VR Sketch 17.0.9

#1

Hi,

Here is the next minor release 17.0.9 for PC VR, for Quest, and for PicoNeo3. This is likely the last of the 17 series; the next one will include large internal reworks that give major performance improvements. As usual, the downloads are here.

We updated to Unity 2021. Note that for PicoNeo3, it appears that release 17.0.8 contained a performance regression. This has been fixed in this release. Sorry about that. This release also supports the PicoNeo3 in tethered mode from a PC. See more details.

Other news in this release:

  • official support for the Quest Pro. Its color, less-grainy passthrough is an improvement over the Quest 2; we moved the setting to enable it to a less hidden place.

  • walking with the thumbstick (when you have the teleport tool selected) will not let you go through walls any more.

  • a setting to configure the shadow intensity. This setting will receive further tweaks in version 18.

  • new tool: tube/copy along. From a path (a series of edges), this lets you quickly make either tubes or many copies of a component along the path, like lamp posts along a hilly path or segments of a centipede-like construction. (Thanks Jesse for the live collaboration!)

  • when used on a Sketchup “solid group” or “solid component”, the Entity info box now displays the volume.

  • fix: the Tape Measure tool was supposed to work with cloud models too, but it no longer did in the previous version.

  • an attempt was made to use the correct color system on the various Quest headsets. If the colors still appear off (different than the colors on some calibrated monitor), please contact us. Note that the various SteamVR headsets are likely to give different non-calibrated colors as well; fixing that would be seriously more involved, but we can consider it.

  • as usual, some minor bugs and smaller performance issues were fixed.

  • Trimble updated the 3D Warehouse website and it stopped working in older versions of Sketchup (notably 2017 Make). With these versions, this makes it non functional in VR Sketch too. For now we give an explicit error and explanation in this case. I fear there is little that we can do about it.

Enjoy!

Armin Rigo and the team

3 Likes
#2
#3

Ah Trimble…
I curse the name.

#4

Request: Walking through walls (when walking)
For me this was a feature and not a bug to be removed.
When using TwinMotion for architectual projects in VR this used to always test me and I would have to spend time making making sure teh dor was left part open in the model or create an annimation for it to enter when I approach aka lost creativity time.

May I request that this option be added tpo teh options menu for use who appreciate the time saving aspect?
Thanks and good work, love this tool on the Pico 4

#5

Oh, I didn’t realize people would do it like that. I will add it as an option.

For now, note that you can grab the world and drag it with the grab button on the side of the controller; it’s not very natural, but when you are right in front of a wall, you can grab the world and drag it to go through the wall, by moving your hand backwards…

1 Like
#6

There is a potential issue with the PC version 17.0.9 (not the standalone Quest or Pico Neo). In unclear cases, maybe depending on the particular hardware and/or the versions of other software, it fails to start. For now, the download page has been reverted: the PC/Mac button points again to 17.0.8. Sorry about this issue; it is likely due to things that are beyond our control. If 17.0.9 works fine for you, of course you can continue to use it (I have also put an additional direct link to the 17.0.9 version too on the download page, with the mention “experimental”).

It seems that we need two different internal features, one which requires us to continue using Unity 2019 (like all VR Sketch versions up to 17.0.8 for PC), and the other which requires us to use Unity 2021. We chose to upgrade anyway, and had to upgrade several internal tools when updating to Unity 2021, but it seems to create this new problem in some cases. We will have to figure out what to do…

#7

Just FYI: The last “Whats New” page in the documentation does not link to anything newer than V12.

#8

Thanks! It is fixed now.