My apoligizes for the lack on information. I hope the explanation below gives a better insight on what the plugin does.
About the Sketchup Virtual Builder Plugin Light:
With this plugin you can add planning-scheduling information to the Sketchup model.
The user can create "tasks" (aka xD Objects) in Sketchup in a webdialog interface. These tasks are specified by a startdate (when the works start) and end date (when the works finish) a name (what are the works) and a 4D Type (how is it respresented visually)
Each task can be linked to it's visual representation in Sketchup. Eg. the Sketchup Entity that is the decking of the first floor can be virtually linked (by clicking a button) to the task "Decking first floor"
This can be done for all tasks and all entities in the Sketchup model.
Like that entities in Sketchup can be visualized in time.
With the plugin the user can select a date (like 11-09-2010) in Sketchup. The plugin then calculates for each Sketchup entity what his status is (depending on the task it is linked to)
So on the selected date a Sketchup entity can already been build, or not yet build, or being build, or being demolished, or already demolished, etc.
Thus the selected date will show, in Sketchup, the status of the model on that date (entities that have not yet been build according to their task will not be shown, other will be shown as being build, and so on)
This way the user can see the project getting build in time and check if everything is possible or if there will be construction scheduling problems.
Some key functionalities:
Link-Unlink Sketchup entities to user-defined tasks
Choose a 4D Type and specify the colors:
Eg. construction: when not yet started don't show the SU entities, when being constructed show the entities in transparent red, when construction is finished show the entities in original color
Eg. demolition: before being demolished show the entities in original color, when being demolished show the entities in trasnparent blue, when demolishing is finished don't show the entities
Automatically play the project scheduling: automatically shows the construction progress in Sketchup
Go Back/Forward in time: by month/quarter/year/2 years
Automatically create scenes for the task dates and update the view when clicking on a scene and use Sketchup scenes functionalities (to use different viewpoints for example)
Automatically generate project images: automatically create an image for each date of the project
Show Shadows: Shows the shadows of the selected date for the model.
...
No original information is lost. At any time the user can reset the model to it's original colors and show all entities.
With the full version:
It is possible to directly use Microsoft Project-Primavera-Powerproject scheduling information to link the Sketchup entities to. (no import of information)
Below is a HD youtube movie link and a link to a 1024*768 movie
HD Youtube
1024*768
Hope this helps!
Regards and thanx
