Posts made by halroach

Nice!
I am unable to assign a keyboard shortcut to it. How can I do it?

thanks!

Hi,

As I am sketchupping around, I have noticed that one of the keys I press most is the Esc key, usually when working on a complex model with many nested components. Some times I press it when some tools just don't work, and the ESC key just needs to be pressed (not sure when exactly that happens).

What ever is for sure, is that at times my finger is pressing the Esc key rapidly at uncontrolled bursts which to an onlooker, may look like moments of madness . And for me, I am sure the endless presses are contributing to my future carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist.

So... I have an idea for a plugin, or key-bind (maybe it exists), that when pressed would let me exit all the nested components in one press. Would that be possible?

Thanks!

Very cool idea!

1. The only hitch I find is that it is a bit difficult to return back to my initial style that I am used to working with. Maybe if you could add a tab with the style that was being used before applying this plugin.
   You could call it "default" or "user" or "shaded with textures" (my default)... something along that line.

2. Actually one more little hitch. I had to manually enable "fog" for the ZDepth to work. Either have that done with the plugin, if not possible make a note of it somewhere that Fog must be enabled.

I did a system restore and it helped, but then I managed to recreate the problem.
I clicked on View -> Toolbars -> Restore Toolbar Positions. Nothing changed in the toolbars, even if I purposely messed them up a bit. After that clicking on the main menu (where is ays File Edit View Camera...etc.) The menu becomes unresponsive and I must restart sketchup to get it back to normal.
I tried saving toolbar positions and then restoring and the same happens.

Basically I cannot use the Restore Toolbars Positions anymore. Help!! anyone!?

Got a similar problem on one computer with windows 7 64 + sketchup crashes right on startup or during work, intermittently.

Any solution or diagnosis other than doing a system restore?
I believe the screen driver is updated to the latest. (nvidia...)
I tried reinstalling sketchup + installing plugins back one by one. At first it worked, then started crashing again... not directly related to any plugin!?

Help

@krism said:

"Maybe a stretch tool like Auto Cad?"

Using Move on lines or points works just the same as Stretch in Autocad.

Kris

Can't quite move or interact with points, only lines. Maybe a native way to select points would be nice - without any external plugins.

Any chance for animation working in version 1.60.23?

I think it's time to split this thread from "Skethcup 2013 Gripes & Bitchin'" cause it has become "plain Gripes & Bitchin'" ...

Back to Skethcup 2013... From all I've read here and around. I see no reason to get my company to upgrade! How about all the rest of you out there?

I'd upgrade if we were to use Layout... but we don't. Sadly waiting for the next release...

I will be sending bug reports by email to the vray developers and posting them in this thread for all to see aswell.
My specs:

Hardware:
CPU: Intel core i7-2600k @ 3.40GHz
Memory: 16GM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560Ti

Software:
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Sketchup Pro 8.0.16846
Vray 1.6 Beta

Bugs I've encountered:

1. Animations not working!!!
   Created two scenes with different positions
   Chose to save render output as jpgs in an existing folder.
   Checked animation on
   Checked Include Frame Number
   NTSC 30 fps

Ran Render - Sketchup Camera moves between the render scenes and Rendering of frames begins. It renders the same first frame over and over again. The jpgs are saved in consecutive frame numbers yet as above... all the same image.

2. RT Render - materials not updating consistently in render when changed.
   bug reproduction:
   a. Creating a box
   b. Turning it into a component
   c. Running Render RT - window opens and renders live - nice!
   d. applying a blue color to the box (not to the surfaces but to the outside) - material in RT changes.
   e. applying a different material red color... to the box - in RT the the box keeps rendering blue...
   f. the same bug occurs in other scenarios - doesn't immediately update when materials are changed... sometimes needs to be closed and re-opened to see material changes.

3. RT Render crashes sketchup sometimes - will send more info when it happens again

4. Undo not working during or after RT render

• under regular render undo still works.

5. Sketchup logo on Sketchup Program tab on taskbar changed to Vray Logo. I'm sure Trimble will be very glad to see that

6. Live update materials not always working:
   In Materials Window Live update of materials doesn't always update live, even after pressing enter... It's kind of selective when to update and when not to.

7. Exporting a component as a proxy - works well and componet is transformed...
   Upon import of the proxy into another model, the textures are lost.

8. Sketchup Freezes
   Sometimes when zooming in and out with the mouse wheel in a render window, all of sketchup freezes. The only way out of it is to press CTRL-ALT-DEL and to press ESC (back to windows) and sketchup is freed up. - this happened on last two previous versions of vray as well. Only happens on windows 7.

Minor Annoyances:

a1. When running a render the Vray Progress Window pops up. the progress bar progresses normally. If the render is stopped the progress stops - all is nice and well. the only minor annoyance is that the progress bar keeps flashing in that fashionable Windows 7 Aero Theme kind of way... It's just annoying, and makes you think that maybe the progress bar is actually still progressing, and the render is still running...

Suggestions?

b1. Would be nice if the Render window and Render RT window were done in two separate windows. I personally would use RT as a preview to see how I should make quick changes in the regular render I just did... dunno if that is possible or makes any sense?!

b2. Have an option for thumbnail view (i.e. material preview balls) on left sidebar of material window. (like in 3DSMAX or Rhino) If we're spending all this time making previews why not see them all aligned up next to each other for comparisons and pure joy of having a real library...

Questions:
c1. Is there a way to edit an imported proxy, change it's materials... or must one remake a proxy every time?

c2. Does the toon material still exist? I couldn't seem to find it.

c3. BRDF. I have no idea how to use it - hope there is a manual.

