and I assume most people know this but... if you scale by -1 then you mirror the object.

I have only tried SimLab Composer, as you can see above, and it shows up as two separate models with two different materials. The difference wasn´t that visible in a render, but I haven´t really spent too much time tweaking the settings.

Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes sees the obvious. Everyone has a 'doh!' moment now and again

It's pretty easy to get geometry/material info out of a SKP... BUT you had to pick shadows! It'd still be possible... but personally I would baulk at the task! If you provide more details someone might help....

Hi Gaieus, I have just been experimenting and had also come to the conclusion that it may be better to work in some other (larger) unit. I only want to produce an illustration where the scale is not really an issue so I'll carry on down the route you suggested. But don't worry I'll be back with other questions I am sure regards Tim

If you divide up the ply's by planar hidden smoothed lines to smaller chunks the performance will increase. My understanding is that the core polygon engine has some inefficient algorithm for large ply's with many holes in them. cheers

@unknownuser said: @unknownuser said: There is a guide around here somewhere (2 page PDF?) that I remember seeing, it was about good modeling in SU in general Not for SU but for topology in general For make a good topology Very nice link Pilou!

thanks a lot. it worked. You saved my day... How do u guys learn ruby for sketchup? What are the basic requirements (computer knowledge) to start ruby? I wish i could learn efficiently and quickly. Thanks again.

I really liked Aidan Chopra's "Sketchup for Dummies." I found it very helpful.

I hoped you do not notice it (I only noticed when I was done). Actually, when you are with the simple, rectangular shape first, you can right click on the face > Texture > Position and the Flip it horizontally (left/right). This can be done separately on either side but be aware that some rendering applications will not be able to render these different maps (they generally render whatever is on the front face). The reason I ended up with this is that I imported the image as an image entity and exploded afterwards. In this case, SU creates a face with the image projected on it - and the mirror on the other side (it has the reasons we can go into later if you want).

If you copy a SKP to change its contents into a something similar you can readily relocate its parts using Move etc, then edit affected sub-components using PushPull on existing faces to change their geometry as desired; or use a left-right fence to select several bits at once and then Move en mass - e.g. a top's end with notches would need all of the notch faces PushPulling in turn until they were are in the right locations, but a select of the affected parts with a single Move will do it in one go! It must be quicker than starting from scratch - you can always add new geometry etc too...

Understand...... Untill my "banker" OK's the $$ for Pro I'll adjust and deal with it.... Thanks again!

I tried the follow me with a cross section before i posted - couldn't get it to work. However, I have cracked it! I constructed a doughnut with follow me and isolated a thin section from its centre with an extruded circle and then intersected the two faces and deleted the outer bulk of the doughnut. Phew. I'm off to try your method again.

The pixel quality of the original image file is reflected in the imported Image's pixelation. Look at Preferences OpenGL settings and see if they help...

True. Especially with pre-made lighting fixtures of some rendering engine where the "light" itself (any geometry that represents whatever is emitting the light) should not intersect with any other geometry. And then we have not even talked about exporting geometry to 3rd party software where the model origin may also be(-come) some kind of insertion point so you need to carefully choose what is "practical".

Use the export feature from proper animation, you will get many jpg files. You may then compile those latter into a video file ...

@unknownuser said: I have an apartment block that is a group. Within that each floor is grouped (or a component if repeated). Within each floor I have a number of components (windows, doors, balconies, or apartment types). Now I name the apartment block Scheme 1. Now I want to do a second scheme (scheme 2) that has larger windows and different balconies. Is it possible to have a script where if I right click on scheme 2 apartment group and make all components unique within it? chaddad, I think this plugin does what you describe. Makes components in the selected group unique

If you go into C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8 I'd transfer over the Exporters, Importers, Materials, Plugins, Resources, and Tools folders. -Brodie

Jean- thank you so much for that answer! Between that and using "intersect with selection" rather than "intersect with model", I'm now getting exactly the results I expect!

Hi Nathan, "A Single-user license is assigned to one person and can only be used by the registered user. That individual can install the license on any computer he or she is using, but only one computer can run SketchUp Pro at a particular time." If you cannot find your original license (to enter it into your second computer), you can retrieve it here (use he same email address your license was issued to). Sorry but I have no idea about V-ray licensing...