[Plugin] MatSim (Material Simulation) - v1.1a - 03 Jul 23

[fredo6]

The information on MatSim is maintained on the Plugin Home Page of MatSim. This is also where you can download the RBZ file.


REQUIREMENTS:

• LibFredo6: v14.0 or above
• Sketchup version: SU2017 and above
• Platform: Windows and Mac OSX
• Usage: Free for the time being
• Expiration on: 31 Oct 2023

TO NEWCOMERS: If you land on this page and are unfamiliar with how to install Sketchup Extensions such as LibFredo6 or how to register on Sketchucation, please watch this video or refer to the Plugin page of LibFredo6.

MatSim creates and manages Material Simulation in SketchUp model. A Theme is a mapping between materials in the model and another ste of materials. A Simulation includes several Themes. You can have multiple Simulations in a model, with their scope at Model level or at Sketchup level.

MatSim - Short intro.gif

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NO user manual. MatSim is simple to use. Just watch the video.

A quick overview of MatSim

Video

[Didier Bur]

Hi Fredo,

Very interesting idea.
Does a theme take UV mapping into account ? I guess so

Best regards,

[Rich O Brien]

This is brilliant. The amount of time this saves me is huge.

Click to play...

mat-sim.gif

[chrisik]

A very nice one. Thanks!
Is it possible to link the themes with scenes? The background is to use the functionality in Layout.

[faust07]

You are fulfilling a long-cherished wish - changing materials and colors and saving constellations with a click.
Completely new possibilities open up for presentations, for depicting variants, for thematic plans, etc.
You've taken SketchUp to a higher level again - great!

[fredo6]

Is it possible to link the themes with scenes?

It should be possible to automatically display a Simulatio/theme when you switch to a scene.

For Layout however, there is no solution tomaintain several themes in a document, because changes in Materials, like changes in geometry, affects the whole Sketchup model and propagate to the Layout document. So, the apporach should be manual, with scenes that are updated one by one when a Theme is turned on, and possibly locked to prevent further updates.

[i5963c]

Is it possible to link the themes with scenes?

It should be possible to automatically display a Simulation theme when you switch to a scene.
.

Dear,

I tried to find out how I must link a simulation theme with a scene (the last message seems to imply that this should be possible). However, so far, I'm not able to do this. Can you please explain how this feature works?

Many thanks.
Kind regards.

[fredo6]

I tried to find out how I must link a simulation theme with a scene (the last message seems to imply that this should be possible). However, so far, I'm not able to do this. Can you please explain how this feature works?

This feature is not included in the current version. I have however implemented it and it will go in a next release to be published soon. You will be able to assign simulation themes to any scenes.

[i5963c]

Hi, thanks a lot for your very quick reply!
I'm looking forward to this next release...
Kind regards

[amckeag]

This extension is great! I'm really happy to see a way to temporarily apply materials, which helps keep a library of components/objects consistent across models.

I'm curious if there are plans (or if it's even possible) to include a way to temporarily apply materials at the group or component level, instead of just the materials level?

[i5963c]

This extension is great! I'm really happy to see a way to temporarily apply materials, which helps keep a library of components/objects consistent across models.

I'm curious if there are plans (or if it's even possible) to include a way to temporarily apply materials at the group or component level, instead of just the materials level?

Hi, I just did a quick test of the functionality that you requested in your post. Actually, it looks to me that it is already possible to apply materials to groups/components as well as to faces. All these variations of material assignments will be temporarily changed when a different theme is selected via this plugin.
As far as face materials are concerned, the plugin also differentiates front and back faces.

My only desire w.r.t. this extension (see also my post above) is the ability to link themes with scenes, so that the simulations can receive a more 'permanent' status on a scene by scene basis. My main use case for this enhancement is the ability to distinguish between different reference materials for 2D elevations versus 3D views or renders.
I understand that this feature is already implemented by Fredo, with an expected release on 'short notice'.

[amckeag]

Hi, I just did a quick test of the functionality that you requested in your post. Actually, it looks to me that it is already possible to apply materials to groups/components as well as to faces. All these variations of material assignments will be temporarily changed when a different theme is selected via this plugin.

