LEDAS Improves Google SketchUp 8 with Driving Dimensions 1.4

LEDAS updates Driving Dimensions plug-in after SketchUp 8 released; achieves full compatibility on Mac and Windows platforms.

Novosibirsk, Russia: LEDAS Ltd today announced the updated version 1.4 of its Driving Dimensions plug-in for Google SketchUp software, the easy-to-use toolset for parametric modification of history-free 3D models. The LEDAS development team modified the code of the Driving Dimensions plug-in to capitalize on several important changes made to Google SketchUp V8. One of the primary changes in SketchUp 8 is its migration to a new Ruby interpreter, version 1.8.6. (Due to the changes in the syntax of the programming language, SketchUp no longer interprets some Ruby programs created with previous versions.) The LEDAS development team carefully revised the source code of Driving Dimensions, migrating the Ruby code to the new version. Driving Dimensions v1.4 is now fully compatible with the new releases of Google SketchUp – both the free 8 and the Pro 8 – running on Windows XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X 10.6

The behavior of SketchUp’s Push/Pull tool changed in version 8, which affected the inferred dimensions mechanism of Driving Dimensions. (The inferred dimensions mechanism automatically captures design intent, including when the Push/Pull tool is used, and then converts it into a set of driving dimensions that are placed on the new geometric entities.) Now the mechanism works correctly in both the new and previous versions of SketchUp.

“People seem very much interested in adding parametrics to their SketchUp V8 licenses,” reported Nicola Caraccia, co-founder and CEO of SIMIT, exclusive distributors of Google SketchUp and official reseller of LEDAS Driving Dimensions plug-ins in Italy. “I'm very excited by the great opening created by the new v8 launch, and I'm confident that Driving Dimensions for SketchUp has an excellent opportunity to become a best seller.”

Driving Dimensions plug-in v1.4 is compatible with Google SketchUp 8. It has been thoroughly tested on the 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista, and 7, and on Mac OS X 10.6.

Availability and Price

Commercial licenses of Driving Dimensions v1.4 for Google SketchUp may be purchased for US$145 (EUR 145 in Europe) from the Share-it! online store at www.DrivingDimensions.com/store/SketchUp. All customers who bought the licenses during last year can upgrade to v1.4 free of charge.

Free test drives of the Driving Dimension plug-in can be downloaded from www.DrivingDimensions.com/SketchUp, where visitors will also find detailed on-line help, written and video tutorials, a set of sample drawings, and testimonials from our customers. The free version is not intended for commercial use and limits users to 10 driving dimensions per model.