@remus said:

Id also give a big thumbs up to the search in windows 7 (and vista for that matter.) Use it so often that i dont even think about it any more. Its a massive improvement over xp.

The search function had to get better, because Spotlight (Apple's search) in Mac OS X, which has been present since 2005, is so fast. A very good move indeed (because XP's search is so ****! )

Interestingly, did you folks read this article by any chance?;

Microsoft Windows 7 'based on Mac OS X'

A senior Microsoft executive said its new operating system, Windows 7, was based on Apple's rival operating system, OS X

The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk)

I did read the original article/ web page too, but I think that page must have been pulled by Microsoft (which isn't really surprising)

Yes. Where?? Link???

Please!

@solo said:

Good news is that it runs better than Snow leopard on a Mac.

I find that quite hard to believe. Do you have the evidence or a link for this? Can we see it? Or is it just another urban myth? I have XP SP3 installed on this Macbook Pro. It's okay but not brilliant. Video mirroring is a dog, but works like a dream with OS X. Leopard, which is where I am coming from here, works wonderfully. I haven't yet upgraded to Snow Leopard. My HP WX4300 workstation runs pretty well with XP SP3. I have been thinking of upgrading to W7, but I think the W7 interface looks ghastly! Having to sit there to work getting used to another operating system, well I need to work, and simply don't have the time. My brother-in-law, who is a windows application programmer, says that W7 is just hacked Vista, so that guy, who mentioned the same thing, earlier in this thread was right. We are being conned!

I'm sticking with XP for the meantime. What has W7 got that XP doesn't have already? And all those stories of "well it didn't work and now it is working" fills me with all that classic Microsoft, screaming heebeegeebee nonsense, all over again.

As the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!".

@escapeartist said:

@tfdesign said:

The cough (which I still have) has now lasted 6 weeks (9 weeks over the summer).

You too, eh? It took forever for that cough to go away; just like you said, about 6 weeks.

See. Another survivor!

@unknownuser said:

Scary stuff

No. It is not (scary stuff). Sorry, but I feel you are being over-hysterical. Death has only occurred in people who have underlying health problems. More people die from common influenza than the H1N1 virus!

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Common-flu-far-more-deadly-than-swine-flu-in-U-S/SYwVqQF_3Umy0qY3qhp9zQ.cspx

and another;

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/31/CDC-Says-Kids-That-Die-From-Swine-Flu-Have-Coexisting-Bacterial-Infections.aspx

It is the media who are blowing this out of proportion. Look at this article by The Guardian newspaper, from the UK. Traditionally 'The Guardian' has mostly been an liberal left-wing newspaper, but in recent years has been loosing sales to the internet. Read the article. There is no (or very little) suggestion anywhere that any of these people have underlying health problems. The main emphasis is on panic and hysteria. The article is written so you think that common healthy people in Argentina, are dropping like flies- which they are not.

By getting on the sensationalist bandwagon, newspapers like The Guardian find they are selling more newspapers, because people like you, fall for this sensationalist nonsense. Sorry to be so blunt, but in England we have had almost all of our basic rights taken away from us, due largely to media-fuelled sensationalism, which the government then act on, as they too lack good, solid, leadership. I, and many other British people, are more sick of this. More so, than the so far non-existent "flu pandemic" that our government said we were going to suffer from. Media sensationalism is a real pandemic!

My doctor has told me that I have had the swine flu for a second time. My two children have also had it, and so has my wife. I am 42 years old, and an asthmatic, yet here I am, I haven't had a jab (yet), and I am still alive.

My wish-list would be as follows;

1. Better management of layers!

When a group or component is highlighted, the layer it's on really should highlight in the layers window. How many times do I start a new group on the wrong layer? Also iron out the bug (is it a bug or just me?) that prevents some entities not moving to the new selected layers, even though they have been selected to do so!

2. A proper chamfer/ fillet tool (with a push/pull style controller- ala SpaceClaim), rather than that goddamn awful ruby script, which always goes the opposite direction to what you want it to!!

3. New Ruby scripts to be dropped into Ruby Console window, and SU places them automatically (rather than tearing one's hair out trying to figure out why they don't work).

4. SketchUp for Linux (so the next computer I buy, is a (cheaper than a new Mac), PC, running a free operating system!)

I'd be happy just for these for now

I've had it twice now (oh yes you can!). The cough (which I still have) has now lasted 6 weeks (9 weeks over the summer). The vaccine exists, because your body doesn't build a resistance to the virus (hence it being possible to get more than once). If it mutates, then the vaccine (I believe?) becomes useless. The cough is the nastiest bit, but hey, I'm still alive!

To be honest, it's all a load of hot air- like most scares today.

@gaieus said:

I am not a mac user either so I also refer to something else:
http://www.smustard.com/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=5&id=1&artlang=en

Gaieus, these guidelines don't always work. Worse still, some ruby developers insist on having plug-ins placed in different directories or libraries. Podium is a classic for this. Podium sets up a folder in the user directory, which seems to turn off other plug-ins. You have to manually reset everything after installing. The developers really should rethink this- or at least listen to us Mac users.

I've also paid, downloaded and installed "booltools" which after much mucking around with different locations, now shows up, but doesn't actually work. The Layers Management plugin, that appeared recently, shows up, but all the icons are missing from the toolbars. The instructions say place in the user library. Again why? They should go in the main directory. It's almost as if people take one look at Mac OS X, and liken it to "hacked Linux" (someone once called it that to me). Then they treat it like Linux, and then wonder why it doesn't work properly!

