If you are looking to match the perspective distortion a human eye would see (which is different from cone of vision/field of view) then I created a DC that will calculate that -- however you will need to know the pixel dimensions of the SketchUp viewport.
AOV calculator.skp
Bring this DC into a scene as a component (do not open directly) and then choose "Component Options" from the DC toolbar.

Best,
Jason.

I cover custom aspect ratios in video 4/8 of this playlist:

Best,
Jason.

I have a different take on the Artlantis thing -- alot of people seem to be drawn to the idea of having unbiased rendering as an option in an otherwise biased render engine. So this fulfills that desire in a way that Maxwell (alone) never will. It's a competitive thing... offering your users options is never bad, especially if you have no intention of ever doing that development yourself.

Maxwell can do their thing, and Artlantis can do theirs, and neither has to worry about the other infringing on their established territory... in that way it's a good partnership. I expect to see more companies partner up as they realize that being everything to everybody is a losing game.

It also appears that they have simplified Maxwell material creation parameters considerably -- which will help established Artlantis users embrace the tool... Although I'm not sure if the new Maxwell grass is an option for them.

Best,
Jason.

Yep, at $195 that is a really nice solution for the user who wants more power than the $95 "stand-alone" SketchUp plugin, but doesn't need huge renders or network rendering. The really nice thing about that is it includes all of the Maxwell plugins free (including the SketchUp plugin) -- so you could use Maxwell with several different packages (as I do).

I also found the Maxwell integration into Artlantis to be a rather interesting tidbit: http://www.artlantis.com/index.php?page=products/studio/news

Best,
Jason.

I am a walking advertisement for the failure of the public school system here in America.

As a bit of background, in my 6th grade year (11 years old) I was failing all of my classes -- and the teachers were concerned that I may have some sort of severe learning disability (using politically correct terminology here), so the school had me tested. They were surprised to instead learn that I was highly gifted... nobody had ever asked me why I didn't pay attention in class (because it was beyond boring).

This could have been the end of the story, except that instead of moving me into a school for gifted kids (as was the common procedure with this type of thing) they kept me in regular classes because they were afraid I would be a disruptive influence on the other gifted kids (I had a bit of a reputation by that point, I come from the wrong side of the tracks as they say).

Needless to say I became a High School dropout by 15, got my GED just after my 16th birthday (which was the earliest I could take the test) and briefly flirted with college when I was 17 (which was just as boring). But mostly I worked (I was an emancipated minor by then) and learned whatever I wanted to by doing it myself and reading books -- of course the later advent of the internet became a great accelerator of that process.

As a result, I have a great deal of disdain for structured education on the whole -- and while I enjoy teaching, I would never work in a school environment.

However, had the public school system done the right thing with me, who knows how things might have been different.

Best,
Jason.

The new 2.7 version of Maxwell is out (free update) -- and one of the major new features is Grass... which is in the new version of the SketchUp plugin as well. I made a grass material to help users get right into using the grass functions right away: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41250852/j_greengrass_base.zip

I also have posted a more advanced free tool for angle mapping here: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=38823

Best,
Jason.

I work with single precision 32-bit floating point data all the time (audio) -- so I was not automatically thinking they were referring strictly to 64-bit... since many "true CAD" packages offer 32-bit versions as well.

Here is the wikipedia page I got the quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computer-aided_design_editors

Still, this does not answer the question of "why is SketchUp not a true CAD application?" Obviously the free version lacks Layout, which means it is not optimized for paper output -- but SketchUp Pro can create create technical drawings using Layout quite well. Aside from accurate arcs and circles I'm not sure where the perceived problem might be.

I think many people simply ignore the plugins when they talk about SketchUp -- which for me is a joke because I think SketchUp is virtually unusable without the plugins... whenever I teach I always point people to these forums and give them a full rundown on how to install plugins, because SketchUp is simply not complete without them.

I was helping a local landscape design specialist (a couple doors down from my office) get up to speed with SketchUp the other day -- they were getting bogged down in performance issues. As part of that conversation I made this statement: "The mistake most people make when first trying SketchUp is they think it is a complete program in itself. But it is really more like a platform -- you really need the plugins to make it worthwhile for much of anything".

They were coming from AutoCAD I think -- so I showed them how to make 2D face-me components, optimize component use and library, set up layers properly, optimize the viewport for navigation of heavy scenes, etc... But I felt the most important thing I did was give them directions here and showed them how to install and use a plugin (ThomThoms CleanUp).

Best,
Jason.

