Hello from Gaza — looking for support to turn a geodesic shelter project into reality

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mohammed Rasmy

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Sep 30, 2026, 6:42:12 AMSep 30
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Hello from Gaza,

About a year ago, while trying to find a practical way to provide shelter for my family under the current conflict and severe shortage of conventional building materials, I started thinking about a different approach.

The idea was to rely on short, repeated structural elements that could potentially be produced from locally available or recovered materials, including material salvaged from damaged buildings.

After months of studying different structural systems, I became increasingly interested in geodesic domes because of their ability to create relatively large structures from many small repeated parts.

What started as research for a shelter gradually became a much larger engineering project.

During this process, I developed Dome of Drums, a SketchUp extension dedicated to the design and fabrication of dome and gridshell structures.

The tool now goes far beyond standard geodesic domes. It includes systems such as:

Geodesic and Geodesic Hex structures, Zonohedral and Zome systems, reciprocal / Nexorade structures, geodesic tunnels, different grid-shell configurations, and several experimental systems that I have developed during the project.

One of the most important features is that the user can also take almost any 2D grid or line pattern and project it onto a dome or another shell profile, then convert that geometry into a buildable structural system.

The dome profile itself does not have to be a semicircle. It can be generated from many different arch profiles, including pointed, elliptical, multi-centered and other forms inspired partly by traditional and Islamic arch geometry.

The software also deals with the parts needed for actual fabrication rather than only generating lines in space.

It can generate physical timber or steel members, connection systems, reciprocal structures, hubs, doors and windows, shell or cover patterns, and fabrication reports with dimensions and cutting information.

There is also a system for generating cover patterns, similar to sewing patterns, for fabric or membrane skins.

Another part of the tool can generate reusable casting molds for repeated structural blocks. This is particularly important for us because it could allow shelters to be built from locally available earth or other cast materials when conventional cement or timber is difficult to obtain.

At this point, the project has moved beyond being only a computer experiment. The goal now is to expand the work into more full-scale construction and use it to serve families and communities here.

What I need most now is help connecting with people who may have experience in:

  • geodesic and gridshell construction,
  • structural engineering,
  • timber or reciprocal structures,
  • earthen construction,
  • humanitarian shelter,
  • material testing,
  • or organizations that may be interested in supporting or partnering on field implementation.

Support does not necessarily have to be financial. Technical advice, introductions to humanitarian organizations, engineering review, material expertise, or help connecting with potential partners would all be extremely valuable.

If anyone here has experience in these areas, or simply wants to help us move the project from digital design into wider real-world construction, I would be very grateful to hear from you.

You can contact me directly at:
m7md....@gmail.com

Thank you from Gaza.

Dome of Drums
From Simple Parts to Shelter.

ChatGPT_Image_Sep_30_2026_01_21_20_PM_cleaned.pngScreenshot 2026-09-30 122151.pngثقلثفغع.png

Gemini_Generated_Image_ (2).png

John Hurt

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Oct 3, 2026, 4:23:55 PMOct 3
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Mohammed,

I sent you an email, check your inbox, or contact me at this link:


John Hurt

Adrian Rossiter

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Oct 4, 2026, 3:40:58 AMOct 4
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Hi John

On Sat, 3 Oct 2026, John Hurt wrote:
> I sent you an email, check your inbox, or contact me at this link:

I asked Gemeni about this post, as the dome photo is obviously AI
generated (look at the window). It turns out the text is also AI
generated, and there is a trend of using exactly this kind of post
to scam technical people in specialist groups. The scam is to befriend
you over several weeks, and then ask you for money, under the pretext
that it is for something essential for the project to move forward.

Notice that the original poster wants to make contact with lots of
people, yet has not set up a public profile for the project, and
the contact email address does not appear anywhere except with this
post (I notice they have also sent the same post to sketchucation.com
so might have sent it to more places too).

Just for your information.

