SightSpace

@grizzler said: I work with sheet metal mostly with 9mm thickness, so I don't need to show this thickness, plus it would take a long and unneccessary amount of time to do. So am I correct in thinking that when one sheet's edge is welded to the surface of another sheet (in my drawings), I have no choice but to put up with visible lines on the opposite side of the "sheet" where they join? Thanks for your assistance either way. You could make the front, back, and side parts individual components, then create scenes with certain items hidden. SU8 and LayOut are completely unrelated in this. In the model, the computer has a limit on where infinity meets (the front and back side of essentially a surface that is thinner than paper). In LayOut, you are talking about items being stacked onion skin style, where those on top (can sometimes) block those underneath.

@gaieus said: By sharing a model, you acknowledge any "derivated" versions shared by anyone else in the 3DWH. Now what "derivative" is, can be, of course a matter of discussion but keep one thing in mind: Google wants these models to be accessible to the widest variety of users. They (as a corporation) do not give the slightest shit who shared the model (first). You, by sharing it, give right to others to use (and modify and re-publish etc.) your model. That's it. Read the TOS. If you do not want these dudes to do so, you have the option to control who can downloadthe model at all... agree with you. if you dont wanna share your model but just to notice people that you are the modeller. you could "tick" the box of "only you and contributors could download the file". i'm doing this for some particulars models that i made. strange thing is... there were several models i have intended to share but google have problems to accept model which more than 15MB. that's my only problem. beside, if you just wanna show off your model [not to share it] you'll have interesting message on your "comments" on the model. people who share should willing to accept any kind of action in regard of his/her model. i'm the first modeller who made new-honda jazz [basic model] and gratefully somebody from Phillipines improve. that's how it works on 3d WH. don't you think its akind of childish to complain like that?

Thanks guys. Will have a play with each suggestion and see how I go. Much appreciated.

Good grief! No! 7zip is not winrar. Creating the zip file was only intended to make it small enough that it could be uploaded here.

This one-liner copy/pasted into the Ruby Console + <enter> will return the angle [in degrees] between any two selected faces [just preselect 2 faces before using it] s=Sketchup.active_model.selection;a=s[0].normal.angle_between(s[1].normal).radians You can use it to form the basis of a tool... You could have the tool let the user pick 2 faces instead of the s[0] & s[1] and a dialog shows the angle, or pick an edge and if the edge.faces.length==2 use those two faces instead where 'edge' is s[0] then use a=s[0].faces[0].normal.angle_between(s[0].faces[1].normal).radians etc...

Hi There, You may be able to do what you want using only SU by exporting an AutoCAD .dwg file - but only if you have the 'Pro' version, SU 'Free' does not have this feature. To make the export work correctly... Your model units must be inches or millimetres (maybe metres is possible in newer Corel versions?) In SU, turn off perspective with the menu item 'Camera -> Parallel Projection' Using the 'little house' menu bar, select one of the standard orthographic views (top, front, left, etc...) Now export the file (Export -> 2D Graphic), selecting the AutoCAD .dwg format. Now import this file into Corel - after selecting the file a pop-up window will appear. Choose the units to match your SU model, and make sure that the "Reduce Nodes" option is NOT ticked. Place the drawing by just hitting 'Enter' - if you try to place it with the mouse, the scale will be changed. Use Corel's 'Weld' and 'Close Curves' tools to tidy up the imported drawing (shapes will be made of many individual lines that are not joined together). Take care when cleaning up the drawing in Corel - for 3D objects you will often get many superimposed lines in the imported file. I find that it is sometimes simpler to use the import only as a guide for 'tracing' new Corel geometry (for making true vector curves etc.). If you are using the free Sketchup version, you may be able to use the 'SVG export' plugin from FlightOfIdeas - but this only exports individual faces, so there will be much more work to re-construct the drawing.

Does this plugin maintain the original dimensions of the object being draped? I am trying to determine the amount of material I would need to vacuum form plastic over an object. Thank you for the advice.

Have a look at this plugin: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=30846

@bmike said: Overview of my process: ... I often have multiple models referenced. The main structure / house / etc. Then I save that model and pull apart details, modeling only what I need to show. Reference these back into LO as needed. -Mike Thanks mate. That video explains it very well, even for a noob like me. BTW I've seen some of your work in other sections of the forum here. Beautiful. Your drawings are works of art - balancing the technical and presentation is gorgeous.

Well, taking photos is definitely the best way to satisfy Google. (And yes, my first "real" project was a Turkish mosque in town and I only learned of components later - how much easier it would have been!)

The US is inching towards becoming metric... You have always had 'metric' decimal money, car-engines' are measured in 'cc' [cubic-cms], the military measure horizontal distances in 'meters' [but vertical in 'feet' like all international aircraft!], and you buy cola/juice it's in 'liters' and wine is bottle in metric sizes, nutrition values on food labeling are all in metric units, photography is metric [35mm etc], even bullets come in metric sizes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UmFCc4TOTY

Thank you all!

Another way could be with version 8 (I am not sure how it works in a restricted environment) to zip the plugin then rename the zip extension to rbz and install the plugin from Window > Preferences > Extensions with the button at the bottom.

SightSpace

Does your green squares a copy past of a same component? Can you post your file in V6? (save as)

Flip Along is another way to create a mirrored component and I think more practical in most cases. It would interesting to see what you get when you try it on a copy of the component.

Here is a very basic tutorial how to insert an arched opening into a curved wall. If you need more details, you can repeat the steps with different sizs of that arch and leave some thickness above and aside. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=af52fed6b23379ebb7ea63942802b236

Easy and another time exploration is endless! [image: uFgi_coque.jpg]

@dave r said: The downside to this window resizing is that it often scrambles toolbars. he's claiming mac so the toolbars shouldn't be a problem.. the reason your drawing is spilling out onto multiple printed pages is because you have borders set up in your paper preferences… sketchup considers these borders as part of the drawing which leads to the spill.. (bad sketchup! bad ) [EDIT].. well, actually, it doesn't consider the borders as part of the drawing.. so it will calculate the scale for the entire sheet of paper then once the print happens, the boarders have been added to the info provided by sketchup (i.e.- if you set up in sketchup for an 8.5 x 11 print but you have 1/4" borders designated, the printer sees that you're trying to do a 9x11.5" print so it spreads it across multiple sheets.. if that makes any sense ) go File -> Page Setup… then click the 'paper size' drop down.. if your selected printer has borderless options available in your desired paper size, choose that.. otherwise, click on 'Manage Custom Sizes…' and enter desired paper size but leave all the borders at 0.. it will prevent your spillage.. i have an applescript which will resize your sketchup window to the same aspect ratio as your chosen paper.. it will then zoom the drawing window to the maximum allowable scale for your paper size and drawing (i.e.- it will show the window as, say, 1/4" = 1' then give the option to zoom to a smaller scale if desired (if you go bigger, the drawing won't fit on the single page so that's not an option)) …. i didn't post the script publicly because i soon found out that older OS's need adjustments in order to work and getting that type of compatibility was harder (or definitely less exciting) than making the script work in the first place..