Here is a demonstration of new LSS Matrix feature 'Scan for changes inside groups'.
[flash=640,360:2oxxhf7x]http://www.youtube.com/v/lfbb8gyH7BA?version=3&hl=ru_RU[/flash:2oxxhf7x]
It has a lot of limitations and it is unstable and is able to process only simple geometry for now... Anyway I decided to share this stage: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44695539/lss_matrix/lss_matrix_1_1_alpha.zip
@unknownuser said:
About the LssMatrix
Does it possible to have a Cylinder at the start, and the same cylinder at the end but with only Top face scaled?
Looks like you're asking me to examine contents of each group while making copies 
OK, challenge accepted 
Actually it is a step towards the realization of one of my dreams: to code a plugin, that performs morphing between selected geometry groups 
.
@oxer said:
Hi kirill!
The first thanks for this great plugin, i have made the translation to spanish, i have created a new lss_toolbar.strings file with all spanish phrases and words and i have translated the html files, but if you want that the translation works you change the line 18 in the lss_toolbar_ext.rb file:
LanguageHandler.new("lsstlbr.strings")--> LanguageHandler.new("lss_toolbar.strings")
You see the currently available version is what you can call 'pre-alpha' (pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project prior to testing) so it is not even 'beta-version'. I published link to it just to inform, that LSS Toolbar project is still alive it was just an answer on this post:
@irwanwr said:
kirill, i am looking forward for your update on lss toolbar
I'm going to add all tools, perform tests and then publish LSS Toolbar in new forum thread. Anyway all strings, which present in lsstlbr.strings, will stay in final version so it will be possible to copy-paste them into resource files of final version.
@oxer said:
Is it possible translate the options of this window?:
Current version shows raw internal attribute names of selected entity, so it is not possible to translate them yet... You may try to take a look at component instances attributes for example 'Susan' component instance (just for fun, because editing of them has no effect). The final version will have a kind of dictionary of name aliases for all attribute names, that LSS Toolbar uses, so it will be possible to translate elements of this dictionary.
And normally the more generic way to apply localization is to place localized resource files into local folder without renaming file names (for example into 'ru-RU' folder for Russian language). LanguageHandler has to find them in local language folder.
Oxer, thanks for informing about UTF-8 formatting 
I'll fix it.
@oxer said:
I work on Mac (OSX 10.6.8) generally and the plugin doesn't work, it appears the toolbar, the "2 Faces + Path" and "Properties" windows but the Pick icons doesn't work.
I didn't adapted web-dialogs for Safari, so most probably they will not work properly on mac 
I'm not sure that I'll fix this problem, since I don't have mac 
@guanjin said:
Thank LSS hard work, adjustable preview, simply great, But oh have not thoroughly understand.
The animation, that you attached, shows that path curve is the same circle that is boundary of First face. I think it explains all 
@irwanwr said:
kirill, i am looking forward for your update on lss toolbar
Update of LSS Toolbar is in progress now (I'm not sure about the fact, that LSS Toolbar will be highly demanded in the nearest future, since Google sold SU and its future is a bit uncertain now, I think).
Anyway here is demo video of LSS Toolbar current development stage. It shows '2 faces + path...' tool processing.
[flash=560,315:5emt7pqv]http://www.youtube.com/v/2nX7ZxCPHrk?version=3&hl=ru_RU[/flash:5emt7pqv]
I decided to use github for version control. It is possible to download zip archive of current stage there: http://www.github.com/lssoft/lss_toolbar
@unknownuser said:
You can yet use Color by Z, Color by Slope, Random Painter by Chris fullmer
And also ThruPaint by Fredo6
Whoa! That's crazy cool
Looks like it is better for me to focus on 'LSS Toolbar' update instead of bothering on colors handling within 'LSS Matrix' since there are ready-made yet powerful tools for color processing by talented plugins authors
@unknownuser said:
For me it's not inside the V6 Plugins folder that avoid Components to work!