Adrian.
--
Adrian Rossiter - adr...@antiprism.com
http://www.instagram.com/adrian_rossiter
http://antiprism.com/adrian

Bryan L

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Oct 4, 2026, 4:02:37 AMOct 4
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Well spotted Adrian 👍


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mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 5:18:50 AMOct 4
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Thank you for the warning, but I believe the conclusion being drawn here is unfair, so I would like to clarify a few points.

I am the person behind the post and the project, and the project is real. It is not an attempt to contact people in order to ask them for money. I have been working for some time on developing a specialized tool for designing domes and grid-shell structures, and I can demonstrate the software running directly inside SketchUp, along with the models, design results, and development stages.

Yes, I may sometimes use AI tools to help me write or improve English text, especially since English is not my first language, and I may also use AI-generated images for presentation purposes. But using AI does not make the project, or the person behind it, fraudulent. A presentation image is not evidence that the engineering work or the software itself does not exist.

In fact, this is very easy to verify. You can simply ask me for a copy of the software, and I will send you a trial version so you can test it yourself immediately. I can also send you the actual SketchUp model shown in the image as an SKP file, so you can open it, inspect it, and verify it yourself.

As for posting the same message in more than one specialist community, including this group and SketchUcation, I believe that is completely normal for a project specifically aimed at SketchUp users and people interested in dome and structural design. The purpose is to reach people with experience in this field and receive genuine technical discussion and feedback.

I think it is unfair to publicly warn others that someone may be a scammer based mainly on Gemini’s analysis of an image or a piece of text, without first contacting that person or asking for any evidence of the project.

I am not asking you to simply believe me. Ask for the evidence and test it yourself. After you have verified that the project and the software are genuine, I believe I would deserve an apology for having my credibility questioned publicly.


‫في الأحد، 4 أكتوبر 2026 في 10:40 ص تمت كتابة ما يلي بواسطة ‪Adrian Rossiter‬‏ <‪adr...@antiprism.com‬‏>:‬

mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 5:23:27 AMOct 4
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‫في الأحد، 4 أكتوبر 2026 في 12:18 م تمت كتابة ما يلي بواسطة ‪mohammed Rasmy‬‏ <‪m7md....@gmail.com‬‏>:‬

Adrian Rossiter

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Oct 4, 2026, 7:06:45 AMOct 4
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On Sun, 4 Oct 2026, mohammed Rasmy wrote:
> I am not asking you to simply believe me. Ask for the evidence and test it
> yourself. After you have verified that the project and the software are
> genuine, I believe I would deserve an apology for having my credibility
> questioned publicly.

If you say you are from Gaza and then post a fake image purporting to
show a family outside a UNICEF dome shelter in Gaza in support of your
project, without disclosing it is fake, then, in my opinion, you deserve
to be viewed with suspicion. Also, your facebook page that you have just
posted has lots of followers, but no history, which is also suspicious.

Whether or not you have any working software doesn't change anything,
especially when non-specialists can knock out working prototypes with AI.
If you want people to review your plugin then upload the source to Github.

mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 7:20:29 AMOct 4
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Your point that “non-specialists can produce working prototypes with AI” does not invalidate the work that has been done, nor does it prove anything about the credibility of the project. AI is a tool, like any other tool. The relevant question is not whether I used AI, but whether the product is real, whether it works, and whether the results I claim can be independently tested. I have already offered every practical way to verify that.

You can request a trial version and run the software yourself. I can send you the resulting SKP files, demonstrate the plugin working directly inside SketchUp, and discuss the technical details with you. To me, that is the reasonable way to evaluate software, not to require the developer of a commercial project to publish the entire source code on GitHub.

As for the fact that I am from Gaza, I am not mentioning that to ask anyone for sympathy, and I am not a beggar. I mention Gaza because it is genuinely part of the story of this project and part of the circumstances that led to its creation and development. I strongly object to having the place I live, or the conditions in which I work, turned into yet another reason to question my integrity.

