hello Scott,
Thanks for your interest in helping out. That game you made was pretty cool.

I would like to see some convience methods like in the Blender API. This may not be appealing to Gurus but might be quite helpful to the new rubyist. Something like...

obj.LocX --> (0,0,0)
obj.LocX += 20
obj.LocX --> (20,0,0)
obj.loc = 0,0,0 #set loc
obj.getMatrix()

i am also wondering why there is no way to do simple and dirty animations, like...

Loop
    obj.LocX += 10
    sleep(.02)
    SU.Redraw()

I really like most of the SU API's layout compared to Blender, except the Transformation module, it seems a little clumsy. But i might be missing something important. I am not an engineer, just a real brave lad, thats all.

So if you want to enlighten me, feel free

jzer7,
Thanks so much, but no luck.

I going to post a section of the script i am parsing this data from, maybe it will help...

import Blender
from Blender import Camera, Object, Scene, NMesh
from Blender import Mathutils
from Blender.Mathutils import *
cur = Scene.getCurrent()

#Camera Parameters
c0001 = Camera.New('persp')
c0001.lens = 49.739047
o0001 = Object.New('Camera')
o0001.name = "voodoo_cam1"
o0001.setMatrix(Mathutils.Matrix([0.999938,0.001129,-0.011103,0.000000], [0.001072,-0.999986,-0.005202,0.000000], [-0.011108,0.005189,-0.999925,0.000000], [1.054297,1.571880,-8.966838,1.000000])) 
o0001.link(c0001)
cur.link(o0001)

c0002 = Camera.New('persp')
c0002.lens = 49.739047
o0002 = Object.New('Camera')
o0002.name = "voodoo_cam2"
o0002.setMatrix(Mathutils.Matrix([0.999943,0.001132,-0.010635,0.000000], [0.001076,-0.999985,-0.005294,0.000000], [-0.010641,0.005282,-0.999929,0.000000], [1.071295,1.559580,-8.822482,1.000000])) 
o0002.link(c0002)
cur.link(o0002)


##################################################
# [snip]
# many, many more cams are created and then comes 
# some IPO curve data
#################################################


#Render camera animated with IpoCurves
crender = Camera.New('persp')
crender.lens = 35.0
crender.setDrawSize(1.0)
orender = Object.New('Camera')
orender.name = "voodoo_render_cam"
orender.link(crender)
cur.link(orender)
cur.setCurrentCamera(orender)
ipo = Blender.Ipo.New('Object','render_cam_objipo')
orender.setIpo(ipo)
locx = ipo.addCurve('LocX')
locx.setInterpolation('Linear')
locy = ipo.addCurve('LocY')
locy.setInterpolation('Linear')
locz = ipo.addCurve('LocZ')
locz.setInterpolation('Linear')
rotx = ipo.addCurve('RotX')
rotx.setInterpolation('Linear')
roty = ipo.addCurve('RotY')
roty.setInterpolation('Linear')
rotz = ipo.addCurve('RotZ')
rotz.setInterpolation('Linear')
camipo = Blender.Ipo.New('Camera','render_cam_camipo')
crender.setIpo(camipo)
lenscurve = camipo.addCurve('Lens')
lenscurve.setInterpolation('Linear')

locx.addBezier((1,o0001.LocX))
locy.addBezier((1,o0001.LocY))
locz.addBezier((1,o0001.LocZ))
rotx.addBezier((1,o0001.RotX*18/3.141593))
roty.addBezier((1,o0001.RotY*18/3.141593))
rotz.addBezier((1,o0001.RotZ*18/3.141593))
lenscurve.addBezier((1,c0001.lens))

locx.addBezier((2,o0002.LocX))
locy.addBezier((2,o0002.LocY))
locz.addBezier((2,o0002.LocZ))
rotx.addBezier((2,o0002.RotX*18/3.141593))
roty.addBezier((2,o0002.RotY*18/3.141593))
rotz.addBezier((2,o0002.RotZ*18/3.141593))
lenscurve.addBezier((2,c0002.lens))

############################################
# [snip]
# many more lines of IPO
# the only thing left is "point cloud" data 
# which i am leaving out. 
# The last thing in the script is this...
###########################################

# Scene Helper Object
scene_dummy= Object.New('Empty','voodoo_scene')
scene_dummy.setLocation(0.0,0.0,0.0) 
cur.link(scene_dummy)
scene_dummy.makeParent([orender,ob])

scene_dummy.setEuler((-3.141593/2, 0.0, 0.0))
scene_dummy.SizeX=0.2
scene_dummy.SizeY=0.2
scene_dummy.SizeZ=0.2

Maybe this helps, maybe not ?? the lines don't wrap correctly in the code tags so it mucks up the code a bit

Oh OK, yes they can only be set up to cut one plane, AFAIK. Sorry

PS: no need to apologize

You right, but there is a misconception about SU. Blender and SU are NOT the same. They are like two sides of the modeling mountian.

Have you ever tried to create simple architecural model in Blender? Not very easy was it? I have tried again and again to create such things in Blender to no avail

Likewise have you every tried to create your favorite monsters face in SU, and did you look like after 6 hours of wasted time?

