Visualizer - How to Install for SketchUp 2016

For those of you who are fans of the free Visualizer it is possible to make it work with Sketchup2016.

Here is a link to the sketchucation forum post that describes the easy procedure:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=57758&start=60#p581313

And of course please checkout my add-on(also free) for Visualizer here:

http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/visualizer-scene-exporter

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For Mac users you can find the files under Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp/Plugins, copy both the ā€œImaginationVisualizerā€ folder and the ā€œImaginationVisualizer.rbā€ file and place in home/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins.
You can find the library folder under the Go menu in Finder, hold down the Option key after you click on the Go menu and the Library folder will appear in the menu.

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kimberleydesigner

Visualizer works best with exterior scenes where the sun and sky has a lot of influence.

Some examples:

Can I ask @LesterP are you Visualizer?

Hi Denis. I browser the topics each day and offer people my insight into things related to sketchup.
People are trying to render a sketchup model with visualizer because they may think it is quick and easy.
All that I am saying our pointing isā€¦ tI am pointing them to the elevator rather than the stairs to get to the top floor. If I saw someone digging a hole with a spoon surely one would say, why donā€™t you use a shovel. Its the same in sketchup if someone is drawing a box with the line tool most people in the room would say why not use the retangle tool and pushpull.
Surely this is what the forums are about. If there is a better way one should say.

No, this thread has a clear title for itā€™s intended audienceā€¦

for the many mac users of Visualizer, that canā€™t even run Brighter, your interjections are pointlessā€¦

you should start your own thread i.e. Visualizer v Brighter for beginnersā€¦

then when all the Vray/etcā€¦ fanboys storm in, you can ask them to do the sameā€¦

The fact that ā€˜youā€™ canā€™t get good results doesnā€™t mean that others canā€™tā€¦

john

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This method works if you already had/have Sketchup 2015 installed and are migrating to 2016. Has anyone figured out a workaround for fresh installs of 2016 & Visualizer? Iā€™d even be happy for a link to Sketchup 2015 make and do install that if I have to I just canā€™t find one.

If your brave enough, you could see if you can ā€˜trickā€™ it into installing for v15ā€¦

if you change the v16 folder name in ā€˜Finderā€™ the installer may, install into a v15 Library path which it makes itself anywayā€¦

depends how deep it looks, it may not be any deeper than thatā€¦

john

So after a little googling I figured out ā€œfinderā€ is an Apple program (Iā€™m on windows) so that didnā€™t work. I was inspired by your suggestion though and did try to rename my sketchup 2016 to sketchup 2015 but it didnā€™t work (Iā€™m guessing the installer checks registry keys). I attempted to disassemble the installer but found thereā€™s a ā€œdataā€ file that I canā€™t open (in hopes of finding the applicable folder and files). Thanks for the suggestion though!

Windows 7/8:
SketchUp Make 2015-EN x32
SketchUp Make 2015-EN x64

Mac OS X v10.8/9/10:
SketchUp Make 2015-EN

non-commercial use only!

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Thank you SO VERY MUCH!!

Hello all,
I have been trying to load the Visualizer program into 2016 as described and each time I get a load error. I see it in my extension library under preferences - and it is checked - but it does come up under Extensions when I run Sketchup. Can anyone help? Below is the error record that keeps coming up.
Thanks
Error: #<LoadError: cannot load such file ā€“ ImaginationVisualizer/Extensions/IRExtension2015>
/Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in require' /Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/lib/ruby/2.0.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in requireā€™
/users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_initialize.rbs:67:in <module:ImgTecVis>' /users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_initialize.rbs:10:in ā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:5:in eval' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:5:in requireā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:5:in <top (required)>' /Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in requireā€™
/Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in load' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in register_extensionā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in <module:ImgTecVis>' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:14:in <top (required)>ā€™
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method get_imgtec_rnd_api' for nil:NilClass> /users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_initialize.rbs:23:in irapiā€™
/users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menu_commands.rbs:26:in <module:ImgTecVis>' /users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menu_commands.rbs:10:in ā€™
/users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menus.rbs:9:in eval' /users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menus.rbs:9:in requireā€™
/users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menus.rbs:9:in <main>' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in evalā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in require' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in <top (required)>ā€™
/Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in require' /Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in loadā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in register_extension' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in module:ImgTecVisā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:14:in <top (required)>' Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method enable_statisticsā€™ for nil:NilClass>
/users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menus.rbs:93:in <module:ImgTecVis>' /users/michaellannen1/library/application support/sketchup 2016/sketchup/plugins/imaginationvisualizer/iv_menus.rbs:12:in ā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in eval' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in requireā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer/iv_loader.rb:6:in <top (required)>' /Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in requireā€™
/Applications/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content/Tools/extensions.rb:197:in load' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in register_extensionā€™
/Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:25:in <module:ImgTecVis>' /Users/michaellannen1/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp/Plugins/ImaginationVisualizer.rb:14:in <top (required)>ā€™

did you ever run it in SU v15?

it looks like it not ā€˜findingā€™ the app in your Applications folderā€¦

if you right click the app itself, you may get a error, but OS X should then know where to find itā€¦ [maybe]

john

Thanks John - I will give that a try. I did run it in my old version of 2015 - but I removed that version and then when I wanted to get my Visualizer back I downloaded 2015 again so that I could download Visualizer - and no I didnā€™t ever run it in 2015 after this new download of both.
I will try the right click method. Iā€™ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again & again
Michael

Nope. I right clicked the program in the applications folder and I opened Sketchup 2015 and ran Visualizer - but no luck when I reopened Sketchup 2016 - still got the same error message - or at least I assume it was the same error message. Any other possible solutions?
Thanks
Michael

did you manage to save an image from the new v15 install?

if so, you could try to copy /paste the v15 [working] files into the v16 folder, over writing the previous attempt to see if that worksā€¦

the next step would be finding and trashing .plists using Terminal.appā€¦

it woks for me and others so itā€™s only a mater of finding and reconnecting the missing linkā€¦

john

Hello John,
Not sure what your referring to - I do have saved copies of images from my 2015 Sketchup of Visualizers images - if I copied them where would I try to pasted them in the 2016 version of Sketchup. And again not sure what trashing .plists refers to - and no idea what Terminal app is. ?
Thanks for the help
Michael

no, I was referring to the Visualzer plugin filesā€¦
i,e, first confirm it still works in v15 by using it , and then move a copy of those Visualzer plugin filesā€¦

john

Hi all,

I am also trying to install Visualizer into Sketch Up Pro 2016, I have been using it in the past for Sketch Up Make 2015. Iā€™ve tried following the instructions above but my results are slightly different.

Firstly, when I go ā€œFinderā€, then ā€œApplicationsā€, My Imagination Visualizer app sits on its own within the applications folder, itā€™s not within my Sketch Up 2015 folder. Iā€™ve tried copying just the Visualizer app but it doesnā€™t register when I open SU 2016.

In ā€œPreferencesā€ within Sketch Up 2016, Iā€™ve tried ā€œinstall extensionā€ and it maps me to my apps folder, but Iā€™m not able to select Imagination Visualizer as itā€™s greyed out. Also within this Preferences box, Visualizer is not listed in the list for me to tick.

Worth noting that Iā€™m on a Mac and I a currently using a free trial of Sketch Up Pro 2016.

Can someone please advise?

Thanks!

that is where it should be, the ā€˜extension/pluginā€™ files are what require movingā€¦

there are clear instructions at top start of this thread click here

good luck

john