You are absolutely entitled to be skeptical. You are entitled to ask for evidence, and I actually encourage you to do so. But there is a difference between healthy skepticism and publicly presenting someone as a potential scammer, then dismissing the practical evidence when it is offered.

I am prepared to verify every aspect of this project in a direct and technical way. I only ask that you be as fair in your judgment as you expect me to be transparent.

And, by the way, this message was translated with ChatGPT. 😉


‫في الأحد، 4 أكتوبر 2026 في 2:06 م تمت كتابة ما يلي بواسطة ‪Adrian Rossiter‬‏ <‪adr...@antiprism.com‬‏>:‬
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mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 7:24:05 AMOct 4
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I understand your criticism of the image, and I have already addressed that point: the image was illustrative and AI-generated, and I should have made that explicit when I posted it. I accept that criticism, and I will make sure to be clearer about that in the future.

What I strongly reject, however, is the way the use of AI is being treated in your comments as if it were suspicious in itself, almost as if it were an accusation or a crime.

Yes, I have used AI in parts of my work, and I will continue to use it when it is useful. I am an architectural engineer from Gaza, and the team working with me has spent around six months, under very difficult conditions, developing this tool. The software did not appear at the click of a button, and it is still under active development, as are the website and the other parts of the project.

Your point that “non-specialists can produce working prototypes with AI” does not invalidate the work that has been done, nor does it prove anything about the credibility of the project. AI is a tool, like any other tool. The relevant question is not whether I used AI, but whether the product is real, whether it works, and whether the results I claim can be independently tested. I have already offered every practical way to verify that.

You can request a trial version and run the software yourself. I can send you the resulting SKP files, demonstrate the plugin working directly inside SketchUp, and discuss the technical details with you. To me, that is the reasonable way to evaluate software, not to require the developer of a commercial project to publish the entire source code on GitHub.

As for the fact that I am from Gaza, I am not mentioning that to ask anyone for sympathy, and I am not a beggar. I mention Gaza because it is genuinely part of the story of this project and part of the circumstances that led to its creation and development. I strongly object to having the place I live, or the conditions in which I work, turned into yet another reason to question my integrity.

You are absolutely entitled to be skeptical. You are entitled to ask for evidence, and I actually encourage you to do so. But there is a difference between healthy skepticism and publicly presenting someone as a potential scammer, then dismissing the practical evidence when it is offered.

I am prepared to verify every aspect of this project in a direct and technical way. I only ask that you be as fair in your judgment as you expect me to be transparent.

And, by the way, this message was translated with ChatGPT. 😉


‫في الأحد، 4 أكتوبر 2026 في 2:06 م تمت كتابة ما يلي بواسطة ‪Adrian Rossiter‬‏ <‪adr...@antiprism.com‬‏>:‬
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Adrian Rossiter

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Oct 4, 2026, 7:47:00 AMOct 4
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On Sun, 4 Oct 2026, mohammed Rasmy wrote:
> SketchUp, and discuss the technical details with you. To me, that is the
> reasonable way to evaluate software, not to require the developer of a
> commercial project to publish the entire source code on GitHub.

So this is a commercial project, and you are looking for people to
give you money ("Support does not necessarily have to be financial")
and your only public contact information is an email address that
isn't used elsewhere and a new Facebook page that somehow has lots of
followers.

mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 7:55:09 AMOct 4
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My friend, let me tell you a small Arabic joke first.

Two men were looking at something dark standing on a hill in the distance. One said, “That is a goat.” The other said, “No, it is a bird.” They argued for a while. Then the thing suddenly spread its wings and flew away.

The second man said, “See? I told you it was a bird.”

The first man replied, “It is a goat, even if it flies.”

In Arabic, we say “a goat, even if it flies” about someone who has already decided what he wants to believe and keeps defending that conclusion no matter what evidence appears.

And honestly, I am starting to feel that this is where our discussion is going.

So please, tell me clearly: what exactly would you like me to provide in order to prove to you that I am neither a scammer nor a beggar?

