Does the Ruby Library Depot still exist please. I tried http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rld/ which is referred to at https://sites.google.com/site/sketchupsage/resources/sketchup-scripts-extensions-plugins-add-ons but it is not working.

Please send it to me also.

Not sure if this has already been asked. Is there any way of calculating real-world shading losses via the Report option for string-connected panels please?

At present if I have a string of 8 panels and one gets shaded, it seems to only calculate the losses in that one panel. In reality all 8 panels will lose power unless optimizers or microinverters are in use.

It would also be good if it recognised split-cell panels, and allowed for the fact that they can still produce power from the top half if the bottom half is shaded (portrait mode).

I just noticed something strange. I just copied my kmz to a new folder that did not have the image folder as a sub-folder and it no longer displays the images. Can someone else please verify whether the longer version http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=cf8544f0c3074395dfd89dd71a555b12 displays all of the photos as per the YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM1oBDw08x4

My image links used to be eg. images/pic1.jpg. I changed them to ../images/pic1.jpg based on a forum post I read about a change to GE that was apparently made with GE6. I wonder if that could be the problem.

Now that they are scrapping the 3D Buildings layer maybe they will consider including a layer for 3D animations. Things like the London Eye etc. ...or maybe not.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=cf8544f0c3074395dfd89dd71a555b12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM1oBDw08x4
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=449581d889e325c4dfd89dd71a555b12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SzOneaSMF4
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ad632d39ce24fd26dfd89dd71a555b12
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=dbc515cf8f4e080dfd89dd71a555b12

Who said MP3 files couldn't be embedded in a KMZ file uploaded to the 3D Warehouse??? They can be!

Found the problem after 3 hours of searching. It was one single filename with part of the name "delfin" but the "i" was accented instead of a dot. It was in the jpg file name plus in the doc.kml file that referenced it. Methinks (Trimble) need to fix their meaningless message so people have some idea what the problem is.

The big problem is I was first getting an error message relating to latitude and longitude. The message then changed but the problem remained the same, which is is confusing to say the least.

The finished version is here:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=cf8544f0c3074395dfd89dd71a555b12

It was because I was using encoding of ISO-8859 on the first line of the KML instead of UTF-8. That was because it had accented Spanish characters. I converted those to non accented using http://textmechanic.com/Remove-Letter-Accents.html and changed it to UTF-8 and it then uploaded fine.

Well, I also had an MP3 file embedded which it rejected so I also had to delete that unfortunately.

I managed to upload the first of the two files:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=449581d889e325c4dfd89dd71a555b12
See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SzOneaSMF4

The second one, which is much more detailed, keeps failing with a server error message "The server encountered an error and could not complete your request". It is 5.3Mb in size. Is there a size limit on them of less than 5Mb perhaps? According to Sketchup Guide Allison on this post https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/3dwh/iW_qyvpuL-U (near the bottom) it should accept kmz files up to 10Mb.

Does anyone know what the following error message means when trying to upload a KMZ file to the 3D Warehouse please:

"3D Warehouse is unable to load this file. Cannot parse latitude, longitude, or reference to model file."

It is a large KML animation (1300 lines of code) with 14 embedded models and one MP3 file. It runs perfectly from my PC. I tried a smaller version of it, with the same result.

I think I answered my own question.
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=37667

Is it possible to customize the image that appears for a model selected from the 3D warehouse please? Not the small logo, for which there is an option, but the full picture. I often see models with a customized picture. eg. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=8afd3c0fcc420197fea692e0a2674411

That's what I thought it should be.

Can you right click your Google Earth start shortcut or desktop icon and advise what the target value is please?

I haven't used Sketchup for quite a while. Just tried to open a simple model in Sketchup and preview it in Google Earth. It came up with a message saying "Configuring Google Earth" then wanted me to reboot. After I did I could not start Google Earth. The Start Menu shortcut to it was pointing to a supposed googleearth.exe file at "C:\Users\Peter\AppData\Local\Google\Google Earth\client\googleearth.exe" which does not exist. There is nothing beyond C:\Users\Peter\AppData\Local\Google. The Google Earth folder is not there.

