If you want to keep the two things separate, make sure they are components or groups. In your example, it appears that both things are identical. You could just copy the bottom one up by the thickness of the thing plus the 10mm. Use Move/Copy for that.

If you are thinking BIM or model sectioning with all information displayed in LO ready to be labelled, be prepared to be disappointed. Having used 3D modelling for many years and recently dropped ArchiCAD for SU I would suggest that no CAD system is capable of doing this without significant resource investment that will kill any financial return. As an example how much drawing work would be incurred just to change a lintel from PC concrete to steel & brick for each variant of window and would you show the clips, trays, stop ends, weeps, mortar beds; where do you stop? On top of that what are the implications on the size of the drawing and the amount of info the CPU has to process; your average workstation would struggle badly. The harsh truth which the CAD vendors will never admit is whilst it can be done it is impractical to model every detail and no CAD system is sufficiently intelligent to cope with that level of detail. The secret is to know when to break the link with the 3D model and how to use the SU model as a 2D base to locate a detail. You may remember the working drawing methodology of Location > Assembly > Component; it's as valid today as it ever was. At some point there will be an inevitable requirement to work on a detached 2D or even localized 3D model to show construction detail. At this end of things I now draft directly in LO to produce my 1:10 details. This is where the layout Scrapbook is your best friend. But if a 3D cutaway is required then I build a separate model which can look much like many of the common examples in manufacturer's literature. Hope that helps, Trevor

brilliant, thank you

Just turn the passes down so that it completes a quick render in a few seconds. You could use that as a quick preview before upping the detail

Hi. It is entirely possible that I have misinterpreted your question, but here goes: In Sketchup, the default workspace vaguely emulates a real world environment, where the ground plane at the bottom of the screen is the X(red) Y(green) plane. The Z(blue) direction is vertical. If you wish to orient all of your modelling along the z axis, the most likely thing to do is to use the Views toolbar. Go to top line menu View> Toolbars> In the flyout menu select Views. These are orthogonal camera positions Isometric view, Top, Front, Right, Back, Left. The toolbar appears and the icons are depicted as views of a house. If you select Top, you will be viewing along the Sketchup Z axis. Alternatively, if you do not want to set a toolbar, you can go to Camera> Standard Views> and the flyout is a list of the same views to select. Sketchup's mode of operation is geared toward the default workspace world environment. It may be that you have selected a template that does not provide visual cues for orienting your work. Go to Window> Preferences> Template and select in the box your preferred working environment. I have always used Simple Template, but you could select from quite a few there. I am hoping some of this helps you. If not, reply back for more information.

Yup, we were fine thanks. No flooding at all over here. I've got quite a few friends up in Lyons. I had a chance to go up there and help dig some homes out of the mud - what a mess! Its going to take some serious work to get that town up and running again.

Cheers for replys I will see what I come with. Theres no plans as far as I can find so will just go on dimensions that I know off. Thanks again Stu

I'll look into that possibility - thanks. After further playing around with this task I've found it's far better to create a solid out of the data rather than just an undulating surface. The reason being it's so much easier to then use the solid tools to eat away at sections of the garden to install paved areas, retaining walls, ponds, etc. Making a solid still involves using my original method but then attaching the surface to a similar shaped, (flat), surface below using a series of vertical lines around the perimeter.

Excellent, it's always better to work things out yourself with a little nudge in the right direction, you learn more and remember longer.

Part of starting the project is obtaining a good understanding of the use of Layers and Outliner. Both are key to the project and will help you manage and control the components and groups of components for the project as they are created. If you are good at 3d sketching, start making drawings of how you think the project might procede. Some what like story boards that are used for putting a movie together to tell the story. If you have the wall space, put the sketches, photos and other material on the wall using masking tape. Put the plans on the wall also. Look then over, move things around as a plan for the project starts coming together in your mind. Them start creating a list of components and how you see the components fitting together to form the component assemblies or groups. Then place the components and groups on Layers and the Outliner. You should them have a good start on a plan for the project. Create the plan of action, them start working the plan. Modify the plan as needed and move forward. Bob

I did try that.. to no avail.

The most likely reason is it's too small. SU has problems creating very small faces. Scale it up by a factor of 10 or 100 and try again, then scale back down if it works. Cotty beat me to it

You're welcome. Just giving back to this forum, whatever I can, whenever I can! You were only the ideal victim JQL

Sadly the link gives me drivers that are older than the current ones installed on my laptop. Oh well. Still a great piece of software Thank you Kris and Alexey for the replies. Scott.

solved! thanx to all. artisan works perfectly for this / round corner also for edges: thanx a lot to the forum! stan

thanks guys. sorry about that, was late where i am. soon as i saw SU8/13, immediately thought it doesnt work with older versions >.< i apologize.

I have done quite a few renderings in the similar style. It's 3D Studio Max to render and then multiple layers of photoshop. People and trees were added later. I'm pretty sure you can get to this rendering using V-Ray for SketchUp but your key is Photoshop

TIG gets the points! I just didn't know what the sketchup word for this was. I will be using his plugin I think, as I want to call it from code (which you can't with native offset) and some of my shapes are a bit crazy. Thanks to you both for your help!

It might help with your orientation and sense of scale if you use one of the templates that have ground, sky and a person in it.

@eric80 said: HI so yes the regular text works, in fact it is right side up but the 3D text is upside down!!! how's that happen? hey eric, there are a number of possibilities of what's going on but it's hard to guide you in the proper direction without knowing the exact orientation of your model and text. you can attach a .skp here which other members can view and help sort out your issues much more quickly.. when you're replying to a post, look beneath the reply window and you'll see an 'upload attachment' tab.. use that so we can see the problem without the need for these pesky words