I recall some years back there was a plugin that would generate a rectangle that was perpendicular to the current view and that matched the size and proportion of the current viewport (filled the whole screen).

I can't recall what it was called and I haven't been able to locate it via keyword searches. If this rings a bell, please let me know where I might find it again!

Thanks!

I use a program that generates many groups that are more or less on top of one another. As I need to work with each one separately, it would be great it I could simply select all the groups, chose a direction (red axis, etc.) give a distance value and have each outline be be spaced out from one another as follows:

group 1 stays in place
group 2 is moved distance x along axis
group 3 is moved distance 2x along axis
group 4 is moved distance 3x along axis. . . and on, you get the idea.

The order of which group goes first, 2nd, etc. would be the same as they appear in the outliner.

Conceptually, this is sort of inbetween an unfold and an array. Does such a tool exist?

I'm looking for a shadow area analytical plugin just needs to send shadow area data to a spreadsheet--no graphic output is actually needed (though it might be useful as a reality check to verify the data).

Further explanation of the problem I need solved:

After developing site model of existing buildings (simple massing only) I will define plane or mesh that represents a park. On 26 days throughout the year I need to be able to determine the total area of shadow from all buildings that falls on that park at 15 minute intervals from 1 hour after sunrise to 1 hour before sunset. This whole analysis would then need to be repeated to demonstrate the shading impact on the park of the existing conditions plus a proposed new structure.

I've played around with the 1001shadows app which so far appears the the closest thing to what I need in that it outputs shadow outline geometry that can be used to calculate areas, and in combination with a few other plugins I can manually extract the information I need. That said, this is very slow going plus limitation of only having shadow outlines on the ground plane hurts the accuracy of my analysis. It does generate a "solid" shadow projection that I should be able to use to intersect with a sloping or meshed ground plane, but again--WAY too slow an operation given the high volume of calculations I need performed.

So basically I think what I need is relatively straightforward from a conceptual standpoint--but from a coding standpoint does it sound doable? Perhaps as a companion plugin that works with 1001shadows if not its own standalone piece of software?

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who thinks they can help me with this. Depending on the costs involved, I'd be interested in hiring someone to develop this for me.

Thanks!
Adam

I need a plugin that can perform some shadow analysis and output area data to a spreadsheet. Any suggestions on where to look for a ruby programmer to help me out?

Does anyone know if there is a plugin out there that can automatically add a face to an irregular but completely closed 2D shape?

Right now I'm drawing then erasing diagonals in order to get the face to show up which is proving time consuming and I have to believe there is a better way. . .

Thanks!