SketchUp Plugins and Blog: 2009

on 12/28/2009

Dave Richards has posted an excellent video showing his approach to drawing in SketchUp.

In the video, Dave makes fast work of drawing a fern stand using SketchUp's Tools; and is focused on (smart) modeling techniques and work-flow.

The video assumes only basic SketchUp skills, but even expert users might learn something new.

View the article on Fine Woodworking's Design. Click. Build blog.

on 12/23/2009

on 12/19/2009

Martin Rinehart has added a few chapters (11 - 14) about SketchUp/Ruby programming to his Edges to Rubies tutorial.

on 12/19/2009

I came across this plugin while looking at github for project hosting.

It is a tool that adds a glue-tab on selected edges:

Download here

on 12/19/2009

Here's an update from Gabriel -

The biggest changes are the following:

1. The settings are now automatically saved.

2. The Sun's altitude and azimuth for the day can be saved to a html file for easy viewing.

3. The north angle in Sketchup can be customized and an option for viewing the north angle has also been added.

To anyone who already has one of the older versions of this plugin installed, this newest one is definitely worth the upgrade!

Thanks!
Gabriel

[ Sketchup Sun Position Plugin ]

on 12/17/2009

The beginnings of a Finite Element Analysis plugin for SketchUp is being developed by a user named qpik.

The author is seeking input from the community about how best to apply the mathematics in SketchUp. If you think you can help, please join the discussion on sketchucation.

on 12/17/2009

Chris Fullmer released a new SketchUp plugin to save a walk-through, and export it as a series of images.

This plugin will record your navigation movements and export them as a series of images. You can then put them together into a movie using something like Quicktime Pro.

Camera Recorder is hosted on sketchucation.com

on 12/12/2009

Google SketchUp software engineers are asking the developer community to provide feedback about the Sketchup Observer classes.

In order to try to prioritize which Observer to fix first I would love to collect some data on the following topics:

what are the Observers that you would like to see added to SketchUp?

which are the observers that you would like to use but that do not work?

When I have some data I am hoping to push for fixing/adding those.

The discussion can be read here.

on 12/05/2009

Colr Explorer is a SketchUp plug-in for exploring colors through searches and tags.

It's simple, intuitive windows allows you to search for tagged colors, select the tags, and find similar colors to add to your model.

Selecting the color swatch will add that color to the SketchUp model, and start the Paint tool so you may begin coloring with the selected color immediately.

You will need to be online to use this plug-in.

Download Page

Installation:

Download and unzip the files to your disk drive. Then move the contents into your Plugins folder, and restart SketchUp. The folder should look very similar to the image if installed correctly.

Colr Explorer uses data (with permission) from the www.colr.org website - a free site where you can create color schemes, and tag both individual colors and schemes.

Colr Explorer uses the microajax.js - a tiny and easy AJAX library.

on 12/02/2009

Adam Billyard, developer of LightUp for SketchUp posted this texturing helper plugin:

Goldilocks analyzes your materials and model with respect to the current viewpoint and produces a bar chart showing which textures are about the right resolution (green bars), and which are too high resolution resulting in wasted space/larger filesize, or too low resolution resulting in a blurry look - both shown as red bars.

[ goldilocks.rb is host on SCF ]

on 11/29/2009

Just curious if anyone has experienced this annoying behavior. Watch the Glue to: option closely...

What apparently happens is that the Glue to: option is still active even though the I have switched to the Select tab of the dialog. Eother rolling the mouse wheel, or pressing the up/down cursor keys will then change the option!

Do other dialogs behave in the same way?

on 11/27/2009

Version 1.2 contains significant improvements in quality, stability, and performance. This was made possible because it is based on the next generation of LGS 3D geometric constraint solving software component recently released by LEDAS. The new version generates solutions that users would expect to see as outcomes. When users now modify the parameters of driving dimensions, most edges and faces remain unchanged; the only ones to change are those needed to satisfy the new parameter values. In addition, the time to solve constraints has been significantly reduced, with the Driving Dimensions plug-in now up to ten times faster than the previous version on large models.

14 Wood Textures @ cadyou.com · on 11/21/2009

14 nice wood textures via Cadyou: User: madhav

on 11/20/2009

It turns out the Mac version number for the latest release is not the same as the Windows version. I correctly reported the latest Windows version as:

Windows: 7.1.6087

However the correct Mac version for the latest maintenance release is:

Mac: 7.1.5803

Enjoy your weekend.

on 11/20/2009

Adam posted a couple of updates for LightUp this week:

A new version of LightUp is available that addresses a number of small issues.
Almost there with an Educational programme for LightUp that will offer the full version of LightUp at a reduced price for students.
Updated French Language additions for LightUp are available.

[ LightUp for SketchUp ]

on 11/19/2009

A new maintenenace relase for Google Sketchup 7.1 is making its appearance today.

Although, no official word has been made, there are reports of the new version starting to appear on the download page and update servers. (Help menu --> Check for Update)

The version for this release is: 7.1.6087

The release notes have been published here already .

SketchUp:
Crashes:

* (Mac only) Under certain conditions, painting with the current material or clicking on a previously used material in a new model could cause SketchUp to crash. This crash should no longer occur.
* (Mac only) SketchUp can crash when zooming in large models if the "Use Hardware Acceleration" option (SketchUp > Preferences > OpenGL) is turned OFF. This bug actually appears to be caused by the software renderer, and we're working with Apple to provide a fix. To workaround the issue, on first launch of this maintenance release, hardware acceleration is turned ON for all Mac users. If you turn hardware acceleration OFF again, the crash currently could return.

