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One click hangar

twharrell said:
Morten, thanks for making feet and inches an option - that's great. I really appreciate you doing that.

I noticed something today with T-Hangars that you may have to change:

Notice the 2 blue beams in the center of the hangar. In real life a plane couldn't get in there! D'oh!

Another: How do I create a T-Hangar with closed doors?

Todd
Click to expand...

Hi Todd,

I noticed the two blue beams as well last night, but they should be gone in the latest development version (download in the first post) as I have added a safeguard to not draw them for T-hangars such as the one you've created.

If you want to create T-hangars with closed doors, set the door folding level to 90. This goes for all hangars.
 
Thanks, Morten!

Another question: I exported a hangar to ModelconverterX last night, and noticed it had 8 drawcalls. When I attempted to optimize, I was still left with 8 drawcalls. MCX would not combine the textures on one texture sheet. 8 drawcalls is a lot for a hangar, do you agree? Are the textures in your models seemless tiles by any chance?

I appreciate your quick responses!

Todd
 
All the included textures are seamless textures. I agree it is a lot of draw calls for just one small hangar, however when reusing the same textures for other hangars at an airport, the total number of draw calls shouldn't get too high.

Obviously using different textures for each hangar, will lead to a larger number of draw calls, which is far from ideal. There is however an option to use texture maps for the standard and arched hangars and it will be developed to all other hangar types and other buildings.
 
Trimble released SketchUp 2014 last month and the API has been updated to Ruby 2.0. Installed SU 2014 last night and tried to run One Click Hangar, but to my horror it failed to load with hundreds of errors. Luckily it turned out to be a quick fix and I started some bug fixing and adding/updating some of the features. Expect an updated version within the next day or so.

Future releases will be aimed at SU 2014 so backward compatibility cannot be guaranteed.

Unfortunately my not so new job, MCSE studies and house decoration means I've not been able to dedicate much time to the tool the last 8-9 months, however I have not forgotten about it and I do tinker with it from time to time.
 
Thanks, I have uploaded a new version, with a few new features. I'm working on rewriting instructions, as the plugin is becoming quite large.
 
Screenshot of different control towers made by setting the Tower Levels field. Syntax is: <Height level 1>;<Radius 1>;<Height level 2>;<Radius 2>;<Height level 3>;<Radius 3>... etc. There is no limit to how many levels you can set.

Examples:
Large tower (left):400;330;900;280;1400;260;1700;250;2500;250;2800;400;2920;400;2920;395;2800;395;2800;275;3000;275;3400;400;3400;330;3500;200
Chicago O'Hare like tower (right): 2600;400;2700;450;2800;525;2900;625;3100;625;3100;675;3300;575;3300;500;3600;600
Small tower: 400;600;400;400;600;400;900;500;950;500

At the moment it is only possible to use one texture for each tower, however this will change later.
 

Attachments

  • Control Towers.PNG
    Control Towers.PNG
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New update with added features for control towers, and an instruction manual. Although the control tower feature is aimed at creating control towers at airports, it can also be used to create lighthouses, silos and other symmetrical tower-like structures.
 
First post has been updated with the latest development version. The development archive includes the following files:
hangar.rb - main file for One Click Hangar
afcad.rb - tool for import of AFCAD files to SketchUp.
building.rb - main file for One Click Building
bridge.rb - main file for One Click Bridge
furniture.rb - main file for One Click Furniture
ocss_functions.rb - shared functions between all my SketchUp tools
ocss_extensions.rb - shared extensions between all my SketchUp tools
settings.och - settings file
textures.och - textures file
extension examples.txt - various extensions to be used in One Click Hangar. I have not included any instructions on how to use them.

If you only want to update One Click Hangar, you need hangar.rb, ocss_functions.rb and ocss_extensions.rb.
The AFCAD importer will probably only work with FSX AFCADs. This tool requires afcad.rb and ocss_functions.rb.
The One Click Building, Bridge and Furniture tools are in their infancy and do not allow for much customisation.

The main new feature in One Click Hangar is the new drawing procedure for the circular hangar, which now allows for doors and internal beam structure.
 
The first post has been updated with the latest development version. I have also added a basic manual for the import AFCAD feature, which at present allows you to create custom textured runways, create standard hangars on selected parking spots and create a tower at the airport's tower location (as per AFCAD file).

Please note the import AFCAD feature is in its early stages and might be a bit buggy.
 
Development version has been updated in the first post.
One important change is the addition of the extensions.och file, which allows sets of extensions to be named and stored for re-use.
Each extension set is identified by the line [ext.set name], e.g. [ext.new hangar].
Each extension has to be on a separate line underneath the extension set identifier.
To use the extension set, use the following format in the Extension field X(set name), e.g. X(new hangar). The set identifier is case-sensitive.
Extension sets are currently only available for the standard hangar.
 
New development version released.
The Import AFCAD manual has been updated with instructions to add custom textures to aprons.
 
charlymorton said:
One click hangar (Updated 27 JUN 2014)

I've created a one click hangar creator plugin for Trimble SketchUp. This is intended to work with SketchUp 2014 and backward compatibility with SketchUp 8 or SketchUp 2013 cannot be guaranteed.

