There are many rendering apps out there, but self-expression can only ever come from you. If you let the software take over then you’re in danger of composing renders that clone the same look dictated by the app and not you.
CompoScene creates rendering channels for you to build upon and create your own art style…
CompoScene v2.0.2 by Rafael Rivera
CompoScene will help you create & export SketchUp scenes with rendering channels for compositing in Photoshop or other painting apps.
I am finally working on this extension once again and have updated it. I changed the name from ‘[SU]CH’ to ‘Styler’ and here are a few things that changed.
I added new ‘User Interface’ which is drawn directly on SketchUp’s view and want to know if you guys like it better than the Web-Dialog.
You can now pick the folder for exporting images.
Also fixed the Zdepth Scene.
I am planning to add other cool features soon. Also, I am charging a small fee to justify the hours I spend programming my plugins.
The plugin’s name should help to indicate what the plugin’s main feature or benefit is.
… and these names.
‘[SU]CH’ doesn’t tell me anything about the plugin, even though it might be an acronym that means something ( I don’t know what.)
“Style”, “Styles” and “Styling” has specific meaning within the SketchUp interface.
Naming an extension Styler to me is misleading and confusing. It suggests a more generic control over styles (which it does not appear to be, rather a fixed set of preset styles used for export.)
This plugin is really in the export or rendering support realm.
Could you come up with a better name that would indicate “export” “rendering” and/or “compositing” ?
Absolutely NOT. The userbase does not need to contend with a bunch of unique and special GUIs !
The dialog interfaces should reflect the GUI of the Operating System. This is what users know and expect.
As an aside, … the shade of red and blue you chose is revolting. These are not colors associated with SketchUp.
This is fine. However try to regulate your price(s) against what other extensions are charging and for what they do to enhance the user workflow.
Also keep in mind how the extension’s cost compares with the SketchUp license fee and maintenance subscription.
Ie, you’ve set this cost at 12.5% of SketchUp’s yearly maintenance subscription, …
and 2.6% of the SketchUp base license fee.
Perhaps this is worth it to someone who does a lot of rendering outside of SketchUp, … (I don’t know as I’m not a “renderer” myself.) Only time will tell.
Coming up with a name can be fun but it is really hard!
SUCH = SketchUp Channels
You have a point I am thinking on a better name…When I have it I’ll change it.
Creating my custom GUI was the most time-consuming feature for me to build, but once I created the basic framework I can now use it on other extensions with more ease.
Sounds like you have a very strong conviction against custom GUIs, and I wonder what bad experiences you’ve had with them?
I’ll probably post a new topic discussing the pros & cons while developing my GUI framework on another time. Overall I am pleased with the results, but there are exceptions.
For example, I don’t like that a user of my plugin can deactivate it by pressing a keyboard shortcut that activates another tool. I had to work around this and result back to ‘HTMLDialog’ to make a temporary window for the user to activate my extension once again. More on this later…
I want to provide examples of results artist have achieved using my plugin and SketchUp + PhotoShop.
Maybe then people will be more incline in spending money on it. The following is an example of an artist using it…
A notable exception is Fredo6. I find his GUI approach very difficult to use, but the extensions are so incredibly useful that it’s just something I, and probably everyone else, am willinng to accept the challenge.
I was not going to single him out, but since you did … (grin) … I cannot stand his interface and avoid any of his plugins that employ it. (Yes I’m stubborn. )
The last one of his I had installed was RoundCorner, and that was in my v2015 install.
(And that was just to check out a bug report I think.)
For example can you export ‘Line’ + ‘Style of your choice’ or will it always revert to the default of that template. In this example here I have changed the style to white face/background.
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