Selection/inferencing:

* In the previous version selecting and inferencing seemed less precise. It was sometimes necessary to zoom in more in 7.1 than in previous versions of SketchUp and SketchUp could feel less snappy. Selection and inferencing now feel accurate and snappy again.
* In SketchUp 7.1 the intersection inference of two faces was not always found unless x-ray mode was turned on. Intersection inferences should be available again in this case.
* Text and section planes were sometimes not selected. When opening some models with text on different layers, it occasionally happened that text and section planes could no longer be selected until SketchUp was reopened. This issue has been fixed and text and section planes should always be able to be selected.
* When drawing a line from edge to edge in one of the axis directions, you could see an "intersection" inference when you should see an "on edge" inference. This issue has been fixed.
* Finite guides could be incorrectly selected. Finite guides created via Ruby were previously selected as if they were infinite guides - i.e. if you picked a point parallel to the guide or did a crossing select in that same area, the guide was incorrectly selected. These guides should now be selected only if they are directly picked.

Display:

* When editing a component and selecting a component within it, instances of that component were incorrectly highlighted if the "hide similar components" setting was checked. Instances are no longer highlighted in this case.
* Text or dimensions added to an intersection were drawn incorrectly. Text or dimensions added to intersections would previously be drawn at the origin, they should now draw where they are placed.
* Section planes appeared triangulated. When a section plane was placed directly on certain slanted surfaces, it displayed triangular faces. Section planes should no longer appear triangulated.

Collada

* Hidden geometry within groups was incorrectly exported to Google Earth. Previously, hidden geometry within a group or component was visible in Google Earth when the model was exported to Google Earth. This issue has been fixed.
* Component or group names were not exported. The Collada exporter previously did not preserve component or group names. This DAE exporter now remembers these names.
* KMZs created by earlier versions of SketchUp were not always imported correctly. In SketchUp 7.1, simple opaque colors in KMZs created in older versions of SketchUp would import as transparent. This issue has been fixed.
* (Mac only) Canceling KMZ or DAE export caused issues with subsequent exports. After canceling a KMZ or DAE export, subsequent exports would no longer work. This issue has been fixed.
* (Mac only) The "Export Components Hierarchy" option for the DA exporter couldn't be set. The "Export Components Hierarchy" option was always exporting as if it were unchecked. SketchUp should now respect whatever setting is chosen for this option.
* Placing a model twice resulted in multiple temporary places in Google Earth. When placing a model in Google Earth multiple times, the temporary place in Google Earth was not overwritten and a new temporary place was created. The temporary place should now be overwritten.

Other:

* (Mac only) Measurements box was not always responding to input. When a user brought focus to the Measurements box on the Mac by clicking in it or tabbing to it, the Measurements box no longer accepted input. This issue has been fixed.
* (Mac only)Styles browser didn't work with UTF-16 languages. When running an English version of SketchUp with a UTF-16 language setting (i.e., Korean, Chinese, Japanese), the Styles browser didn't work and was labeled "Generic browser." This issue has been fixed.
* Not always prompted to save model after uploading a component. When opening a model and uploading a component to the 3D Warehouse, SketchUp didn't always prompt the user to save the model. Saving the model is necessary after an upload in order to uniquely identify the component to the 3D Warehouse. This issue has been fixed.
* Links in Photo Texture failed to start a new browser instance. When clicking on the links in the License agreement for the Photo Texture feature, SketchUp didn't start a new browser instance making it confusing to return to the agreement. This issue has been fixed.
* Needed a way to test the origin of polygons. A Ruby method (Sketchup::Curve.is_polygon?) for testing if polygons were made with the Circle or Polygon tool has now been added.

LayOut

Crashes

* Crashing when moving models or lines. In certain scenarios, a file could become corrupt, and LayOut would crash when attempting to move or rotate a specific entity in that file. LayOut should be able to handle those files without crashing now.
* Crashing when adding or sharing a layer. It was occasionally possible for a file's layer list to become corrupt. This could cause a crash when attempting to add or share a layer. New files should no longer get corrupted in this way, and older files that showed this problem should now work as expected.
* Crashing when copy/pasting an invalid text box. It was possible to create an invalid, empty text box using the Label tool. LayOut would then crash if that invalid text box was copied and pasted. LayOut no longer creates an invalid text box, and no longer crashes when the text is pasted.
* (Mac only) Crashing when closing a document. LayOut could crash when closing a document if the Document Setup dialog was open to the Grid panel. This crash has been fixed.
* (Mac only) Crashing when rendering Hybrid or Vector SketchUp models. When rendering the far edge of a model's extents in Hybrid or Vector mode, LayOut could crash. This crash has been fixed.
* (Mac only) Crashing when exporting very large PDF files. When exporting PDFs of very large files, LayOut could hang or crash. LayOut now handles the export more efficiently and should export without crashing.
* (Windows only) Crashing when opening certain files with Auto-Render on. It was possible to see a crash when opening certain files when the SketchUp Auto-Render setting was turned on. This crash should be fixed.

Dimensions

* When creating a dimension that used Auto-Scale, the Dimension Style panel could show the wrong scale and Auto Scale setting. This has been fixed.
* When disconnecting a model-space dimension from its model, the Dimension Style panel didn't update to show that the dimension had been converted to paper-space. It now updates to show that Auto-Scale can be toggled on or off and that the scale is 1:1.
* It was possible to toggle the Auto-Scale button and chose a new scale while creating a model-space dimension, but neither of these settings actually affected that dimension. The Auto-Scale button is now disabled, and the scale will show "No Scale."

Text

* (Windows only) When switching between open documents, the Text Style > List > Start At value of one document could be mistakenly used in another document. This has been fixed; the "Start At" value is no longer carried from one file to another.
* (Mac only) When pasting new text into an unbounded text box, the existing text could lose its formatting. This bug has been fixed.