I have offered you the software, a trial version, the actual SKP files, and a direct demonstration of the plugin working inside SketchUp. If none of that is enough, then please tell me specifically what would be enough.

Regarding the Facebook page, it did not suddenly appear yesterday. It is an old personal page/account that I have used for around 14 years, which is why it has followers. I have now decided to use it to present my work and my project as I move more seriously into software development. I genuinely do not understand what is suspicious about that.

Every time I answer one concern, another one seems to replace it. At some point, the question stops being “Can this project be verified?” and becomes “How can we keep finding reasons to remain suspicious?”

So I am asking you directly and sincerely: what evidence would you actually accept?

Give me a clear standard, and if it is reasonable, I will do my best to provide it.


‫في الأحد، 4 أكتوبر 2026 في 2:47 م تمت كتابة ما يلي بواسطة ‪Adrian Rossiter‬‏ <‪adr...@antiprism.com‬‏>:‬
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Bryan L

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Oct 4, 2026, 8:55:58 AMOct 4
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Hello Mohammed,

you can post SKP files to this group.

Do you know if they will work with the free version SketchUp Make?

Bryan

Adrian Rossiter

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Oct 4, 2026, 12:41:01 PMOct 4
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On Sun, 4 Oct 2026, mohammed Rasmy wrote:
> Regarding the Facebook page, it did not suddenly appear yesterday. It is an
> old personal page/account that I have used for around 14 years, which is
> why it has followers. I have now decided to use it to present my work and
> my project as I move more seriously into software development. I genuinely
> do not understand what is suspicious about that.

Ok, it is your old personal page where 1300 people follow you, and you
follow 32 people.


> So I am asking you directly and sincerely: what evidence would you actually
> accept?
>
> Give me a clear standard, and if it is reasonable, I will do my best to
> provide it.

I have asked AI to write an analysis of your original post, and say what
you can do to appear credible, and what it thinks about your offer to send
me the plugin to run

[AI text start]

This message is an incredibly sophisticated mix of genuine-sounding
technical jargon and classic emotional engineering. By setting the
location in a high-profile conflict zone (Gaza) and framing the request
around humanitarian aid, the poster creates an environment where community
members feel guilty for being skeptical.

However, looking at the exact text and the attachments they included, this
fits a known pattern of high-level social engineering. Let's analyze the
red flags and see exactly how they can prove they are real based on the
criteria we discussed.

The Red Flags in This Specific Message

1. The "Heroic Leap" in Scope: It is highly contradictory that someone under
active, severe conflict—facing immediate survival threats, blackouts, and
internet drops—somehow found the stable environment, power, and high-end
hardware necessary to spend "months" coding a massive, feature-complete
SketchUp extension. The list of features (Zonohedral, Nexorades, 2D
projection, fabrication reporting, sewing patterns) represents years of
development for a dedicated software team, let alone an isolated
individual in a crisis zone.

2. AI-Generated Imagery: The inclusion of an AI-generated family and an
AI-mockup screenshot is a massive red flag. Legitimate developers in Gaza
take real photos of their actual conditions or real screenshots of their
software. Using AI to manufacture emotional weight (the UNICEF tent) is a
standard tactic used by standard financial scammers to manipulate targets.

3. The Call to Action (The Funnel): They claim "Support does not necessarily
have to be financial." This is a psychological trick. By saying they want
advice or connections first, they bypass your immediate defenses against
money requests. Once you reach out via their private email
(m7md....@gmail.com), the conversation shifts away from the group, trust
is built, and the inevitable request for wire transfers, crypto, or
GoFundMe links begins.


How This Poster Can Instantly Prove They Are Real

If this person is a brilliant, legitimate engineer who happens to be in
Gaza, they can easily vindicate themselves by doing what any real software
developer does. You or the group moderators can reply publicly and ask
them to provide three simple things:

1. Provide a Public Link to the SketchUp Extension .rbz File or GitHub
Repository

The Request: Ask them to share a link to download the actual plugin file
so the community can test it, or share the repository where the Ruby code
lives.

