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'.

solved with one plug-in, thankyou!

Thanks guy. I think I got it!

When one updates a plugin, they usually update the "last update time" in the subject field, too. [image: en64_plugin-1.png] Also, most plugin authors keep a "Change log" in that particular post in the topic. [image: NbYR_plugin-2.png] Certainly there are no strict rules on this but most of them follow them anyway. Sure a dedicated Plugin index with all the necessary info would be nice.

I must admit I have had a similar difficulty. It's always on a large and complex file and it causes no end of frustration, usually resulting in misaligned edges or verticies early in the project that aren't found until later in the project. By then the damage is done and the work takes forever to repair or redo. I wish I could blame some SU glitch, but I'm afraid it's likely my fault for the reasons Jean says. I get around it by making the base geometry I'm working with a component. That way I can use it as a "work surface", and there is almost no risk that I will accidentally change the geometry while working on the rest of the project. Don't know if this helps, but I feel your frustration!

Thanks for reminding me about all the videos. I had already watched the getting started series but forgot about the others. Bill

@irishsnow35 said: @unknownuser said: Is what you are modeling really 2 million inches long? Well I am modeling Jerusalem, Golgotha and Calvary at the time of Jesus' crucifixion. And I know, I should've started smaller. XD In my experience, I always draw the model in true 1:1 scale, with very few exceptions. Because SU has problems with tiny lines, especially when intersecting 2 curved objects, some people draw at 10X scale, or so. This creates perception problems when using dimensions, or merging different models or from component libraries. So when I encounter a situation where 1:1 scale will create problems, (or did create so I use UNDO a lot!!), I make a component of the problem and make a copy away from the model area. I then scale up that copy outside the bounding box, which does not affect the model. I can then edit or intersect within the copy, and see/make corrections far easier than if I were working at true scale. After the edit I delete the scaled copy.

thanks. I forgot about these nice SU online tutorial base. Will use it more in future

You simply continue around painting the faces around with the same material. I used the material-browser's eyedropper tool to sample it from the end face [I copied it once off to one side to see better what I was doing]. I know it probably needs adjusting beforehand but it is only a demo ! You can adjust the position of a material using the right-click context-menu Texture tools - e.g. to position the texture. There are several scripts available to 'nudge' textures around - but learn the basics first... If you have one face with the material positioned just as you want then you can use the eyedropper to sample that and when you paint other faces it will be replicated with whatever adjustments it has [e.g. positioning] A couple of tips: Don't paint the block 'black' before applying the textures, it only serves to make it hard to see what you are doing ! There are many unneeded coplanar edges [diagonals etc] on the roof plane etc that can be erased using the Eraser tool, OR by using one of the several Erase/Delete-Coplanar edges scripts available... [image: 6vAf_Capture.PNG] FirstSketch.skp

Let's say you have an instance of Component#1 that contains 'default-material' faces within it. You apply Material#1 to that Instance#1 and it displays with Material#1. If you select Instance#1 and use 'Entity Info', it shows its material as Material#1. If you edit Instance#1 and select a face and use 'Entity Info', it shows its material as 'default-material'. It's just the display that is changed not the internal faces' material. Then you have an instance of Component#2 that contains 'default-material' faces within it. You apply Material#2 to that Instance#2 and it displays with Material#2. If you select Instance#2 and use 'Entity Info', it shows its material as Material#2. If you edit Instance#2 and select a face and use 'Entity Info', it shows its material as 'default-material'. It's just the display that is changed not the internal faces' material. Now make a Component#3 which is made containing Instance#1 and Instance#2. Its instance is Instance#3. At this point Instance#3 has no material, as can be seen if you select it and use 'Entity Info', it shows its material as 'default-material'. Instance#1 and Instance#2 inside Instance#3 will still display using their assigned materials. You can check this too by editing Instance#3 ans using 'Entity Info' on the nested instances and the default material faces within them - which all remain as set out in the first couple of paragraphs above. Now make a copy of Instance#3 - as Instance#4 - and another copy as Instance#5. Give Instance#4 a new material - Material#666 - its appearance is not changed [as there is nothing within it using the default-material for that material to 'display' on]; although if you use 'Entity Info' on it it will say its material is Material#666. Now explode Instance#4, the two previously nested instances are now separated again and display the exact same materials as before and their internal faces' default-material as before when queried with 'Entity Info'. Now give Instance#5 Material#666 - it looks just like the last one... Now edit Instance#5 and change the material of one of the nested instances to the 'default-material'. They will now display with Material#666 because a container's material is used for any contents that use the default-material - be they faces or instances/groups... Explode Instance#5, the two previously nested instances are now separated again, one will display the exact same material as before, BUT the one that has the default-material will now show it has Material#666 when you use 'Entity Info' - this is because when you Explode any container its material [if any] is passed on to any of its contents that have the default-material - be they faces or instances/groups... This is perfectly logical. If you don't want it to happen, then don't leave nested objects without materials and then explode them.