No problem because all works fine in V 7 (disable Sketchyphysics)
I think it's no good if it is necessary to disable Sketchyphysics I guess I need to find out how to coexist together with Sketchyphysics, since it is known as must have one (I don't have it personally, but I'm sure a lot of people do...)
BTW, Pilou, great colorful sample It inspired me to make LSS Matrix 'color aware' in future versions and process colors of replicated groups as well as transformations. I mean to make result groups colors as gradient between source group and copy group. But it will work only if the whole group has one single color, I guess... But it has to be fun too
@blajnov said:
Разобрался, преобразовал в блокноте два файла в кодировку UTF-8
lss_matrix.html
lss_matrix_mini.html
Спасибо Архивный файл в исходном посте я заменил.
@guanjin said:
We look forward to the LSS update, thank you for your selfless dedication!
The next in line is LSS Toolbar. It was waiting too long and I believe it's time to reanimate it...
@tig said:
How does this tool differ from my old 'Grow' and 'Matrix' tools ?
Apart from you having to make the first changed copy...
I didn't know about these two plugins (honestly).
After brief look at 'Grow' description I found out, that 'Grow' plugin provides more functionality, than 'LSS Matrix'...
For example, I was only going to add scaling options, 'Grow' already has exponential and even Fibonacci options aside from linear .
As for me I was going to add a kind of adjustment curve (default option is strait line), which will give more power to affect replication results.
Life lesson #1: search for ready made desicions before reinvent a wheel...
@guanjin said:
[attachment=1:208r8b1e]<!-- ia1 -->QQ截图20120409161643.png<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:208r8b1e]
Rotating array angle to grasp the difficulties have option positioning point of view better
Maybe I did not grasp the skills
Yes, plugin does not provide any helpers for array generation... but SU actually has its own built-in helpers ('Tape Measure' tool and 'Protractor' tool) so I decided not to bother on inventing my own helpers.
Actually plugin looks for 'difference' between transformations of initial and copy instance and then applies detected difference to an initial instance. Simple as that
That's why it is necessary to pay careful attention to preprocessing stage. As a hint for more neat rotation array creation I can suggest to make an anchor point, that defines rotation center (using 'Tape Measure' tool for instance).
Another way to make sure, that all single elements will coinside after replication, is to model the whole element, which will be rotated, then apply rotation and shift transformation to set of elements once.
@blajnov said:
в русском переводе не та кодировка, при нажатии на кнопку вызова основного диалога LSS Matrix. Остальные меню на русском.
Постараюсь разобраться как можно быстрее. У меня диалог отображается корректно, пока не знаю, в чем именно может быть дело...
[attachment=0:208r8b1e]<!-- ia0 -->русский диалог.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:208r8b1e]
@oxer said:
Hi, I have installed the plugin but when i run SU it appears a Ruby Console Error, this:
I use SU 8 for Mac & OSX 10.6.8
Unfortunately the plugin was not tested on mac at all And I think, it will not work on mac...
The point is that java-script code (which is used in web-dialog) is made to run properly in IE (because SU for MS Windows uses IE to display web-dialogs). I was hurry to publish LSS Matrix and forgot to mention about this in top post (I'll fix it now). In short current version of LSS Matrix is only for MS Win
@unknownuser said:
So I must have some plugs who make some dysfunctions inside the V7 and V6!
I will try to find the culprits!
I hope that LSS Matrix is not a culprit itself
All methods encapsulated in classes as recommended to avoid naming conflicts, but maybe somthing was missed 
@unknownuser said:
Seems there is a bug!
(tested with V7 )
Works fine with Components
Don't work with Groups : drawing faces is not effective when pressing Apply!
Well, I tested attached skp file in SU7, it was processed fine just like in SU8.
Actually, there are no special API methods used in plugin, that requires the latest version of SU, so I think everything has to work fine even in SU6 (I just don't have it now, so it is difficult to find out).