These two softwares are great complements to one another. SU needs Blender as much as Blender need SU(for how long remains to be seen).

OP: Grouping vs layers - I need to go watch those basecamp videos again. There was one guy who worked one way and another guy promoting the other way.
*Absoultly, use the way that best fits your needs and modeling style. Just a suggestion

OP: Since you offered, I'd certainly be interested to see any changes you or anybody else wants to share.

• i will have to see about that now due to time restraints. During the holidays i had time on my hands, but now things are starting to get rolling again

OP: and was sort of amused and bewlidered waching what the "orient faces" did and didn't do to the various faces - wondering why some faces are associated with the command and others aren't.

• SU has to guess as to which faces should go out and which faces should go in. For a human that logic is simple to evaluate, but to put that into an algorithm and have perfect results every time is quite challenging. The only info available to the program is the faces normal(vector3d) and the surrounding objects. I suppose it could be made perfect, but the compute time might take hours

OP: I should probaby just pull the walls out to represent the added thickness of the siding. I'm just trying to get the dimensions correct so no officials are surprised. Actually, the sheathing should be overhanging the foundation ... <mumbling noises>.

• i would create the thickness using the [PP] tool and just "paint" it with a texture. That way those "sadistic" officials will get what they need. . Then you can pull it over the foundation quite easily. In this case you really DO need to apply the window afterward.

Good Luck, come back any time

I think the OP was referring to components cutting more than one hole by actually using 2 components within the higher one. And YES, you can. Although i hardly go to the trouble of doing it. You can just select your door and inner wall, then do an(right click-> intersect with selected) instead, but either way works.

Charlie,
Nice improvement, you have some good ideas in there.

DesignerGay,
I think what we have here is a hodgepodge of cabin parts. I am going to start a new plan that will involve modifying some of the parts(as little as possible). But this way FenS can use every timber he has available.

PS: go to ( Window -> Outliner ) there you can browse all the comp/groups in the model. <balk 9> makes a nice 4m x 4m square.

DesignerGay

I agree about the short pieces.

1.) For this model, all you really need to use is the move tool, select tool, and rotation tool(Just FYI, you will probably find it easier to rotate a group with the move tool. The rotate tool can be a little confusing at first)

2.) You may need to group(Right Click->Make Group) un-group(Right Click->Explode) there is no need to make a component, FenS has already done that.

*One Warning though when using the move tool, do not push Control or you will make a copy, if you do by accident, just push Control again and the little "+" sign will disappear.

Hopefully with your experience, you can help us put this puzzle together.

I don't now about you DesignerGay, but i prefer to do my designing in the virtual world. "I can move 1000 logs with a single mouse click", and at the end of the day will still have enough energy for my wife

Have you looked at the model to see if you can make sense of it?

OK i have taken a long hard look at this cabin and here is my synopsis.

<balk 1> wall
<balk 2> king-post
<balk 3> floor-beam/joist
<balk 4> ?wall?
<balk 5> floor-beam/joist
<balk 6> wall
<balk 7> floor-beam/joist
<balk 8> ridge-beam
<balk 9> wall
<balk 10> ?footing?/block
<balk 11,12,13,14> spacer

A typical cabin roof is constructed of a main ridge beam with either a king post at each end supporting it or the cabin walls supporting it. I think that is what you have here. Then standard nominal lumber is used to build a roof(2x joist) and usually it is covered with a metal(modern) of shingle roof. Of course there are many ways to build a roof, but i would think you would want to keep the weight overhead to a minimum.

I have tried every way(i can think of) under the sun to make this work with no success. This leads me do 2 common sense conclusions

1.) you miss counted/measured some lumber pieces and/or their notches.
2.) This is not a complete kit and/or is a hodgepodge of two or more kits.

I am leaning more towards #2. Many times when an organization donates something to a non-for-profit or what-not, it may not be complete/new, or whatever. There could be many reasons including a tax write-off, customer cancellation, parts not to spec, etc... These are the only conclusions i can draw from this puzzle.

I will continue to ponder this problem, but at this point i have no new ideas left.

There needs to be some questions answered to properly put this together

1.) does this cabin use a concrete floor or raised wooden deck?(i think its a deck design using <balk 10> as footings/piers that actually rest against the ground)

2.) is the floor completely covered by posts, OR is it a beam construction, and the "actual" floor base material is not included here?( that would be my initial impression, but there are so many <balk 4> with work nicely as a sub floor, but of course would be a complete waste of material to do it this way)

3.) does this cabin have a porch? (it seems <balk 9> makes up the walls, leaving noting that would properly make more walls, but i can see a porch here. Do you want a porch?)

4.) you mentioned rooms, how many rooms do you want? one open room? more?

One complication is that some pieces are probably meant to be cut on site for the installation. Even so-called ready to assemble kits require some cutting on site. What are your thoughts on the above questions?

Do you have any pictures of local cabins? or could you get some? Building practices vary from local to local, so seeing what is "around" would be very helpful.

