well... I'm thinking on a circle with soft edges... with a moving map into the circle, zooming relatively to the speed... all that is posible except the masking... I don't like the idea of a square map but if you can integrate it well in your HUD, you got it... the it's definitely is possible...

@jess... that solves the scaling but not the movement or masking...

ahhh!!!... that remembers me the need of sprite masks!!!...

however, maybe this can be solved with shaders, but unfortunately I can't help you on this... surely shadmar have an answer for us

You should be able to this with all the current _user_ shaders, but it needs abit of scripting.

To control texture zoom you can use
iShaderFloatSet(OBJ_X, "TileCount", float);  //the lesser float the more texture get zoomed

For moving texture around you could use :
iShaderFloat2Set(OBJ_X, "UVW", floatX, floatZ);   // X and Z texture offset.

Also TileCount doesn't zoom texture center, so when you zoom texture I'd guess it needs to be a combination of the two functions to make it work. (I haven't tried)

Playing around iv found that i can use 2 sprites and setting the "priority" to 0 & the second to 1 to adjust rendering order.

the second sprite is the "HeadingIndicator.3dr" project. ( set -90 to 90 so the sprite rotates in the opposite direction).

This gives a basic radar as a beginning.

Whats needed now is a scaled movement process for the ground map sprite to keep the radar host position located on the map properly.

And a zoom for the sprite. ( maybe starting with a large sprite ( the maximum zoom level)) then setting a zoom default as maybe %50 percent as a start point.

also there would need to be a input control for the zooming, so we would could add the "configurecontrol" to allow user customizing of the controls.

Also maybe a user settable transparency or just a default of %50 ? . 
 

There is often a need to center a model to the world 0,0,0 coordinates. Sketchup does not have this feature built in, so I searched the web for a solution. I found this little gem of a ruby script that almost does the job.
The plugin Center_Group_Bottom was found on a forum, made by someone named Dick.. Thanks Dick.

The original script centers the model in world, but places the model on the "floor", which is great for buildings and such. I changed the script a little, so the model is centered along the Z axis (up-down) as well. This change is needed for most models used in a game engine, such as balls, guns etc.
There are 2 scripts. Center_Group_Bottom, and Center_Group (my little change)

Unzip the little file, and place both scripts in your Sketchup plugin directory.
Once you model is ready, select everything and make it into a group or a component.

From the plugin drop-down menu, select the desired plugin, and it will do it's job for you.

Enjoy.

This is the useful goodies thread - All the ice cream and chocolates can be found here. You will notice that this thread is full of comments and feedback, so yours will also stay. But don't worry, No one can hear you scream in cyberspace.

how come i can't download minimap.rar

MINIMAP

Simple but powerful thingee: get the car's location (x,y) and transfer it to the sprite location (x,z).
Read the script's code to get more info.

HOW TO INSTALL

Download and extract the .rar file to your desktop. Just add the two sprites to your sprite/data folder and run the project.

Files:
- MiniMapDemo.3dr
- MAPdemo_Terrain.tga
- MAPdemo_Vehicle.tga

WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO UPLOAD A ZIPPED VERSION, COZ I CANT EXTRACT .RAR FILES!