SketchUp .ldr importer

Hello,

I've made an importer for the ldraw file format for SketchUp. I'm not sure if anyone uses, or would use SU for lego modelling, but who knows.

It's in the very early stages at the moment, but works fairly well. I would caution against doing any large-scale projects for now.

Features:

  • Imports .dat or .ldr files
  • creates components for each part and nets them for a well organized model.
  • auto-colors components (but not well tested.)

Bugs:

- Does not handle the .mpd file format yet

- Probably buggy

If you'd like to play with it, feedback/bug reports are appreciated. I'm still working on the web site, also.

Links can be found at

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-- Regards,

Jim

Reply to
Jim
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This sounds very interesting! I downloaded it, updated SketchUp, and tried it. Doesn't work for me (yet!).

The first obvious thing was that I have my LDRAW files at "C:\Dosapp\Ldraw\", but as far as I could see, it was an easy fix in the ldraw.rb file (just changing the dir name).

But, when I try to import CAR.DAT, which is in the Models subfolder, I only get four empty boxes in the Components window (4-4edge, 4315, CAR and stud3). Trying to place the empty box with the hint "CAR" just gives me a Bug Splat :-(

What are the assumptions made by this script? What should I expect to see in the Components window?

Reply to
Anders Isaksson

I just tried with a copy of CAR.DAT in the LDRAW folder, and

Any ideas?

Reply to
Anders Isaksson

The same problem occurs, BUT.. I know the answer now!

My computer is configured for Swedish, which means I use a decimal *comma* not a decimal *point*. If I change the Windows setting to decimal point the import works! Yay, you've fixed the colors too - great work!

Two suggestions:

LDRAW files *always* use decimal point - ignore the Windows setting and always expect DP when converting.

The Configure dialog is all well and good, even better if the settings were persisted :-)

You can also look for the environment variable LDRAWDIR - this is an acknowledged standard. On Win XP at least, this can also be accessed through the registry "HKCU/Environment/LDRAWDIR".

(I know, that's three things, but two of them are almost the same :-)

Thanks for a very nice plugin - I will now start testing it a little more.

Reply to
Anders Isaksson

BTW, you're welcome to the discussion groups at

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if you haven't already been there. I think there are more people than me that may be interested in this plugin.

Reply to
Anders Isaksson

kl. 18:00:41 UTC+2 tirsdag 24. oktober 2006 skrev Anders Isaksson følgend e:

Anyone still have a cpoy of this plugin?

It would have been greatly appriciated!

Reply to
benjammin72

Holy crap, you're replying to an *old* message!

Google search for "SketchUp .ldr importer" seems to return some promising hits. Have you checked Ldraw.org? Ldraw.org is still the "official" site for everything Ldraw related (even though it is a "fan" website and therefore nothing there is sponsored by The LEGO Group).

Failing that, have you asked the question in the CAD group on Lugnet? That should be much "more active" than a dead Usenet Newsgroup. I only subscribe this newsgroup since I've "been here since the very beginning" of alt.toys.lego, the very first Lego Usenet Newsgroup. By Usenet/Internet standards, I'm almost a fossil. ;-)

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Findley

The activity levels here and on Lugnet seem to be about the same.

LDraw.org has started a web-only forum as an alternative to "lugnet.cad", but I don't know if there is any activity there.

Play well,

Jacob (not quite fossilised yet)

Reply to
Jacob Sparre Andersen

Hey, us fossils gotta have *somewhere* to play. I still read, and very occasionally post, on LUGNET as well. I *detest* web-based stuff - I can never tell what my posts will look like, and have to use whatever primitive editing tools may be offered.

Reply to
Chris Gray

LOL!

On an unrelated note, my youngest daughter is really liking the Lego Minecraft sets. We bought her one at the Lego Store in the mall (they had very few sets on the shelf) and will likely buy a couple more online.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Findley

The "It's All Text!" addon for Firefox is a life saver in that regard. It puts in a buttom that allows you to edit any TEXTAREA in an external editor of your choice. My "editor" is a shell script:

#!/bin/ksh exec xterm -title "It's All Text" -e vim $@

Judging by the GNUs header on your post, you might prefer something else, but this tool gives you that choice.

Elijah

------ uses that "editor" as the script editor for GreaseMonkey, too

Reply to
Eli the Bearded

Installed, and it has been able to add a text buffer to my emacs. Don't have time for a real test right now - have to help a friend move...

Thanks!

Reply to
Chris Gray

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