Hi guys
Have been away for some Sketchup for a few years and went to install SketchUcation Tools into my Sketchup 2016.
It's telling me this latest version of the plugin is incompatible with 2016, and to install v3~
Is there an archive I can download earlier versions from?
Also, I hear there was a possible slow-down problem with 3.0~??
Would v3.1.8 be better?
Cheers,
Woz B.
Well Tig, took the plunge.
I just installed this on SketchUp 2016.
Works as perfect as ever! 
Just renamed the .zip file to .rbz.
I used to use this one a lot for renders.
HonoluluDesktop would be very happy this lives on♫♪♫♪... .. .
So? ...are they THERE yet?
Has anyone heard, well, even a teenypeep/rumour about when we can expect (more like praying for) the next Sketchup incarnation?
Well, I finally got around to trialling Lumion.
Very disappointed. Not in Lumion itself, but what I learned i needed to run it.
My home PC is an intel quad core with Space navigator, lots of ram, and an Nvidia Qudaro FX1700 GPU.
Lumion ran at about 1 frame per...week, would only recognise 2 axis of the navigator (have latest drivers) which, I think conflicted with the mouse badly, as itwould only pan/tilt in very small bits as if it were frustratedly fighting something.
Looking at Lumion's minimum specs on their forum referred me to this site: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
which told me my home card had a score of only 437! waaay lower than the 1500 needed for even the simplest stuff.
This also told me why my WORK PC with its Quadro FX 4600 card (about $2000 worth!) was going soooo slow also, with a Passmark score of only 875!!!
Wish now I'd just bought a Gforce GTX 580 - with a Passmark of nearly 4000, its only about $500.
Although its going to be hard to convince work to front that cash up just to TRIAL Lumion to see if it benifits - let alone, convincing the MISSUS on my home PC.
I think they really need to explain this issue somewhere more accessible to prospective buyers, rather than buried in their forum.
Rant over.
Cheers,
Woz
Hi Arthur,
Just sent off pretty much this same message to Lumion.
...but I'm just too excited about it to wait.
I'm keenly interested in using Lumion for some upcoming projects my work may have in the works soon.
I'm currently producing various previsual environment fly-throughs and scene block-outs exclusively using Google Sketchup in combination with Twilight Render (which uses the Kerkythea rendering engine).
Unfortunately, Kerkythea (and therefore Twilight) does NOTcurrently use my GPU - a Quadro FX 4600 - and literally takes forever to render my final runs - especially involving any large quantity of foliage - so, I imagin just the initial savings in waiting time would be worth the initial investment.
Over the last 3 years I have grown VERY adept to navigating environments fluidly with 3Dconnexion's SpaceNavigator
in Sketchup. It gives my left hand something to do while adjusting models with the right hand, and Mostly, I forget it's there. Mostly.
Does Lumion currently interface with the SpaceNavigator, or have any future plans to?
Will it support stereoscopic output (with the right hardware) at full HD?
Also, having noticed on your promo videos that such things as shore/wave interaction have still quite some way to go, what are your present next goals to see to? (though, I have to say most of the water stuff so far is beautiful).
Cheers,
Woz
This looks FANTASTIC!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLV8QIm02M
Apart from the relatively high cost ($2000 US for Lumion Ultimate, against $99 for Twilight), I'm 80 percent sold, just from this video.
I've been using Twilight for a year and a half with Sketchup. Does a lovely job when combined with my Spacenavigator and Flightpath, but the thing that makes it literally crawl is TREES! That, and the fact that it sadly does not take advantage of your GPU at all.
I've recently inherited a (ex-Avatar) Quadro FX4600 along with a new(ish) work machine.
I think just on the saved waiting time alone it might pay for itself quite quickly.
I've been literally salivating over the prospect of Stereoscopy being implemented in Sketchup for years now!
There's now a growing number of video cards (AND monitors) that are 3D enabled, and, heck, Both Maya, and Solidworks have supported Stereoscopy for ages now, and work well with appropriate NVidia cards/3D Glasses, etc.
There's also a nifty product called the "TrackIR4" which uses an infared camera atop your monitor to track 3 reflective dots on a headband. Sort of a poor-mans Mo-Cap. Designed mainly for (you GUESSED it!) 1st person shoot-em-up games and Flight Sims, so you can just use your head to look around naturally. It's been available for about 5 years now, and I remember they DO had an SDK available. Years back, I was wanting to see stereoscopic 3D in Zbrush and Sculptris - along with Head-Tracking it would be like having a REAL lump of clay to sculpt, right in front of you - The Zbrush people still aren't very interested (they still won't even get their act together for the Space Navigator either, siting "lack of user demand" in my last communications. Catch 22).
