Paint the group with the default material in the places you want the color to change. There are probably a few ways to script this, but one is:

@m = Sketchup.active_model.materials.add "My material"
group.material = @m

@m.color="Red"

"Red" could be any color name, and you do need to use the quotes. Or you can use an r,g,b value... [100,100,100], for example, will give a shade of gray. The name of the material, in this case, "My material", is of no real consequence, as SU will stick a number on the end if the name is already being used. You should be able to change the color during the sim with:

@m.color = ...

In ontick, or whatever. You can also do other stuff with the material, like use a texture, or make it transparent... see The API for more info. Good luck!

I'd like a full-screen viewing mode, and a few more rendering options (i.e. shader settings for materials). And yeah, selecting vertices would be useful

You're right about degrees. I expect the sliders are measured in inches, SU's 'base' unit, but I'm not sure. Thrusters and magnets, I have no idea, you just have to play around with those values

@unknownuser said:

Never really got back to this one: Are we going to be able to set an object's scripting from an external source code?(ie setting an emitted object to explode on impact.)

Any SU ruby would work, ao you might be able to load an external .rb file as an ontick func, or whatever. But you don't need that to do what you're asking, as Jav has shown; and anything that SU can detect can be acted upon.

Awesome renders!

Same principal as the FPS rig, and the first use I've found for setTorque. Basically, this is just a really easy plane to fly, which I'll be adding bits of script to, to make the whole thing more realistic (it's a little on the arcadey side). The whole rig consists of a single group for the plane, and two camera objects, so it's very effecient as well. You need a 360 style joypad to play:

Throttle - Analog triggers
Yaw - Left stick
Pitch/Roll - Right stick

Comes with some nice terrain

I'm having trouble getting gravity in. It creates an exponentially increasing/decreasing value, with some very strange results, and I can't see a way around it (for now).

I made a script a while ago; it toggles a variable, but the main thing is it detects single key presses. This should do it:

if frame==1;setVar("repeat",0);end;if key("e")==0;setVar("repeat",1);0;elsif getVar("repeat")==0;0;else;setVar("repeat",0);80;end;

Same

Good

My only critiscism is the high center of gravity; it's too easy to flip over.

I like the idea. You could probably do the extension toolbars by asking if they're valid (?), and maybe you should use an array to hold the vars, then just use .each {

I agree, looks good! Pic of the front?

If you mean give it a velocity, sure, that's shown in the demo. Once I get the custom update working, you'll be able to make them do pretty much whatever you want

The code in the demo lets you choose where you place it, among other things. Once I get the final thing done, it'll be:

createParticle([0,100,100])

Giving only a position will create a construction point. Giving a position and radius will create the default black smoke, and you'll also be able to copy a custom group, or (maybe) choose between a few presets. You'll have the option to make your own update code for the particles, which will be executed along with the normal code.

SU has problems display textured transparency, and it'd be hard to position the texture. Plus, they're actually simple spheres

ParticleStruct is the way I could attach variables to the particles. I guess it's not being removed between simulations, so when it's re-initialized in onstart, the sim throws up an error; it shouldn't affect the model.

Uhh, I need the FPS

Anyway, from the looks of it, only Jav is having a problem (sorry mate). The particle system should work fine for most users!

28 FPS is fine... keep 'em coming guys!

Okay, just heard about a very slow simulation. Before you run the sim, please open the ruby console (Window/Ruby Console). Play the sim for a bit, reset, and post the last number in the array (after "Fps"). If you can run a normal sim ok, it should be at least 20. Thanks!

The whole spinning thing is an unfortunate problem with servos, and happens whenever they exceed 360 degrees. My second script adds 1 to the servo's controller when space is pressed, but once the servo goes over 360, it'll always spin out.

Glad to see it's popular ... all the particles move, scale, and fade out. They can be given starting velocity, which will deminish after a few frames, and have some random values attached to keep it all interesting. @Physicsguy, the bubbles are created randomly, but they still move towards the surface.

This should all be added into SP in the near future, with a different method system. Until then, here's the demo for you all to try out (Feedback on performance would be great)

particle FX demo.skp