Thanks for the reply. I think I may not be clear: I'm referring to the ability to select a base tag and apply a theme material to everything inside the tag. Meaning, a theme material can either be applied to one material at a time (which is currently possible in this extension) or it can be applied to everything within a tag, even if the tag includes objects that contain multiple materials. This is similar to the "Color by Tag" style option.

[i5963c]

I tried to find out how I must link a simulation theme with a scene (the last message seems to imply that this should be possible). However, so far, I'm not able to do this. Can you please explain how this feature works?

This feature is not included in the current version. I have however implemented it and it will go in a next release to be published soon. You will be able to assign simulation themes to any scenes.

Hello, is there any indication on the expected release date of the feature that will allow to assign simulation themes to scenes?

Many thanks.
Kind regards.

[fredo6]

Hello, is there any indication on the expected release date of the feature that will allow to assign simulation themes to scenes?

I have done the Scene part. However, I have problems with the Layout option. Basically, with the current Sketchup and Layout API, it seems impossible to update an existing Layout document from a model.

I see what I can do to release only the Scene part. I will also include the Default Themes.

Fredo

Scene Assignment.png

[i5963c]

Hello,

I get an error message when I launch this plugin, indicating that the version has expired. The error message also refers to the homepage of a plugin that is even not installed on my system (MoveAlignMe).
I have no clue what's happening...
Thanks to let me know what needs to be done in order to be able to use the MatSim plugin again.
Kind regards

[fredo6]

NEW RELEASE: MatSim v1.2a - 31 Oct 23

Requirements

• LibFredo6: v14.2a or above
• Sketchup version: SU2017 and above

MatSim 1.2a includes

• Extension of validity
• Experimental Scene Assignment of simulation

-----------------------------------------

Home Page of MatSim for information and Download.

Main post of this MatSim thread.

[i5963c]

Hello,

Thanks for the quick reaction and update of the extension (also for TruePaint, which had a similar validity period issue, btw).

However, I think there is a problem with the MatSim update.

I installed it on my system, and noticed that it didn't work. When I click one of the two icons or use the equivalent menu options, nothing happens (i.e. the normal dialog boxes don't appear).
When I activate the Ruby console, there is actually an error, as shown in the screenshot, included in the attached screenshot (Error: #<NameError: unintialized constant F6_MatSim::Bandeau::HTML>).

SharedScreenshot MatSim error - crop.png

This error occurs with a SketchUp model for which I applied the initial version of the MatSim plugin already before. I noticed that when I try to use the new version of the MatSim plugin on a new SketchUp model or on a model that hasn't already MatSim settings applied, the error initially doesn't appear, and asks whether you want to create a material simulation. However, afterwards, the error also happens for these files (i.e. actually nothing happens when clicking the buttons). For each click on a button, the same series of messages is added in the Ruby console.

So, it looks like there is a problem with backward compatibility, so I'm stuck for the moment.

In my current model, I rely heavily on the MatSim features (i.e. I applied different coloring schemes to emphasize different model components in different scenes). For the time being, I needed to manually select the appropriate simulation settings for the scenes, so the announced link between MatSim settings and scenes would be a big timesaver for my use case.
However, now I even can't access the MatSim settings anymore, which makes my setup completely 'useless'.

As a 'quick fix', can I therefore suggest to release an intermediate version that just includes the update for extending the validity period (unless of course if the root cause of the current problem can easily be fixed).

Thanks a lot in advance.
Kind regards.

[fredo6]

NEW RELEASE: MatSim v1.2b - 31 Oct 23

Note that MatSim 1.2a has a bug. So please upgrade to v1.2b.

Requirements

• LibFredo6: v14.2a or above
• Sketchup version: SU2017 and above

MatSim 1.2b includes

• Extension of validity
• Experimental Filters by Theme for materials which are not explicitely assigned an alternate material
• Experimental Scene Assignment of simulation

I will need to document and make a tutorial for the two features above however.

-----------------------------------------

Home Page of MatSim for information and Download.

Main post of this MatSim thread.