Modeling software

[Ian Wille]

Terry,

Welcome and thanks for the plugins! I just downloaded Sketchup today, and have been playing around with it, and am looking forward to using the plugins to create nice (and easy to alter) 3D images for projects.

I too am having trouble getting the plugins to work. I followed the instructions in the User's Guide, but I get an error message (says Error Loading File...) when I open Sketchup, and they do not show up in the Extensions or plugins sections. I am using Mac OSX version.

Again, thanks and welcome to the site!

Ian

[Mylore]

Originally Posted by Ian Wille

I too am having trouble getting the plugins to work. I followed the instructions in the User's Guide, but I get an error message (says Error Loading File...) when I open Sketchup, and they do not show up in the Extensions or plugins sections. I am using Mac OSX version.

Ian

I also use Mac OSX. When I downloaded the plugins, Ruby Scripts, they all came down unziped for me (extension .rb). They all downloaded the my desktop, I then just moved them to:

Hard Drive/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 6/SketchUp/Plugins

and they worked for me, just have to look under the Draw pull down or the Tools pull down depending on the plugins you got. It tells you where the ruby script will be found in the text just above the download link.

Hope this helps a fellow MAC user.


*EDIT* Sorry guys, just realised the problem was with Terry's plugins, not the ones off Google, so I downloaded them and got errors as well, gonna try and figure it out unless someone beats me too it, or I will bounce it off a few freinds that work for IBM tech support and all bought Mac's so not to deal with the same problems they get asked about at work on their own computers (yes I am verry PRO MAC..sorry guys)

[jake pogrebinsky]

Thanks,everyone-i agree,absolutely,and very happy that you took what i said with the just right number of grains of salt.I think i like the way Dodge put it best,but all of you make a lot of sense.
I always sketch,for myself,and for the client,but it's a dangerous thing to do,or can be-there's a certain motion to the way our hand/eye/mind sees curves,and it's not nesessarily the same way that the iron bends,or otherwise forges.
One can get so good over the years as to be able to know the difference between the sketching and the future forging,but it takes a lifetime...
Yellin(i'm not bringing him in because i'm some kind of purist,but he was a darn good blacksmith)would not accept a sketch from one of his guys as a proposal-he demanded a forging,to be sure that the guy could actually do it.And maybe that's my problem-i know that i can't forge many things that i can sketch.

[terry]

Sorry to hear that some of you are having installation problems...

For Mac users:

Please verify the following...

If you use Safari as your web browser, you right-clicked on the drawmetal_plugins.dmg (5mb) link and selected either "Download Linked File" or "Download Linked File As..."

If you use Firefox as your web browser, you right clicked and selected "Save Link As..."

Next, you double-clicked on the downloaded file drawmetal_plugins.dmg to mount the disk image "drawmetal_plugins" - agreeing to the terms displayed there.

Next, you clicked on the drawmetal_plugins disk image in the Finder to open it.

I don't know the name of your startup disk, but let's assume it is MacintoshHD.

Next, you dragged all of the files and the folder in the drawmetal_plugins disk image to MacintoshHD>Library>Application Support>Google SketchUp6>SketchUp>Plugins.

Next, if SketchUp was already running, you quit SketchUp and restarted it because SketchUp cannot load plugins dynamically. It is only aware of whatever plugins are in the Plugins folder when it starts up. It does not become aware of plugins whenever they are added to the Plugins folder.

Are there any more details to the "Error loading file..." message?



For PC users:

Please verify the following...

If you are using IE as your web browser, you right-clicked on the drawmetal_plugins.zip (124kb) link and selected "Save Target As...". IE normally prompted you for a folder to which to save files, and it provided the default filename "drawmetal_plugins.zip".

If you use Firefox as your web browser, you right clicked and selected "Save Link As...". Firefox prompted you for a folder to which to save files, and it provided the default filename "drawmetal_plugins.zip".

Next, once drawmetal_plugins.zip was downloaded to your hard drive, you expanded the zip file.

Next, you copied the expanded files and the folder that resulted to C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6\SketchUp\Plugins.

Next, if SketchUp was already running, you quit SketchUp and restarted it because SketchUp cannot load plugins dynamically. It is only aware of whatever plugins are in the Plugins folder when it starts up. It does not become aware of plugins whenever they are added to the Plugins folder.

Hope this helps...