Other

* Unchecking the Document Setup > Major Grid checkbox did not toggle the visibility of the major grid when points were used. This checkbox works with the point grid now.
* The "Save As Version 1" setting could create files that LayOut 1 could not read. This would occur if the file contained dimensions or bulleted lists. This issue has been fixed. When saving a document as Version 1, dimensions are now removed from the file, and the bulleted lists are saved in a format that can be read by LayOut 1.
* (Mac only) When exporting a PDF, the options dialog listed a "Create PDF Layers from LayOut Layers" setting, which was always disabled. It's not possible to export layers to PDF, so it was impossible for the user to enable this option. We removed this setting to avoid confusion.
* If a SketchUp model used a clipping mask, it was possible to see snapping inferences to parts of the model that were clipped - and not visible. This has been fixed; LayOut should no longer snap to the geometry that is hidden by a clipping mask.
* On Machines that use international number formatting (where commas indicate the equivalent of US decimal points), it wasn't possible to create a line that was less than 1 pt wide. For instance, it wasn't possible to create a 0,35 pt line. This is fixed.
* Minor changes have been made to the default templates. There were a number of text boxes that contained kerning, which would cause a template to look different on Mac (which has kerning built into the native OS text system) and PC (which does not). The kerning has been removed from the text boxes.

on 11/19/2009

squarepolygon.com is a new, 3D-related site where you can find answers fast by searching questions and (soon) searching tags. You can post your own questions, or provide answers to other questions.

The site is user-driven - members can vote up or down both the questions and the answers leading to better content. As more people provide feedback, the best content will naturally rise out of the mix.

Members can earn reputation points as they ask and answer questions. Users with higher reputations gain the ability to edit contents of questions similar to a wiki. (All user content is licensed under a Creative Commons License)

If you're stuck on a specific problem, or need a answer quickly, squarepolygon will likely be the quickest way to find an answer. Even if you just want to learn something new, the site's design and features will make your time well spent.

In order for the site to reach its potential, your participation is key. Visit squarepolygon.com and get in early on what will be a great community resource.

squarepolygon.com was created by Tom Moor, who in just over the past year has created not just squarepolygon.com, but 3dfilter.com and cadyou.com!

on 11/19/2009

Overview
I often get tasks to model terrain and context buildings for project we do. It's dog boring work!
Today when I got a new such project with a large plan I thought there had to be a better way to do most of this repetitive work. So I wrote a crude script to lessen some of my burden.

The purpose of this script was just to get the bulk work done. Don't expect any magic from it.

[ this sketchup plugins is hosted on scf | see more of Thom's plugins ]

on 11/18/2009

Another cool script from TIG:

Extrude by Rails is a tool where you select a curve to extrude, then select the side "rails" which the initial curve will follow - one for each side.

[available via scf ]

on 11/17/2009

As of Monday, Twilight Render v1.1 is out with some new features fixes:

Additional language support:

Spanish

French

Chinese (simplified and traditional)

Japanese

German

New View and Framing Tool:

Frames exactly what will be rendered and adds guide lines to aid composition

Condenses pan, orbit and look around functions into one handy tool

Allows you to accurately set the focus distance without reorienting the camera

Can be linked to a SketchUp keyboard shortcut for quick access

Grey bars are no longer needed

And More!

on 11/06/2009

Here is a great time-lapse video showing how a SketchUp user called elfpainter from Korea uses SketchUp and Paint.net to create comic illustrations.

on 11/06/2009

sketchucation forum member a4chitect has released a new plugin called SmartPushPull.

It is still in rapid development, so all the planned features are not implemented yet; but it's already a great addition to your modeling toolset.

[ SmartPushPull is available on Sketchucation Forums ]

on 11/05/2009

I will be experimenting with using Google Wave to provide support for my plugins, or any related issue for that matter. Just add username plugins.blog to your Wave contacts. Of course, you can also use the Contacts from or email shown under the titlebar of this blog.

on 11/04/2009

A recent plugin of mine, Make Ortho Views, was mentioned on Fine Woodworking's Design. Click. Build. blog. Author and SketchUp Woodworking expert Dave Richards did a nice write-up on how the plugin can be used. Thank you Dave!

In addition to the Design. Click. Build blog, you can see more of Dave's SketchUp work in Fine Woodworking's Tools and Shops 2010. Dave produced the fantastic illustrations and accompanying plans in SketchUp for the article "A Workbench 30 years in the Making" (also available through fww.) Dave Richards can be reached at Design. Click. Build.

on 11/03/2009

Al Hart (renderplus.com) posted a nifty render-helper called Align Camera Light. This plugin aligns a lighting component to the current SketchUp camera. Move the camera, and re-run the plugin to update the lighting component position as needed.

To us, create a lighting component for your renderer of choice.Here I have added 2 point lights, and made a Component of them.

Rename the Component to "camera_light".

Then simply select the Align Camera Light item from the Plugins menu, and the lighting component will be positioned and aligned to the current camera position.

That's it. An quick and easy way to set up lighting for a render.

on 11/02/2009

Just a couple of quick links to download the PDF version of the Google SketchUp manual and Quick Reference Card.

on 10/30/2009

Really focussed on handling of large models for v1.7 - we're seeing huge performance increases on large models.

- Significantly better at handling large models. Both in terms of lighting times which is improved but also Tourtool which is 5x faster.
- 1-click light source placement (Alt/Apple + Left mouse click with Query Tool)
- Interactive aiming of multiple light sources (Ctrl/Alt + Left mouse button with Query Tool)
- Canceling in progress lighting
- Stability improvements and bug fixes
- IES lights look in a "Lights" folder relative to your .skp file making moving files to other computers easier.
- Honoring "Hide" for individual faces
- Stop/start animation controls
- Option to use or ignore current Selection in lighting
- Fix for FBX exporter not handling some hierarchies correctly
- Fix for weird magnifying reflections
- Many fixes to IBL calculations
- Light bleeding problems fixed in many cases.
- IES Type B light support (stadium/sports lighting)
- Saves last Capture dialog state so as to not keeping popping it up each time Tourtool is used
- Compressed texture support on graphics cards that support it

Light-Up: 30 day free trial - $149 to buy

on 10/29/2009

Just a note that I provide a shared page/RSS feed for the latest SketchUp models from FormFonts and Cadyou.com - it's a great way to keep updated when new models are posted.

on 10/22/2009

Cleanup is a sketchup plugin to select and erase co-polanar and lonely edges.

It is written to take advantage of features in the latest SketchUp 7.1, and does a superb job of cleaning up uneeded edges. It will work with previous versions of Sketchup, but the results may not be as good.

Cleanup is written by Thomas Thomassen - a freelance modelmaker, designer, and webdesigner/programmer located in Trondheim, Norway .

