Plugin: OBJ Importer

Update Dec 28, 2010 - TIG's OBJ Importer, based on this code, is likely a more robust plugin.

• This is a basic importer for .obj files.
• It works sometimes, but not all the time.
• The .obj needs to be fairly well formed.
  
• It does not support textures.
  
• SketchUp is unusable during import.
• larger files can take a long time.
  

obj_importer.rb




There are 2 options: Import and Import as Mesh

• Import reads the file and creates faces one by one.
  
• As Mesh allocates a Mesh object, and creates smoothed edges. It can be slightly faster.

SketchUp 3D Warehouse Search

Assign a keyboard shortcut to do a quick search on the 3D Warehouse within SketchUp.

3dw_search.rb

Plagiarist of the Week

I'm thinking of exposing the models on the 3D Warehouse that don't give credit to the original creator (using the ratings.) I think a plagiarist deserves a "poor" rating. What do you think?

ScriptLoader.rb

Uploaded scriptloader.rb - used for loading and re-loading scripts as needed. Re-loading is useful for plugin authors.

http://jim.foltz.googlepages.com/home

Optical Illusion Ideas

I had a couple of ideas for Sketchup models that I'm pretty sure I don't have time to do, so if you're interested, I'd love to see them done.

1. The image toys that change image when you tilt them. This involves a lot of sectioning of the images in an image editor, then lots of importing the sections.

2. 3d Vase shapes based on real peoples facial profile. We've all seen the optical illusion of the vase which is made up of the profiles of 2 faces. You just need to import an image and trace it, then Follow Me it into a circle.

Please let me know of you try any of these ideas.

UPDATE: j swajime has created a SketchUp model of #1. Check it out! He also has a website.

Blogger Plugin

Any interest in being able to post a snapshot from SketchUp to your blog? I don't have a clue how to do it right now, but i think it can be done.

Butterfly Herd

I've been playing with ruby scripting in Sketchup. This is a demo of random placement.