Posts made by Wacov

Just a thought, but the SUp UI's getting kinda dated, and, if they're overhauling it for SU8, a full-screen mode would be fantastic... you know, like in browsers, with slide-in toolbars at the edges. I almost always use keyboard shortcuts and right-clicks, so I'm pretty much focused only on the 3D viewing port, and I think GPUs render faster full-screen than in a window

The group's script 'object'. E.g. you've probably come across $curEvalGroup before, that is actual a variable, set to the current group's script object. It's just 'Group' on the API.

Hiding an object in SP doesn't affect the simulation, as far as the Physics engine is concerned the object is still present and movable, you just can't see it. Deleting a group is simple, you just get the group handler and use '.erase!', but I don't know how this would affect the sim

The full SketchUp API works from SketchyPhysic's scripting

Best thing for it is probably http://sketchyphysics.wikia.com/wiki/SketchyPhysicsWiki, run (somewhat intermittently) by the community. If you've got the dedication to fill in the gaps, that's great, and if nothing else, it pretty consistently provides links to the latest release... but if sketchyphysics could actually be centralised to sketchyphysics.com, that would be fantastic.

I expect that's because vacau provide free web hosting, and there are plenty of people who will use that for malicious purposes. The SketchUp users site, as far as I know, is completely safe, but like any other website, there are no guarantees, although I know I'll still use it.

Ruby, it works through the SketchUp API

Thanks for your interest, but the plugin and documentation is still WIP, with quite a few bugs, and plenty of untested code. Check out http://sketchyphysics.wikia.com/wiki/LazyScript_Plugin for the latest documentation and release of the plugin, and http://sketchupusers.vacau.com/index.php to provide feedback, in the 'Ruby Scripting' section (I'm not active on this forum, nor is Mr. K)

The SketchyPhysics community, as it's become known, has pretty well emancipated itself from this forum to the user-created 'SketchUp Users' @ http://sketchupusers.vacau.com/

In answer to your question, convex hull is one of the shape primitives that can be applied to groups. More complex shapes can be created by combining the primitives.

You can upload the file here using the 'upload attachment' tab, next to the options tab, below the message pane.

Simulations playing slowly is something we all have to work with. Ways to reduce this 'lag' are reducing the face count of your model, and using simple physics shapes rather than convex hulls. Try and reduce the number of physics-enabled objects as much as possible, and, in complex mechanisms, set as many parts as possible to 'no collision' (In the UI). This will stop them colliding with other objects, which is the main drag on the simulation speed.

Select it like any normal object, and hit 'delete' on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can use the move tool on it to get it where you want.

That's just a notification to others attempting use your model (You already have SP3 RC1, or, more likely, the experimental version). It's so that, if you share your model, others know its needs SketchyPhysics of that version or above to play the sim properly.

If you can run SketchUp well, you can probably run SP well. The files you make are viewable fine from a computer without SP installed, even if you've set up the model for physics (they just won't have the capability to run the simulation).

If you set global variables (start with a $), you can check them out from the Ruby Console by typing them in. This'll work during the sim, and global variables will also stay behind afterwards. Btw, forgot to say the normal joint controller field also takes ruby code (Any blue field will). You can use a ';' to mark line breaks where there's only a single line to type in.

Open the SP UI, select a group in your model. The ontick and ontouch fields appear at the bottom, under 'Properties' (you must have SketchyPhysics 3 X installed). ontouch code is called when the object collides with another, ontick every rate frame. Leave rate at 0 to run every frame. $curEvalGroup is always the group the code is written in, and there are a few other commands which are on various topics in the forums. The SketchUp ruby API may or may not be relevant to what you want to do, remember that almost any API code will work (some commands might crash the sim by attempting to end it). Hope this helps

Short of scripting, the only way you can automate the camera is with scenes. If you just want the camera to follow the car, name the car's main body something, like "follow". Then, position the camera how you want, and make a new scene, with the description 'Camera follow follow.'

The camera will then automatically follow the car when that scene is selected and the sim is played.

There's also a 'track' setting, that works in a similar way. The two can be used together, e.g. 'Camera follow follow. Camera track track.'. When you combine them like this you can create proper camera rigs, with the camera positioned in the centre of one hidden object, and set to follow it, and set to track another hidden object.

The only way I know is to use multiple, stacked servos (i.e. one group ontop of the other, with the same controller for both joints)

The commands from RC1 no longer work in the scripted field, inluding get/setVar. The new variables are:

@var = 1

For a local (this group only) variable, retrieve it with:

@var

And:

@@var = 1

For a global (acessible from all groups) variable. Retrieve with:

@@var

You presumably exploded and re-grouped the main body, so its ontick field is empty

Here's a couple of example models, they both use slightly outdated code though:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=63cfe4da6cd759a3d36844afc91c4691
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=5cba40fd49a9606c6cd8ad826e9017b8