Possible approach to that would be: copy the portion of the model to the side a specified distance clear of other work. Erase what you do not want, make the remainder a group or component. Then, set this back in place and raise it a small increment, and shift it so that it is "parallel" to all. However, if this work curves in on itself, you would have to maybe scale it down a small amount so that it is concentric at all points, sort of like the way Offset automatically resizes to fit. You gave a stair example. If it is stairs, it is important that the treads and risers be consistent in dimensions all along the flight.

Thank you for pointing me into the right direction.

I understood what you want to do. Let me try again to tell you how to do it. [image: 7721535262_c497eb2b9f_z.jpg] Go to File>Import. Choose your file type and select Use as Image. Drag out the image in SketchUp. [image: 7721536154_58f4fbbcdb_z.jpg] Stand the image up. Size it to the overall length of the screen panels. Do this using the measuring tape clicking on one corner and then the one at the other end. Type the desired length and hit Enter. Then right click on the image and choose Explode. [image: 7721536846_059cb43d71_z.jpg] Figure out where you want to divide the image and draw vertical lines for the folds. [image: 7721534020_aa83861e0e_z.jpg] Select a panel by double clicking on it with Select. Get Rotate. Place it at the end of the fold line. Rotate it to the desired angle. Repeat for the other end. [image: 7721534828_9c4197dbe2_z.jpg] Select all of it and make it a component. Done. By making it a component you can easily keep it for later use if you need it. Like most things in SketchUp there's more than one way to do this. This method works and it's pretty straightforward.

If you feel like you need more practice, have a look here, too.

ah, nice. I thought you had to apply it to a wood frame or something. The W.I.P. gallery is good place for that. Never have to finish.

Do those plugins place items in menus other than the plugins menu? Go to Windows > Preferences > Extensions and activate Ruby Scripts Examples. This should place a menu item in the plugins menu called Cost. It'd help if you mentioned what you have activated and installed.

Thanks pbacot, thats what I did I was just thinking there must be a different or easier way to do it. Thanks Kurt

@dave r said: Seriously? You're going to put all the pocket holes in your model? If I were you, I'd skip the pocket holes, design the desk and get on with building it. You could have the desk built for real in less time than you'd spend drawing it in SketchUp with all the pocket holes. If you must put them in, the person who drew them left the guide point as an anchor for them. Move the pocket hole component to where you want it with the guide point on the edge of the board. If you drag the component in from the Components browser, you'll be able to drop them along the edge of the board component. They are set up to cut the opening. The component you left over the case side isn't long enough to come out the edge. It's missing the smaller diameter hole below where the screw head seats. If you want it to do that you'll need edit the component and add the rest of the hole. Components can only cut one opening, however, so they won't cut one on the edge of the board. You'll have to rotate the holes as needed. By the way, you ought to fix the desk top by making each part a separate component and correct the face orientation so you don't have blue faces showing out. Well this is more of a learning thing right now. The pocket holes are a process for me to get the hang of inserting things. I am doing this project so I knoiw what kind of material and hardware is going to be needed, and also be secure. Thank you for explaining how to do this... Dan

Awesome thank you. Like I said I am new so I thought I would ask. Back to videos

Thanks guys.

Glad to help, Bantymom. thanks for the brownies.

Ahhhhhh, thanks mate. Changed the scale units to metres and works a treat. Much obliged.

Thanks you, Thomthom, for the script and the group for answering the inquiry! The native solid tools do not always result in a 'solid' ramaining after the operation and I was having a heck of time figuring out why. Thomthom's script revealed the solid subtract tool was leaving behind a bunch of hidden geometry that should not have been left! (using SketchUp Pro

Quad core, 4gb and dedicated GPU and 64bit OS. The number of parameters around best for SU is subjective. it's a 32bit app so can't avail of more than 4gb of RAM on 64bit systems. But a good processor, enough RAM and a healthy GPU should yield good response time.

Let's step back and consider a simple definition of a 'solid'... A "container" - group or component - is considered to be a 'manifold solid' if it just contains 'faces and their edges' [note that 'guide geometry' is ignored]; but nested group or component-instances within it will mean failure. The "container's" edges must all have faces... If any edge has no faces then the "container" is not a solid. If any edge has only one face then it's forming a 'flap'... so then the "container" is not a solid. If any edge has more than two faces it's forming an ambiguous form - an internal 'partition' - so then the "container" is not a solid. So a 'manifold solid' contains edges that all have two faces - i.e. no more than two faces, no fewer than two faces... If it doesn't then it ain't a 'solid'

@charly2008 said: Hi Joe, the helix i generated with Drawhelix 14. The Helix has to be ungrouped! Charly Charly, THANK YOU. The key apparently was "...has to be ungrouped!" Joe

Don't we all brother... Don't we all... Need a new computer. most vps renting operations don't have any video card on the system. there are render farms for rendering. What I would suggest is using the monochrome view in sketchup. break your model into component groups. not as in chairs or what not... but as in cutting your model into sections and making each section a component. then save all the components to one folder and work on each individual section at any one time. then you have this base file with each component, but you can open each one separately and work on it. later coming back and using the "reload" feature of sketchup to update the large file. think of it as xrefing. make sure to optimize materials and geometry to get the extra push from your system. every inch of material is bogging you down. smart to not add any till the very end and only use small file size materials. make sure you don't have a huge component anywhere. turn on hidden geometry and look for high poly vases and chairs or couches. a small component can have a massive amount of geometry. optimize them or delete them and run purge. and don't forget to set the OpenGL settings in preferences to the lowest absolute settings. if you do all of these things.... you should be able to work in sketchup on any system for any model no matter how big. the only key is how far you go with each tip.

Hi JP and welcome! I am not sure what you wish to achieve (an image or even better, a model file) would be great). There's no "right" or "left" in SketchUp as we are in 3D here. You can grab components at certain points and snap those points to other geometry.

Determine the final dimensions of the threaded cone and multiply them by 100. Create a spiral path for the thread to follow. Create a shape to represent the cross-section of the thread at the end of the spiral. Use plugin FollowMe and Keep http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=16465 to extrude the thread. Create the cone to fit the thread. Select all and scale down to final dimensions. [image: W3q1_Threadedcone.png]

That Sang must have been modified somehow in your template. But measure it again with the tape measure tool and type in what you think is "normal". SU will ask if you want to resize your model (in this case only Sang).