Terry

[Mylore]

Ok back already....

Ian, did you copy the ctsMaker folder as well into the plugins folder? As soon as I did (didn't do it the first time only the three files in the .dmg file where what I moved) I go no errors when I opened Sketchup again. Now I just have to play with it a bit to see what new toys I have for this overly fun program.

[Ian Wille]

Mylore,

I went and removed the plugins from the application and system, and then re-downloaded them from Terry's website. I followed the installation instructions he gives, reopened Sketchup, and received no error message, and the plugins showed up. All the plugins seem to be working fine.I don't know what changed this time (as I have been removing and reinstalling the plugins all evening trying to get them to work), but something did. Everything seems ok now.

Ian

[Ian Wille]

Mylore,

That might have been the problem. It took me multiple tries before the plugins would work.

Terry,

I had done all of that when I downloaded the plugins earlier. For some reason though, they didn't work. That was when I was getting the error message. However, I went and redownloaded the plugins, and now everything is working fine.

The plugins are wonderful, and are a blast to use! They made a great program even better. I look forward to play around and using them for some projects I have in mind.

Ian

[Frosty]

It's working now. I had to go into my program files and move the unzipped files to the correct plugins folder. For some reason it created it's own folder rather than just following the path.

Oh well, it gave me an opportunity to win one over one of these pestiferous thinky machines.

Thanks Terry.

Frosty

[Frosty]

Yellin was a serious character who demanded a lot and delivered a lot. He didn't have any problem working from his own drawings. He also didn't have any trouble using state of the art equipment to produce his iron work. There are a lot of machine produced elements arc welded to his projects. Heck, if the welds weren't visible they may not even be cleaned up.

That doesn't lessen the artistry nor beauty of them though.

A computer is nothing but an inert lump of plastic, glass, metal and trace elements without a human to direct it. It's just highly refined dirt in a human defined form. Computers don't DO anything, anymore than a hammer. People do things using the tools their god given wit allows them to make.

When do you think the river's going out?

Frosty

[jake pogrebinsky]

Hey,Frosty!It's only been warm a couple of days(-20F just last week),so there's hardly any overflow even right by the bank.River solid as can be,everyone travelling long distances,bird-hunting,and such like.Just traded some forgework for a caribou quarter,it came from close to 200 miles N from here,so break-up is not imminent,and travelling is still way safe.It will change quickly,though,can post ise-run photos,if it'll be anything other than the mush-out of the last few years.
Still beg to differ;Yellin,with his immense experience,drew to his understanding of how the stuff moves.Access to great sketching software would likely lead to the opposite,that can also be executed with the modern tools.Then,the shape can be water-jetted,CNC'd,or cast in Al,same effect-it wonders off the deformation dictated by the plasticity of iron,which is what gives the forgework it's class.
An example may be the hot-cut split.The tines are trapezoidal in section,with the extra lobed,sort of,bevel.They look,but mainly bend,differently from the hack-saw cut ones.
Also,the final mass of finished object is impossible to represent in 2-D.Good ironwork contains 0 mill-rolled stock,and is balanced intuitively,not by measurement(many of complex and "same" elements in Tellin's work are actually very different,in size and shape,if one looks closely,it's balanced overall,as a unit,not by the unifirmity of parts).The work ,because of the many facets and bevels looks radically different with the change of lighting,finish,or on photographs.
All those things are just easier come by through forging,whence they spring from,than through conception,be it direct-eyeball,or the extention of brain/eyeball-the computer.
I'm playing with some very old axes now.Their shape is determined by the forging method,period.The shape,in turn,jives with the certain woodworking operation(they're all broad axes/hatchets).That method of woodworking determines the joinery,which,in turn,dictates it's own architectural style,all those beautiful Scandinavian stave jobs.All that comes directly out of the secifics of the deformability of iron/steel laminate.Why mess with perfection?!
Collectors of Inuit carvings value most the very old stuff,because it was carved without the light,by feel only.Lights,Dremel(and AutoCAD) cannot compare to our given intuition,so they're just a distraction,a rabbit-trail.Yourself,wouldn't you much rather posess a funky,deformed,hand-forged tool or object?Neurally,it speaks to ya,becomes a cherished posession,wether a much more "perfect",machined finished deal can be souless and leaves one indifferent....Maybe it's just so dark inside this dog that i've been stuck in forever...