Both are possible. Item A will hopefully be obsolete soon, though, with a planned new feature (he said, hoping to build suspense and anticipation). Item B should be easy to add.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Documentation error. Page.layers should logically return an array of layer objects rather than the layers parent object, and it does. Just one of those cut-paste-forgot-to-edit errors, most likely.

It looks like the startup load errors are indirectly from Organizer. You should have in your Plugins folder a file called SmustardOrganizerExcludeFolders.txt (I tried thinking of a longer name, but finally settled on that one). Add the Podium folder to the list of things for Organizer NOT to explore. The same goes for any other plugin that creates a subfolder to Plugins (FFD, SubD, etc). If they aren't in the exclude list, Organizer will try to load from them, with results like you just saw.

I'd like to see a smaller sample model that causes this problem. You can either PM me or contact me through http://www.smustard.com and I'd be happy to look at this.

Thanks,

Basically, there are two bad things that could happen with a malware ruby:

1. Mess up your model (either by adding rogue geometry or deleting everything and saving/closing the file)
2. Hard drive attacks:

a. Install a virus/trojan/other payload
b. Collect personal information
c. Destroy files
The problem with trying to block either of these things from happening is that it would also prevent legitimate scripts from working. For example, Windowizer would be flagged for creating "rogue" geometry and PageExIm would be flagged for hard drive access.

The best protection is to know your source, but I understand the concern. Todd and I have been thinking about what we can do at Smustard (for more than just security issues), and one option is server-based plugins. We're exploring other options as well, but it takes time to make these things happen. Meanwhile, if you get a script and wonder if it is "harmless", just post it and one of us ruby guys will look at it.

I've been asking the same thing since version 4 when I did my first animation plugin
So far, no response from the SketchUp crew...

I understand the need for greater control over settings, but I don't think we've hit on the solution yet. Part of the challenge is simplifying the complex while allowing for adequate control. The other main issue is working within the confines of SU's internal objects/methods/properties. If you don't mind having 200+ scenes in a model, everything mentioned is possible (assuming one wants to export to a video). More can be done with strictly internal animations, but the animation quality for most folks is rarely sufficient for presentations (too jumpy).

FlightPath is an ongoing project for me, and I have some ideas for improving the capabilities. Just a matter of time...

John,

Object animation is an ongoing request and dream for users and scripters alike. You could start a new thread about this.

There are several problems with Safari and WebDialogs. Most of the problems seem to be centered around actually accessing the internet through the WD (either callbacks to SU from web pages, your posts issue, etc). Talks with one of the SU folks indicated it's a Safari issue; talks with someone who knew someone with knowledge of Safari inner workings said it was a SU issue. The point? We don't know the source of the problem, only that a problem exists. Hopefully, it will be fixed before SU7...

thanks - updated.

Kannonball referenced the set of plugins available in PresentationBundle2.

FlightPath(2) doesn't speed up or slow down at the beginning/end of the path, though it woudn't be hard to add. SketchUp does do some of that if there is a page delay (I think).

The SceneTiming plugin allows changes to the transition and delay times of scenes.

The PageTransitionSmoother (needs to be renamed, it came from the days when "Scenes" were called "Pages") will get a user-defined speed and calculate a scene's transition time based on the speed and the distance between scene cameras. Useful if you have set up your scenes manually, and want a constant motion speed between them. It will NOT automatically make all the transitions between scenes "cinematic", it just provides even speed between scene cameras - you need to do due diligence in creating the scenes.

I'm working on (among other things) some improvements for FP2 to better the radial motion effects.

What version of Windowizer are you using? If it isn't 3.0, get it from Smustard.

It can be done, but it is a bit of work. You need to extract the image from the subfolder in the .skm file. I've done this in an experimental situation, but not in anything ready for distribution.

I have SunStudy on my to-do list. There are some similar things out there, though.

In the attached images, there are four cases - a whole unbounded face on the far left, a face with one coplanar adjacent face with one common edge on the middle left, a face with one coplanar adjacent face with TWO common edges on the middle right, and a face with three common edges on the far right (I did not illustrate a fully bounded face).

As you can see from the second image (I hope!), the left two cases do not inset the face of the frame, while the right two cases do inset the frame. This is due to the algorithm used to find the inset frame face - without at least two common edges with an adjacent coplanar face, the algorithm can't find the inset face and so will not inset it.

If the frame face is not inset for you in conditions similar to the right two cases (or with a fully bounded face), please illustrate so I can hunt down any bugs.

Wow, I need to do more marketing! Instances has been available at Smustard for a couple of years, now.

You've added some nice additional functionality.

Or like this:

class Sketchup;;Model

def entlast
  return entities[-1]
end

end #class

Using entities or active_entities depends on whether you want the absolute last entity created, or the last entity created in that space (ie within a group or component).

You could also create this as a method for the Entities and Selection classes:

class Sketchup;;Entities
 def last
  return self[-1]
 end
end #class

class Sketchup;;Selection
 def lastent
  add Sketchup.active_model.entities.last
 end
 def lastentonly
  clear
  add Sketchup.active_model.entities.last
 end
end #class

then add your user interface/dialog/menu item, whatever.

This also allows the methods to be called by other scripts in a predictable manner.

gata,

I hear you A couple of things you mentioned were already on my list, but it's good to hear from script users to verify/validate/change my ideas on what a script needs.