[Radiance-general] Free version of SketchUp released by Google (butthere's a catch)

[Jeffrey McGrew]

Randolph Fritz wrote:
> I wonder if it would be possible to write a Radiance export plug-in 
> for the free version of SketchUp.  By the way, the free version is not 
> licensed for commercial use, so even if it had full export facilities, 
> there would still be problems using it commercially; Google can afford 
> lots of lawyers.  I wonder about research use.
>
> Randolph 

If you're looking for a free modeling software that exports to Radiance 
there are several. Not as easy to use as Sketchup, mind you, but still, 
100% legal GPL 3D software is out there. And the 'full' version of 
Sketchup is $500, much cheaper than anything else.

Sketchup Pro uses Ruby as an API. So I don't see why someone wouldn't be 
able to make an export plug-in for it to talk with Radiance. Ruby is a 
great language, from what I've seen it a lot simpler than many other 
ones, and if I was a Sketchup user I think I'd dig into it. It looks 
like a lot of fun...

Jeffrey