything else, meaning the background, i would either use 2d
follow me trees or use a high resolution HDRI environment map, maybe a forest one
from here http://www.hyperfocaldesign.com/hdri/hdr-environment-maps.html
and wrap it around your house.
You definitely need more than 2gb. Some of my Vray for SU models hit 3gb (hacked system - check
Vfsu forums on how to do it) during the rendering process.
Example of the HDRI being used in my vfSU render.
!["Tri sci tor" house](/uploads/imported_attachments/dnrU_qk_render_1.jpg ""Tri sci tor" house")
Any 'Sketchup Guru' wanna answer this ? 
SU makes anything when you chuck in a few plugins (TGi3d,SDS,FredoScale,roundcorner,etc)
I think its brilliant for Industrial design. However, car manufacturers have specialised
tailored software to suit their needs similar to autocad. Still SU is god sent for someone
like me that cant draw on paper at all.
Sketchup render engine
@jicjac said:
@jim said:
Does the patent office accept 3d models? If not, wht not?
Jim, No. The patent office (USPTO) requirements are very traditional (archaic). I've been in the trade for more than 40 years. My tools have changed from pencil, pen, ink, templates, 2 ply Strathmore Bristol Board, etc. to 100% digital. The final deliverables continue to look old school. If you were to patent a battle ship, all the drawings would need to fit on 8 1/2 X 11 or A4 paper (many sheets of course). Reason? Tradition and consistency I suppose. Only in the past few years have I been able to use gray scale to any extent. For an attorney to submit color renderings is a whole separate rigmarole. For the most part, the attorneys quiver and yield when an examiner presents drawing complaints. You would not believe how difficult it is to respond to and comply with an examiner's complaint when they get focused on minutia. It's a great trade though. I am self-employed, work from my home/office/studio. The overhead is minimal and pulling down 6 figures is very realistic. For these conditions, I'd draw on a shovel blade with charcoal if that's all they'll accept.
I mention these examples (above) to help demonstrate how far off 3D models seem to be. No sense in arguing the sense of using 3D. The USPTO stores the images in TIFF format (go figure). To view patents online (a stride in technology), you need a TIFF viewer.
Seems like the USPTO is shooting for the lowest common denominator. This makes sense if a level playing field is the objective. After all, it is the government and must be equal to all.
My thoughts and observations,
JJ
Patent drawings must follow the standards provided by the USPTO, including line thickness, the material textures,etc. They are not up
for negotiation with the USPTO.
Part of my research thesis was on Patent Examination. The thing here is that the USPTO wants to keep the same standard of patent drawings
so that disputes are not from the style of drawings but rather from the claims of the invention.
Patent law is very concerned with Claims. It is not really hard to draft claims, but for non lawyers, i would suggest grabbing a patent attorney if you believe you need money and that your invention is worth more than $50,0000. Prior to that, one should conduct his or her own
patent search remembering that the USPTO system works on classification of patents, so best to find your group and search.They start with electrical,mech and chem. They dont always class it right (UPSTO examiners are like monkeys and get many things wrong)
In my opinion, the Patent system is dead for small and medium sized enterprises. Yes , there is now the class of 'innovation patents' but they too have severe limitations. The patent system is geared towards litigation and those with deep pockets. Hence why I believe all my product ideas are free and up for grabs.
Idea's should be shared not monopolised and someday in the future, we will all realise this, even Google
@jarynzlesa said:
Nice work boys
.
One question. Is any chance to make a radius on the edges?
If you mean something like a rounded edge,chamber etc......use round corner plugin. You could also use the follow me
tool but get ready to kick a dustbin whilst banging your head against a wall 
The current state of cloud computing is still prematare. I see its huge potential
when quantum comnputing becomes mainstream in 2035, cloud computing tech stocks
have been facing sell off pressure throughout the globe recently.
And because of the way SU is being envisioned as a solid CAD platform
but one that relies heavily on plugin's , commercial and free, i do not
see this as operationally feasible at the time being. It might be interesting in the
future where all the plugins load up automatically in a cloud, but
again, its still too premature.
Once SU can seamlessly handle and display as many poly's as 3DSMAX then, maybe
Google should look at this.
I do see SU running on 3D screens in the next 7 years before this cloud happens in full blast....
Industrial design without Fredoscale is like trying to ride a bike
without the wheels
@ben ritter said:
Chris, I can hardly keep up with your wonderful scripts. Most importantly though, you are very much appreciated for your kindness to the SU community.
Very well said.
Excellent plugin.
And with Vray for Sketchup, the first and second are a piece of cake to make. These
are achieved through displacement textures.
@thomthom said:
@chris fullmer said:
@fuzzion said:
We have a fur/grass/leave making plugin. Whats stopping us from makaing a 3d tree maker plugin?
Nothing. I started writing one one night. I got it to make the trunk and branches randomly, then got busy and never got passed that unfortunately. It has always been a dream of mine to write this toool.....someday I guess.
Today Chris - today!
Plus it will make a lot of people happy and i bet it will be a very very popular plugin. . . .
I tried Kerk 2 Years ago because it was free. I found it a little tricky but must say its
got delicious renders. And yes materials are available from their site as packs but that was a while
ago.
I do believe Thea is the commercial version of Kerk.
These were my first 2 renders as a noob new to SU and Kerk.
*Im still a noob 
Thanks and Yeah I already know that. I once made a mountain covered by thousands of nipples (For artistic purposes)
But it would be cool if it created random heights of the tree, applied various different bark textures, make
different styles of trees, all at one go.(for productivity purposes) so that i can focus on design.
Something specifically designed for SU
Edit : WHat I currently do is to get 360 forest HDRI and render them in Vray for productivity reasons
due to lack of time.
We have a fur/grass/leave making plugin. Whats stopping us from makaing a 3d tree maker plugin?
A forest making tool set designed for SU would be radical
I reckon the future of house design will showcase smaller tighter designs like this.
I love it.
PS. Is it true that building a house with a few levels on sand is expensive?
@john.warburton said:
Just how long such a period should be is open to debate and there is nothing to force vendors to do this at all, but it would be a good way of treating customers!
He did buy the software 2 months prior to the new release. But like you said, its debateble.
Putting on my lawyer hat, the retailer is bound by law
not to mislead or deceive the consumer. Consumer laws
are very tight and strict but this customer was
not mislead or deceived into any purchase. Now, if during the period of
purchase, Light up CO. made false claims that no new upgrade is
to be released i see no reason to fit this transaction within
confines of deception. In certain transaction silence can be construed
to mislead but that usually involves hiding certain additional costs,etc.
This is just the gist and additional elements have not been accounted for,
example, terms of the purchase contract/license that bounded the parties.
@gaieus said:
@fuzzion said:
*By the way, I was having Tea with some mates and one of them just flew in from Iran for holiday. She, an Architect in Iran said that SU is very popular over there.
Then let her know that we even have a (quite active) Farsi subforum (once someone signes up in the user control panel)
Sweet, i will tell her. Off topic, Arch chicks are hot !
The thumbnail looks like an out of sketchup render meaning it was rendered by rendering software like
vray for sketchup,twilight,podium etc.
Or did i miss the question entirely 