Hi Ricci, Yes, if you want to place text on the floor of a 3D Floorplan, you should indeed use 3D Text (as sceen text is always stuck to the screen itself). When creating the 3D Text, in the dialog, uncheck "Extruded" and it wion't be 3D just faces (grouped) you can paint as you like. Now open the group, under View > Face style change to wireframe mode, with a selection box, select all the edges and hide them. This will prevent the text looking awful from a certain distance (edges are always displayed at 1 pixel - even if the face they surround is already smaller on the screen itself). When done, change your face style back to shaded with textures or whatever you were previously working in. I hope this would solve your edges colouring need, too, but you can still do it under File > Styles > In model (small house) > Edit > Edge settings - at the bottom, set it "By material".

dave its a part of my research. i am trying to understand other gesture that could help sketchup in future. thats why. center could be 0,0 or arbitrary

@gmyhilo said: Can you use SketchUp for mechanical work? Yes, as far as modeling goes. You need SketchUp Pro for presentation (production) drawings. @unknownuser said: I am in a aircraft club and wish to have a CAD program our club can use and share ideas with. Can we save drawings in a comnon place like our web site? This is a function of your OS and networking setup. @unknownuser said: Is Sketch up suited to collaboration by members of varying levels of CAD skill? Sketchup is not a true multi-user platform. It can be used by those with varying levels of CAD skills. @unknownuser said: Will it cost much? Our club runs on dues, so we have very limited financial resources. Sketchup Free is free. @unknownuser said: Please suggest Sketch up features, or tutorials related to each of the above question? Youtube is a excellent source of tutorials. The problem isn't getting help, it is in understanding, and using it. There is no single CAD application that can do everything WELL. There are many other considerations then posted above for building a comprehensive, multi-user Cad system. There are few CAD programs can provide all functions in one application. If your budget is restrictive, IMO Sketchup is a good place to start.

Well, of course you can do this in SketchUp - the only question remains the same however; if it is only for a 2D visualization, Google Maps and Google Earth itself would be pretty "enough". You can draw all inds of polygons there (with exact co-ordinates entered if needed), colour overlays etc. There could be some problems with imported terrain in SU if you are working in such a big scale (many acres). The ideal workflow is to import as little as ultimately necessary as SU has an orthogonal projection while GE has a spherical one and after a while (longer scale) the deviation between the two can be big already. But eventually you may also wish to see those buildings in 3D so for that, SU would indeed be needed (and a good tool).

Thanks, Pilou! Now it really gets me thinking about building a whole thing that way - something like this could be a good start [image: EZFd_col07.jpg]

Ah, then there is those pesky hidden layers... Glad you figured it out.

perfect! thanks

Why not post in the Coolean thread? It's more practical for the conceptor of the plugin to answer you

True, very true. Also, if you make such round corners often, here is a useful plugin: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=10370

Hi Babycody, While that is a nicely modelled shelves, I have to say it is not modelled efficiently at all. The whole thing should have made up of smaller components instead of this raw geometry. Anyway, based on the model ("as is" - since I could have found a more logical way of dividing the vertical rack)), I identified a piece that is repetitive in the racks and turned it into a component (Import it into your existing model from File > Import otherwise it will just open as a simple skp file). Since it is 3" high, all you need to do is to add 16 instances of it on top of each other. This can be done easily with a linear array. If I were you, I would just rebuild the whole thing using these pieces instead of adding though. The same amount of work actually. This would reduce file size big time. Of course, you will need to hide the visible seams at the end (I have already hidden the bottom face and its bounding edges so you should only do it with the top face/edges and put a "cap" on the very top). Turn on hidden geometry (View menu) to be able to work (snap to etc.) to these hidden parts. [image: QnPe_Piece.png] Piece.skp

Thanks Fuzzion - yes, that laptop is a beast; not sure if I want to spend that much $$ but I will look into it. Regards, SAB

@wo3dan said: I just made a tangent arc with radius o.2mm by creating a larger one that is "accepted" by SU and then entered the smaller radius in 'Entity Info'. The arc stays tangent but adjusts the radius. That works. I arrived at the same level of 0.0002 m by using your trick... and that's good enough for our purposes. - Thanks for good advice.

@tig said: Rescale the model by drawing a line 10 [meters] long, then use the Tapemeasure tool to pick its two ends and type in 10mm. Answer yes when prompted and the whole model will scale to the correct size. NOW you'll have the right-click option to scale the component[s] definition[s]. Finally 'Model Info > Units' and re-set them to mm no units displayed accuracy 1mm snap 1mm ? Sensational... thank you TIG, It worked a treat and you really have saved me a bucket load of work, I basically was about 2 mouse clicks from deleting it all and starting all over again.. All is as it should be. thanks again...

No I don't. I know how to make that shape I just don't know exactly how you made it textured.

What is it called? What does it do? Who wrote it? How'd you get it? Does it work nicely? I want it.

wow thank you for both answers, ill try this

@chad_ub said: Such a huge help for such a simple problem. yup, welcome to Sketchucation!

What? Was that a test question?

Welcome indeed, Chris...got any Sketchup work you can share in the gallery?

That sounds like a pretty broad problem. You might need to contact Google about it too.