Since layers in sketchUp are a different animal than in Illustrator or ACad and they aren't used to provide separation, there wouldn't be much point in retaining those layers from SketchUp. Perhaps you could create scenes that show different layers and make exports one at a time for each scene. Associate different layers with different groups/component ans use the layers in SketchUp to control which groups/components are visible for each scene.

Knight, Others may do better than me, but I think that it would be easier for people to suggest things if you explained what is wrong with the picture (what are you trying to do that is not there) and posted the SketchUp file in this thread. Even if we see where you are not getting what you want, the particulars of the model cannot be understood by pictures alone. If these "layers" are groups, pushpull will only work inside a group. It won't affect other groups. Pushpull comes to "constraints" as it moves into secondary faces, where faces are not square, or some geometry connected to the P-P face would be impossible (illogical) were the face to move further. If I were puzzling over such a thing I might turn on "color by axis" in Styles ( Style window: "Edit, Edges tab, Color: by axis") to see how my object edges are aligned (assuming they are related to the model axes at all). Also are you modeling in parallel projection? I find perspective view is easier to work in, in most cases. Parallel has particular uses, mostly for the orthogonal views. Please try posting the file. Good luck. Peter

Thank you kingsi! Well i've been working on a scene that i think is finally going the right direction, i still need to polish lots of details. What rendering engine do you use?

@unknownuser said: Seems you have also the last plugin of Fredo 6! ThruPaint Oh I forgot about this one! Thank you Pilou!!!

~ no bump, but to Jeff, and Jean ~ great tips: BZ- Convert to --> Catmull Spline and recreate ellipse with increased segments the easy JL way

Acrobat Pro also saves directly to .jpg, .png or .tif. If it's a vector .pdf, I use Illustrator as well to convert to .dwg.

You have also inside the forum itself the advanced search

http://www.autotracer.org/ - nice option, I have tryed some other web based tools, but these works super fast. I will use it in future. FreeDxf importer- could be very useful for free SU users. Tig trim plug, will test it, looks interesting. Thank you very much. Very helpfull like always. Best support. One more reason why SU is good choice

Artisan is the best tool to 'smooth forms' - it lets you define 'sharp' edges too... but there are non-$ alternatives like 'subdivide and smooth' [also try a search at Smustard.com for a very simple one]. Without a screenshot or SKP it's hard to tell the extent of the issues...

Unfortunately only some exporters accept a hash as arguments. To the best of my knowledge DXF is not one of them. The last options set manually are always used irrespective of the passed arguments...

Hi JC, They re called "Face me components" (actually they do not face "me" but the camera as you said). Here is a video I made once: [flash=600,480:1rb5s2uz]http://www.youtube.com/v/VvI6A7Njw4k[/flash:1rb5s2uz] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvI6A7Njw4k

In terms of making models, the 'solid tools' are the only extra in SU Pro. If you find yourself doing lots of intersecting geometry (and them deleting the 'offcuts'), they can be very useful - but the intersection method can almost always achieve the same things (if you don't mind the extra work required for the 'cleaning up'). There is also a plugin "Bool Tools", available for only $10 that can add pretty much the same features to SU 'Free' - though I have not used it myself, so can't comment on its effectiveness or compatability. If your models are only for your own reference, then Layout and Style builder are probably of little use to you. They are designed to make the process of producing documents with multiple views and 'artistic impressions' easier - so are really just for making 'pretty' documents for showing to customers, or drawings for sending to the 'shop floor' when someone else is doing the manufacture for you.

thanks. ECLATE-DEPLACE works just fine. Manyally take stoo much time.

Some guys have paypal links within the plugin code. Just open the plugin with a text editor like Notepad. Other have links in the menu system. I'm sure a PM to those you want to donate to will clear things up. Paypal won't allow charges to be made to your card after donating in case you're worried, unless you sign up/subscribe to some recurring charge.

You know... from your description I thought you wanted to keep the top part to be able to show or hide it in camera shots. If you just want lower shelving, that back support can also be modified by selecting the edges at the top and moving them downward, aligning with the blue axis... (since all the sides are exactly vertical).

Hi Barry, A number of views, but this is the first response. This is probably because what you are asking for would probably take an entire chapter in an instruction manual. I'd suggest you start with the Curviloft plugin by Fredo6 (see categorised list in Plugins forum) Or you could use its commercial big brother Artisan. There are some plugins by TIG that would probably work as well. This will get you the curvature of the back, but you are then going to need something like Joint Push/Pull to get the thickness of the cushioning...and then Round Corners in order to get the softened effect along the edges of the cushions. Another way would be to get the curvature on the back, then run a ready-curved profile around that to get the edges of the cushioning...using Follow Me. You'd then have to use a skinning plugin again to form the face of the cushion. Both of these methods would need further editing with deformation tools, as the back cushion appears to be deeper at the base than at the top. Yet a 3rd way would be to set up a low poly proxy, as in the attached skp file, then apply subdivide and smooth or its Artisan version. Both are commercial scripts. [image: seat_back_thumb.jpg] seat_back.skp The seat cushion smoothed with 2 iterations will give a smoother result. [image: seatback.gif]

thank you Dynamic Components will be what I need

There only appear to be two storm troopers in the 3DW ...and only one carrying a gun. So i assume that's the one you mean. Yes, the entire figure is grouped, so unless you enter Group Edit Mode, the whole thing will rotate. Inside that group, all the limbs are sub-grouped. You need to double-click the outermost grouping in order to get down to the next level, then apply the Rotate and Move tools to those sub-groups.

Highest res is 9999 px wide. Use the options button at bottom right of export dialog. Uncheck Anti Alias...it'll take forever. Export higher than you need and resample down in an image editor.

Hi htv, hi folks. Try this: 1 - Orbit, pan and zoom to set a view that you like. 2 - If needed, switch rendering mode like X-Ray or Back Edges or whatever. Add shadows or fog or whatever. Switch style if required or create a new one. 3 - Use View menu --> Animation --> Add scene to create a scene to memorize all these settings. A scene is like taking a photo of you model. 4 - Repeat steps 1 to 3 as often as you need to create all the required scenes. 5 - Use View menu --> Animation --> Settingsto uncheck the box labeled Enable scene transitionsand set Scene delay to 0. 6 - Use File menu --> Export --> Animation. 7 - In the Animation export dialog window, click on the Option button. 8 - Set the frame rate to 1 frame per second (use custom choice to allow a value lower than 5). 9 - Exit back to the Animation export dialog window and make sure that the file format is set at JPEG images. 10 - Navigate to the folder of your choice, set the file name and then press the Export button. Each scene will be exported with the file name that you specified followed by 0001 to nnnn where nnnn is the number of scenes of your model that you included in the animation. Just ideas.