I'm aware of that. It will be hard to catch up though. I use GIMP for a few things, and it has about the full functionality of PS 4.0, plus a few unusual capabilities if you download the plugins for animation. But with no smart objects, no adjustment layers, and no 3D, it's going to be a long haul to achieve PS CS3 XT equivalency. Krita has adjustment layers, but seemed to have other issues last time I checked...and I can't forever be checking to see if anyone has "caught up." It's always a catch-up game with Open-Source, and with few exceptions (at least in my areas of interest, mainly graphics) there's very little that's truly innovative.

That's not always bad, of course. It could be argued that even the GNOME desktop (which is what non-coders really find so compelling about Ubuntu, and often mistake forLinux) in so many of these OS is functionally equivalent to the old, no-frills pre-OS-X Apple desktop. KDE has attempted some innovation, on the other hand, but I'm not sure anyone really wants more elaborate desktop managers. Do we really need things like Compiz to be productive, anyway?

What actually led me to investigate the whole topic of SU on Linux was the complexity and increasing productivity-restriction of the two main commercial OS, Mac and Vista/Windows 7. I want a bolt-hole when Windows XP finally becomes unusable on modern hardware...open-source versus commercial software development is utterly irrelevant in my particular circumstances.

Do you know the term She Who Must Be Obeyed did not come from the UK television show Rumpole of the Bailey originally (which is where I first heard it)? It's from an over-the-top proto-Indiana Jones piece of adventure fiction by H. Rider Haggard, She...(which is wildly entertaining, not very politically correct, and available online...just don't read it from your laptop, I suppose). Rumpole is presumably quoting the novel.

By the way, Mike, are we talking about your Mac or your Eee pc?

I read it...love the comments about surveyors and the engineers! Yeah, trust these guys with your life and savings! You would have to have argued with them to understand my amusement..."Yes, a plate girder that big will hold it up, but it leaves 4' clearance above the ramp! No, that's not code. No, we can't bring the trucks in another way."

Incidentally, I'm stereotyping...there are plenty of engineers and surveyors who are resourceful, competent, and design-sympathetic...but of course, we only really remember and tell stories about the ones who aren't, just like people only tell stories about the architects-from-hell.

Not enough detail on the situation here, remus. It sounds like the architect failed to check his local requirements and behaved incompetently (which occassionaly happens in every profession)...but we are only hearing the writer's side of the story. Exactly what kind of contract did the architect have? What was the scope(a very important term in architecture) of his work? How is the fee structure set up for this? Where does this AyH organization come into the matter? (That's a very strange arrangement...is the architect working for them or the writer? To whom is his obligation?)

Local planning authorities often, for that matter, throw unexpected spanners into the works...rules change with shocking suddenness; bribes haven't been paid; neighbors avenge themselves for slights with objections; a commissioner simply has a bad morning...bang goes project!

The confluence of unrealistic expectations, cryptic regulatory processes, large sums of money, and general suspicion leads to a stressful situation in the best of circumstances, as well.

But then, you never hear about the majority of jobs and projects that went "just fine."

...apparently he spends his time building custom electric motorcycles and flame-throwing robots.

justins blog

I never leave my house, so ill tell my story for those who are curious: read on.

(www.graywrxfabblog.blogspot.com)

Mike, didn't I show you that on my Eee at 3DBC? Google has some kind of investment in it.

That's deliberate post-processing, Remus, to make it look more like watercolor/drawing. Tom is a devotee of NPR rendering.

This is nice, Tom. I've been debating over whether or not to buy this...I have to get used to Piranesi's lights before I decide if I need it, I suppose.

Did you read the "evangelist's" response to Bruce's comment? I know he was just suggesting to give the new version a try, but as I was reading it I heard a voice from the long-ago television commercials of my youth:

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

OK, time to take a break and get some coffee...

Hmmm.... Looks like a mapping concept. It's not assigned to Google though.

@tomsdesk said:

...and I'll be a giddy school girl in love with my first love again.

Wow! Was I off! So much for my facility for judging the gender of forum members from their names and posts!

--

Read down the comments here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archive/2008/07/23/announcing-truespace-for-virtual-earth-3d-development.aspx

Way to puncture the guy's balloon, Bruce!

I think this is just grand, Yannleo. It's exactly the sort of thing that a great many ignorant architects imagine can't be done with SketchUp. I also like the fact that you don't know what the hell it is yet...that's the way it should be (and I realize I am digging an ever-deeper hole for myself as a sometime-instructor, here, but I hated the political aspects of teaching architecture anyway--so black-ball away, you studio-critics who might be reading). Dream up a cool shape, keep the pictures pinned up near you, and eventually a program will arrive that you can twist to fit your vision. Ignore any fool who says that it must work the other way...they're never going anywhere, or else they simply want to make sure you don't.

