@thomthom said:

The .raytest method is running in SU's C. Not calculated using Ruby. Ruby just calls the C method.

Ok.

I guess I don't know what I'm talking about, but doesn't SU's raytest method extract more information than you need for your plugin? Maybe that's why it's so (comparatively) slow.

Looks like you didn't register all parts of the car... select everything, every part of it, including wheels, steering assembly, everything with an AI-controlled joint inside, and use the AI registration tool. After that the axes of the car are wrong, but that's easily fixed, and covered in the tutorial.

Basically, you use:

ontouch{
   #your code here
   #code
   #code
   #more code
   #etc
}

In the scripted field. The code you put between the brackets will be executed, in the case of ontouch, upon every collision with another object. ontick{...}, onuntouch{...}, and ontouching{...} work in basically the same way, with ontick executed every frame, onuntouch whenever the object stops colliding, and ontouching every frame the object is colliding with another. With any of the the touch events, you can also access the object being collided with, the exact point3d of the collision, and the impact speed of the collision, using:

ontouch{|toucher,speed,pos|
   #code
}

You can then use them as variables in your event code.

This is really amazing. I mean, if you could do the raytesting separately with a faster language, it'd be really useful.

What, in ontick/touch? Already possible, with ruby classes and methods. E.g. my AI is based around my CarAI class, and you actually access scripting in SP from inside the ControllerContext class, which includes the special methods like get/setVar, lookAt, oscillator etc. This tut shows you how to make classes in ruby:
http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Ruby-on-Rails/Ruby-Classes-and-Objects/1/

AI... Artificial intelligence. Just the sweeping term for computer-controlled opponents, the main intention of the system. With the floor, you need SP3 X Apr2 or above, and the 'ontick' field will be visible under properties in the UI, with an object selected. Just copy/paste the main code from the tutorial into there. I found out how SP stores the ontick scripts though, so I could automate that as well. Setting the motor controllers, again, in the UI, paste the command into the motor's controller field.

And you're welcome

Toolbar... ok, here you go:
AI Tools.zip
Same deal as normal plugins, unzip in your plugins folder. To register a vehicle as AI, select all parts, including hidden parts, and use the 'Set AI' tool. To auto-number your nodes, create them in order (that's important), select them all, and use the 'Number route' tool. It removes existing numbers in the name, so you can re-use the tool, after adding extra nodes, for example.

Great to have you back

In sketchyphysics

Just thought I'd make anyone who hasn't recently graced the WH aware of this. I've developed a system that lets cars (or boats) drive themselves around a course. It supports multiple routes, and multiple vehicles very easily, and there's a detailed tutorial for installing it on models. I'll be building on top of this basic system to allow more complex behaviours, and the tutorial and up-to-date info can be found at:
http://sketchupusers.freeforums.org/easy-ai-now-with-tutorial-t73-10.html#p945

It's likely you're shooting them too fast for the physics engine to register a collision, try lowering the strength to around 50 and see if it works. Also check the parent object collides correctly. Emitted objects actually lose all properties except their shape; they will also be visible even if the parent object is hidden.

No problem. If you want the cylinders static, just go into 'state' in the SP context menu, and check 'static'.

Not that down and dirty at all... just need to set the shapes right. Right click the pringle kinda shape, Sketchyphysics > Shape > convexhull. Unless you want to stack more ontop of it, convexhull, which you can think of as a shrink-wrap shape (Right-click > Sketchyphysics > debug > Readback collision geometry to see what I mean), will be fine. The cylindrical objects can be set to shape 'cylinder' (funny that ), or, if you're feeling lazy, just select the whole lot and convexhull... it'll give basically the same result. If you really want a properly complicated physics shape, with indentations or holes, you'll need to combine a number of basic shapes and/or convexhulls into one group, set to 'default' shape. And remember, with convexhulls, don't scale. If you absolutely have to, scale it, then explode, re-group, and re-endow its physics settings. Hope this helps!

(Although I think I agree with Eucadorian, you don't really need physics here)

You don't get much of an impression of SSS, but here's my attempt with indigo. Couldn't bake it very long though

Oh, and neon dragon. Just because I can

Plus an interesting effect straight out of SU:

Make it a group (you probably did this anyway), then right-click, SketchyPhysics, Shape, and select 'staticmesh'. It won't be able to move, but the sphere will be able to collide with every face in the building. Making complex, movable shapes is a little harder; basically, you need to make a compound shape out of lots of the normal shapes, like box, cylinder, etc, then group them all together and set that group's shape to 'default'. If you're making, for example, the body for a moving car, make a simplified shape out of these basic shapes, and group them together with the main car body. Inside the overall group, set the main body's state to 'ignore', and hide the physics objects.

Not totally sure what you're asking. Can you upload the model?

The thing I love about your cars is it's like a little tickle when you're making it, posting the WIP pics, but then you see the finished product and it's just this huge punch in the face! I'm just left sitting there, open-mouthed ( ), thinking "How the hell did you do that?"

Huh... does that let you have multiple tools active at once?

@jim said:

A "Global access" state does not really exist - since there is always an active tool, you need a separate tool (the query tool) to get the cursor position. Alternatively, you can rewrite each of the current tools to support reporting the cursor position.

The thing is, I'm scripting for SketchyPhysics. My old problem was solved with the query tool, I just needed a few 3D positions to make a route for AI I'm testing, but this has got me thinking about what I could do with the cursor. I'm guessing activating a tool in any way would end the simulation (which is a tool itself), and while modifying SP might work for me, it wouldn't for anyone else trying the model. So is it just impossible?

The query tool should be fine, thanks for the help. I can't belive I didn't see that

Out of interest, why is getting the cursor position only possible from in tools? Shouldn't there be global access?

An option to re-load plugins without restarting SketchUp would save a little time.