[ Cleanup is hosted at SCF | See more TT's plugins | Thomas Thomassen ]

on 10/20/2009

I got this request in my contacts form - I don't have an answer, so hopefully one of our fine audience members knows the answer:

Hello: I'm trying to import 3D drawings developed in Solidworks. I have the drawing in(*.eprt) format. Can you help me?

on 10/19/2009

Tell Google what you would like to see for SketchUp, and vote for the best ideas.

Product Ideas for SketchUp

on 10/19/2009

TIG's TruTangents v1.6 - now supports tangential arcs (see left image.)

SCF Hosted Plugin

TIG's (also) 2D Tools reaches version 3.6 - finally tracking down and fixing a bug when opening a dialog on some Windows machines. If you were having trouble using 2D Tools Hatching, this should fix it.

on 10/14/2009

Here's a new free-form modeling plugin by kirill called Curve Control Points.

this script adds control construction points to curves, then it is possible to affect curve shape by moving, rotating, scaling of control points

Visit kirills web site, and watch more videos.

on 10/09/2009

This article was written in response to a question asked on the Google SketchUp Help forum. I've covered this before, but it comes up often enough that it justifies another post.

A highly reliable way to find the Plugins folder is to ask SketchUp where it is located.

Type (or copy and paste) the following line into the lower part of Sketchup's Ruby Console, and press ENTER. (The Ruby Console can be opened from SketchUp's Window menu.)

Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins")

You will always get the correct location of the Plugins folder for the computer you are using.

Using a Separate Plugins Folder

If you do not have the rights to put files in Sketchup's Plugins folder, you may still be able to use many plugins from your HOME folder, or even from a portable media device.

Using the portable device as an example, create a folder on the device to store the plugin files - "plugins" might be an obvious choice. Then, Install the plugin files to the plugins folder you created. Using the Ruby Console, enter the following text - but use the full path to the plugins folder you created: (In this example, I will use e:/plugins on a Windows operating system, but note that the drive letter will likely vary from one computer to another.)

require_all("e:/plugins")

Not all plugins will work when loaded from a non-standard location, but a good many will. And it may be possible to modify the ones that do not work to allow them to work; but that's a topic for another day.

on 10/06/2009

I installed a new template that will hopefully fix the comments on this blog. Also installed SyntaxHighlighter:


UI.add_context_menu_handler do |menu|
    sel = Sketchup.active_model.selection
    if sel.nitems == 1
        if sel[0].is_a? Sketchup::Group or sel[0].is_a? Sketchup::ComponentInstance
            menu.add_item("Reset Transformation") { sel[0].transformation = IDENTITY }
            menu.add_item("Move to Origin") {
                tr = sel[0].transformation.to_a
                tr[12] = 0
                tr[13] = 0
                tr[14] = 0
                sel[0].transformation = tr
            }
        end
    end
end

on 10/05/2009

SketchUp 2 Kerkythea version 3.1 released. Lot's of new features and fixes:

- faster full mesh export of big models (The Church model 2.6M Triangles - previously ca. 45 min, now 9 minutes!) by Stefan Jaensch
- photo-match works now inside groups and components by SJ
- Fix for material export/import: Materials are now coloredSJ

- components exported as instances in Instanced mode (The Church exported in ca. 2 minutes!)
- ability to create a proxy object of a component

- Scenes export by Tim Crandall- it allows to render SU Animate animations
- Animation export with FULL model per frame (supports proper_animation plugin, haven't tested it with Sketchy Physics)

- Fix for wrong EMITTER values
- Support for transparency in PNGs and TIFs (Textures)

- Rendering method selection for Animation & Scenes export (custom methods can be coppied to 'Plugins/su2kt' folder
+ both animation methods export all necessary data and render straight out of SU.

- double quotes, quotes, slashes and etc, fix by Nicetuna

Kerkythea Rendering System :: View topic - [NEW VERSION] SU2KT 3.1

on 9/29/2009

I ran across this operation in Google Earth. I don't suppose anyone might recognize what type of activity is going on here:

on 9/28/2009

But mostly via SCF

2D Tools is at v2.9

Tools on Surface version 1.5c

Vismap development continues [version unknown ]

Help organize and develop a plugins package manager for SketchUp.

French translation for Chris Fullmer's Shape Bender plugin

TIG's lathe plugin is at version 1.6

Mini-plugin to make Face-Me Components from Components on a Layer

Alex Schreyer posted a Ruby Cheat-Sheet

Here's a mirror of the API site for offline use.

on 9/28/2009

I've had a couple reports that the comments form is broken. I didn't change anything, so I'll need to dig into the template and report back.

on 9/25/2009

Lay Off is a SketchUp plugin that changes the visibility behavior of new Layers.

When enabled, added Layers are visible only in the current Scene only, and hidden in all other Scenes (current and future.) When disabled, you get the "normal" SketchUp behavior you are used to.

Lay Off appears in the Plugins menu, and also has a toolbar button. Toggle the button on/off anytime while modeling. Models that are saved with Lay Off enabled, will re-open with it enabled; however, Lay Off is always OFF when starting a new model.

Adding Layers when there are no Scenes in the model will result in none of the added Layers visible in any Scene added afterwards.

LayOff is $9.00 and is available through smustard.com

on 9/22/2009

Just announced.

SketchUp 7.1

on 9/18/2009

I wrote a quick plugin to read an ascii data file of points, and create edges between consecutive points.

The data files needs to be ascii and consists 2 or 3 delimited numbers per line. The numbers represent the x, y (and optionally) z positions of the points.

The delimiters can be any of: comma, semi-colon, space, or tab.

It may be downloaded here: plot_data_file.rb

on 9/17/2009

[Plugin] Tools On Surface - v1.5b (Refresh - 17 Sep 09)

[New Version - 17 Sep 08 - 23:30 CET] Version 1.5b
This version is a complete refresh, focusing on the User Interface and Usability.
You need to install LibFredo6 3.4 or higher. See file and details at http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=17947#p144178.
Note: those who downloaded v1.5a before 17 Sep 09 23:35 CET had a missing file. Please reinstall version 1.5b. Thanks to Daniel S. for signaling the problem.

