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Resolved (SOLVED) Has anyone been able to get sim tools to work with sketchup?

Discussion in 'Official Companion Apps' started by james wheeler, Mar 24, 2014.

  1. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    I have been trying to get sketchup to work with simtools after reading the DIY artical but to know avail. the point at which i get lost is when trying to apply ruby. there are so many different ones to download that i have no idea which i need or even how to make it work. if anyone has had better luck please help walk me through it.
  2. bsft

    bsft

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    sketchup with simtools? huh?
    apply ruby?
  3. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    ya i have been trying to follow the tatorial in the DiY section.
  4. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Well, if not, I hadn't been able to take the video, had I? ;)
    As described, you will need a copy of the Ruby "socket.so" V1.86.
    This file is included in the zip file you can find in the resource section.
    I recently had to restage my PC – so a good opportunity for me to try the tutorial again from the very beginning.
    I will amend the tutorial if I come across issues.
  5. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    yes, i downloaded the zip file that contained the model , the .rd file and .so file.

    Mabey i should walk though what i did to help. Mabey you can see where I went wronge.

    1st i downloaded (DL) sktechup. I made sure I got the old sketchup 8 not the 2014.
    2nd I DL sketchup physics 3.2
    3rd Installed both programs and opened wackelstuhl.skp
    4th I closed the program and DL rubyinstaller-1.8.6-p398
    5th I copied socket.so and wackelstuhl.rd into my sketchup\plugins folder.
    6th I opened simtools and setup the interface and assignments
    7th i opened grid2 from steam and did a lap. then closed the game.
    8th i opened sketchup again and then grid2
    is that what i should have done?
  6. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I followed the instructions as well and instantly had movement in the "Wackelstuhl".

    Just to be sure:
    • Before you start the game: Does GameManager say "Connected"?
    • After you've started the game: Does GameManager say "Game Running"?
    • While you drive in Grid2: Can you see flickering numbers in the Tuning Centre?
    • Did you click the "Play" button in SketchUp?
    StartSketchyPhysics.png
  7. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    yes i checked on all your suggestion but still i have problems.
    I checked into my installed programs through the control panel and it say sketchup physics 3.1 installed.
    which does yours say?
  8. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    i made a screen video in hopes of someone telling me where I am wronge
    one thing I will mention which i didn't point out is that even after installing sketchy 3.2 it still shows sketchy 3.1

  9. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    oops I'm still new to this;)
  10. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Hi @james wheeler
    Thanks for your video. Very helpful! By the look at it you have established a connection between SimTools and SketchUp :cheers
    What I suspect is that the motion settings in Tuning Centre are not strong enough. I can't see any movement of the sliders in the GameEngine Virtual Axis window. Can you open the Tuning Window and check if you have data arriving from Grid2 (GameData - Input) and if the Max/Min values are not set too high. Typically the Max/Min values are in the region of 10 - 20. You can adjust them by clicking on "Capture Max Min" button.

    Once you see the sliders moving strongly in the GameEngine Virtual Axis window I'm pretty sure, you will also see the chair move.
    Please let us know your findings.
    T.
    tunning-centre-v2.png
    (PS: I have stolen the picture from @eaorobbie's documentation. Don't care about the yellow comment and the arrows.)
  11. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    here is anouther short video showing the readouts. please keep inmind that I have no idea what they should say

  12. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    @james wheeler: In Interface Settings (GameEngine) try <Axis1> instead of <axis1> (with a capital "A")
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  13. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    i believe i have tryef A and $ but i will try again.
    how ever i do notice that in the top left corner of sketchup it says it needs sketchy 3.2.
    if you can check in your uninstall program menu and just confirm that your verson of sket hy is the same as mine. you can see in the first part of the first video you can see that mine shows v3.1
  14. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Hi @james wheeler
    You have succesfully established a connection between SimTools and SketchUp.
    However as long as your sliders (in Virtual Axis of GameEngine) do not move, your model in SketchUp won't move either.
    So please make sure these sliders move.
  15. prodigy

    prodigy Burning revs

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    I remember reading somewhere that those sliders are moving only on default profile, or something like that?
  16. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    thank you for all your help so far.
    i have been tring to get the sliders to move but so far i can only get the axis sliders to register movement. and only when i use the mouse with the drop down menu set to axis output. there is no reaction when the menu is set to DOF
  17. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    By George I think i am getting some where.

    I read the document game manager found here:
    http://www.xsimulator.net/simtools-game-manager/

    and noticed it said:
    Port Used – is the UDP port that the Game Plugin uses to send the data too, if your data doesn’t seem to be passing to the Tuning Centre and the Game Manager’s status is Blue with Game Running, you may have to exclude this port from your firewall software."

    So i looked up how to open a port and now I can get my sliders to move.

    Here is anouther video. they alway explain better than me.
  18. james wheeler

    james wheeler Active Member

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    Oh and I changed <a> to <A>



    sorry its over 5 minits
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  19. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    i like your videos!
    they were really helpful for helping you!
    thanks for taking the time to create them :thumbs
  20. prodigy

    prodigy Burning revs

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    Nice tries, you got it working finally.
    Now you need to figure out how to make pitch and roll work too, it looks that Sketchup now recognizes just "sway" axis, resulting in traction loss in your model, but shouldn't sway means leaning left/right like roll, and yaw = traction loss?