Apart from really helping to resolve things well without having to constantly rotate the view, it would add HUGELY to the "That is SOOO COOOL" factor when you do your presentations on the right big screen!
Since EVERY feature Film currently in production is now 3D (except for Arthouse films featuring gay cowboys eating pudding...), Google simply needs to perceive enough factors to "see" the potentially upcoming tipping point of this huge user-desire, and just implement it.
I think it's just a matter of time now. Though, I really really wish the future would hurry up for this particular thing to happen for Sketchup!
Can't Wait! (takes medication... calms down...).
I've used 3DConnexion's "Space Navigator" for close to 3 years now exclusively with Sketchup.
It's literally "become" my left hand!
There may be a few occasions where I need to zoom into a part of a model very precisely, but for the most part it makes my whole Sketchup experience totally fluid (well... except for Bugsplats, GRRR!).
Just got one for work too. Its brilliant for flying clients through a presentation up on the big screen.
Wouldn't be anywhere without it
I had a pretty hard time initially from other Movie SFX people looking down their noses (behind my back) at my sticking with Sketchup.
The great thing now, is that the world (well, that small part of the world that really THINKS about things) is gradually seeing just how useful it is, and what people like you guys are helping it to evolve into!
There will ALWAYS be people like that Nikon fellow saying "urgh" at Canon's.
But at last we're seeing it used for high profile things like modelling those nifty APUs for Avatar... and working out escher-like cityscapes for that other topsy-turvy matrix'y movie I always forget the title of.... etc...
The main thing is... since so many professionals have so far snubbed it, it automatically becomes a "Blue Ocean" area that's ripe to be opened up!
These days, I'm (gradually) being let loose with Sketchup on better (and funner) projects too... which... someday... I can speak about... nnrgh!
Hi guys,
I've just noticed 2 very odd things happening on my sketchup 8 the last few days.
Every time I go to move a vertice, it Bugsplats. Tried swithching off the "Pre-icck on Push-Pull tool" option, same thing.
First noticed it on a large model, so rebooted, made a simple cube, and much the same thing happens on that.
I have a good many .rb's installed, but until now have had no bug-splat troubles like this (consider yourself VERY lucky Woz).
I'm on windows 7, 32 bit and a crankingly good (recently re-installed) system.
Anyone have any thought on this?
The other small (but REAAALLY annoying) bug also appeared where pressing almost any key racks the object/view slightly upwards. I though it might be my 3Dconnexion Spacenavigator, but disconnecting it entirely has no effect. Also, started removing plugins going back from most recently installed, but no instant fixes or conflicts noticed there. No idea if these probs two may be related, but they've only materialised these past few days.
Does this ring a bell for anybody?
Cheers,
Woz
here's a last test using the "Catmull Spline/Round Corners/Shape bender" method rendered with twilight.
Would reeaally like to get to the bottom of how to stop the fonts being made soooo chunky by Sketchup in the first place though.
I'm sure it would be handy sometimes (not to mention saving a whole lotta time).
Woz
THANKS Marcus!
Worked a TREAT!
I just tried one letter as a test (Garamond, with all its lumps n bumps).
With not-too-much-effort looks like one can certainly rebuild those chunky clunky letters into divine Hollywood ones!
...Although, I'm still wondering... whether somewhere way deep down in the bowels of Sketchup there's a way of making it NOT make them so "Facety"?
I assume all True Type fonts contain their own line & bezier Curve information about their outlines for each and every letter, which Sketchup currently currently seems to chop up with a machette to make things nice & simple.
Somewhere there must be an instruction that can be ...ummm... altered, to make this chopping-up finer?
I'm sure this one must have come up before.
Just been experimenting/practicing with wrapping Sketchup's 3d text with Chris's Shape Bender, and rounding the corners off etc, seeing just how smooth I can get rendered 3d titles (using Twilight).
As I understand, Sketchup uses the existing windows fonts to generate these shapes, but always facets them quite severely, capital "O" being about as curvy as it gets, with only 40 segments.
Other text in Sketchup displays just fine, but I guess it's being generated directly by the original font.
Besides just reconstructing the generated 3D text completely, can anyone think of any "jiggery-pokery" that might up the segment count of Sketchup's 3D fonts and get them nice n' smooth?
Cheers folks,
Woz.
Also forgot to post a pic of the intersection...
Hi Jeff,
here's 2 demo files, with, and without, the lines joining on the Blue Axis.
As I said, i had to resort to making a verical plane on each, intersecting the planes to get the Blue axis crossover pont, then deleting the unwanted stuff (which, by that stage is really evertything except for the vertical halfway mark on the new very short intersecting lines).
