One click hangar

[charlymorton]

New feature, extensions. This gives the possibility to add different extensions to the standalone hangar.

 

[gww53]

A little problem...or confused

This is a very nice looking tool, but I'm having some problems

Something is amiss. I assume the files in the opening post are the updated files??

I installed the hangar creator early on. Pretty nice, but there were no textures on the models (my C:drive is a too-small SSD, so I don't add much there).

I removed the hangar.rb file, but sketchup still starts with the ruby console, and a partially functional version one is still in the plug-ins menu!!!

If I place the new hangar.rb file in the sketchup/plugin fille (which is on my D drive), I now have two create hangar tools!! One is the new one which works a bit (I put textures in sketchup/plugins files). The domed hangar has blue corrugated metal textures, all others white/no texture). I continue to have in my plug in list the partially functional first version.

I've searched both drives repeatedly for a residual hangar.rb file, but the only one identified is the one I expect--and if I remove it, Windows 7 finds no others.

So I guess four questions

1.Do I need to uninstall and reinstall sketchup to remove the first plug in or between upgrades??? (or something else)

2.Must the texture files be on C drive (a few posts back you suggested that had changed and they could be in the plugins folder)?

3. Does removal of the line about ruby start up in the new hangar.rb remove the ruby console at start up. I've removed that line in the new version, but it seems the original hangar.rb is still running, at least partially, somewhere.

4. Are the files in the opening post the updated files, or am missing an alternative download site?

I've attached a couple of screen shots to display simultaneous sketchup screen and googlesketchup8/plugins file.

Thanks again--this is really a pretty amazing tool and you're making huge upgrades almost daily!!

The issue is surely an error on my part and not the programs!! You cannot underestimate my ability to screw things up!!!! I'm just not sure where to go from here (I'd like to get rid of the ruby display at start up, but would really like to get the hangar creator working with textures)

Gary
Win 7 64
ivybridge 3770k minimally oc
8g
128 ssd C drive (windows, fsx)
1 tb WD D drive (sketchup and most everything else)

 

[charlymorton]

Hi Gary.

I've not come across this before, but as you say, this appears to be cause by a residual hangar.rb file somewhere.

As far as I am aware, there is only one location where SketchUp would look for plugin files and that's in the plugins folder, so I don't understand why you get this problem.

But there could be a way to find out where this elusive file is located.

Start SketchUp, leave the Ruby Console open, go to Plugins--Create hangar and on the select hangar type window, click Cancel.

You should then get an error in the Ruby Console similar to this:
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method `[]' for false:FalseClass>
C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/hangar.rb:37

This should tell you where this file is located, please let me know if this has helped.

Texture files should be located in a \Google SketchUp 8\Plugins\TextureFiles\

I will upload a new version shortly with new additions to the hangar extension feature. I've also created a new manual, which hopefully will explain how to use the hangar extension feature and the auto placement tools.

I'm happy you enjoy the tool and if you have any suggestions on new features, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I will see if I can implement them.

 

[charlymorton]

Gary,

Just addendum to my reply above.
The reason why you have the texture problems, even though it appears you have located them in the right folder, is due to the way SketchUp deals with rb files.

Let's say you have two versions of the hangar tool, hangar1.rb, which is an older version and hangar2.rb which is the new version.

Having the two versions will create two menu items; SketchUp reads all rb files on startup, and will therefore be told by both files to create a menu item.

Let's assume the second menu item is the one created by the new hangar2.rb file. If you go to the second menu item and select to create an arched hangar, it will run a method or sub-routine called arched_hangar, but because there now are two sub-routines with the same name, one in hangar1.rb and one in hangar2.rb, it will run the sub-routine from the first file, no matter which menu item you select and because the first file is an older version, this probably only has the option to set textures on the internal beam structure.

It's only possible to texture the whole hangar in later versions. You can probable confirm this by the fact that you don't get a separate dialogue box to set the various textures.

I've attached a version of the current hangar tool, called hangar2.rb. I've changed the name of all sub-routines and global variables, so they shouldn't conflict with the residual hangar.rb file.

