First of all, welcome to the board, Michael! Regarding your questions @nineminutenap said: First, which axis is north? Or more specifically, if I want to orient something like a solar panel so it gets the most sun, how should I align it in relation to the red & green axes? The green axis is north by default. But axes are more for modelling purposes (for axis inference and such) and in the Model info dialogue box there is a "Location" tab where you can set the north direction to something different from the global axes. Note however that this is only a Pro feature in the Windows version while it is available in the Free version for Mac (don't ask the reason). To have a workaround, you can visit Jim Foltz' website to download and install his Location ruby script (LatLong.rb or something). Start from here. @unknownuser said: Second, is there a website or book that has a collection of home design thumbrules for things like thickness of walls, size of doors, height of windows above floors, etc. that will help a beginner lay out something that looks more like a real house than something from a Dr. Seuss book? Well, I'd say that as many countries, as many standards. Why don't you just make some basic measurements in your own home or in any building to get a basic idea? In my country the minimun hight of a room is 165 cm as I remember. Wall thickness can depend on the material and structure of the building. Well, some architects around here will surely be able to give you a couple of hints though...

Hi Charlie Back from my holiday in Nice, France hence the delay in replying. What weather and what a lovely location. Will certainly be returning. Thanks for the comments about the models. Sketchup certainly does the job for me. With regard to the Japanese marking knife section. Originally there was a link to those pages but since I have been paid by British Woodworking for the information I felt that it would be wrong of me to then provide the information for free. The method of using the front edge of the knife I came upon by pure accident whilst working away one day. For me it is the most efficient method of marking a shoulder line. If you want further info on this I would happy send the stuff through via private email. cheers Alan

I'm running SU6 on Vista Ultimate with an nVidia card without problems.

There are, in fact, "snapping" settings in SU (Model Info/Units) but they apply to length (of line) and angle increments. These can be turned off, but inferencing cannot. Which is just as well since SU would be unusable without it -- you would be lost in space.

I really like the design of that house, it looks great A.

We can now add one more feature that does not come with the Free version: The Style Builder.

Gaieus, Ok, smaller image got it. Thanks for your help guys. I'll remove the LARGE FILE now. and try building again. I hope this is not what I have to do everytime I build something. Larry

Why complicate your life when the answer could be easy. Draw a circle with any amount of edges.You now want to draw a tangent line to this circle.Chose any vertex, it connects two segments, go at the end of those and join them with the tape mesure tool, then slide a //guide line to your chosen vertex you now have a tangent.Et voila

Thanks for that TIG...all useful tips Coming from a standard CAD background I always felt frustrated that I couldn't just click LINE>EXTEND. But now I see there are a number of ways to do that!

Looks like you have to set Dark to 100 and Light to 0. Cheers for the tip!

If you export your 3D model in 3ds, you can select what you want exported, then under export options select single object and whatever was selected will be the only thing exported.

@masta squidge said: @engineeredcupcake said: They were created to go along with his book, Google Sketchup for Dummies, but alone they are very helpful. hi jasmine, welcome to the fold. chopra's book is excellent and very cheap too, if you buy it from amazon.com. another good source of videos is http://www.go-2-school.com; some of them are really impressive. cheers.

You can still use big walls in SU5 - just make sure (in the entity info box) that they don't cast shadows. Yet of course if you upgraded to v.6, you could also use png backgrounds for that...

Hi foilks. See attached SU file for ideas. Yukulele.skp

@unknownuser said: http://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-Cavalier-Pontiac-Sunfire-Automotive/dp/156392403X Have you considered getting the Haynes manual? see link, they normally have very detailed isometric drawings, it might help if you are going to model it. Hey that isnt a bad idea! I think my uncle has tons of automotive repair manuals laying around so I can just ask him if he has the one for my car. Thanks for the idea On the other hand buying that would be a good idea just to keep in the car since I usually would rather do the repair myself rather than pay a dealership. For example, the dealer wanted $1300 to replace the head gasket, and almost as much for the wiring harness. Well screw that nonsense! Since the car had been sitting for almost a year the wiring harness was chewed up by squirrels. So in the process of replacing the head gasket, we also fixed the harness since you need to remove the header to get at it anyways. Total cost: around $150, and about 3 hours of time.

Chris As we have just started to provide a GE building modelling service, I have really carefully read the GE license agreement and emailed Google staff to ask questions. I think that this method could be illegal. It would be good if Craig D or Brad could find out for us all. IMO it seems a bit unethical. OK, Google modelled NY, so no individual is being exploited if you create a 3d massing model of Manhattan (but it might be illegal). But the vast majority of other modellers are modelling GE stuff on a client - per building basis at a local level. In one shot this software can create a city model that represents hundreds of hours of work, therefore exploiting all those individuals. Surely this software will be used not just by architecture students but for commercial means. GE modeling is a very hard service to sell anyway because so many willing modellers do it for free, but from the research that I have done, I believe that there is a growing professional demand for it. The risks that this software poses could really deter commercial clients.

@unknownuser said: What is "create curve from edges", and where do you get that function? I don't see that option when I right click on anything. I use "Create curve from edges" when creating animations with a Plugin called SU Animate. http://www.ohyeahcad.com/catalog/index.php To make a path for an animation you draw a line, arc or circle, divide it into segments and then "Create curve from edges" and the path can be assigned to an object or camera for the animation. Larry [image: Createcurvefromedges.JPG]

Thanks all. Always face me is something I don't generally use except on the "Bob" layer (or whatever that guy's name in the Arch template is) and I don't mind him following me when I light up his private layer. I was wanting to play with the balusters from http://www.sketchucation.com/scf/viewtopic.php?f=105&t=3603 and couldn't get the one I isolated to play with from following. Real strange behaviour when you do a rotate copy with something like that.

Ok - thanks a lot guys - i remembered that i used that feature in the past in a soft ... but i forgot what soft it was ...