Incidentally, your modeling skills look just fine from here.

It's only a fatuously mispelled version of "s-m-a-r-t" in English, which is the language of the lolcat site.

How do you have words without vowels, anyway?

The way I made these images with PS and GIMP, I developed the "fake bad photocopy" B&W parts first, and only later blended in the colors (there weren't any real textures in the SU file, at least on the building portion of the model). I was really tempted to consider a couple of these "bad photocopy" versions done with just a little color, but I didn't have the nerve to submit any of them.

So here are two saved "out-takes" of two of the above pictures. Does anyone prefer these to the final versions in my first post? I'd like to know before I undertake any new images in this "style", assuming I do this again.

I saw that article earlier...Google would lose patents as well, and not just in "search." "Push-Pull" is covered by a software patent, although extrusion seems so basic and evident in prior art (older programs) I've always wondered how that was possible.

There are discussions of SU on Linux here

301 Moved Permanently

(www.sketchucation.com)

and

SU and Rubies on Linux here:

301 Moved Permanently

(www.sketchucation.com)

The latter includes a discussion on dos2unix, which is used to convert Rubies (RB format; RBS format seem to generally work without conversion) so that they are correctly interpreted in a *nix text environment.

I should add that Rubies that depend on unusual Windows dlls or other applications might not work. For instance, commercial rendering plugins like VRay will probably not work at all. However, to simply run SketchUp on WINE most of the Registry tweaks no longer seem to be needed, assuming you have up-to-date versions of WINE (from WINEhq) and your distro...and a decent modern NVidia card.

I spoke to some of the SketchUp team at 3DBC about a native version of SU on Linux, and their reply was that they were really just a very small portion of Google and that they simply did not have the manpower/budget to produce and maintain a port (or multiple ports, given that they might have to create versions for different distros).

By the way,

@unknownuser said:

There is a Mac OS version and as far as i know OSX and Linux are both unix based...

is not quite correct. Max Os X utilizes the Darwinkernel, a derivative of FreeBSD, which itself is a descendant of BSD (a version of UNIX modified to avoid copyrighted AT&T-created code). Linux (full name: GNU/Linux) is a Unix-like system made from Richard Stallman's GNU Project's utilities with a kernel written by Linus Torvalds. The two operating systems are only outwardly similar by intention...if BSD hadn't been caught up in a delaying lawsuit by AT&T, Linus wouldn't have needed to develop the Linux kernel. Wikipedia has long, esoteric discussions on all these topics. The upshot is that you would be more likely to get something written for a Mac to run on FreeBSD (or vice versa) than on Linux.

Caligari site seems a little swamped...and confusing. There is at least one point where the software is indicated with a $495 price tag.

http://www.caligari.com/

Does this mean we fold up all of this now, trash our rubies, and go home now? NURBS, booleans, real-time rendering, collaboration...Scripts with VB and Javascript (I frickin' HATE Ruby!); node-based-shader editor...on, and on... If it pans out, why would I stay with SketchUp? For goodness' sake: you could go through all of those whining "requests for SU7 features" and start checking them off in the Caligari capability list! It's like Microsoft has been reading the posts here!

Feature list:

http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/Comparison_tables.asp?Cate=BProducts&SubCate=ComparisonTables

(!)

Alan, while I'm waiting for the download, can you tell me if this software will model with dimensional precision, like SU? If I say I want a beam 1.075m long, will it create it that long, in other words?

Not particularly inspirational in any way I understand, but I just love the deranged expression on the cat's face.

I always really like this one:

A whole site of Star Trek inspiration!

I'm starting to think that Blenderhas a better UI (and about the same capabilities, including the NURBS and character rigging). It's difficult to find a real advantage to this, so far. I already know Blender and Rhino, after all.

OK, time for a lot of coffee, then some real work (SU!), and try again later. I hate to dismiss things too quickly. At worst, this might be a capable alternative to non-free rendering and animation packages for SU...it will import 3DS and DXF formats.

I have to admit, within 15 minutes of starting the tutorials I wanted to punch someone...quite a non-standard GUI layout, and the colors are distracting. And I thought learning Blender made me proof against all sorts of crimes against usability! It doesn't help that the written tutorials discuss tools, but do not clearly indicate where those tools are, or what the icons look like. There is a way of turning most of carnival-colored eyecandy OFF and getting text-filled icons/toolbars, but it is still confusing. So I'll start again with the video tuts, and try the written ones later.

It looks like you are correct, Alan. Model units, not true measurement units. (Unless that is hidden somewhere...the manual is a set of linked PDFs that are only individually search-able. What kind of Microsoft company doesn't even use CHM files?) Strike one as a tool for architectural design!