This will appear in your Plugins menu as Create hangar - For Gary.

 

[gww53]

Thanks!

Wow, thanks for the incredibly quick response. My own personal version!!!!

I'll give these a try tonight when/if I get home.

If our IT people at the hospital had 1/10th the interest, we might actually have an electronic record that worked!!! Their response is "we'll put in a request. Let us know if you've not heard in 7-10 days". Of course, if it affects hospital billing they fix it. If it's just about patient care.....

But I digress.....

Thank you so much. The FSDeveloper site is such an unbelievable gift for the computer challenged like me that want to make their FS experience a little more fun.

That folks like you, Arno, Don Grovestine, Jon and the crew at ADE, (and many others) put up with and help us...just amazing.

Thanks again.

Gary

 

[charlymorton]

Having worked in IT support for the last 11 years, I know exactly what you mean.

When you get the chance later tonight, could you please let me know if the hangar2.rb file actually works, and also if the clicking Cancel in the residual hangar tool, let's you know exactly where the file is located?

 

[gww53]

Got it!!

I think my three pictures tell the story.

Ran the plugin as you suggested, cancelled, and sure enough, somehow a file had been created in the sketchup/plugin folder called "test.rb". I sure don't remember making that file, and it was more than just a copied file as it didn't run the whole program.

I should have picked up from it's creation date. When I deleted it, the ruby console was gone at sketchup start, and the plug in list was empty.

Then I added the new hangar.rb and the program functions beautifully. This is really fantastic.

I have an inventory of a few hundred hangars that I use, but this is really quick and wonderful quality. The doors are great. 15 seconds and there is very nice hangars. I haven't tried to place one in FSX, or even Model Convertor, but I assume night textures are not generated (I only know how to do that in MCX with GIMP/Pshop edited textures)

But the coolest part is the "create hangars-For Gary"!!!!! Not sure I'll be able to use your future upgrades!!!!

Thanks again for you quick and spot-on help

Gary

 

[charlymorton]

Of course, now I remember. I think the rb file was called test.rb in the very version of the tool. I had actually completely forgotten about that, oops...

I have no idea about night textures myself, it's something I've never considered.

So I might have to create personalised versions of the future releases, just to keep you on board.

The next release has a lot of new features (as you'd might expect), including possibility to create a door cutout of the aircraft tail, the use of extensions on the arched hangar.
I'm also in the middle of creating a new staircase extension for the standard hangar, however there are a few tiny details to iron out.
And not to forget the coolest of all features; automatically create all of the airport hangars in one click, with automatic geolocation in SketchUp.

 

[charlymorton]

Thanks to Jon M, I've been able to start the development a new feature which makes this truly a one-click hangar tool.

These 31 hangars (at Western Airpark FAA LID: 06WN/92W) were created and placed automatically, based on the parking position in the AFCAD file (or an exported CSV from ADE rather).

The hangars are less customisable than by placing them manually, but you will be able to set the sizes, door types, extensions and more.

You will see that some of the hangars are a bit off compared to the background image, but this is due to the AFCAD file being inaccurate.

 

[charlymorton]

Have updated with the latest version. This includes import of parking data from ADE, a new door type and some new extensions.

 

[charlymorton]

Have updated the first post with detailed description of how to use the airport import function.

 

[charlymorton]

This is a development release of the hangar tool for anyone who wants the very, very latest features. You still need all the texture files from the files in the first post.

New features:
- Possibility to change door type for arched and standard hangars. It's possible to change between bi-fold, sliding, encased sliding and detailed doors, it's also possible to change the folding levels for bi-fold and detailed doors, and how many sections the encased sliding door consists of. It's currently not possible to change the hydraulic doors. To change the door, select the hangar, go to Plugins--Create hangar and select 'Show hangar info'. You can now change the door type and folding level.
- The folding level for bi-fold doors for standard, arched and hangar row is now set in degrees from 0 (fully open) to 90 (full closed). This has not changed for the t-hangar rows.

Bugs:
- The position of the changed door will be off, if the hangar has any extensions.
- Although it will allow you to change doors for the hangar row as well, this feature hasn't been developed properly and therefore doesn't work.

