Goodnight Dave.......Goodnight cotty

Ok thanks Ill try all this. Im not used to this kind of work on sketch up. Im at a new job and they need me to do metal work in 3d. So I need to be quicker than tracing. If possible. Ill share with yous what I normally do with sketchup. Thanks for any help and Again I wish to speak with someone knowledgeable. I just have the need for some in depth questions answered and phone works better for me. My number is 717 875 5907, and I will call you of course. [image: 33vj_BedRoom3.jpg] [image: iSMJ_ModernFarmKitchen1.jpg]

@olishea said: good tutorial dave, helpful for other things too Thank you Oli.

I suspect that you might have installed them in the wrong 'plugins' folder. Please post the full-path to the 'plugins' folder. It should be the one at the root 'HD' location: NOT the similar 'user' one. Copy/paste this line of code +<enter> into the Ruby Console and see the path it returns: Sketchup.find_support_file("plugins") and then Sketchup.find_support_file("Plugins") If the second version fails you might have a 'case-sensitive' system setup on your MAC which can cause all sorts of issues with Ruby because things like 'Sketchup.rb' and 'sketchup.rb' are seen as two different files ! Please also type this $LOAD_PATH - it should include the path to the HD 'plugins' folder you found above... Also note that SoapSkinBubble's installation-notes ill-advisedly tell you to install it and its subfolder etc into the 'Tools' folder. This is bad practice. I have it auto-loading from 'Plugins' and it loads just fine. Also check that you have FULL [read.write] security permissions [set for 'all'] to the main 'plugins' folder and also its contents, because having less will compromise installations and/or the running of some tools too... Thomthom has a Simple-Plugins-Installer [search Plugins Index via menu item above], once you have installed that from its RBZ file [via v8 Preferences > Extensions > Installer button] it appears in the Plugins menu and lets you install RBZ and ZIP archives for complex tools and also RB/RBS more simple one file scripts... I suggest you use it once you have confirmed your MAC settings etc...

Chris is right, use Tigs objexporter, iv done this in the past and it works just great, but be sure model your topology with tris correctly in sketchup before mapping as other 3d software will create tris in your topology, this will then mess up your mapping, Fbx will work with maya alot better than 3DS max, so there is another option, and as for game engines unity is your best option, it works well with tris, not like UDK or cryengine that require you to use quads when making models and as you know that doesn't work out so well in sketchup

There's no need to keep making new threads for the same topic. I've merged them. The solution to your problem is to not use Shape Bender on your decorative parts. Put them in separately. Basically, if you don't want them bent, don't bend them. If you want them bent to the radius of the rail but not skewed, bend them with a horizontally placed arc of the correct radius and length.

And the key problem he had was caused by having drawn one circle off axis which a plugin won't fix.

Down below the submit button there should be a link to "upload attachment". Click on that, then click on "Choose File" and find the file to add. Then click on "upload the file" to have the file uploaded. You can also then click on "Place in line" to add the file into your post where the cursor is currently at.

I'll move it into Newbies... I didn't notice the parent forum

I am sorry I didn't explain completely. Would you share with me how you were able to map this file? I have done uv mapping before but can't figure how to map this organic shape. Thank you very much for mapping that for me! John

And that fixed the problem?

Bill, hopefully it is clear that 3D Text is geometry just like the parcel and building footprint lines in your model. The geometry does come in as components. Peter's suggestion to make separate scenes and image exports for the model and the text is a great way to manage this. You can create a separate layer for the 3D text and turn that layer off for the view of the model. then turn off the layer(s) for the model and turn on the 3D text to create a second scene and then export both as images which you'll combine in post process.

Make sure View > Hidden Geometry is ON. Select the edges delineating the various 'ridges'. Use the native tools like Move, or Rotate, or Scale etc to manipulate the ridges as desired. You may need to hold the Alt-key to force auto-fold in some situations... It's something you need to 'play' with to realize the potentials...

@gaieus said: When you export your model to GE, it can export camera settings but it's not the dae file that bears the info but the kml file one folder level up. Yeah, that was what I finally discovered. Maybe that's a good way to do it for GE, but that's not the right way to do it for collada. But a separate ollada camera exporter could be written. I never did finish looking into it, but it seems pretty straightforward for a simple non-animated camera.

The only files that belong in the Tools folder are the ones that ship with SketchUp itself, or are given as extra tools by SketchUp. ALL other files should go into the Plugins folder, or into that script's subfolder, which itself goes into the Plugins folder. The basic [current] setup is that SketchUp auto-loads all .rb/.rbs files in the Plugins folder and then those in the Tools folder. It uses a system global-variable called $LOAD_PATH which is an array of the paths to be used for auto-loading. There are some special scripts that add new folder paths to this, this means that you can then auto-load files from elsewhere. Ruby can 'load' scripts from anywhere: if you just give the file name it looks in the folders in $LOAD_PATH, if you give a full path name it loads that specific file. Because of this it's a good idea for authors to add flexibility into there file/folder 'path' coding, so that the subfolder of support files only needs to be located with the auto-loading .rb file for these other files to be found with it and also loaded in code. Some older scripts mistakenly say to install into the Tools folder. Unless they are specifically hard-coded to expect to be in Tools using them all within Plugins as outlined above should also work... This tool's author is mistaken in his recommendations. Putting the script into the Plugins folder [keeping files within the script's subfolder etc] should work fine, and obeys the basic principles used by every other author around. I have the 'loader' ' SoapSkinBubbleTools.rb' in my Plugins folder - and its subfolder of files in there too.[image: Aama_1.PNG]It loads just fine as an Extension, and once activated its toolbar can be activated successfully too...

That'll work! thanks so much!

renderin (the more easy), Light Up... the more fun Lumion free animation and fixed image (maxi 1920*1080)

The e-mail got lost in the mail? One thing I should have added in my previous post is that you can think like a studio photographer for this kind of thing. You can place your model on a seamless background which is easily drawn in SU or you can even find a few on the 3DWH if you're lazy. Place your lights to provide the required modeling (as in shadows) and to light the background as needed. You can put lights behind the model if needed just as a studio photographer might. Making the background an emitter would be like placing the model on a translucent background with light from below/behind. Good luck.

thank you all for the replys. i will try your suggestions Thanks again

Tim Killen is my partner on the Design. Click. Build. blog on the FineWoodworking site. He's now done two e-books available there. Dan, if you have questions about things in his book be sure you try to get in touch with him through the blog. He's always willing to help as am I. And welcome to SCF.