Hi TIG,

I got back to playing with the rayspray last night and was using it for a noise study at my apartment. (We have a Kragen parking lot next to the patio.) Anyway, I tried using the spray and deleting coverage that wasn't helpful. Then I realized it was much easier to just put a dome over the spray and adjust that to coverage that I cared about. i.e., I'm not looking at the noise flying up into the sky. Worked pretty well, an example is attached. It's a great tool, thanks. Though if you ever figure out how to aim a controlled spray or, say, 2 rays with a specific degree spread between them, this would be even more powerful for sound and light coverage.

Thanks again
Joe

Rayspray.skp

raytrace test.skprayspray test.skpThis is really interesting. I look forward to sifting through the code.

As a sound and video designer, I can say this could be very handy. It does however have some issues for practical use as it stands.

When using spray, all sources must be assumed as omnidirectional. It would great to be able to show just a 50 degree spray and specify the focus. As it stands you have to show spray as "flat", i.e. no tilt in the XYZ axes. This prevents you from, say, angling a speaker down. I do use more advanced sound software like EASE for this normally, but I think Sketchup could work better for showing raytracing to a client than EASE.

In trace mode, it would be cool to be able to just show source and direction and the first reflection angle is calculated when it encounters a face. I have coverage angles I use in Sketchup and used them to illustrate. Right now, if I click on the origin, then the end of the coverage line, it calculates the reflection off the end of the line, not off the face it's aimed at.

Just some thoughts if you keep modifying the script. Thanks for the awesome work.

This is really interesting. I look forward to sifting through the code.

As a sound and video designer, I can say this could be very handy. It does however have some issues for practical use as it stands.

When using spray, all sources must be assumed as omnidirectional. It would great to be able to show just a 50 degree spray and specify the focus. As it stands you have to show spray as "flat", i.e. no tilt in the XYZ axes. This prevents you from, say, angling a speaker down. I do use more advanced sound software like EASE for this normally, but I think Sketchup could work better for showing raytracing to a client than EASE.

In trace mode, it would be cool to be able to just show source and direction and the first reflection angle is calculated when it encounters a face. I have coverage angles I use in Sketchup and used them to illustrate. Right now, if I click on the origin, then the end of the coverage line, it calculates the reflection off the end of the line, not off the face it's aimed at.

Just some thoughts if you keep modifying the script. Thanks for the awesome work.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the great posts, I love reading here.

Just curious if anyone's figured out a way to make a dynamic component's attribute viewable when the attribute window is not open. i.e., I have a component that I want to use to represent equipment in a rack. I can make it sizable to different rack unit sizes, etc, but then I want a label to show up on the front, like Equalizer or video monitor, etc.

This would be similar to attributes in autocad. It would let me do a rack layout and keep everything straight. Then I could pull that info into a spreadsheet or whatnot. Just a thought.

Thanks
Joe

Hope this is the right forum....

I'm trying to see if there's a way to display a dynamic component's attribute as text, i.e. I type a name for the device, so that when in plan view I can see said name. I've looked around, but can't figure it out. Maybe a ruby to convert attribute into text (preferably not 3d, I'd rather have it only appear in plan view as easily as possible).

I want to be able to use this similarly to Autocad's attributes, so I can see it in a printed sheet and also pull out the info to a spreadsheet, that's why I'd want it as an attribute. Ideally, I'd be able to bring the text over to ACAD for printing (sucks, but it's what my job requires).

thanks for any help in advanced, I always find good info here.

Many thanks for the reply, this is a great discussion forum.

I've been doing that, but it does take approximately forever. The ADO export doesn't work properly, so I have to each export separately. Then recoloring takes a while, and if anything changes....do it all again.

I did finally find the MVIEW command, which allows you to plot Hidden lines as vector prints. So you can use the normal plot styles, and it looks fine even on a 4'x3' sheet.

There are some tricky things with hidden lines showing up, but it's a better start.

Just wish Autodesk help could have clued me in a year ago when I asked their tech support....

@unknownuser said:

You can sort out some of your problems when it comes to layers.

The big problem lies in exporting to DWG. I lose the layer info if I do a 2D export. If I do a 3D export, then I can't plot 3D hidden as vector lines, only raster. Is there any way around that?

Thanks for the help.

I like the thread, thanks for ideas. I've been trying to convince my firm to work more with 3d, mainly SKP. We design theatres (AV, light, rigging, seats, etc.) I'm the office hero for sightline studies, but can't get them to use Sketchup much past that. It's all ACAD.

The main problem for me in LO is labeling and with SKP it's interoperability with ACAD. If I try to set things up in LO, we can't match office standards with labeling, dimension, etc. It has to be an EXACT height, dim style, lineweight, etc. so it's useless in project documents unless it meets those standards. I.E., it can't look different than ACAD docs.

If I try to switch to ACAD for labelling, then 3D DWG's views won't plot with proper lineweights in ACAD. (For some reason, Vector printing only works in wireframe and rastering looks HORRIBLE. I even worked with ACAD support on this.) If I export with 2D DWG;s and import them to ACAD, then it all turns to loose linework on layer 0 and no group or layer info. Very hard to edit later if need be and tedious to reset layers.

I've tried a million workarounds, but nothing quite fits (and this excludes the fact that no one else in the office really use 3d and they need to edit drawings too.) Anyone else with similar problems? Wish I could stay in ACAD too, but LO just isn't there. Any ideas appreciated, thanks for the great discussions.

PS Anyone know why the ADO exporter rezooms scene and messes up views when exporting DWG's? I've searched but can't find any help.

Anyone know how to modify the code of swivelbutton.rb to just rotate about a point? i.e. a 360degree view from a seat in a theater with a camera visibilty of, say, 30 degrees? Whatever the active camera angle happens to be when it's run. I've been trying to edit the code and I can keep it from zooming the preview before you execute the export, but then it still zooms extents on export.

Thanks