 

[charlymorton]

Another update. It's now possible to change the doors after creating the hangar.

Most of the work in this update has been to make the code more effecient and extendable in the future, hence you will see the size of the hangar.rb file is a lot smaller than in previous versions.

 

[charlymorton]

Hangar tool has been updated for the second time today. New features include import placement of hangar rows and t-hangars, a more detailed t-hangar and t-hangar doors

 

[charlymorton]

New update with new door type, automated placement of double nested t-hangars and an automated export of model.

 

[charlymorton]

New update. Extensions (currently only for arched hangar) are more flexible and have a lot more features. You can also add your own textures to the hangar tool.

 

[oveegerup]

Useful plugin

Hi charlymorton
I like this plugin a lot, and use a lot, already made a number of hangars!
Hope you will keep on develop it!
I have some suggestions !
different textures inside and out, both roof and wall.
The ability to choose none for all textured faces, like the floor.
The ability to choose single wall and or single roof, maybe by setting the thickness to 0, (fps).
The ability to set size and texture off crossbeams, + crossbeams in the wall.
Closed hangar doors,
In some cases I have erased the inner faces to put wooden 2+4 in,
like the picture
Keep up the good work
Regards Ove
http://www.dropbox.com/hangar

 

[oveegerup]

Wrong link

Hope this will work
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rm2lozfwgsois39/Hangar Inside.jpg

 

[charlymorton]

Hi Ove,

I'm happy you like the hangar tool and thanks for your suggestions.

Different texture inside and outside is something which I've been thinking about, and it's already possible to use a different texture on internal walls of the hangar row, so it wouldn't take a lot of changes to implement it for all hangars.
It won't be a problem to reimplement an untextured floor as it's just a simple change to the code, although it may take a lot longer to implement untextured walls, beams, roofs, etc, so I would have to think of the best way to do it, but it's a definitely a good idea. The way it currently stands, let's say you select beams to not be textured, then this would apply to all beams. If you'd like just one beam to not be textured, I could implement this using the extensions field. Same for the wall, I could get it to leave the left wall untextured but texture all other walls using the extensions. If you want all walls to use one of your own textures, you can of course add them to the textures.och file.
I've actually never considered having single walls or roof in the hangars or the FPS impact of having double walls., and to be honest I haven't tried any of the hangars I've created in FSX, as I've been too preoccupied with developing the tool. It may involve a lot of coding to change it, but I will look into it.
Crossbeams in the walls is something I've thinking about as well (in addition to more details between beams, so it's something I will implement in the future. The detailed T-hangar has some crossbeams already.
In addition I'm planning to make the beam layout more flexible, especially with regards to the crossbeam layout.
Different textures and sizes for the crossbeams is a great idea. I hadn't considered allowing crossbeams to be textured differently, but that's something I'll implement soon.
It's currently possible to close the bi-fold and hydraulic swing doors by setting the door folding level to 90. I'm going to implement this for the sliding doors soon as well. The only reason why I haven't done so far is because as far as I know, it's not possible to animate doors created in SketchUp, so you wouldn't be able to use the hangar for parking, but then again, it's very unrealistic to have an airport full of open hangars.

This image is an example of the level of detail I would like the hangars to have, but it's always a battle to find the right balance between FPS and realism. http://www.prizmamuhendislik.net/Images/proje/9.jpg

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know and I will add them to the wishlist for the hangar tool.

 

[oveegerup]

Beam clarification

Hi charlymorton
Thanks for quick response!
Looking forward to downloading all the future upgrades!
When I write crossbeam I actually mean the horizontal beams (found the word, "purlin")
all vertical beams will probably use same texture, and all horizontal the same.
Beams like the ones in your picture would be nice, if one can those between them and a more simple design, as the ones used now.
Have you considered uploading to other fora, Flightsim, Avsim a.m. , 3DWarehouse? Maybe that would expose it to more people?!
By the way I have at one time in real life single handed build a hangar 15m x 30m it was with beams much like the ones in your picture
I think it was 25 years ago, it was for horse riding .
Ove