@unknownuser said: So the question is... how are you going to export the data, and then how to import it into a SKP... Maybe you can make with it something that plugins yet existing in Su don't make Processing is very powerful and don't take in case any exploitation system so works directly in any one and for any one! So you don't lost time to see in deepth the painfull Windows or osx or linux or...! This guy has made some artistic exploration with it! I had used it for this inverse One little form from in SU, image in Processing My code is here [image: attachment.php?attachmentid=31659&d=1308254259]

When making fairings (among other things, such as access doors) for my airplane models I run into this jaggies frequently. To solve it best, requires the deletion of the faces affected and redraw the interface to suit. Curviloft plugin helps a lot as well.

You can set the Axis of rotation to anything you want, but if some other face in the drawing is at that AOR it becomes super easy. Select the object to rotate. Select the Rotation tool, but do not click on anything yet. Position the Rotation tool ON the "remote" AOR face then press and hold the <SHIFT> key. Move the Rotation tool to the correct position on the selected object and click. Release the <shift> key and complete the rotation.

Another way, but a bit more complex, is to open the file with the "wrong" components in it. Then bring in the proper component from your library, just one copy is needed. Move it close to one "wrong" component or a copy of it. Copy the proper component to the clipboard. Open to edit the "wrong" component and delete all its entities. Basically you want an empty bounding box, but you may elect to keep 1 or 2 lines of the old entities for alignment purposes. Paste-in-place the proper component and move it into its correct position, now inside the "wrong" components bounding box. Then explode the proper component. The "wrong" component is now fixed, retaining the old name and attributes. Close the component and delete the copy you brought in.

Thanks chief, that sounds exactly like what's happening. I'll try it on one of my better computers. Appreciate the help.

Sounds like something is up with your OS or Sketchup ... Have you tried repairing/reinstalling ?

Step 1. Buy Artisan; it will be a real challenge even with it and a virtual nightmare without it. Step 2. Ignore all the finer irregularities. Don't try to model them with geometry, your PC system won't thank you. Model the main lines of the ride then use image maps for the finer textures. Learn all you can about extruding along paths, rails etc and how to model effectively with Artisan (including the use of low-poly proxies) then come back and ask more questions.

Well since I first started this thread I did not know anything about creating animations using Sketchup! I have had a lot of help and our foundation just finished a video series about how the Great Pyramid was built using water and barges. Below is the link: http://www.thepump.org/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69 You can download the .ISO fine to make a DVD you can play in your DVD Player. I hope you find the series of videos interesting. If you have any questions let me know by emailing me through the web site http://www.thepump.org. I hope everyone can mention this series on their facebook page if you have one. I thank everyone for all the help I have received! Thanks again! Steven Myers author of Lost Technologies of the Great Pyramid.[url][/url]

Thanks. I have to say though that it seems odd and unintuitive for the screen not to go back to your original drawing and layers, etc, if you click View|Scenes to hide the scenes. One accidental click of View|Scenes (if you haven't created a 'WIP' layer, as you suggest) and you lose what the drawing you were working on looked like and have to do a lot of work to get it back to where it was before (albeit no actual redrawing).

Thanks. I understand. Someone on here kindly and generously gave me a long online tutorial on geometry vs components and now I fully understand the many things I was not understanding properly. You have been a help too. All my questions (so far) are answered. Thanks.