Greetings everyone - and thanks for the reply.
Concerning 3D warehouse - my problem is, I would like to use a few buildings from a neighborhood, and don't know how to locate them in the database there aside from just typing the address (like via gmaps ... ) So that's hasn;t worked for me.
And to Edson - please check your link - it doesnt seem to work? Very curious what it is supposed to link to.
Cheers to all and thanks again
Greetings - not sure where to post this but I thought I would try here...
This may seem like a silly question, but there are some perfect buildings available on the Google Earth database of the context in which I am working, (Berlin, Germany) - is there any known way to download a 3D building from the google earth database right into Sketchup_? What I really want/need is the the facade textures, they are great quality.
I know how to get the aerial photo, but not the 3D textured building.
Is this possible? any Ideas_?
Thanks in advance to all
Greetings.
It would be amazing to have a ruby that just opened up and imported 3D vwx drawings. That would be so fine ... I think this issue has been posted about very often in various forums, but I thought it would be worth the risk of a repeat posting. Hope no one minds!
Here is the problem:
For some time now it has been very easy to get SU geometry into VW. How about going the other way? For some reason there has been extensive development from Nemetschek for getting things into VW but not out. There have been some posts about this problem in the past on various forums but it is hard to have any overview on the problem. I'd love to hear others experiences and advice on how to approach this issue.
At the moment, when working to get 3D geometry out of Vectorworks and into SU:
What to do?
Any and all thoughts much appreciated.
Note I have posted on this topic as well at vectorworks forum:
http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=134197#Post134197
and at pushpullbar:
best to all,
thinkbuild
Dear Fredo6, Dear Jim,
Its great that you are looking into this and that you both feel it is a good idea. I think it would be a serious way to improve to user experience and simplify things for us.
I think you should really look at Cydia - Saurik has a central directory of hosts, and hosts are simply added to his directory. This means (as you say Jim) individual developers host the plugins where they want. BUT there is still a "central directory" - which could be here at sketchucation, at smustard, or at didier bur's classic ruby depository or somewhere else. But I do think it would be quite important from a user standpoint to somehow know what's out there on the marketplace. It could be broken down into marketplaces - chinese, for example - one adds the chinese deposit and then it is fine ..., or woodworker's - with rubies that are good for CNC machining or dovetails or what not - In this way it will have the added benefit of organizing the scripts. And the person(s) running the central directory would then have a chance to help assign scripts to useful categories...this could then have a social networking component, (ie, scripts could be voted on?) or not ...
Finally, from a conceptual point of view, we are talking about creating dynamic rubies, a bit like dynamic components. The rubies themselves become active elements of the softward, SU begins morphing to each user's work-patterns...
Hello.
I am happy to see that you both seem to agree with me! Finally - Jim I must admit I already posted on this topic with other references almost exactly one year ago but it seemed to veer towards (welcome) usability improvements on this site rather than towards my core idea. FYI here is a cross link to that post from 9 Oct 2008: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=13306
One thing which I think needs to be said is that this could lead to SU as an integrated marketplace for its own sales. I mean - hello! Smustard or others could sell subscriptions - maybe just a low fee - to provide a smooth updated personalized modelling environment for users who are interested but don't have the time to constantly follow the myriad of forking conversations here.
I have been impressed by Saurik's efforts to open up the iPhone as a unix platform ( http://www.saurik.com/id/1 ), and in particular the elegant, massively scalable, and stable host / depository system he has developed and deployed for the iPhone. As I understand it, cydia is an implementation of the APT (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool )
For those not familiar with his system, it works like this:
• you open up his package installer - on the iPhone/Saurik version, it is named "cydia" - and it gives you a list of installable apps
• it somehow knows - i am not familiar with the tech behind this - what packages/apps are installed on your phone
• it checks this list against the depository to see if any of your packages have been upgraded
• if so, it downloads and cleanly installs the new package, deleting and removing outdated elements
• if required, it force reboots *(after a warning!)
end story
This is incredibly useful and insures that one is always up to date. It also automates management tasks and avoids known incompatibilities.