The Scammer Fail: If it's a scam, the software doesn't actually exist, or
it is a repackaged, stolen version of an existing open-source plugin. They
will make an excuse about why they "cannot share the code yet" due to
security or internet issues.

The Real Developer Response: A real developer looking for "technical
advice and engineering review" will eagerly share the tool or code to get
feedback from a specialized geodesic community.

2. Keep the Conversation Public on the Google Group

The Request: Explicitly state in the thread: "To ensure the whole
community benefits and to coordinate our technical advice, let's keep all
engineering reviews, tool feedback, and organization introductions right
here in this public thread instead of private email."

The Scammer Fail: Scammers will ignore the thread and wait for the few
individuals who emailed them privately. They cannot run an emotional
financial scam in front of a room full of auditing experts.

The Real Developer Response: A real humanitarian open-source developer
will be thrilled to have a public archive of expert help.

3. Share a Screen Recording of the Software in Action

The Request: Ask for a 30-second screen recording showing the extension
actively generating one of these complex structures (like a Nexorade or
Zome) inside SketchUp.

The Scammer Fail: They cannot fake a live recording of a highly specific,
niche plugin that they claim to have coded themselves.

The Real Developer Response: They will record their screen, showing the
menus and the geometry generating in real-time.

Summary
The narrative is emotionally compelling, but the footprint (AI images,
massive feature claims, steering to private email) heavily points to an
advanced phishing or advance-fee fraud campaign targeting niche
architectural/engineering groups.

[AI text end]

I pointed out that you were willing to send the plugin, and asked if
it would be safe for me to run it. This is what AI said

[AI Text start]

No, it is absolutely not safe to run. Even if the plugin physically exists
and functions, installing an unverified, third-party plugin directly from
an anonymous or suspicious source carries severe technical risks. 

SketchUp extensions (distributed as .rbz files) are written in Ruby, a
programming language that executes natively on your computer's operating
system. SketchUp does not run these extensions in a secure sandbox.

The Technical Risks of Running an Unverified .rbz File
Because SketchUp gives extensions high-level system permissions, a
malicious plugin can perform devastating actions without triggering normal
security alerts:

Arbitrary File Access: The code has full permission to read, modify, or
delete any file on your computer that your user account has access to. It
can scour your hard drive for sensitive documentation, browser cookies,
and saved passwords.

SketchUp Community
Network Communication: The plugin can silently reach out to a remote
server over the internet. This means it can take your personal files or
credentials and upload them directly to a malicious server, or it can
download further malware onto your machine.

Executing System Commands: A malicious Ruby script can trigger
command-line executions on Windows or macOS. It can serve as a trojan
horse to quietly install a persistent backdoor, keylogger, or ransomware
on your operating system.

A Sneaky Alternative: The "Trojan Horse" Strategy
Even if the code isn't actively malicious, scammers frequently use a
"Trojan Horse" strategy in technical communities. They find a legitimate,
existing open-source plugin that someone else built years ago, change the
name to something compelling (like Dome of Drums), and bundle it with
malware or a malicious script.

When you install it, the geodesic tool might actually open up and appear
to work perfectly, completely masking the fact that a payload is running
in the background stealing your data.

How to Stay Safe
If the developer refuses to submit the plugin to the official SketchUp
Extension Warehouse or the trusted community moderated SketchUcation
PluginStore—both of which audit and sign extensions for security—you
should never install it.

[AI Text end]

Dx G

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Oct 4, 2026, 1:57:25 PMOct 4
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Firstly, I for one appreciate Adrian posting a warning.  He did not claim Rasmy was a fake or a scammer, he simply drew our attention warning signs we should be aware of.

I also can see things from Rasmy's point of view.  As Freud famously said, if when you are dreaming of a cow, you are dreaming of your mother, then how do you dream of a cow?  
   So the question is, how does one tell the good guys from the bad guys.   When scammers copy what the good guys do, and the good guys use some of the same tools as the bad guys, such as AI, methods of validating the good guys that cut through the masks are valuable.   I hope to learn more about how to do that.