Bravos:
d1. Prview renders are working a lot faster.

d2. Renders seem to be looking good.

d3. Transfer of materials between models seems to be working fine. My library of components with vray materials from vray version 1.48.96 (where material transfers between models used to work) still works!! Great!

d4. Organization of the Options and Materials windows seem to be making more sense.

Am I the only person having trouble accessing the beta testing thread at the chaos group forums?

I am a registered vray user, yet since the beginning (a few years ago) I've had so many issues with registering and accessing their forums. It is true chaos, as their name suggests.

I had to register once just to download vray, and had to register a second time with a different name to be able to access the forums - because they needed a username that is linked somehow to the email I bought the software with, or so I thought... but that didn't work either... after emailing them for weeks I finally got access to the forums which were almost empty since they did the union with which ever other company they were before... and now I am blocked from the beta testing threads... great! I could download the beta, but not report about it...
What is with these guys?? This is truly ridiculous !!! of course I sent them a support request ticket and waiting for an answer now...

Why not just open up the forums to the wide public like sketchucation is without all these ridiculous restrictions.

Anyway - I have a list of so many bugs to report about this beta release, and I have nowhere to write them... other than here maybe.

Yes, they have an email to report bugs, but in my opinion that is not the way to do beta testing... I don't want to report something twice + there is the pressure effect when the bugs are out in the open. So... should I open a new thread here in sketchucation? or dump my list into this thread?

Happy betaing everyone!

@holmes1977 said:

@krisidious said:

Vray Beta is warning me when I open another instance of SketchUp that the program did not close properly and asks me to send a report. I believe this is happening because the other instance has not shut down.

Like wise

same here

BTW, is this the place to write about all the beta testing issues? or on the horrid forums of chaos group?

When I get reply notifications from the scketchucation forum in my iphone mail app, and I click on the link to see the latest reply etc. It sends me to Safari... it would be nice to have another link that would open the tapatalk app. Maybe it exists and I don't know how?

Thanks!

@dave r said:

Check this out.

There's a command for Center Selection which would probably get you started. On my PC I have his toolbar set up so Zoom Extents zooms to a selection if there is one.

Thanks!
The plugin from Jim's website (Is it the same Jim?) works!! It zooms to the selected item no matter how far or where it is.
The plugin can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/site/jimfoltz/my-sketchup-plugins/zoom-selection-extents

@dave r said:

Often, when I import a CAD file or open a SketchUp file from someone else, I hit Zoom Extents on the toolbar. If the camera zooms out so the obvious geometry is relatively small in the model space, I drag a right to left selection box around the apparently empty space making sure I don't get any of the model. Then I hit Delete and Zoom Extents again to see if I've removed the unneeded stuff.

That is exactly what I do. I zoom extents and select the geometry I can't see and delete it. I was hoping though that with this plugin I could zoom in to the selected geometry to see what it is that I am going to be deleting... but it just won't zoom...

This plugin is a wonderful idea when I have an imported DWG with real far away geometry that I'd like to select "blindly" geometry that I cannot see. I've tried it though, placing a bunch of components at the 0,0,0 and one component far - 1000 meters away... I select the far away component and it just won't zoom on it... it kind of zooms to extents or something similar, cause if I zoom extents I get something else... ideas?

Is this plugin still under development?
The menu works very nicely, finding all the right plugins I'm looking for. But it's not working yet, is it?

I've tried launchit plugin v1.4 and it just doesn't find all the plugins I have installed...

eagerly waiting!

Hi,

I've got another idea for making the work in Sketchup even faster!
Especially with the plugins you don't use on an every day basis, because you can't remember their full names or where they are located... but remember more or less what they do...

1. The idea is to have a plugins quick search filter that would work similarly to the windows 7 search under the start menu.

Workflow:
You click a button/a keyboard shortcut -> a menu with a search field comes up, you start typing a name of a plugin, and as you type it will narrow down your search results till you find the plugin you were searching for. Having the first result automatically highlighted, Hit Enter or Space-bar to run the plugin command, or select with a mouse or arrow keys and again enter to run the selected command. Done!

The search strings it will search for are according to plugin names/different plugin commands and the folders they may be listed under. It would work exactly (if not better) like the 'shortcuts filter field' in in the shortcuts pane under 'system preferences' in sketchup.

Maybe this already exists under one of those super plugin organizers that are mostly in chinese!?
In any case it would be nice to have it as a stand alone plugin.

2. Taking this a step further - like in the windows7 search filter where you get results for different programs/file types/folders/, you could search for 'in model' component/group names that you would like to select and highlight, or for layer names that you would like to turn on and off immediately.
Having a search filter under the layers window, as an integral part of sketchup, would be nicer and more convenient logically... but this too, would be nice.

Good Sketchupping!

1. TIG, I think you should publish your two useful plugins.
2. Thom, I've been using cleanup, but for some reason the remove coplanar doesn't quite give the same results. It doesn't erase all the edges, like with the other script. Just drawing a bunch of intersecting rectangles, pulling a few faces out, and many lines stay...

Thanks to both of you! Always so quick to reply, with lovely results!

Hi,

I know there is a delete coplanar context menu plugin. I use it all the time. I have version 1.2 by Jack Dolabany from 2005.

1. It would be nice to have a single undo for the procedure.
2. Maybe there are alternative plugins out there?
3. I can't find the delete coplanar plugin in the list of plugins in the forum... It's worth adding.

Good Day!