@unknownuser said:
And with the Random Replacement of Components of Sdmitch you will have some crazzy things!
Yes I think that joint use of theese two plugins can make sinergetic effect
@guanjin said:
How to change the language environment, Chinese, thank you
For now local resources available only in Russian. I don't know yet how to lokalize to any other language, since I good only in Russian and more or less in English (lower or maybe mid-intermediate level, I guess).
Small Announcement (29-Jan-2017)
Note that currently there are no plans to continue development of LSS Matrix extension so it is highly recommended look for some other alternatives, which have a similar functionality and compatible with recent versions of SketchUp.
Archive file
About
It is an extension of Sketchup, which allows advanced copying of groups and component instances.
Note: ver. 1.0 runs under MS Windows only.
Installation
Usage
«LSS Matrix» has preprocessing stage:
it is necessary to make an initial copy instance and «controlling» copy instance(s) before «LSS Matrix» dialog launching.
After preparations:
[flash=560,468:3v1017yw]http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=lssmatrixusageoverview-120408134022-phpapp02&stripped_title=lss-matrix-usage-overview&userName=ssuser4a1799[/flash:3v1017yw]
[flash=560,315:3v1017yw]http://www.youtube.com/v/G8APodDqwBw?version=3&hl=ru_RU[/flash:3v1017yw]
@mike backler said:
Hi All
I have just installed the Chronolux and Curviloft plugins and I get the following error messages:
"Chronolux_ext.rb, date.rb, and yaml.rb - Superclass mismatch for Class Date Time"
"CurviloftTool.rb - Uninitialized constant Curviloft :: T6"Could someone please tell me what I need to do to correct these errors.
Thanks
Mike Mackler
Hi, Mike.
You can try to test special edition of Chronolux.
Installer download link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44695539/chronolux/chronolux_1_1_beta_special.exe
ZIP archive download link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44695539/chronolux/chronolux_1_1_beta_special.zip
Note, that it is not official release yet, because version 1.1 updating is still in progress now and one of new features will be the new "Time Settings" dialog (this functionality fortunately already implemented). I decided to use web-dialog for "Time Settings" instead of standard "UI.messagebox" method so it became possible to get rid of standard Ruby "Time" class extension. Java-script has its own built-in date strings parser and besides I found free DHTML calendar widget so date and time picking becomes more user-friendly now.
Kirill.
p.s. Can you tell, what is 'yaml.rb'?
You see, it is possible that yaml.rb is a plugin, which also tries to do something with Ruby standard Time Class and its behavior results name conflict (it's just an assumption).
Note, that Chronolux v.1.0 uses officially released Time class extension library, so it is actually rare situation, when it refuses to work, but I decided to get rid of standard class modification anyway in v.1.1 of Chronolux.
@boilingsnow said:
It's sad that most of your earlier plugins dont work in Sketchup 8....Could you please update them?
Yes, I'm going to update "LSS Toolbar", but I don't know exactly when. I'll try to make it in the coming months.
@thomthom said:
That would then not be User data - but Model data. Two very different things.
Looks like I interpreted thread subject in a context of my own thoughts 
I mean, I was going to suggest to use template for storing user settings data.
It is less elegant than just click "OK" button in "Settings" dialog of the plugin, of course But the user can save his own presets in template file, add description to it, then it will be possible to revert back to any previously saved configuration.
UPD.
The point is that I was thinking about abstract "application user" not the operating system user. Application means plugin here.
So I thought that application (plugin) usually runs "system wide" (not in "per user mode") and the problem is what is the best way to persist application settings (i.e. user preferences *application user here again).
Storing plugin settings right in document allows user preferences persistence across different machines and even across operating systems in theory (when I say "user" I mean plugin user). So user can take his *.skp file anywhere and continue working with it on any device that has SU and plugin and he does not have to care about configuring plugin again on each device.