So - here is the request: Would it not be possible to create an APT-type host/depository ruby system for auto-managing all the incredible plugins available here, on smustard, and elsewhere? Why not create a master ruby (hello SMUSTARD!!!) which does this.
It would be amazing to simply "subscribe" to a plugin rather then chase after Fredo6, whaat, TIG, and the all the other incredible masters active here. Why not simply "subscribe" to Fredo6, and then when his lib is updated, I get a little message in SU - "Fredo6 has again rocked the SU world...press here to upgrade Tools On Surface & JPP to the latest Comprehensive Refresh build Number 3.2.3..."
I wish I had the skills to do this but alas - the idea is all I can provide, after all, I am an architect, not a Ruby Master ...
Thoughts/reactions greatly appreciated.
best to all
thinkbuild
Hello
I made some snow renderings using Maxwell recently for a project I am working on in Sweden. Attached are a few "process images". I made them because the project is very far north and will often be covered with lots of snow, so I wanted to explore how the forms of the building change with Snow on them. There's a post on a (Swedish) blog about the project if anyone is curious.... http://hem.neue.feber.se/art/56379/polar-circle-house/
[attachment=1:h7iop0t7]<!-- ia1 -->65784.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:h7iop0t7]
[attachment=0:h7iop0t7]<!-- ia0 -->65782.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:h7iop0t7]
The steps I used were more or less the following:
Make the thing you want to be covered with snow, then, set it in a smooth mesh landscape. Assign the landscape a "snowy" color and/or material for external rendering if you want to...
Use Fredo6's "Joint Push Pull" to create a surface - first, take the outside surface of the thing being "snowed in", copy it in place, make a new group (so it doesn't "stick"), and expand it by the amount you want the thing to be snowed in, say 12" or whatever;
As suggested above, use the subdive selection script from Whaat to deform & soften the snow;
(here, it is very useful to use "creased edges" to keep sharp corners where the snow is hitting objects..."
Render! (Note I forgot to put snow on the neighbor's house 
but still you get the idea...
If you have time (I didn't for these) go over with P-shop and correct any "leaks" ...
Alan -
Its true, the ship is really nice. Will you be sharing it...?
I'm going to do the upgrade tomorrow (after my deadline this afternoon) and then I'll test it with Maxwell and post here (and on the Mxwl forum) with my results.
I am looking forward to the speed improvements and also I am fascinated by DC's.
Question to Coen and the team: Do you think it makes sense to make a new sub-forum for DC's? It seems they are so funky and complex it might be a good idea.
And, what about a "DC Depot" ala Didier's Ruby Depot? Or will this just happen in the 3D warehouse...?
I have to say I have (also) enjoyed the organic ("self organized") development of this community very much over the years. It will be interesting to watch this new chapter unfold....
Hello all. I propose this thread as a place to have a real (constructive!) discussion about what it is like to work with SU7.
To start, I am sure I am not alone in wondering if there are issues with all the fantasmigorical rubies out there. For example, has anyone tested Pelias' Maxwell/SU exporter...? And, how about some of the "new" classics, like Fredo6's curvies and Whaats masterpieces? Since SU is a "mission critical" piece of software for me, I'd be very interested to know about other's experiences with working with it.
I'd also love to hear about experiences with the new Dynamic Components and other things ...
Dear Rick -
I haven't downloaded W4 yet (but I will soon) and I was just thinking - I've got a small project in Sweden, and there, we have triple-glazed windows. Do you think it would be possible to add an option, "# of panes of glass"? In Germany, we also use double-glazing and so on...I was thinking, I could perhaps just make a "thick" single pane but there might be situations in which it would be useful to model the "real" situation...
I imagine it might at some point get a bit much, but since you are already working at such a high level of detail...