And yes, I've held "shift", and my mouth, every which way. But I guess the trick is how do you tell Sketchup that you want the inference for joining these two lines to be on the blue axis, and where their vectors intersect it, without it just locking up the line-making tool on the blue axis as soon as you press the up-down arrows.
@unknownuser said:
do you mind uploading an example .skp showing the before and desired after? (just real simple.. not the whole model)
it sounds like you just need to use the shift key but you're implying that it's not working out.. i'm probably not picturing the scenario properly so the example would help
Hi folks,
today's adventure, a friend asked if we should have a go amateyuer surveying his (highly contoured) land with a makeshift sort of a "dumpey level" with the idea of dreaming up his dream home in sketchup.
well, after painting a bunch of pebbles fluro orange, placing them about in strategic spots, and sighting them from various spots, we have all these lovely vector-looking lines criss-crossing my model of the site that each 'nearly" intersect at where the pebbles should be in 3d space but never quite.
They're usually off by a good few inches, but we'll just take where they intersect on the "blue" axis as the ground location of each sighted pebble (splitting the height difference in the length of a line drawn vertically between the two).
Now, one thing I KNOW sketchup looks like it must be capable of doing - but I've yet to discover how - is running the line tool first along one of these pairs of crossing lines, so it gets the idea, holding Shift (or whatever key/s will do it) then running along the intersecting line above or below until it gives a 'BINGO!" you've got it message for tou to click and make the vertical intersect joining line.
I've needed this before on many models, but usually resort to making a vertical plane on eeach ine, intersecting those, then getting rid of the excess.
So... I'll bet I really feel like a bit of a dummy when told of what the real shortcut is.
Something like I'd always been making fresh water by buying and burning Hydrogen/Oxygen & condensing the steam, then being told "you CAN just collect it from that stream over there"...
ahhh... I see!
It works just absolutely spot-on now!!
...now to re-learn some Keyframe animation & such, and see if I can put this chap through his paces.
Thanks so much again Kwok!
It's... it's....
"gahhd. I'm a doctor, not a scientist Jim!"
@jim57 said:
Beautiful!
But I gotta ask— what's the light source for the shadows?
;—)
Jim
WOW, WOW ... and tripple WOW!
Thank you sooooo much Kwok!!!
It works a TREAT!!!
What took me ages before I can now just clickety-click 1 degree at a time to reposition the parts anywhere. It just struck me that this might be perfect for anyone wanting to perhaps play "Gondwanaland" by "jigsaw-ing" all the continents on an Earth globe. maybe operating multi-part hemispherical "Airlock" doors on a starship... The mind boggles.
I'm still wading through trying your mods to see what you changed to do the magic. Do the pieces rotate on the origin now or the component centers?
The only thing now is the way using the home/end keys appear to rotate the parts in the z true axis. If you'll notice they "dig in" to the surface as you rotate them.
I wonder, is there a way to get that function still rotating about the component's volume, but centered toward the same axis as the others? Or would that be an extremely complicated thing to do? Somehow, it seems like that might make this modification to your plug-in truly universal for spherical surface work.
At any rate, thanks so much for your help.
Woz
%(#BFFFFF)[I made a few changes to the "key rotate" plugin and I think it now does what you want. I didn't change much, if you look at the code. I commented out the few lines I changed, so you can see what I changed.
You need to remove the current "key rotate" plugin or they will conflict. Changing the file extention to .txt will do, if you don't want to delete it.
[attachment=0:1xpkh394]<!-- ia0 -->ky_Key Rotate_modified for sun animation.rb<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1xpkh394]
-Kwok[/quote]]
Hi guys,
Here's the mysterious "moving spherical shells" doohickey I've been working on.
Here's the Sketchup file of the thing in question
What started as a fun school project with daughter has somewhat snowballed after I theorized that doing the Sun THIS way in Sketchup might be possible. Presently I've just got it to a stage where the 2 "cloud" eyebrows, cheeks, eyes (just both pupils on the same shell underneath), and upper & lower lips, are all made into components, each with all their axis commoned to a point in the back (marked by the arrow tip).
I still feel that ideal solution to move these bits around would be to modify the "Key rotate" plug-in, as it does most of precisely what I wanted, and can be modified to do 1 degree steps. So far though, after 2 weeks of beginners level Ruby study, and poking about inside Key Rotate, I'm still none the wiser as to exactly how to change what to get it to rotate the components around anything other than the physical centers of the bits themselves.
Presently I just need to "pose" the face and its bits in lots & lots of positions/expressions. But ultimately I''d love to use it as a fun key-frame animation learning/exercise.
Thanks once again everybody.
Oh, and here's the previous thread:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=37372