@judgedrey said: Anyways, thanks again for all your help! It's so very much appreciated! I hope I don't become a pain in the butt on the boards with all the questions and such. I try to search as much as possible for some answers before posting new threads, but sometimes, I can't help but ask, you know? Thanks again! That's how forum answers get here - people ask. So don't hesitate. As for the imagery - yes, I know how it is. Ours here is over 5 years old, too (good that this economic crisis hit as there are much less constructions this way)

rain can be simulated through the style builder. you can most likely find them already built.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to check that thread out! Cheers.

The latest build(s) of SU 8 are "large address aware" but still 32 bit which means that now they can acces RAM "up to" 4 Gb on a 64 bit system - but no more. You can get the latest release here: http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=43176

it's a dynamic component. (notice the green squares/triangle icon next to the model name) go: Window --> component options to see what parameters are available.. you might be able to get something better than scaling this way. (I can't check it.. on a phone) otherwise, you'll have to either explode it (and any nested dynamic components) then regroup it or you can edit the parameters of the DC via window--> component attributes

No problem. And post your progress

Can you post some images, screen-shots, files etc so we might better understand you Please don't double-post - have patience until our spambots realize you are genuine. I have deleted your duplicated post.

Thank both of you, The plugin is now a choice in my "File" dropdown in Sketchup. I should have been able to have worked thru that one, but sometimes those types of file management problems buffalo me. Thanks again. Walt.

Another method would be to get a seamless tile pattern off the Net (or use the one I got in the attached file...or even one of those supplied with the program). import it into your model...size doesn't matter. Then on the Edit tab in the Materials browser, scale it to the correct size. This one happens to be 8 tiles square, so I scaled it 8'x8'...a little more if you want to allow for grout. An applied pattern will automatically align itself with the origin, but you can get the whole tiles to align along any wall you want by right clicking the surface and choosing Texture > Position from the context menu. This will enable you to drag the entire floor pattern in any direction you choose. floor.skp [image: heuw_floor_thumb.jpg]

No, you can't extrude into a curve like that. Your best bet would be to take the single side that you have successfuly extruded, make it a group, then get rid of everything else. You then need to duplicate that group around all the other sides of the cube...even though the extrusions will overlap. Then, explode all those groups, select all the geometry and from the r-click menu, intersect it with itself. You are then faced with a lovely little clean-up job, deleting all the faces you don't want.

Can't say for sure without the model, but it seems like there was just a tiny gap, since tracing over made it close. There are occasions faces will not form and the cause is indiscernible. If you use a setting sometimes for modeling that shows dots at the endpoints, it can be helpful in finding and inspecting or using intersections. It looks like some of your canopy has hidden lines not smoothed, where you see a break in the shading. You should smooth those lines for a better effect. Good job. If you look at posts where wire frame (or hidden geometry) is shown for organic modeling (like cars) you will see examples of how the edges within the smooth forms are laid out (often by plugin, but also by "hand"). The Speed modeling competition always shows wire frames, also the "Artisan" examples.

I like your way because it has the rotated sheet (corner up). I cannot do it faster than EEbyR, though. [image: aL8L_sheetrolled-1.JPG]

Jean Lemire is one of the most helpful people in this forum. His posts are always enlightening. Thank you, Jean Lemire.

@xchange said: about how to "stay on the axis" so to speak? When I'm building something around the 'origin' axes like this, I find it can still be helpful to put in a guide line (co-linear with the axis). Just select the "Tape measure" tool, and double click when you get an inference to the axis you want to use. Guide lines seem to allow more varied kinds of inferencing than the axis alone - e.g. to find where the axis intersects a face. Follow me will usually work OK even on "circles" with only a handful of sides - I often use hexagonal "circles" (to model very small parts that won't be seen in detail) and find that it will usually still generate a smoothed surface. This makes me wonder, has your "top" been created by many small "follow me" actions (one for each segment)? This can sometimes create disjointed lines due to the way that Sketchup calculates the start and end when the path is not a closed loop - the individual bits don't always "heal" together well. You can use "Follow me" on multiple "segments" all in one go, so long as their ends all join together, by selecting them all together before "following". You might also want to search out a plugin called "weld", which lets you heal curves back into a single piece (very handy, as many operations in SU result in curves/circles being broken into sections) - that plugin is so useful, it's hard to understand why it's not a native SU function! If you do want more detail in your circles, then after selecting the circle tool, simply type a number followed by "s" into the VCB to set the number of sides. Alternatively, you can open the "Entity Info" dialogue, select the circle, and type a new number of sides - but this way can have unintended effects if the circle is already attached to other geometry, usually better to draw them how you want to begin with. Follow me will then use as many facets as there are sides to the "circle".

You already posted once Two to go... Just show us you are a genuine hooman bean...

I bet on Gai. Mr. ipsketchpi your multitudes of numbered scenes and layers hurt my brain. How do you handle all that? Peter

Component stringer or rotate tool+alt if it's an arc or a circle http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=44140&start=0

Thank you so much for your help! I don't know why I couldn't figure that out. I knew about making components but never thought about the order. Now that I know it seems so obvious. Much appreciated! Eric

How does your dog feel about that? Does he hate you? Welcome to SCF, by the way.

Yes On the question of making a manifold solid... When you add in the two 'transformations' [as I showed] there will almost certainly be internal faces as 'partitions'. These will stop a group being seen as 'solid'. The definition of a solid 'group' is that all of the edges within it must have two faces - no fewer, no more. So an internal 'partition' face messes us up because some of its edges will have three or more faces. Also 'flap' faces will have edges with only one face, and a faceless edge obviously doesn't have two faces at all... It should also contain only faces and their edges to be 'safe'. Once you've exploded the bits into one collection of geometry and grouped it all, if it doesn't show as a 'solid' in Entity Info, then you need to edit it. There are scripts that show or attempt to fix such issues - however, in a simple case like this you need to try a few things first - use X-ray mode to see inside and perhaps remove unneeded partitions by erasing their edges that join onto external faces; also you can use the section-tool to cut the object temporarily so you can see inside it, then select+delete internal faces, edges etc: running an 'erase coplanar edges' tool on the results also simplify it. At each step check the Entity Info to see if it reports a 'solid'.