I therefore downloaded and re-installed Google Earth. Tried to start it but once again it would not start. Checked out the new desktop icon it created and it is still pointing to the non-existent file location.

I changed that to make the target the exe file in c:\Program Files (x86)... (which is dated 12 July 2013) and can now start Google Earth. When I click Preview Model in Google Earth from Sketchup however nothing happens. Does anyone know what could be going on please? I am reluctant to install Sketchup Make at this stage for fear of introducing possible new issues.

• Windows 7
• Sketchup 8 8.0.14346
• Google Earth 7.1.1.1888

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I ended up using CorelDraw Essentials X5 which I discovered was pre-installed on my (Aldi) laptop. It worked well. I was able to Copy in Corel and Paste-Special in Word, which is where I actually wanted the data to end up. Even re-sizing in Word still retained crisp lines without any anti-aliasing etc.

Yes, I fully coded and tested the +/- option which was in the one I submitted. KML requires that format.

Thanks for the prompt response.

Does V2.0 include the option for the +/- decimal format of the lat/long please, which is the standard displayed on Google Earth and used in KML?

Any chances on the heading/tilt/roll options please? If not are you able to offer any Ruby tips to allow me to implement something please? It would hugely simplify animation coding.

Ok, I decided to implement some of the above.

• I changed the code so that it uses XY-DP for the latitude and longitude decimal places to allow more than 6.

• I added a new option to Settings "LatLong Format". It can contain either "NSEW" or "+-". If NSEW then it outputs as at present with N, S, E or W appended to the end of the lat/long values. If set to +- then it outputs as positive or negative numbers without the suffixes.

• I added a message when the CSV file is written. Previously there was no message so I assumed the command had failed, not realizing it had actually worked.

Here is the new code:...
EDIT [TIG]: Sorry but I removed your version - my new version v2.0 does everything you needed and having various versions is to say the least a recipe for confusion, you are of course welcome to make and use modified versions [like your NSEW +/- options], but distributing them under the same banner is not advisable...

Regards
Peter
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?viewer=1351341887077514344204483&scoring=p

Hi TIG,

Another excellent plugin, although I am having a few issues with it. I am trying to use it to generate lat/long points for a kmz animation for which I need absolute accuracy. Problems include:

1. I will have many hundreds of points. I had them numbered but then the plugin overwrote all of the numbers with the coords. Without numbering it would be impossible to work out from the CSV which point is which. Is it possible to have an option to append the coords to the existing text please, or add text after plotting but before exporting?

2. I need 7 decimal places of lat/long. Is that possible please? Without it the accuracy isn't good enough. I tried changing XY-DP to 7 in Settings but it did nothing. I see that this plugin has 13 decimal places: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=31219

3. When I preview the model in Google Earth and grab the coords of a point using a placemark, the result is significantly different from what the plugin gives me for the same point. For example for one point the GE placemark latitude was 40.98419446848751. With the plugin it was 40.984196. That difference equates to 180mm and makes it unusable for my project.

4. I need decimal lat/long with negative values for south / west. ie. 12.3456 rather than eg. 12.3456N

5. There is something else that I would love as part of this plugin (if the above can be addressed) to save a lot of tedious work generating animation data. That is heading, tilt and roll. What I envisage is inserting a specific component at the point in question that gives you the heading, tilt and roll.

The component would be named "vectors". It would be located with its origin at the point, with its Y axis (green) representing Heading and Tilt, and its X (red) axis representing roll. Could the plugin look for such a component at the selected point and if it exists, it adds the additional data to the output. Something like: LLZHTR: 40.984124N. 111.895609W. 3.184 354.35 -2.7 4.23

Actually, when combined with the existing text request, it would be TLLZHTR: "existing text blah blah" 40.984124N. 111.895609W. 3.184 354.35 -2.7 4.23

NB. Heading downhill is positive tilt. Leaning to the left is positive roll.