SU 2017 Plugin Solar North - Utilities Not compatible

Technical Problems SketchUp
1

Trying to install basic plugins Solar North and Utilities in 2017 with Extensions

And I get this warning

Seriously TRIMBLE - FIX IT

Why they were ever taken out of the basic install I just don’t understand!

2

You can install it anyway but it’s quite annoying that they never marked it as compatible with SU2017.

Generally when seeing this warning and you are using a newer version of SketchUp the plugin most often works anyway. Usually it’s just that the developer haven’t had the time to mark it as compatible yet. When you are using an older version of SketchUp than the plugin is marked as compatible with I would not recommend trying to install it. In those cases the developer has specifically said it’s not supported.

Why the feature was moved out of SketchUp I don’t know. I thought at the time that they wanted it as a plugin example to encourage people to write their owns but since it is looked to Pro I assume the source code is hidden.

1 Like
3

Thanks Christine,

Unfortunately the developer in the case of these two plugins is Sketchup :slight_smile:

Regards

4

PS, I thought I would be conservative and start on the simple plugins first… not a great start SU…

5

Well that’s embarrassing. Looks like a couple of our non-bundled extensions were not marked as SU2017 compatible. One little checkbox that was missed.

I went over the list and they should be appropriately marked now.

Thanks for reporting. I’ve filed an issue internally to review the release process.

2 Likes
6

Well TT, at least unlike Microsoft who leaves users to flounder in the darkness and have users as their tech support team you guys respond pretty quickly… Thanks

But can you answer the elephant in the room, why was solar north and utilities plugins ever dropped from the native SU install?

7

They were dropped a number of versions back. Maybe with SU2013. As I recall, at the time, they were dropped because not all users would need them.

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I’m not all familiar with the history of this. Was before my time at SketchUp. If I recall correctly it was during the Google era. Might be related to Googles desire to ensure correctly geo-located models - but that is just speculation by me. The US office is closed this week for thanks giving - so I can’t ping anyone for the details right now.

But I believe Dave is on to something. I recall that in my previous job I used it for customizing shadows for illustrative purposes - when geo-location was of no concern. Wanted to approximate 45 degree shadows for elevation views.

Personally I think some of the pain can be alleviated by a better Extension Warehouse. For instance having your set of extension tied to your SketchUp profile, which could then be pulled automatically as you migrate to newer versions. Then the setup overhead between versions would be less as you make your configuration once. But that’s just me dreaming. One of many ways to address this.

(oh bother… I replied with the wrong hat on… oh well. Might as well be appropriate for this response as I was in large thinking out loud on this one.)

1 Like
9

thx, I use both frequently, I do a lot of urban design so location and orientation are important… and for construction drawings check z heights easily with the Query tool is essential.