Just about anything is possible through Python Scripting in Maxwell -- pyMaxwell is probably one of my favorite new Maxwell features in quite some time (now if I was only better at scripting )

Best,
Jason.

According to wikipedia:

@unknownuser said:

CAD refers to a specific type of drawing and modeling software application that:

• Is designed for creating technical drawings for distribution electronically and on paper
• Uses the accuracy inherent in a floating point, as opposed to fixed-point drawing database

Great, so I have some answers... does the SketchUp/Layout combo not meet these requirements?

Best,
Jason.

@jpalm32 said:

Bonzai hasn't improved their product in years. No updates

Yeah it's been about a year and a half, it looks like they have been putting all their effort into the newest formZ (which also contains bonzai completely) -- although I wasn't really saying anything in particular other than they have emphasized the "true CAD" element... which is a bit lost on me since I'm not clear exactly why I should care about that.

Best,
Jason.

Bonzai3d is also very powerful, and I've hear the term bandied about in regards to it as well... but I'm old school. I still have (and use) a drafting table, compass, french curves, t-square, triangles, templates, drafting pencil/leads and technical pens -- as far as I have been able to observe SketchUp is far and away more accurate than my traditional drafting tools (not that I do much drafting per se).

So I wonder if this is splitting hairs somehow -- unless they are referring to machining tolerances?

Best,
Jason.

I've wondered about that statement before -- is this a knock on SketchUps accuracy? (excuse my CAD ignorance).

Best,
Jason.

Outstanding article Francois! I thought you presented a really compelling argument for the value of using both SketchUp and Maxwell (as well as the combination of the two). I also want to say that the images you used as examples are excellent and highly artistic (as always).

Thank-you for sharing

Best,
Jason.

They're running a special promo deal right now, the results of which are 50% off on Maxwell Render (at least until the 18th) -- details here:

http://www.maxwellrender.com/index.php/maxwell_render_suite/promo

Best,
Jason.

Also, you may find this thread interesting:

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=45091

Best,
Jason.

Most likely the objects are there -- they are just instances, which do not show by default in Maxwell Studio (however they should render).

Turn off "use instances" and that should clear up the issue... you can also tweak the settings in Studio to show instances if you care to get a bit more in-depth with the software.

Best,
Jason.

Certainly don't take my situation as anything other than my situation -- my services are in demand, and I have to choose carefully the packages I support because I only have so much time. They are interested in having me do a competing package, and I have no solid information to offer them as to why they shouldn't move on from SketchUp.

Trimble hasn't proven anything yet (in regards to SketchUp), and all anybody knows for sure is they are not likely to be able to grow the software's visibility at the same rate Google was able to... so at the very least a 3D market share contraction should be expected for SketchUp -- and it may be severe if Trimble makes the wrong moves. We all know it is just as likely that SketchUp is absorbed into existing Trimble software and never updated again as anything else... all we have is a few optimistically vague statements to go by, made by people who are not actually the decision makers at Trimble. It certainly would not be the first time things went that way after a big acquisition...

I've said before, I would have been much happier with Dassualt... there's a track record there that you can make some sort of predictions based off of -- with Trimble we are all grasping at straws, and hoping. In lieu of some solid facts or a track record I have to agree with the judgement of my employers and put my energy/time into another package. There is a bit of gambling happening here, but it can't be helped with what I do...

Best,
Jason.

Thank-you all, I suspect they are going with a "wait and see" approach before jumping back in the SketchUp pool -- in the meantime they don't like to have me idle. But I will certainly be keeping my eye on things here and I will keep them (VTC) up-to-date with any new developments. Also thank-you for directing users to my videos -- that more than anything would convince VTC to stick with SketchUp (they follow the numbers like any business).

Obviously I have quite a bit emotionally invested in this software and community, so I do hope Trimble makes good on it's promises and the doomsayers are proven wrong.

Best,
Jason.

My employer (VTC) is skittish (understandably) about SketchUps development future at Trimble and I have been asked to begin teaching a competitors software package(s) instead...

Since none of us know what the future holds I can't blame them for taking that position... I expected as much, and said so early in this thread.

I have a limited budget for software purchases and I tend to reserve it for packages I am teaching, so it is very unlikely I will update my Pro license -- it would have to have some pretty compelling updates/new features to justify the purchase since the package I am replacing it with is many times more robust already (the excellent SketchUp plugins notwithstanding).

Best,
Jason.

The expected fallout from the sale to Trimble has materialized for me -- I have been moved off SketchUp/SketchUp Pro by my employer, which means that will be one less Pro license updated for SketchUp 9.

Best,
Jason.