Charlie's design is very good, but i think the second poster was right about spacing. The roof structure only needs timbers spaced approx 4' O/C. same for the floor. If you could give some pics, i'll bet we can put this thing together.

Thanks Pixero,
I will look into this right now.

@unknownuser said:

The WINE team are keen to help but they say they aren't getting enough feedback from SU/Linux users.

This brings up a good point. If you are a Linux user and would like to see better support for SU on Linux platform, make your voice heard. Speak Up, Speak Out. Squeaky wheels get grease.

You must let SU know you are out there, tell you *nix friends about SU. When the cries are loud enough they WILL listen.

I would love to have SU on Linux, and i don't even use my Linux machine that much. But this would be more reason for me to leave MS forever.

I am tired of giving my good money to MS to only get punched in the face Tell me why you can't improve this software a little MS? Only getting a text editor with one undo, a piss poor painting program, there exist better free versions!!!!

This is what i think about your products, MS, </2pesos>

This error message has to do with gluing planes, un-check "cut opening" and try again

I would have to say the single most important thing you can do with any software is go through every menu item until you understand what they do. I mean EVERYTHING. From the filemenu on... all the way to preferences and the help menu. You may not understand every menu items usage right away, but you will find later on that by familiarizing yourself with these options you will learn the software much quicker.

When i first started in computers--maybe 2 years ago, i am a late bloomer, i know --i had no idea of usergroups, Usenet, chatrooms, much less how to find information on the net. I did not buy a video or read a book, i just opened the software and learned the damn thing.

Get up close an personal with the user interface and your learning will be so much more fun

</2pesos>

Thanks a lot Phil, Although i may try to write a flight path script myself. I am very interested in completing my study of the Ruby API, and things are coming along faster every day!
I love this program!

This is very easy to do and i am sure a script already exist. But i am very glad you asked this question because it forced me to figure it out for myself. Basically you just loop thru the pages(scenes) and call the write_image() method. it took me about 5min to figure out from the API docs. If you are an adventures soul i will send you what i have or you can wait for a link, or full script from someone.

Well, i will offer some constuctive criticism.

1.) First of all you have way too many layers in this model, making transversal a real PITA. I usually have a layer for each floor and/or group each floor, but that is all you really need IMO, especially if interior detail is low(no furniture, cabinets, etc...)Also your scenes do not have descriptive enough names IMO. I try to stay away from layers as much as possible. There are times when there usage is paramount and others when it is problematic. Good grouping, component instancing, and a few layers is most all you will need.

2.) The first thing i noticed was a lot of your normals(face direction) are backwards, which may not be a problem now, but will cause havoc when/if you decide to render this model. And exposes you as a rookie modeler to others. This is an easy fix though. Just right click on a white face and choose (orient faces). This usually works to correct all faces, but if you happen to get a few that are still blue just select them (rightclick-> reverse face)

3.) Your question about windows or siding first is invalid in the modeling world. I am a builder myself and can tell you, throw out standard building procedure when making models. You are in the virtual world now. It also seems from your words you actually intend to model the siding, which you can do, but using a texture is really all you need. Actually modeling a sidings profile will create too many faces and slow down your computer unless you have the Google mainframe at your fingertips. Of course you can do it, and i have in the past, but a good renderer can make almost any siding/cladding material look 3d life-like.

i think your model is fine, your modeling habits are just complicating your SU experience. If you want i will update this model and submit it to you the way i would do it, not that you are wrong, or i am right, I just want you to have fun, thats all I hope i did not offend you, that is not my intent.

That's my 2 cents

OK Guys,
The program i am getting this data from is Blender via a python script.

I have some information that may help you to help me . I created a new camera in Blender and played with the rotation a bit. here is an output from that session. Note: that after each Rotation i reset the camera to it's original position. So first i rotated 90deg on X axis, printed the matrix, then i reset the camera... and so on.

I applied some rotations and deduced the following data(eye,target,up) by looking at the actual camera. my visual data is between the "<" and ">" . Luckily in Blender the camera is actually visible.

<camera at Loc(0,0,0). target(0,0,-1), up(0,1,0)>
[1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000]

after RotX += 90
<Loc(0,0,0) target(0,1,0) up(0,0,-1)>
[1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, -0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, -1.000000, -0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000]
#reset camera

after RotY += 90
<Loc(0,0,0) target(-1,0,0) up(0,1,0)>
[-0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000]
[-0.000000, 1.000000, -0.000000, 0.000000]
[-1.000000, -0.000000, -0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000]
#reset camera

after RotZ += 90
<Loc(0,0,0) target(0,0,-1) up(-1,0,0)>
[-0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000]
[-1.000000, -0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, -0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000]
[0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000]

Maybe from this data some one can figure out the matrix? It still does not make any sense, i cannot find the values within the matrix in a form that makes any sense??

If you can make anything of this data i will give you a big kiss, tongue, no tongue your choice . I really need to figure out the target(point) and up(vector) so i can use this data in SU. the eye is M[-1] i know that already. Thanks so much for any help you can give.