Plugin: Custom Toolbars Beta 1

This is a beta release. This means it may not be stable and could cause problems. As always, do test this on an unimportant model first.

Download and extract the files keeping the folder structure.

In Plugins/Toolbars see the Commands.html file for a list of supported commands (image).

Some of the icons are not ready yet, and will display a "no icon" icon. A special thanks goes out to Nathan Cheever for his fantastic icons, thanks Nathan!

Toolbar files are simple text files with a list of commands and separators. See one of the included toolbar .txt files as an example.

To enable the toolbars, go to the Extensions tab in the Window > Preferences menu; select Custom Toolbars. The toolbars will appear in the View > Toolbars menu.

Download toolbars_beta01.zip

City Planning With SketchUp: Santa Rosa, CA

The city is creating the virtual world on the cheap, using free software provided by Google.

3-D Visions | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

Click and Drag Unfolding

This is just a demo video showing a new interface for my Unfold Tool. Instead of needing to click every segment of a curve, you can click and drag to select them.

Special thanks to alz for the suggestion.

Video: Character Posing in SketchUp

Justin Chin posted a short article and video on his blog showing how he does character "rigging" and posing in SketchUp.



It's not the first rigging video Justin has published:



Of course, all of Justin's videos are well worth viewing, as are his other articles on... well everything. Just read it all.

Video: Intersect With Model

Here's a new SketchUp video demonstrating SketchUp's "Intersect With" features.

Polygon Reducer 0.1 Released

Dale Martens (Whaat) has release his Polyreducer plugin in a SketchUcation Community Forums article.

Hi all,

I want to release this script so I can get on to other things. It's not perfect but it works pretty well. I don't know if I will work on this script any more. Anyone is free to take over where I left off.

Dale is also the author of Skindigo and Subdivide and Smooth plugins. For more about Dale, read an interview in the latest CatchUp newsletter.

(via SketchUcation)

SU2KT 3.1 Beta

ToMasz has announce a new beta for SketchUp-to-Kerkythea.

Most important new features are:

- instanced export (default option) - hi poly models exported in minutes!

- proxy objects (select hi-poly component , right click - 'SU2KT:Replace by proxy object', original component will be hidden and proxy will occur - copy proxy object as you wish - or use Didier's component Spray!)

- TEXTURES (not pictures) with transparency channel (alpha) will use transparency in KT automatically

- Multiple Import\Attach WebDialog

(link)

Modelling The Pink Panther by Solo

SCF forum moderator solo has posted a few work-flow screen shots of what he does when he's "between assignments." Simply remarkable.

view thread

solo's place (blog)

SkIndigo 1.0.9 Released

SkIndigo is an Indigo exporter for SketchUp.

(Announcement on SCF)

Surface Tools Plugins

Fredo6 is at it again with more surface tools. This time he adds a Line on Surface tool, and an improved Offset on Surface tool. And if that is not enough, he's working on an entire suite of tools that mimic the native tools, only operate on non-planar surfaces.

Read the thread here, with download.

SketchUp Web Exporter

watkins was first to post about this SketchUp training video. It appears to be a web exporter in development by Google.

The video itself demonstrates using the web exporter plugin. How it works is by exporting a series of images; each pointed at the model from a different angle. Javascript is then used to animate the images in a web browser to give the illusion of rotating in 3d.

There advantages and disadvantages to using this method. The main advantage is it is supported by all browsers on all operating systems. The main disadvantage is that if there are a lot of large images, it could slow your system down.

The readers of the SketchUcation Ruby Forum actually proposed this same idea back in March, but we never followed through with it. You can still read the thread, and see some demos of SketchUp models exported using this technique.

Plugin: Random Rays

Another early plugin of randomness. It creates a number of rays extending outward from a single point. Rays are created as a Group, and are constrained by a sphere.

Get it here.

Plugin: Random Background Color Cycle

This plugin randomly and slowly (almost imperceptibly) cycles the background color while you work. It has no other purpose - it's just an interesting experience to suddenly notice your background has changed colors.

Download it.

Plugin: Random Lines

Here's an old experiment. Lines are created in a Group.

Download random_lines.rb

Plugin: Auto CenterPoint

Auto Centerpoint automatically adds a centerpoint to circles, arcs, and polygons.

Update Sep 2011 - This is an older plugin and not well implemented. I am not recommending to install this plugin in its current state.


Requires SketchUp Version 6 (since it uses observers.)

05/04/2008 - New Version

• No longer uses the Extension dialog - use the toolbar button to enable/disabled centerpoint creation as needed.
• Point not created until a new tool is selected. (Allows changing the diameter using the VCB.)
• Adds CP to circles, arcs, and polygons.
• CP's are added to CenterPoint layer.
• Works with Push/Pull, but only when creating new geometry.
• Works within the current context. Need to toggle the button if you want to work inside of a Group.
• Need to toggle the button when starting a New Model.

To install, extract the files keeping the folder structure, and move to your Plugins folder. Overwrite the files if they already exists.

Later that day... John Clements was kind enough to create this icon. If your version does not use it, you can right-click and save it in the auto_centerpoint folder in Sketchup/Plugins. Thanks John. The following download also uses this icon.

auto_centerpoint.zip

SketchUp Polygon Reducing Plugin Teaser

Dale Martens, author of the recent Subdivide and Smooth plugin, has posted 3 teaser images on the SketchUcation Ruby Forum.

This is the perfect compliment to Subdivide.

View thread here.

SketchyBevel Plugin Released

Chris Phillips, author of SketchyPhysics and other great plugins, has released an early version of a beveling plugin.

Chris admits it's not perfect, but has limited time to work on it. He was kind enough to release it early to allow users to begin working with it.

It's available here.

SketchUp Video: Importing CAD Preparations

Here's a new video by SketchUpVideo demonstrating some beginner-level techniques and preparations about importing CAD files.