Just a thought.
best wishes,
Jason
WOW
Two ideas:
I am thinking that it would be interesting if one could assign some kind of structural and costing characteristics to the profile(s). Then, (maybe) it could, in combo is SketchyPhysics?, provide a basic structural analysis tool of incredible ease...?
Also, you might think of expanding it to provide basic BIM info for cost estimation calculations, ie:
Anyway, keep it up. Looking forward to this one!
Any more thoughts out there on this subject? Just curious...
Greetings everyone.
@thinkbuild said:
Great news Coen! Are you looking at this functionality being integrated into SU directly (as via Sparkle &co.?) Or will it just be an RSS for manual updating?
@coen said:
I can't disclose details right now but it will be integrated into the new site we're working on. NOT inside SketchUp.
The Ruby guru's need to come up with an installer (I think Jim already created one actually) and which notifies the user if a script installed by the installer has been updated. But this is not my cup of tea. I just design and code web sites. I don't know the first thing about C++ or Ruby.
I think that the ideas you are talking about are very interesting and will certainly increase usefullness of the already hugely useful GSCF.
BUT my question is different - another topic, even, perhaps. I'm trying to find out if (or maybe even suggest) that the ruby community try to create some kind of standard aggregated database of updates, hosted somewhere (like here or another place), which is then "automagically" updated within Sketchup. Think: cydia on jailbroken iphones, or the Mac OS X software update systems...or maybe, the best example is for Firefox Add-ons...
It might work like this: each script has an identity number or so, assigned centrally in a software depository. (maybe this becomes a part of Smustard...?) Wherever. Then, on start, a script checks which id's are installed, and checks this against the list of known updates at the depository. If a match is made, the user is informed, and asked if they want to update - that's it.
So, although I am excited about the future developments to the "backend" of this forum, what I am really asking is if there could be some kind of agreement amoung ruby magicians to create a system like this.
Another place where this could be useful might be Fredo6's language library system - which, as I understand it, is really like a framework for translation (see the conversation about translating the eagerly awaited Windowizer 4 .... )
Hopefully my question/suggestion is clear...
best to all,
Jason
Great news Coen! Are you looking at this functionality being integrated into SU directly (as via Sparkle &co.?) Or will it just be an RSS for manual updating?
Might it also be possible to set up an RSS linked to SketchUcation too...?
Greetings and a heafty thanks to all of the amazing ruby wizards out there.
I was just wondering if it might be possible to somehow establish some kind of appcasting or sparkle-based method to let users know when you have adjusted or upgraded your scripts. Although I really enjoy looking at this formum, I think it would be fantastic if you (sorry! I am no programmer ;( might be able to establish such as system, but implimented in such a way (as a cross-platform framework?) which would then check on SU startup for updates to ALL installed rubies.
See:
http://connectedflow.com/appcasting/
http://www.thomaskeller.biz/blog/2007/08/04/taking-appcasts-to-the-next-level/
or (for Mac)
http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/
http://metaquark.de/appfresh/
Hope all are well,
Jason
Cher Didier,
Bonjour! Alors, here's the report: I can't find the line you are talking about in the script. Pas trouve! It must be in one of the two scrambled files. Je regrete! Please advise if there is another way I can help!
best wishes from Berlin,
Jason
bonjour didier ...
ok, i will see what i can do to make it work. note i am a total non-programmer, but maybe i'll have some luck and you can strike it off your list! i'll report back when i know if i have any success or not
a bientôt!
jason
Greetings to all.
Didier, just a quick note - I just wanted you to know that I am also having the same issues with my mac.
"Error Loading File HouseBuilder_extension.rb
private method `split' called for nil:NilClass"
Any ideas?
I tried to look for the "offending line" in the script but I quickly became confused. Is it "HouseBuilder_extension.rb", (which is not scrambled)
or "HouseBuilder.rb", or "HouseBuilderTool.rb" (both of which are scrambled)?
Please advise. I'm sure many of us in the Mac community would be very appreciative if we could get this to work!
cheers from Berlin,
Jason