Here are the main evolutions:

Button palette to view and access all options (also available from contextual menu and Short cuts)
You can Switch to Any tool from within Any tool, with the side palette
There is a generic icon button, keeping in memory the latest selected tool when used. Actually you can keep only this button in the toolbar if you have real estate problems.
All parameters are preserved across Sketchup sessions (by default)
The VCB accept formulas and unit specification for Length (for instance 3.2mm+0.4cm will mean 0.72cm). Angles can be specifed in degrees, radians, grades or % for slope.
Rings for Shapes can be visualized in a special palette (but can still be entered in the VCB with offset folowed by 'x')
Freehand On Surface now includes a Point & Click mode, in addition to the existing drag-over mode. You can mix up drawing with and without inferences (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdqsYAbUfTE)
Line On Surface now generate faces
Angular Shapes like Rectangle, Parallelogram and Sector are generated as discrete curves so that you keep the sharp angles as plain lines when doing a Push Pull
The script comes with my ugly icons at installation, but you can switch to CadFather's ones, much nicer, in the Default Parameter dialog box, and also select the one you want to keep and discard.
And it's good to know that ToolsOnSurface also works without a surface. There is a trick explained in the doc to select the plane (mouse over a face and just press SHIFT, without clicking)

I did not change the algorithm for computing contours on surface. So you'll find the same limitations, especially on closed surfaces. I'll do something in a next release.
Documentation -->

Quickcard - ToolsOnSurface - English - v1.5 - 12 Sep 09.pdf
(770.04 KB) Downloaded 18 times

If you do not read it, it's a good idea to check out the tooltips of the button palette and the contextual menu.

ToolsOnSurface v1.5 is a Suite of Tools drawing on curved surfaces, with lines, various shapes, offset and Freehand / Polyline. It provides an inference mechanism, a Contour Editor and a dedicated Eraser.

moreshapes.jpg

Shapes includes:

* Circle and Polygon (already present in v1.2)
* Rectangle, defined by its length and width
* Parallelogram, defined by its length, width and angle
* Ellipses, defined by axes
* Circle defined by 3 points
* Arcs (circular)
* Sectors, defined by origin, direction and angle

All shapes have in addition the option to draw Rings, that is, the same contour offset by a negative or positive distance. And of course, all generated contours can be later edited by the Contour Edition tool.

The inference mechanism tries to simulate some stickiness when lines are drawn along some remarkable directions. There is also a Lock inference mechanism to force drawing in a particular direction. A Protractor can help to pick particular angles.

To install, Unzip the attached file, by doing a Select All, Extract to the Plugins Sketchup folder and Overwriting ALL files. See Documentation for details.

on 9/17/2009

TIG, the impossibly prolific one-man plugin-writing machine, has posted another awesome plugin: Lathe.

Lathe is similar to Follow Me, only better. It works with polylines and not strictly faces, but will also use the edges of a selected face for the profile.

You are then asked for the the sweep angle and number of rotation:

Then, select the Lathe Axis:

Reverse Faces?

And Done!

Lathe is available on SCF

on 9/17/2009

Tim Halbur wanted to get the word out about an upcoming series of hour-long SketchUp training webinars aimed at urban planners, designers, and developers:

We're offering a number of online trainings on using SketchUp for urban planners and designers. We'd be thankful if you would post a link to help us get the word out. Press release follows, and can also be linked to at: http://www.planetizen.com/node/40752

Using Google for Urban Planning and Design

Free Google applications and technologies are creating a vast field of opportunity for people interested in the operation and design of urban places. Google SktechUp, Maps and Earth make understanding and re-imagining land use and development incredibly easy.

To teach people how to use these technologies in the context of urban planning, a series of webinars will be offered this fall by Planetizen, the web's leading home for news and information about urban planning and development. These informative sessions will introduce planners, designers and developers to new technologies and skills that will help expand knowledge of the field.

Each webinar will take place on Wednesdays at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern. The cost is just $49.95. All Webinar Wednesday sessions have been approved to provide AICP Certification Maintenance credits.

Webinar Wednesdays Schedule:

September 23
Introduction to SketchUp for Planners
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech120

September 30
Density Conceptualization with SketchUp
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech220

October 21
Using Google Maps and Mashups for Planning
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech240

October 28
Google Earth for Planners -- An Introduction
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech130

November 4
The Virtual Staff Report -- Using the Free Version of Google Earth
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech230

November 11
The Virtual Staff Report -- Advanced Google Earth for Planners
http://www.planetizen.com/courses/tech330

Learn more about all of the education options Planetizen provides at http://www.planetizen.com/courses

on 9/17/2009

SketchUp guru Daniel Tal wrote in to say he has a new book out called "Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture"

Site design professionals can now use the powerful tools of Google SketchUp for their own practices. This clear and focused illustrated guide explains how site professionals can use the SketchUp tools and functions to construct expressive models of exterior spaces and architecture.

Utilizing the methodology known as SketchUp Process Modeling, the guide takes you step by step from the basics to more advanced methods that incorporate terrain, AutoCAD, and the creation of complex forms.

The book is available at amazon.com : Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture

on 9/17/2009

on 9/16/2009

Just wanted to try MS Writer for blog posting.

275

on 9/16/2009

My simple .dat importer for Sketchup is now avalable on bitbucket.

It is very "prototype", but is still useful if you want to get difficult LDraw (Lego) parts into SketchUp.

This plugin could do a lot more, but I don't find a lot of time to work on it; which is why I create the bitbucket repo.

on 9/16/2009

Added another SketchUp blog to the list. Check out The SketchUp Fanboy - Martin Taylor's adventures in Sketchup for some nice articles about File Organization and version control.

on 9/16/2009

Jeffrey Carlos has written a few post about how he created a realistic tree in Sketchup and is rendering it in Indigo.

My computer generated world

on 9/14/2009

Symon asks: Is SketchUp the right application? Leave a comment here, or via SCF

Background

The company produces configure to order buildings from Garden sheds (library jobs) to almost completely customisable houses. We currently have a number of worksheets (buildings configurators) for each range of building. We are looking at consolidating these into one application.