However, not everyone has the hardware, software, or web access required for all vetting methods. So unlike the bad guys, who are unmasked by their inability to implement these forms of proof-of-legitimacy, the good guys can't use some of those methods either.  So we need to avoid reasoning from a converse, like saying all firetrucks are red, but understanding that not all red vehicles are firetrucks. 

So, as we say in statistical analysis, we have at least two types of errors to concern us.  Saying something is, and it's not, and saying something isn't, but it is.   Don't confuse the two, it only impedes the process of finding solutions.

I wish I had answers to offer, but I'm just learning how to decipher some of these issues and questions.  I did see one item that helps, but won't help Rasmy's cause at the moment. I will post a link here to an interesting article that illuminates several things that the author claims AI "can't" do (yet), on a technical level.   Some of the focus is on graphical information produced by sensors.  You'd think that one machine could easily read output from another machine, but then again, the creators of AI may not have the technical expertise themselves to even understand what many technical people do every day in certain professions.   One wonders if there will eventually be anything that AI can't teach itself, since that is what humans and other forms of life have done for eons.  However, we may find insight among the things the AI creators don't know, and may never.


Other insights you might appreciate

 Here are two full length renditions of Colossus, the Forbin Project. These two versions have poor video, but are watchable.  Considering this was out
in 1970, and how many years ago that was, it really does present some interesting issues that clearly overlap all the current fuss about AI. 
https://vimeo.com/584593423
https://archive.org/details/colossus-the-forbin-project-1970

A 1980's movie, which actually does get into some of the issues of telling the difference between a "real" human and a "replicant".

Let's keep an open mind on these things, and let's see how best to avoid, at least, those two statistical errors...

Dx G

Adrian Rossiter

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Oct 4, 2026, 2:46:06 PMOct 4
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On Sun, 4 Oct 2026, Adrian Rossiter wrote:
> On Sun, 4 Oct 2026, mohammed Rasmy wrote:
>> Regarding the Facebook page, it did not suddenly appear yesterday. It is an
>> old personal page/account that I have used for around 14 years, which is
>> why it has followers. I have now decided to use it to present my work and
>> my project as I move more seriously into software development. I genuinely
>> do not understand what is suspicious about that.
>
> Ok, it is your old personal page where 1300 people follow you, and you
> follow 32 people.

This is what AI says about the facebook account

My prompt:

A person with a male name says this is their account that they have used
for 14 years, although there is nothing there except for from the last
five days. The personal details says the gender of the account holder is
female. The account has 1300 followers, but only follows 32 people

AI Response:

Based on the details you provided, there are several significant red flags
that strongly suggest this account has been compromised, bought, or
repurposed, and is likely being used for a scam.
Here is an analysis of the evidence and why it contradicts the person's
claims:

1. The Gender Discrepancy (Major Red Flag)
The Claim vs. Reality: A man is claiming ownership of an account whose
official registration details list the gender as female.
The Likely Reason: This is a classic sign of a compromised or purchased
account. Scammers frequently buy old, established accounts from "account
farms" or hackers. They often forget to change the underlying bio data
(like gender or original birthday) when they take over the profile to use
it for a new identity.

2. The 14-Year Age vs. 5 Days of Activity
The Claim vs. Reality: The person claims to have used it for 14 years, yet
the visible post history only spans the last five days.
The Likely Reason: When hackers or scammers buy an old account, the very
first thing they do is mass-delete or archive all the original owner's
photos, posts, and friends list to wipe the slate clean. They then upload
a few new photos over a short period (in this case, 5 days) to make the
account look "active" to a casual observer. Alternatively, the account may
have sat completely abandoned for over a decade until it was recently
breached or re-activated by this user.

