I've seen no mention of SketchUp in this forum, so it may
be that many members are unaware of its capabilities and
promise.  So, here is a brief rundown.

Google's SketchUp is an intriguing application that makes
it amazingly easy to generate 3D models, render them, etc.
Although it is not Open Source, a "freeware" copy of the
distribution can be downloaded.

SketchUp's Ruby API allows the program to be extended in
various ways: callbacks can be registered, methods can be
overloaded, menu items and tools can be added, etc.  In
short, the API seems to have most of the functionality a
developer might need.

Unfortunately, the Ruby API is not "supported", so anyone
investing time on learning it may end up abandoned.  Also,
activity on the forum (sketchupruby / googlegroups.com) is
rather low, possibly because most SketchUp users are not
programmers.

I'd love to see an influx of Rubyists into SketchUp; this
could help to convince Google to support the API, as well
as demonstrating its power and utility to the community.

-r
-- 
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm            Rich Morin
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume     rdm / cfcl.com
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog     +1 650-873-7841

Technical editing and writing, programming, and web development