My SketchUp Plugins list, and blog about the world of plugins for SketchUp.
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.
23rd October 2009, Cambridge, UK – Informatix Software International, a global provider of CAD software solutions, today announces the availability of the free Prianesi Google SketchUp ruby script along with a new concurrent pricing structure for the Piranesi product to ease the cost of software ownership.
The free ruby script for SketchUp enables users to export their models created in either the free or Pro versions into Piranesi, the leading artist impression tool on the market, and create artist impressions of the model.
The script itself allows the user to export the model from SketchUp to the EPix file format, where they can quickly convert rigid, hard-edged models into a softer, expressive artist’s impression. Piranesi v5.1 is more than just a painting tool – it is a graphical persuader that excels at turning conceptual 2D and 3D models into wonderfully atmospheric, stylised and persuasive visualisations.
Phoenix, November 11, 2009 – ecoScorecard, the technology platform that helps building product specifiers evaluate environmental attributes of products, today revealed the new ecoScorecard plug-in that works with Google SketchUp and provides a critical link between popular BIM (Building Information Modeling) tools and important environmental rating systems such as LEED. The announcement was made today in conjunction with the opening of the US Green Building Council’s annual Greenbuild Expo.
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.
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.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.
Additional language support:And More!
New View and Framing Tool:
- Spanish
- French
- Chinese (simplified and traditional)
- Japanese
- German
- 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