The following outputs are essential.
1. Plans and elevations
2. 3D model
3. Bill of materials (cut list etc)

General overview of how a user configures a building in the current system.
1. Selects range of buildings i.e. timber Garage
2. Enter key criteria
• Wind zone
• Snow zone
• Length, Width and wall height
This selection determines the basic building to be configured
This building is basically 4 walls and roof

3. User selects from a list of specific available components (windows, Doors etc) and adds them to the building in the desired allowed location/s
4. There are rules about where they can go, how big i.e.
a. Window or door can’t be bigger than the wall
b. Distance from the wall end etc
c. appropriated selection of material as width and height change i.e. lintels
d. a number of faces on difference components change when the building colour changes

5. As components are added the appropriate materials are added / subtracted to meet engineering rules, such as connectors / brackets between joining lengths of material, nails, screws etc
6. As components change the cost of the building is shown
7. Bill of materials is generated and sent to factory (this is down to the number of nails, screws, bolts etc)

SketchUp

From what I have found via searches and reviewing is listed below my questions are in italics (if I have made any incorrect assumptions please let me know), before I start 1 of the main reasons for looking at SU over the in-house designed application is that currently all changes come to the IT department so we get bogged down in making lots of little changes. The idea that the R&D teams can make changes to components, design and cost new ranges with little or no intervention from IT is appealing to both parties. I have had a good look at a timber building configurator created in ruby, which is pretty good but does not use any dynamic components which leaves us in the same place as before, still needing to be done by IT. This may be the only option for complex buildings.

• Steps 1-2 The selection process can be done a number of ways Ruby toolbar (plug-in) or Web Console
o Toolbar to select range
o On selection prompted for criteria
o On completion select base building and display a selection of components

Questions.
o Assuming I don’t want the app reliant on a web connection a ruby toolbar would be better?

• Step 3 a selection of components loaded into components widow, additional toolbars displayed or web consol

Questions.
o Comments on the most versatile approach?
o I assume I can attach code to make sure a user does not add a rogue component to the building. That is they can’t draw, select unloaded or in any way modify the building other then with the pre-determined components

• Step 4 – Rules, this where I come a bit unstuck – I see 3 ways of doing this (some assumptions here)
o The building and the additional components are Dynamic components
o The building and the additional components are all ruby scripts that draw the components
o or combination of the 2 if this is possible

Questions.
o With dynamic components is there any way to control how they interact with each other i.e. With a timber wall when a window is added it cuts into the timber framing. with the cutting in process a decision needs to be made as to how it connects/interacts with the adjoining material and additional components added i.e. nails, screws etc can this de done with dynamic components?
o Can the functions within a dynamic component look at / consumer external data
o Maybe a better question is, can functions within a dynamic components be a ruby a script

• Step 5 adding and subtracting material;
o Adding seems pretty straight forward subtracting seems like a bigger issue unless a component can remember its initial state

• Step 6 cost of the building is shown
o Believe this can be done with a ruby script as we would keep the pricing external to components

• Bill of materials is generated and sent to factory (this is down to the number of nails, screws, bolts etc)
o Believe it can be done with ruby script.

Questions.
o Ideas around protecting components
o If anyone is in New Zealand and Australia that is interested in doing some paid training / Development with Ruby and Dynamic components please let me know

I’m really excited with the possibilities of SU.

Any feedback, constructive criticism would be very grateful

Cheers and thank you for your time

on 9/12/2009

I added a new SketchUp blog to the list: Please say hello to Ronen Bekerman; who just posted part 1 in what promises to be a great series of work-flow articles named "MAKING-OF MS House at Dusk" :

In part 1 I will cover topics starting from the initial DWG files manipulation and up to the point of exporting the SketchUP model to 3d Studio Max.

As for the blog itself:

This blog is about 3d architectural visualization. If you are interested in modeling and rendering architectural subject matter using software such as SketchUP, 3d Studio Max, V-Ray, Maxwell Render, Fryrender, Photoshop and more, then this is written for you.

Mr. Bekerman is also the head of Polytown - a 3d architectural visualization studio he founded in 2005.

[ visit http://www.ronenbekerman.com/ ]

on 9/10/2009

I was organizing my hard drive and found this wood-like texture I made in paint.net. Maybe someone can use it.

on 9/10/2009

IDX Renditioner is a plug-in for Google SketchUp that provides high-quality photorealistic rendering – fast and easily. Renditioner works directly within SketchUp and lets you control the materials, advanced lighting components, environments, and background images. Renditioner is “one button” easy -- now more than ever.

[ link: IDX Renditioner ]

on 9/10/2009

The Development Lab of Inglobe Technologies released today the MAC version of both the AR-media™ Exporter for SketchUp and the AR-media™ Player.

[ link: AR-media Plugin for Sketchup ]

on 9/10/2009

Google LatLong: Google Earth 5.1: Think fast:

"But here at Google, we've realized that one of the most important features of all is speed. One of our key design principles is 'fast is better than slow.' So for the newest version of Google Earth, we've been hard at work making it faster."

on 9/09/2009

Layer/Scene Visibility Map:A New Sketchup plugin from a new sketchup plugin contrbutor Martin Rinehart.

"Do I Need VisMap?

Do you have non-trivial models with lots of scenes and layers? If you do, VisMap is for you. If you SketchUp on a Mac, VisMap is not yet for you, but stay tuned."

on 9/09/2009

GreenspaceLive | LiveEnergy - Let's get to work on a low carbon world:

"LiveEnergy Modeller is an energy analysis plugin for Google SketchUp. Based on the gbXML standard for designing resource efficient buildings and specifying associated equipment, LiveEnergy Modeller enables the building designer to decorate 3D SketchUp building models with gbXML surfaces and openings, to identify and label gbXML spaces, and to import and export gbXML models. As a result of using LiveEnergy Modeller, Google SketchUp becomes an intelligent solution for low carbon building design. Models can be quickly exported to LiveEnergy EPC for energy analysis and certification."

on 9/09/2009

Monopoly Monopoly Monopoly Monopoly Monopoly .

