Mover Pugin Updates

I have been making progress on mover.rb. You can see the latest interface at the left.

Notice I have removed the Copy checkbox - copying is now done by holding the Ctrl key while pressing a direction. All directions have keyboard shortcuts also (arrow keys.) You can use the Ctrl key along withe the arrow keys to move and copy an entity very quickly.

The Drop button drops selected entities to the XY plane. However, if you hold the Ctrl key, entities get dropped onto any surface below. Good for dropping trees onto a hillside, for example. Credit for the idea goes to Octavian 'TBD' Chis's Drop.rb. Dropping and rotating operate on multiple entities.

I replaced the fixed rotate amounts with a text entry box. Rotating still occurs around the Z axis but you can rotate clock-wise, or counter clock-wise. RND will rotate some random amount between 0 and 360. Rst rotates it back to normal (world axes.) I'd like some good icons, too.

I'm still considering other ideas from user's feedback such as:

• being able to select an axis to rotate around. This is likely to happen, see right.
  
• if the selection contains a single construction line, use the line as the axis of rotation.
  
• use the Ctrl key to be able to slide a selection up against a wall, similar to dropping onto a surface, only horizontally.
• add a repeat amount (for multiple copies.)
  
• copy in 3 dimension at once. (array copy)
  
• align camera so view matches mover layout (for when left is right and right is left)
  

I'm trying to find a balance between functionality and ease-of-use. I want to keep the window small while providing all the functionality that's practical.

Thanks again for visiting my blog and using mover.rb. Comments are always appreciated.

Slow Time for Scripts

Summer is typically a busy time at work (I work as a maintenance tech), and at home. I haven't spent much time writing or updating scripts for the past month, and it doesn't look good for the next month.

When I do get time, I want to get the mover plugin fixed up. There's several internal improvements that need to be made to make it easier to maintain. Plus several new features are on the table - like adding support for dropping Groups onto a sandbox terrain.

Get Center Point from of an Exploded Arc

Working on a plugin to get the center point of an exploded Arc.

New 3D Warehouse Sort Options

Google has added 3 new ways to view search results on the 3D Warehouse; you can now sort your search results by date, rating, or popularity. I've commented on each of the options below.

Date - Sorts models by posted date, most recent uploads first. Works as expected.

Rating - This is a little confusing. One would think sorting by rating would produce a list with the highest-rated models first. Unfortunately, this is not how it works. Sorting by rating appears to sort models into 2 categories: models that have been rated, and models that have not been rated. I'm not sure I see the value.

Popularity - I'm not sure what order the models appear when sorting by popularity. It is somehow related to a models ratings, plus some other unknown factors; possibly number of downloads and/or number of stars. I also suspect it is tied to Google Earth, since many of the most popular models were designed for downloading into Google Earth (basic shapes with texture images.) Since no one knows what it really means (outside of Google,) it is also of limited value for users.

Much more useful are some advanced search options, which will be the subject of a future post.

Door/Window Animator Plugin

I was sort of surprised when it hadn't been done yet, and even more surprised it apparently hasn't even been requested yet. I'm talking about a door/window animator plugin to open/close doors and windows.

Right-click a Door to Open/Close it. Open/close all doors globally. Configure angle of open-ness.

The real work would be to create/convert door components into something the plugin could recognize. Attributes would need to be defined such as; axis of rotation and weather a door opens in or out.

Not terribly hard to implement, overall.