This needs to go into the Sketchup plugin folder before running Sketchup, usually:
SketchUp 2014 - C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins
SketchUp 8 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins
SketchUp 2013 - C:\Program Files (x86)\SketchUp\SketchUp 2013\Plugins
Click to expand...
charlymorton said:
Trimble released SketchUp 2014 last month and the API has been updated to Ruby 2.0. Installed SU 2014 last night and tried to run One Click Hangar, but to my horror it failed to load with hundreds of errors. Luckily it turned out to be a quick fix and I started some bug fixing and adding/updating some of the features. Expect an updated version within the next day or so.

Future releases will be aimed at SU 2014 so backward compatibility cannot be guaranteed.
Click to expand...
charlymorton said:
First post has been updated with the latest development version. The development archive includes the following files:

afcad.rb - tool for import of AFCAD files to SketchUp.

ocss_functions.rb - shared functions between all my SketchUp tools

The AFCAD importer will probably only work with FSX AFCADs. This tool requires afcad.rb and ocss_functions.rb.
Click to expand...
charlymorton said:
I have also added a basic manual for the import AFCAD feature, which at present allows you to create custom textured runways, create standard hangars on selected parking spots and create a tower at the airport's tower location (as per AFCAD file).

Please note the import AFCAD feature is in its early stages and might be a bit buggy.
Click to expand...

charlymorton said:
New development version released.
The Import AFCAD manual has been updated with instructions to add custom textures to aprons.
Click to expand...

Hi Charly:

It's good to see you are still working on this interesting project. :wave:

I plan to continue using Sketchup version-8 (with all current maintenance releases) on Windows-7 Professional 64-bit until virtually all plugins I need to use for my FS development have been adapted for Sketchup 2014 or later.

In the last week I have encountered several start-up errors in Sketchup with other scripts, and after installing "OneClickHangar" (for the first time), I now also get this error specifically related to one of your Ruby scripts:

"Error loading File afcad.rb
no such file to load - win32ole"


In light of quoted statements above, would I be correct that this may be due to my not yet having installed Ruby 2.0 for 64-bit Windows-7 to use your plugin(s) ? :scratchch


Does OneClickHangar have dependencies that you might have overlooked mentioning to end users due to your already having previously placed a "full" Ruby 1.8x installation onto your own system as a developer ? ;)


NOTE: This is a few of the threads I could find related to the issue of Sketchup start-up errors with regard to possible Ruby version compatibility:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=56844&
sid=30979dd75a714496cd940219b42af9ff

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42732#p380121


FYI: I would like to test your AFCAD plugin to see if projects created and/or edited in Sketchup can be exported to other FS utilities for eventual generation of various BGL types. :idea:

BTW: Do you anticipate doing any future work with OneClickHangar to implement "extensions" to the AFCAD feature, as well as formatting and export of KML data for Geo-located Sketchup projects ?


Thanks again for your efforts to expand use of Sketchup for FS development, and for any clarification you may offer on the possibility of using your plugin(s) on the Sketchup version-8 platform in 64-bit Windows-7. :)

GaryGB
 
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UPDATE:

From this thread:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42732#p380121


...and this ZIP file

http://sketchucation.com/forums/download/file.php?id=81349


....I installed the Ruby v 1.8.6 - patchlevel 287 files

http://sketchucation.com/forums/download/file.php?id=81349

* win32ole.so

* Win32API.so


...directly into C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins\ folder.


Now, the Sketchup start-up error changes to:

"Error loading File afcad.rb
127: The specified procedure could not be found. - Init_win32api"


PS: All download links are dead (including archives) for:

http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/47082/ruby186-27_rc2.exe


GaryGB
 
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Hi Gary,

I have just tested the plugins on a clean SketchUp 8 installation and I get the same error. I also get the same error in SketchUp 2013, but not in SketchUp 2014, which points to the issue being caused by the SketchUp version.
SketchUp 2014 includes full compatibility with Ruby 1.9 if I am not mistaken, whereas earlier versions of SketchUp were not fully compatible with Ruby and all of its classes.

The win32ole class in afcad.rb is only used to open a "File Open" dialogue box, so I should be able to create a workaround where you type in the file name of the AFCAD file you would like to import. I think this would be the best way to approach it to get it to work on earlier versions of SketchUp, rather than getting the win32ole class to work in SketchUp 8, and hopefully I'll have it ready by tomorrow.


GaryGB said:
FYI: I would like to test your AFCAD plugin to see if projects created and/or edited in Sketchup can be exported to other FS utilities for eventual generation of various BGL types. :idea:

BTW: Do you anticipate doing any future work with OneClickHangar to implement "extensions" to the AFCAD feature, as well as formatting and export of KML data for Geo-located Sketchup projects ?
Click to expand...

The Import AFCAD feature reads the airport's coordinates from the imported AFCAD file and geo-locates the SketchUp model to this location, thus making internal coordinates 0,0,0 the airport location. If the SketchUp model is already geo-located, any existing objects will not be moved to match the new location. E.g. if importing two AFCAD files, the airports will appear on top of each other.
 