Sorry for the rant. I need to sleep......

regards,

Tom

Hey guys,

Me too! I'm having HELL loading certain plug-ins with my Mac (the Layers management plug-in being particularly difficult). Thanks for these tips, I'll try these tomorrow. I've been seriously thinking of buying SU Pro, but having to run it on a PC only gives me the screaming abdabs. (I don't mind Windows, but from a workflow sense, I just prefer Mac).

I really want Google to sort this nonsense out. It really shouldn't be this arcane, just to get some plug-ins to work first time

Tom

Jeff, I apologise for the shameless plug, but have you had a look at Punch software's ViaCAD? Worth mentioning because of the terrible lack of good CAD on OS X. ViaCAD (or VC as we users know it as), has very powerful surfacing tools, some of which, are derived from CATIA technology. VC has translators for SketchUp (as well as AutoCAD and Inventor and many others), costs $99 and works on a Mac too (I use both OS's, but know what I prefer! ). VC actually looks like a mature Mac app (not Cocoa, but near enough with floating tool bars and drop down menus from the top of the screen), unlike Bonzai, which to me, looks like a bad PC-to-Mac port.

ViaCAD also has a big brother called Shark FX, which costs a bit more, but has far more advanced parametric, surfacing and CAM tools. You'll also be forgiven for thinking that they both look like Ashlar Vellum or TurboCAD, because VC originally started out being licensed to these companies. I think that VC makes an excellent partner for SketchUp (so does QCad, but that is a different story!)

regards,

Tom

Try this;

http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Allows you to upload the font, to find it

Hope that helps.

Tom

It's a shame you hate electronic viewfinders. I have a Lumix G1. I use it for photographs for a local community newspaper. Its electronic viewfinder is very accurate and extremely high resolution. I have absolutely no problems with it. I also have a Nagoaka 5x4 view camera, for most of my architectural work, but that is another story.

I would recommend the Lumix LX3, because of its size and handiness. The Lumix also has a Leica 24mm f2 lens fitted to it. It's the next camera I will buy. Perfect for SketchUp!

Just as I predicted. Make a plugins folder in the SketchUp folder within the home application support folder, and other plugins (notably "Booltools") stop working!

I'm really hacked off with this (as you can probably tell). I am paying money to Smustard for plugins, that aren't always working, and this is not right.

Nope. I can't get this plug in to work at all on my Mac. (BTW, I'm back on SU 7.0, despite my avatar saying otherwise, because I was having many troubles with 7.1. I'm now waiting for the update, before going back to 7.1).

@bob james said:

Curious fact however: this new version only works if I install it in my users/library/application/... folder rather than the HD/library/applications/... folder. Any particular reason for this?

Aha!! Yes! Indeed (need to try this yet too). This is also how Podium works, and it screws with OS X's directory. Podium is worse, because it uses an installer script, which also makes a SU6 folder, which confuses SU even more! Developers, why can't we just install this ourselves?

It seems to me that there really IS a problem with plug-in management with SU and Mac OS X, and where scripts should go. This depresses me, because I have to sit here messing with folder combinations, until it works, which means less money (not that I'm getting any money anyway! ), but worse still, prevents me from doing what I love most, designing things. It's almost as if there is someone in the Mac programming dept at Google who really couldn't give a dingo's kidneys, and has consequently failed to deliver guidelines to all those planning to write ruby scripts for Mac SketchUp. A shame if it were true.

The Podium installer, for starters, installs on the wrong part of the directory (not necessarily Google's fault, but typical behaviour of a developer who has misunderstood the workings of a Mac OS, like coming straight from a better understanding of a Linux one (or Windows in this case, but Mac OS X is NOT Linux, and directories behave very differently to Linux directories! Cappiche?). This basic error, fools the SketchUp directory navigation (http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=146352#p146352).

The best thing I've found is to remove the ruby script from the folder and put that in the plug-ins file, then any other ancillary files (such as png's etc) stay in a folder, within that folder. But in the case of Podium, this wouldn't work at all, as both files need to be taken out and placed in the main plug-in folder. I'm now worried that if I make a new folder, for a new plug-in for this Layers tool, in my Home directory, instead of the main directory, it's going to screw with SketchUp again, and I'll be back to square one again.

A well written Mac application mostly allows you to use from whatever directory or file you choose. This behaviour from SketchUp again, is inconsistent, as some plug-ins work, and others don't. A real shame, because SU also appears to have been written in Apple Cocoa. Perhaps the developers need to get SketchUp to read plugins from both libraries?

Maybe all you folks who are suggesting how to get certain things to work on a Mac, should try giving the advice from a Mac rather than Windows? And those who use Windows, who make plugins, observe from Mac users how plug-in installation is managed? It would really help all of us Mac users!

@troyhome said:

just the basics: multiprocessor support

I'm surprised that this isn't already supported considering that SU is one of the few CAD systems that has actually been built in Apple's Cocoa. Cheetah3D is another Cocoa app, and this automatically makes use of any multiprocessors- especially when rendering. Because of Cocoa, shouldn't SU also automatically be 64-bit too? Maybe I'm just having fanboy disillusions?

I know it's a very basic suggestion, but I've suggested that the VCB window should be longer in size (!). Perhaps there's a way of doing this, but I have never figured it out?

Tom

@tig said:

If you 'extract' the files from the zip then there should be one ruby .rb file and the rest of the files in a folder.
Then the lone ruby file and the folder go into your Plugins folder...

Yes I did exactly that, but to no avail. I've had trouble with getting ruby scripts to work before (in SU).

I'll have another go when I'm not maniacally try to reach deadlines! Thanks for your input anyway TIG