3. High Followers vs. Low Following Count
The Status: 1,300 followers but only following 32 people.
The Likely Reason: An authentic, casual user who has been active for 14
years naturally accumulates a balanced ratio of friends and followed pages
over more than a decade. A stark asymmetry like this on a suddenly active
account usually means the followers are holdovers from the original,
completely different owner, or they were purchased as bot followers to
give the new scam profile instant "credibility" and numbers.

Summary of Risks
This pattern is heavily associated with impersonation scams, romance
scams, or financial fraud. The person you are talking to is highly
unlikely to be the original creator or true owner of that 14-year-old
account.



Sorry to spam the group. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.
For me these are a lot of red flags, and I have just tried to present
them here so that people can bear them in mind if they choose to write
to the project directly.

Eric Marceau

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Oct 4, 2026, 3:41:32 PMOct 4
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Thank you, Adrian!

I see it both a great service, and even praiseworthy, that you took it upon yourself to probe and report in a way that protects the integrity of the Group's channel and the interests of the Community Members.

I know that the "correspondant" will find it hard to gain the necessary credibility, under those circumstances, but maybe there is some recognized 3rd-party non-profit organization that can offer assurances that such "emerging" entrepreneurs are indeed pursuing legit endeavours!

If such NGOs exist, then I feel that should be the focus of any efforts beyond the initial concept stages ... so as to ensure early and easier access to resources, be they human, financial, or otherwise.

Just a thought!


Eric


P.S.  I just did a lookup on Google, which reported the following:

* NGOi (NGO International Organizational Certification)

* HQAI (Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative)

* NGOsource

* GlobalGiving - Middle East (also GlobalGiving)

* Candid

and one last one:

The Council on Accreditation (COA) partners with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards.

COA envisions excellence in the delivery of human services globally, resulting in the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

EAJM

mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 3:55:46 PMOct 4
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I just want to clarify one point: I am not unable or unwilling to provide the kinds of verification Adrian mentioned. In fact, I am prepared to provide all of them.

The issue is simply timing. The project is still approaching its public release, and most of the things being requested are already part of our existing roadmap.

We have already submitted the extension for approval on the official SketchUp Extension Warehouse, and we have created an official website and an official project page. The documentation, trial version, website, and public release of the extension are all being completed now.

There are also two separate projects developing in parallel.

One is a commercial project: the software tool itself, which we intend to sell.

The second is a humanitarian project: using the same tool and the construction methods we have been developing to create low-cost shelters using locally available or recycled materials.

I have been sharing and promoting the idea publicly for about four months while continuing to develop it. I did that deliberately, because at the beginning I was not certain that every part of the idea would work. I also needed to test whether there was genuine interest, receive feedback, and understand which parts people actually cared about before investing even more effort into them.

So I have no objection at all to verification. On the contrary, I welcome it.

It is simply a matter of a few more days before nearly everything becomes publicly available: the extension, website, documentation, trial version, and more technical material.

And if the humanitarian side receives funding, we also intend to move from software and prototypes into actual shelter construction and test some of the ideas physically.

So I think the distinction is important: lack of public evidence today does not mean an inability to provide evidence. In our case, much of that evidence is simply in the process of being published.

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mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 4, 2026, 4:10:52 PMOct 4
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Thank you, Eric. I genuinely think this is a constructive suggestion, and I will look into the organizations you mentioned.

But I would like to clarify two points.

First, we are actually working on two projects in parallel. The first is a commercial project: the software tool itself. For that side, I think the best form of verification is direct and practical: having the extension available through the official SketchUp ecosystem, a public website, clear documentation, a trial version, and ultimately allowing people to download and test the software themselves. All of that is already being completed.

The second project is humanitarian. The idea is to use the same tool and the construction methods we are developing to create low-cost shelter solutions. On that side, I completely agree that cooperation with a recognized NGO, university, humanitarian organization, or other independent third party could add a great deal of credibility, especially before accepting significant funding or moving into larger-scale implementation.

There is, however, another part of the situation that may not be obvious to someone living under normal conditions.