Hi Gary,

This will probably take a bit longer to make compatible with earlier versions of SketchUp. The workaround to type in the name and folder of the AFCAD file is in place, however it looks like earlier SketchUp versions do not support the procedure I have used to read the various elements of the AFCAD file.
 
Thanks for troubleshooting these errors, and for your efforts to implement a workaround for the (many ?) users still utilizing Sketchup version 8.

It's apparent that there are many valuable plugin scripts which have not yet been updated, and even at that, there appear to be ongoing unresolved issues with the roll-out of the Sketchup Store and the Extensions Warehouse, so I think use of Sketchup version 2014 may still be premature for some users until a later quarter of this year (2014).

On the other hand, the plugin(s) for installing *.RBZ format Ruby script plugin files dynamically (without exiting and re-starting) into Sketchup version-8 works quite well, so that may help many users avoid problems with installation and upgrading in the future.

I'll check back soon to see how things progress with the retro-compatibility project, and feature set updates for OneClickHangar.

Thanks again, and keep up the great work ! :)

GaryGB
 
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Hi again:

In my prior post(s) above:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/one-click-hangar.424466/page-6#post-676034

and:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/one-click-hangar.424466/page-6#post-676041


...I overlooked including this link to a related topic regarding Sketchup version-8 and errors involving the win32ole.so compiled "Shared Object" file:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=23441


[EDITED]

Another IMHO potentially important consideration in favor of maintaining full functionality and speed of scripts running on the Sketchup version-8 platform in the future:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=58075


...And an often overlooked consideration of UTF-8 without Byte-Order-Format (aka "BOM") file format when saving text for use as Ruby scripts, and/or when importing text data files ...in different Sketchup versions:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=56528


BTW: Yet another interesting option for enhanced Sketchup GUI's with external tools is thomthom's "SKUI" project:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=53362

https://github.com/thomthom/SKUI

https://github.com/thomthom/SKUI/wiki/Embedding-SKUI-in-Projects

[END_EDIT]


Hope this info might prove helpful in resolving this retro-compatibility issue, and in exploring options for interface between Sketchup and external programming interfaces, as well as options for data processing / communication functions via external tools. :idea:

GaryGB
 
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Hi Gary,

The Import AFCAD feature has been updated and should work in earlier versions of SketchUp, or at least in SketchUp 8. At the moment I will try to avoid making it compatible with win32ole on SketchUp 8/2013, at least until I have an idea of much work is required.

When going to Import AFCAD it will ask for the folder location and file name of the AFCAD file. It will default to the plugins folder, but will remember the last location for the next AFCAD you'd like to import (at least until you restart SketchUp again). Custom folder locations will be available at a later date.
Please note the folder path have to contain forward slashes instead of back slashes (e.g. C:/Program Files(x86)/Google/SketchUp/Plugins) and should not end with a forward slash. The File name must include .bgl.

The Import AFCAD feature is very much in its infancy and there are certain elements of the AFCAD which I have not included yet, however it should import runways, starts, taxi points, taxiways (drawn as lines at the moment), parking spots, aprons and tower locations.
If you get any errors when importing the AFCADs or if the AFCAD doesn't get drawn as expected, I recommend you open the Ruby Console and try the import again and let me know what the error message is.

Edit: The updated AFCAD import is in the hangar dev.zip in the first post.
 
Hi Morten:

Thanks for this updated package; "AFCAD.rb" does now run in Sketchup 8 with no start up errors. :D


FYI: Because I also develop for FS2Kx, I attempted import of a FS9-format AFCAD2 (aka "AF2") format BGL; I got this message:

"Bytes left: 1496. ID: 3"


Direct conversion (with no edits) of that BGL to a FSX format "Airport" BGL via ADE imported instantaneously with no message. :wizard:


Sketchup Menu > Window > Model Info > Geo-location

...showed ARP Geographic coordinates as a truncated 6-decimal place version of original 9 decimal places seen in ADE (FSX Mode):

ADEX Menu > File > Airport Properties > [Airport Tab] > Location


In that same Sketchup Menu > Window > Model Info > Geo-location dialog, the "location" still shows Boulder (CO), rather than the actual State and City names.

BTW: State and City names are stored as text within the airport "AFD" BGL format of all MSFS versions (seen as ASCII text near the end of the file ...when displayed in certain Hexadecimal mode file viewers).


* Is it possible to import, retain, and display the full original 9 decimal places for an airport BGL ?


FYI: I use minimum 13 decimal places, Google Earth and SBuilderX tile server data captures use 14 decimal places, and some MSFS saved *.FLT files actually use up to 16 decimal places ...to maintain needed precision.


* Is it possible to import, retain, and display the original "State / Province" and "City" name for an airport BGL ?

* Is it possible to import, retain, and display Airport Facility Data (aka "AFD") from a FS9-format AFCAD2 (aka "AF2") format BGL ?


Many thanks for your efforts with this interesting development tool; I look forward to your reply, and further posts on this. :)

GaryGB
 
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