Moderator Boofredlay (Eric) also does occasional woodworking. However if you feel that your "newbie" questions (or some of them) are not very woodworking specific but indeed baby steps with the program, feel free to ask them here. Or choose the woodworking forum as you like.

As someone who has been a noob for a long time, I found there are some plugins for cleaning up the model that are helpful at the beginning: Default layer geometry (get all your edges and faces back on the default layer) Remove Lonely Vertices (join edges that have unnecessary vertices into one) FrontFace tool (get your faces oriented correctly) Make Faces (get faces to form, especially on imported edges) Everyone would say work with the basics for awhile , and don't make the mistakes in the first place; but plugins like the above help you get back on track, 'cause things happen. Your approach to the work, as in other realms, is probably more important than what tools you have. Starting out one could quickly make a mess with some of the plugins out there. There are some in the "must have" plugin index that will get you a step further like Joint Push Pull and Fredoscale. Don't forget Sandbox Tools which comes with your SU and can do a lot with contours and manipulating terrain shapes.

Also, 1 problem, 1 topic, please. (I have now merged your two topics)

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=wire+shelf&styp=m&btnG=Search Do a search for 'wire shelf' etc or whatever it is you seek... The 3dWarehouse can be a good starting point... although some things might need to be adjusted as not all contributors are fastidious modelers...

Just for completeness, you could look at the free LightUp Web Player plugin. Its supports Internet Explorer, Safari and FireFox and allows full navigation inside the browser as well as auto playing any Scenes you have set up in SketchUp. http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=story&p=71 Adam

From what I have seen here, VRay is the superior product in regards to quality of photo real render. As a need it yesterday Architect, I find Renditioner Pro, fast, easy, and adequate. Btw, I do not need to compete with SOM for work.

I think the idea from SketchUp is Hassle and Support. I think it's legal and proper what you are doing and I think Google understands a small businesses need to save costs. I believe that they see it as a hassle that you have to go through to save that money, ie employees moving about to complete work. but in reality you could do everything Pro does (with the exception or a north arrow and Google Maps grabs) with plugins or by taking .skp files to other software. although you won't get Layout 3 which is also a very valuable addition. By purchasing one or more of the Pro versions you're eliminating your hassles and showing your support for the software and the platform. I would feel more comfortable with you situation if only one employee was doing the exporting with pro and other users simply used the free version on their system. but in my opinion I think you're ok right now. I don't know if we'll get a Google Rep in here to publicly comment on this, but there are quite a few here and I would think they will see it. so we may get an official answer... welcome to the forum btw and we'd love to see some of your work.

@unknownuser said: Gaieus you were right because they all show the 3D option now.... Did it just take a day to finalize or something?

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=28957 Something like this could also be used if you want to go the direction of plugins.

serpentine 5 Started with your model post , changed to SU7, quick check showed 78 broken lines , 39 stray lines. Flatten it to remove any question about planer. If you select various faces in the model you will see areas where they are selected and they should not based on wall etc. Some are caused by coplanar lines , duplicate faces etc. Where these errors came from? Probably as TIG stated but they can also be caused by you as you make the model. Make sure you spend some time on the video tuts so you under stand inferenceing use. Once you get to this model level it can get difficult to correct so slow down and hurry up is the best approach. There are plugins that can help you trouble shoot but best to under stand the SU basic capability first.

To clarify, by @unknownuser said: realistic drafting , are you asking for rendering plugins? There are a number of threads discussing all the various rendering plugins. You could start with this one: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3220 on which I posted a spreadsheet (that needs updating and more information) to start to compare features. Here is the most recent version: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3220&start=45#p332219 Hope that helps a little.

Can you upload a .skp of the problem file? I think if it's below 4mb the forum will allow you to upload. Then we can test it to see if it's a corrupt file or that your PC is whacked.

Whenever you install or reinstall a script you must restart Sketchup [unless you are Ruby-savvy enough to use load "xxxxx.rb" !] You can 'bend' any geometry as long as it's in a group or a component-instance. As Gai says you must have a line and an arc and the grouped geoemtry, all correctly oriented - as clearly explained in the thread... As for bending 3d Text... there are already some posts about that - read through the thread. Any 3d Text is only a lot of geometry - the 2d outline of each letter is extruded into a 3d object... So all you need to do is to group all of this geometry first, and then proceed as with any other shape-bending...

re: that video. be wary of that helix drawing technique shown at the beginning.. the half-circle_move_one_end_up then copy/rotating deal isn't actually drawing a helix.. while it might look ok at a glance, don't rely on doing that if accuracy is ever of importance.

Hooo thank you very much everybody ! It was so easy and I didn't saw that ! Thanks

This is what you are looking for... http://rld.crai.archi.fr/rld/plugin_details.php?id=6 Updated link... http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2007/08/add-hidden-layer.html

Either will do. It depends on how you are going to use the model. Obviously pngs look more realistic for far fewer faces than even low poly geometry. But if you are going to use them as non Face Me elements, like railings or balustrades, then they have to be in a position where they will not be seen edge-on, or so close you can see the pixels. Generally, low poly is the best route. A single one of those corinthian columns is about as high-poly as it's sensible to go if you intend to use an array of them, together with all the other architecture and entourage in a visual. You could always replace one of them with a higher poly version if you were making a render from a position close to its capital. Images are handled by the graphics card, which on a modern system is usually well-suited to the task; so they are not going to tax the cpu any further. This attached model is much larger than the other two but far easier to navigate....as it has less than 200 faces. [image: Edrc_hovel_thumb.jpg] hovel.skp

Hi folks. See this SU file for ideas. Grooved end pipe.skp

@ecohomes said: @dave r said: As to the furniture flying off, I imagine it is like the car example you posted last week. The car looked like it was placed correctly from one angle but you hadn't actually placed the car on the driveway. It was floating in space. You need to get to grips with placing components properly. I would suggest that you spend some time working on learning to use the Move tool and Inferencing. Getting those skills nailed down will go a long way in helping you make your models look like you want them. Thank you Dave - I have in the mean time ascertained that one must bring them into the model from the "Gluepot" for them to stick. Thank you again for your courtesy and time. Hans I often use the VCB for moving my models vs the move tool. Say you have a model and you want to move to the origin pick the desire point with the move tool to start and the type [0,0,0] and that will move to there. If you want to keep the same y dim then type [x,,z]. Check manual I find this method very helpful

Hi Djcorbetto, hi folks. After drawing the cylinder, draw another one to be used as drilling bit. Orient the drilling bit properly using the Move Tool and the Rotate Tool untill it is positionned in such a way that it intersect the first cylinder. Once this positionning is done, select the drilling bit (well ... the second cylinder) and do an intersection. Delete unwanted parts. If you have the Pro version, as it seems to be the case. you can use the Solid Tools to subtract the second cylinder from the first. Beware that, in SU, geometries are sticky. They attached themselves to other geometries. In your case, it would be preferable to first group the second cylinder since making groups and component is the only way to avoid interaction between geometric entities. This separation is very useful in allowing precise positioning of a geometry in regard to another. However, keep in mind that geometries must be in the same context for intersection to work. You will need to Explode the group before doing the intersection. The Solid tools, on the other hand, require that the objects that must interact, be individual groups. Search and read the help about all the above mentionned Tools and functions. Just ideas.