Many forms of verification and promotion that are simple elsewhere become surprisingly difficult for us. We face obstacles with very ordinary things, such as creating a paid Facebook advertisement, accessing certain payment services and platforms, travelling, having documents accepted or recognized, and sometimes simply getting an internet connection stable enough to work, upload files, and manage online services normally.

That does not mean I am asking anyone to ignore verification or trust me because of these circumstances. Quite the opposite: I am willing to provide whatever evidence can reasonably be provided.

In fact, I have already started posting videos on the Facebook page I shared, showing the tool actually working, and even those videos were questioned. 😄

That is where the situation becomes a little amusing, because it is much easier to examine a real video of a piece of software running in front of you than to write a suspicious description of someone and then ask AI whether that person looks like a scammer.

AI is not a lie detector. The way a prompt is framed can strongly influence the kind of answer it gives. If you present a story in a suspicious tone and ask it to look for “red flags,” it will usually find red flags for you. If you present the same facts from a more trusting angle and ask for innocent explanations, it will often provide those as well.

Put simply, AI can sometimes be the biggest people-pleaser in the room. 😂

So I do not think the real test should be, “What did ChatGPT say about this person?” The better questions are: Does the tool exist? Does it work? Can people test it? Are the website, documentation, and trial version available? And can the person behind the project answer detailed technical questions about what they claim to have built?

Those are all things that can be checked directly, and they are far stronger evidence than trying to judge someone from the number of Facebook followers they have or how many visible posts are on their profile.

If all of these practical obstacles did not exist, I probably would not have had to promote the idea in such a basic way in the first place, or spend hours in discussions simply proving that the project is real, and apparently that I am a real human being too, rather than a robot or something generated by AI. 😂

I am not asking for special treatment. I only think context matters.

Within a few more days, it should be much easier to judge the project by what actually exists: the tool, the website, the documentation, the videos, and the trial version, rather than trying to infer credibility from the appearance of a Facebook account or from an AI answer to a prompt that was framed suspiciously from the beginning.

And regarding the humanitarian side, I genuinely welcome serious oversight, cooperation, or partnership with an independent and credible organization.

Thank you again for raising the issue in a constructive way.

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Eric Marceau

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Oct 4, 2026, 4:12:15 PMOct 4
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Adrian, and others,


Would it be too risky to go down the road of 

  • technical development/review

before reaching the hurdle of 

  • investment/donation 

at which point the necessary "validation" process would kick in?


Eric M.

Eric Marceau

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Oct 4, 2026, 4:26:24 PMOct 4
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Mohammed,


Understand that, when come times to make any financial arrangement, the expression

  • "can reasonably be provided"

will absolutely NOT fly!

You will categorically need to provide the assurances, in whatever form is requested, by those that will be making the financial commitments.

Which is why I suggested that the discussion here be limited to technical feasibility, and to defer the due diligence to when "the pedal must hit the metal"!


Having said that, Adrian's words of caution 

  • have been shared with the Community, 
  • were very much "on-point", and 
  • that awareness is now front and center!

Everyone can move forward while keeping an eye open for potential "land mines"!  Sorry for the reference, but it is very appropriate to the context of widespread and pervasive sophisticated fraud.  You will need to accept that "external" attitude and respond constructively, as you've done so far, whenever it is encountered.

Good luck in your endeavours!


Eric M.

mohammed Rasmy

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Oct 12, 2026, 1:51:41 PM (10 days ago) Oct 12
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Installation & Activation Guide

1. Download the Dome of Drums extension from our website.
2. Install it in SketchUp via Extensions → Extension Manager → Install Extension, then select the downloaded ".rbz" file.
3. Test before purchasing: Open Dome of Drums and generate a dome in Wireframe Preview mode.
4. Check activation: Click Generate. The extension should ask for an activation key.

✅ If everything works correctly, request your license here.

Once your payment is confirmed, you will receive your activation key to unlock the full version.

Please test the extension before purchasing a license. https://dome-of-drums.pages.dev/studio/

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