Monopoly City Streets: Design your own MONOPOLY Building Competition Launches

You will be competing with a billion other people for a $495 SketchUp Pro license.

The deadline to submit is Sunday, September 27, 2009 at midnight, EST.

on 9/09/2009

Official Google SketchUp Blog:

"we'll give you $100 USD off a single-user license if you purchase before September 30, 2009 (enter promo code S7MPTR in our online store)."

on 9/04/2009

SketchUcation Community Forums • View topic - [Plugin] 2 Faces Path ver. 1.0.: "Description: Plug-in, which creates blended object from 2 faces path curve."

on 9/04/2009

This sketchup plugin by sahi is a tool for moving the axes of a component.

SketchUcation Community Forums • View topic - [plugin] Axis components

on 9/04/2009

PlayUp - Making it Easy to Make Games - www.PlayUpTools.com: CryEngine2 Fixes and More:

"In this build, the CryEngine2 exporter is LIGHTNING fast in comparison to the last update (what would take 2 minutes before now takes 2 seconds), and we have fixed a bug where models missing material data on any of the front faces would not export correctly.

Another nice addition is that PlayUp will no longer be in conflict with other plugins such as LightUp or SketchyPhysics."

on 8/31/2009

More images from an upcoming set of components.

Made with Make Ortho Views and Paint.NET

on 8/30/2009

Image of some industrial machine electrical control components I am making.

on 8/30/2009

Chris Fullmer has released 2 new plugins: ExtrapolateColors and ColorByZ

ExtrapolateColors:

This script finds materials used within a selection of faces, and then randomly applies those same materials to all selected faces that have no material already applied.

ColorByZ:

Color By Z paints faces based on their centerpoint's Z height. It uses colors selected by the user.

See this list for a complete list of Chris's plugins.

on 8/30/2009

The latest plugin by Fredo has been released - GhostComp.

The concept behind GhostComp is to associate a simplified version to a component (called Ghost). Then the script provides an easy way to switch back and forth between the Ghost version and the Real version in the model. The idea is that in many situations, switching heavy and complex components to their Ghost version would make the model view lighter to manipulate during the design phase (for orbiting, copying, etc…).

SketchUcation Community Forums • View topic - [Plugin] GhostComp 1.0a (Conceptual edition)

on 8/29/2009

The Official SketchUp Blog posted last evening hinting at a possible new version coming soon.

Some major news in the article is that the dxf/dwg importers will be removed from the Free version of SketchUp. (The Pro version will still have them.)

In the next release of Google SketchUp, our free modeler, we've decided to remove the dwg/dxf importers. We know how important these importers are to our professional customers, especially those who depend on CAD products in their daily work. And for that reason we'll focus our attention on supporting them in Google SketchUp Pro, where we really understand all the nuances of your workflow and where we can provide professional support to troubleshoot your issues.

It seems like this is going to hit a lot of people pretty hard. The license for the Free version allows commercial use, and I would guess a lot of small businesses and individuals who otherwise could not afford it are using the Free version for business. No longer having the ability to import drawing files could really hurt.

Read it here.

Will you be affected?

on 8/26/2009

My latest plugin is now available.

Make Orthographic Views ($5) copies the selected Group or Component into a typical orthographic layout - Front, Top, Left, Right, Bottom, and Back views.

It can be a useful time-saver if your work-flow includes dimensioning and exporting to 2D CAD for finish work - especially for users of the Free version of SketchUp.

The plugin assumes the object is aligned to the Axes in SketchUp with the Front View looking at the front of the object.

Select a Group or Component, and press the Toolbar button. The view is then set-up with a parallel projection camera zoomed to the views.

An Isometric view is also created, but is not useful for dimensioning.

Install the plugin by extracting the files to your Plugins folder, but make sure to maintain the directory hierarchy. Please contact me if you need assistance.

Thank you, and I hope you find Make Orthographic Views useful.

on 8/25/2009

I started with a new sponsor today - Driving Dimensions by LEDAS.

Driving Dimensions is a SketchUp plugin that adds parametric functionality to SketchUp through the use of Dimensions. Changes applied to dimensions are reflected in the model's geometry.

Driving Dimensions is available in Free and Pro versions.

on 8/25/2009

Welcome to Twilight Render:

"Twilight Render TM* is a fully integrated rendering solution for Google SketchUp**.

With Twilight, it's now possible to render photo-realistic images inside Google SketchUp! Render with biased and unbiased methods on an unlimited number of processors. And while Twilight is rendering in the background, continue working in and saving your SketchUp models."

on 8/25/2009

Your basic red cooler.

on 8/24/2009

After applying a optimization routine from stefan...

It sped up the initial weighting of a big model from 75 seconds to 15 seconds.

FFD stands for Free Form Deformation. It works by creating a 3D grid of construction points around the geometry. Manipulating the control points manipulates the nearby geometry. Click the link for examples:

SketchyFFD is hosted on SCF

on 8/24/2009

New set of fee and free SketchUp tools for architects. There are only a few tools at the moment, but more are planned.

"These are tools that I made for my own use, tools that I longed for in SketchUp. They help perform tasks that we as architects often do, but might as well be done by a machine. They are made to make our work in SketchUp more efficient."

rubits.com:

on 8/24/2009

If you're interested in subscribing to a separate rss feed just for the latest SketchUp models from FormFonts, cadyou.com, and myself you can click here.

If you have a model feed and would like to be added to the list, please contact me.

If you would like FormFonts and cadyou to include a thumbnail image in their feeds, you'll have to bug them about it.

on 8/24/2009

Matt says he wrote it to help him use SketchUp on a tablet PC using a pen instead of a mouse, but it's a clever idea that may be useful for anyone.

SketchUcation Community Forums • View topic - [Plugin] Dynamic Snap: "This plug-in changes the snap distance depending on how zoomed in you happen to be."

on 8/24/2009

Adds Plugins Menu Item 'Drape Cpoints' which makes a regular grid of grouped cpoints over a 'mesh': it works on selected face(s), group(s) or component-instance(s) or combinations of these; other types of entities in the selection are ignored.
When the cpoint group is made you can use 'Triangulate Points' on the it re-make the 'mesh' with a regular grid.

