Add to feature list:
Model integrity checker.
Tried to VisMap a broken model. Got a blank dialog box.
On digging in, found a "nil" in the list of scenes. If a model gets broken such that there is stuff other than layers and scenes in the lists of layers and scenes ...
Time, I guess, to add some bullet proofing.
@cholme said:
Sometimes they work fine and other times ...
First, for setting your own shortcuts: Bravo! Shortcuts rule.
Second, they can also be a bit of an insect colony. From the link below, scroll down until you get to the red box that starts, "Complaints."
http://www.martinrinehart.com/models/tutorial/tutorial_10.html#defining
It's quite a long bug list for one small area. Can I add yours?
Martin
@dundee said:
The information you gave me is very interesting and it solved my problem!
This is very good. There are other things.
First, visit Window/Model Info (often!). Click File to see how big your model is. Click Statistics, then "Purge Unused". Back to File and you'll see that your model is 75% smaller. This is a good thing.
I tried my VisMap plugin to get an idea of what was going on in your original .skp. It showed a blank window where the VisMap should have been. On digging, I found that your .skp had some odd internal damage. Your "rev1" .skp had no such problem and VisMapped without trouble.
Internal damage was a common problem for me as I learned to SketchUp. How to avoid it? 1) Never make a mistake and never change your mind as you model. OK?
Now on to practical advice that a human being might follow. 2) Build sub-assemblies in separate files. (Small collections of geometry are seldom broken.) If you think it through in advance, you'll be able to File/Import and click the Origin inference, to correctly assemble the finished model. (File/Import automatically makes the import a component, same name as the file name).
And make your sub-assemblies just as you would do the cabinet making. That way you'll have a good magazine article, as well as a model.
Do all the components have the same axes?
@coulteri said:
Actually, I can't write ruby script myself.
I'll put a 'hurry up' on the second half of my tutorial. You need to know only a small subset of Ruby to do SketchUp scripting.
@edson said:
i am looking forward to the mac version.
Try the PC version. I avoided PC-specific code. It may already be a Mac version. Let me know.
Martin
Is this a problem that the axes tool solves? Set axes so the direction you'd like to scale is orthogonal to the new axes. Scale. Reset axes.
@markozeta said:
Wonderfully simple script, but ... put the layers in alphabetical order!
Let the voting begin.
It's built on *nix.
I once took an extensive website from Windows to a Linux-based ISP. Broken-link city! Decided that capital letters have no place in any pathname, regardless of OS.
@daiku said:
On a windows PC, you can use win32ole.so to open and read the excel file.
Or you could output the .xls into a .csv file. (Use Open Office if Excel can't do this.) Then the Ruby would be cross-platform.
SketchUp 7, PC (edit: now Mac, too). This one may be at version 1.0. That's my goal. The proof is in your feedback.
Documentation and download at http://www.martinrinehart.com/models/rubies/vismapdoc.html
What's a VisMap?
What are those outside checkboxes?
They turn a row or column all on with a click; all off with another click.
How big can a VisMap be?
I've tested 38 scenes by 30 layers on my 1920x1200 monitor. Bigger than that I'd need to be reducing the font size to fit more. (Scrollbars appear as needed, but are not terribly convenient.) At that size some patience is required while the map is built.
How does VisMap compare to AddHiddenLayer?
AddHiddenLayer is the tool to choose if that is exactly what you want to do: add a hidden layer. VisMap is the right tool if you want to, "Let's see. I'll add a layer and make it mostly hidden, but show it in a few scenes. Maybe make another layer visible in a couple more scenes. Maybe..." It was created by a guy who wanted to fuss with an animation until it was just right.
Some of the video tutorials show a manual FollowMe. Bad practice.
Highlight the path before you FollowMe. Quick and easy.
Before you move, Tape out guides. Moving to the intersection of guides is easy and dependable.
@jessejames said:
but whatever it is written in, just do it man!
Let's try the plural: "do it men!" You too, of course.
@unknownuser said:
here is my mindmap when I brainstormed for a debugger (~2006)
Very nice!
Is that FreeMind? How do you get the thick lines?
@msp_greg said:
When writing a component stepper and a layer stepper, I had to escape () both single and double quotes everywhere ...
Thanks! Bug gone.
Progress?
Added this, at the beginning of the Ruby callback:
script = 'rubyReturned( "Hi, JS, how ya doin\'" )'
js_wd.execute_script( script )
The JS 'rubyReturned' function popped the message up in an alert box, so it was called and executed correctly. Then got an error on the next line of JS (reasonable, since "Hi, JS, how ya doin'" is not valid JSON).
The troubling error, at the ridiculous line number, pops next. This is the offending script:
rubyReturned( "{ layers;[ 'Layer0', 'basement', 'basement_ceiling', 'ground_floor', 'apartment_floor', 'apartment_built_ins', 'hidden', 'apartment_furniture', 'apartment_inside_walls', 'outside_wall_front', 'outside_wall_right', 'outside_wall_back', 'outside_wall_left', 'attic', 'roof_front', 'roof_back' ], scenes;[ '01 start', '02 outside, back-left', '03 outside, back-right', '04 outside, front-right', '05 outside, zoom out', '06 outside, closer, no apartment', '07 outside, close, no apartment floor', '08 outside, close, no ground floor', '09 above, basement', '10 above, basement w/ceiling', '11 above, carriage garage', '12 outside apartment door', '13 outside, apartment added', '14 above apartment, wo roof_front', '15 outside apartment, wo outside_wall_front', '16 outside, facing dinette and attic', '17 outside "ladder", w outside_wall_front', '18 outside facing livingroom, roof_front replaces roof_back', '19 zoom in to livingroom' ], vis;'VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVIIVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVIIVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVIIIVVVVVIIIIIIIVIIIIVVVVVVVIIIIIIIVVVVVII' }" );
Let's do something about this.
An odd bug bit me, and bit hard, on my way to releasing my first serious Ruby.
The bug was in the communication from JS to Ruby to JS. The problem was that a JS-built WebDialog prepared before the body of the HTML holding the JS was complete had a bug. It could not execute_script().
The full-length version of The Bug from Hell, including two cameo appearances of Monty, my pet python, is here: http://21st-century-languages.blogspot.com/2009/08/bug-from-hell.html
Now my Ruby is ready for release except that it does not pass my last test: run successfully on a larger model (two-dozen layers, three-dozen scenes, 3MB .skp). The basic idea is this:
In Ruby get-the-data callback, assemble JSON data based on model; assemble script to call JS function with JSON data; puts script (it's fine); WebDialog.execute_script( script ).
The first line of the JS receiver is an alert, showing the JSON. Same as in the Bug from Hell, it never gets there. Unlike the Bug from Hell, which reported nothing, IE reports an error at line 119993461, character 828, "Expected ')'".
The only (really?) difference between the test cases and the final test is size. The script to be executed was about 2KB. I cut out half the scenes, reducing the script to about 1100B. Same problem.
Anyone else been here?
Back in my Java days I used Eclipse and NetBeans - two IDEs both as good as only a zillion hours of development could make an IDE.
Here we've got Jim's WebConsole. A big step up from the Ruby Console, but not even in the neighborhood of Python's IDLE. (I am undecided on whether I prefer IDLE's simplicity to Eclipse/NetBeans power.)
Is an intelligent Ruby editor, with syntax-highlighting and a one-key execution command (trivial in an interpreted language) a good first step?
Or is that a false step? Remember that your SketchUp UI may be in JavaScript and it may be more than half the code. Hmmm. Any thoughts?