I think it is possible to store user settings right in *.skp file. Why not? AutoCAD stores a lot of settings (a plenty of settings) in *.dwg file for example.
I'm not sure about problems with such approach, but it works well for some of user settings. I use "Sketchup.active_model.set_attribute" to store user settings.
Ok, it's not ideal solution of course: it increases file size, I guess. And it does not fit for user settings, that have to be insensitive for *.skp file. And a lot of excess data will be attached to each *.skp file instead of single *.ini file.
@georglorenz said:
Oh and then there are construction points and test points? I understand test points but what are construction points?
Well it is possible to place construction points using Sketchup "Tape Measure" tool instead of placing test points using Chronolux "Add Test Point..." tool. Then it is possible to select construction points and process all of them at once using "Make Ray Cluster(s)" or "Calculate SVF" commands. So it's just an optional usage scenario.
I think it could be more convenient sometimes to use construction points for some reason.
@georglorenz said:
I do understand that it calculates the shading from a specific test point but could you elaborate a little bit on the difference between short rays and long rays and what exactly they do?
Short rays and long rays are only for graphical representation of calculation results. It is possible to adjust their length if it is necessary for drawing layout.
@earthmover said:
I am also trying to find a sketchup plugin method which will chart sun path and perform a reflection/glare study.
Adam, I think, it is possible to implement. I think, I need to read somewhere about how to calculate reflection/glare amount and then think of how to represent calculation results. I suspect, that glare amount depends on direct sunlight duration, but I don't know how exactly. I'm not sure but I guess the other thing, that glare amount depends on, is an angle between sunlight direction and panel plane. In short it is necessary to search for some additional information on this subject.
@mirale999 said:
we can get rid of the ecotect! haha~
Well, actually solar radiation studies is not the only merit of ecotect but thanks anyway 
@unknownuser said:
Is there any way it can take transparent materials in account?
Yes it is possible. It's necessary to set "Handle transparency" flag in "Global Settings" dialog to "Yes". It is also necessary to pay attention to "Transparency threshold" value.
!["Handle transparency" flag in "Global Settings" dialog.](/uploads/imported_attachments/LgeC_handletransp.png ""Handle transparency" flag in "Global Settings" dialog.")
This flag is set to "No" by default because it takes a little bit more time to handle transparency so when it's set to "Yes" it slows down script processing.
Hi to all! Thanks for kind words! It's so great to be here again!
Did anyone try to install? Or demo video is the only reason to thank at the moment
I use free installer for Windows programs Inno Setup. It works well on my laptop I'm going to test it tomorrow at work as well (yes, the whole thing is not tested yet too...).
Link to download Chronolux installer for Windows chronolux_1_1_beta.exe
Link to download zip archive chronolux_1_1_beta.zip
Description: Extension for Google Sketchup written on Ruby. Its goal is to test insolation duration and SVF.
Usage:
ver. 1.0. video:
[flash=640,480:2a6ahgcy]http://www.youtube.com/v/RBAOkZTbvGM?version=3&[/flash:2a6ahgcy]
Visit program web-site for more info.
Terms and Definitions
Duration of Insolation at a given point is the time period while direct sunlight reaches the test point.
Insolation is the solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface. It is measured by the amount of solar energy received per square centimetre per minute. (Note, that Chronolux does not calculate insolation, but only its duration).
SVF (sky view factor) is the extent of sky observed from a point as a proportion of the total possible sky hemisphere. (A Dictionary of Earth Sciences | 1999 | AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY).
WVF (window view factor) is the extent of sky observed from a point as a proportion of the total possibly observable sky from a point through a window (despite of shadowing objects outside the window).
ver 1.0 beta 1
fixes
ver 1.1 beta
New features:
Updates:
Fixes:
ver. 1.1 video
[flash=640,360:2a6ahgcy]http://www.youtube.com/v/b7gfkdtlkxQ?version=3&[/flash:2a6ahgcy]