[Plugin] Drape Cpoints

on 8/22/2009

I am playing with the idea for a SketchUp model collection for machine electrical control systems. Before I get too far, I was curious how many people might be interested and what features would be important?

Right now, my design goals are for a rapid viz collection:

Not specific to any manufacturer
Simplified geometry (low polygon)
Dimensionally accurate
Reasonable insertion points
Other Construction points for assembly
Dynamic Components where applicable

See the Electrical Controls collection on this site, and tell me what you think.

on 8/22/2009

Adam Hails (EarthMover) has put together an image collection of plants, shrubs and evergreens for the SCF community.

The collection is available through sketchucation.

on 8/21/2009

Check out these outstanding and nicely priced plant collections from 2 master SketchUp artists: solo and tomsdesk. You are unlikely to find better quality models at any price.

solo's 3D Gardens and tomsdesk's tree and shrub bundles.

on 8/21/2009

GhostComp:

on 8/21/2009

Yesterday I was ready to stop using twitter, but Martí from CAD.Addict pointed me to twitter feed.

Twitter feed will automatically send my blog posts to twitter. Long story short - with no extra effort from me, people will still be able to follow me using Twitter.

on 8/21/2009

For machine operator saftey.

on 8/20/2009

Indigo 2.2 beta is out. Twice as fast or faster... | Indigo Renderer

on 8/20/2009

Just a quick note to say I will no longer be updating via Twitter. It was a fun experiment, but there was too much noise and too little response.

on 8/18/2009

Ran across this today: CADoogle - Find, Preview and Download CAD Files Online Quick!

on 8/18/2009

There is still plenty of time to enter the Kid's Digital Design Contest hosted by Architect Mason Kirby Inc.

Submission Deadline: 9/15/09

on 8/18/2009

Yes or no, do you use dynamic components?

For SketchUcation forums members - if you missed it, please take the poll.

So far, only 63 out of our over 20,000 members have participated.

on 8/18/2009

Today's model:

See this collection for all of my models featured on this blog.

on 8/17/2009

Just a quick note that a couple of bugs have been fixed in the SVG exporter plugin for Google SketchUp (now at v0.92). Thanks to Otto who noticed that some dissecting lines weren’t being exported (I’ve fixed that now…). See Otto’s plywood chess set on the Make Flickr Pool and Thingiverse.

flightsofideas.com

on 8/17/2009

on 8/16/2009

on 8/10/2009

New version of the photo-realistic rendering plug-in for Google SketchUp includes blurred reflections. Cadalog, Inc. also announces the release of Fire Farm light fixtures for its Podium Light Fixture library.

Full press release after the video:

SU Plugins

August 11, 2009 Bellingham, WA, U.S.A.

Cadalog,Inc. has released SU Podium 1.7 which includes blurred reflections and some utilities to help analyze and help fix textures that are difficult to render.

SU Podium is a popular photo-realistic rendering plug-in for SketchUp. Podium 1.7 includes a new blurred reflection feature. Blurred reflections can give faces and textures subtle, indirect reflections. Blurred reflections work well with wood, metal, plaster or cloth type textures.what’s new in SU Podium 1.7

In a separate announcement, Cadalog,Inc. has released the Fire Farm Ceiling Light Fixture addition for the free Podium Light Fixture plug-in. Fire Farm is a light fixture manufacturer which creates uniquely styled light fixtures. Using Fire Farm’s SketchUp models, Cadalog created an addition to its Podium Light Fixture library. The light fixtures are “render ready” and simply need to be dragged and dropped into a SketchUp model and then rendered in Podium.

Upgrade to SU Podium 1.7 for existing Podium customers is free. SU Podium works in Google SketchUp, Free or Pro, Windows or Mac. Cost is $179.00 (USD). For more detailed information including download of a free evaluation version, please go to http://www.suplugins.com.

on 8/10/2009

OOPSMP: An Object-Oriented Programming System for Motion Planning

With the plugin you can define environments, robots, motion planning queries, solve them with OOPSMP, and "play" the solutions without ever having to leave SketchUp. You can also export motion planning problems from SketchUp to an OOPSMP input XML file.

OOPSMP

on 8/09/2009

Here's an interesting new plugin for SketchUp that calculates soft shadows in a SketchUp model. It creates the grayscale texture material, and replaces the existing texture on the selected faces.

via Sketchucation Forums

on 8/07/2009

Control camera pan, tilt, and roll with sliders and text input.

Smustard(TM) - the Companion to Sketchup(TM) - CameraControls

on 7/31/2009

The Indigo 2.0 series has been in Beta for the last 3 months, and has recently reached a point of sufficient stability to be released as a 'stable' version. Indigo 2.0 is the first commercial version of Indigo, and represents the latest results from over 5 years of development.

Indigo Renderer 2.0 stable

on 7/31/2009

There are still 23 says to enter the Design It: Shelter Competition

on 7/30/2009

Dave of Cadalog, Inc, wanted to get the word out about the latest update to SU Animate:

Cadalog, Inc. has released SU Animate 3.0 for Google SketchUp 6 and 7. This is a Ruby based plug-in that automatically creates SketchUp scenes from camera and object paths. SU Animate simplifies the process of creating SketchUp animations.

New to SU Animate 3.0 is a polyline edit tool which allows the user to create animation paths using a unique polyline tool instead of joining several lines and arcs together. 3.0 also allows the user to preview an animation before committing to scene creation. In version 3.0, the UI has been updated allowing the user to apply any number of frames to a path, uniformly.

Upgrade to SU Animate 3.0 for existing SU Animate customers is free. SU Animate works in Google SketchUp, Free or Pro, Windows or Mac. Cost is $79.00 (USD). For more detailed information including download of a free evaluation version, please go to http://www.ohyeahcad.com/suanimate/

on 7/30/2009

Oil painting style done in SketchUp and Paint.net.

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