Hi Emma, In the meanwhile I found a very old topic where the attached syllabus by Kevin Gentry was shared. Included some tips & tricks by Grant Marshall, too. I'll also go on seeking those educational topics I mentioned in the email. Syllabus.pdf I guess the attachment - and especially the "tips" - can be useful for other beginners, too. (BTW the Education section of the Old Forums may be an interesting read for you - although registration and therefore replying or such is no longer possible there). OK, here is one that Guzman did with his students in a couple of lessons only: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=108228#p108228 And here is Andrew Nathanson's presentation in SketchUp 3D BaseCamp last June (He is a student of Fred Bartels, a member of SCF here so you can also ask him about education). [flash=600,450:2c2qtzh2]http://www.youtube.com/v/Yvzypn2Lm-E&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1[/flash:2c2qtzh2]

Oh! Just noticed that! Thank ou a lot! I really didnt know the sun in Su would add any modifications in the renders in vray. Because of the setting process in vray, I even tought that the shadow and sun setups in sketch were ignored and therefore didnt pay attention to that! thanks a lot for that! joao rsm

check this guys stuff for technique and insperation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO_D3ltOilk&feature=channel_page its insane!

Thanks Jean, that is immensely helpful. I will try this when I get home today.

To do the texture as well: select the flat path and the grass->right click->combine textures. then right click the face->texture->projected. If you then sample the texture (paint bucket tool+alt), go in to the terrain group and paint the face.

According to the EULA, it is currently not possible by "every day" users/developers. So unless Google allows it (which, to be honest, I'd doubt ATM), you cannot. But contact them as Chris suggested.

@ecuadorian said: How about a little contest? Choose a scene from the 3D warehouse, and let people do their best efforts to pull out "artistic" renders out of it. good idea, should i pick an image? or an actually model, you import into piranesi as a image file right? we would have to set a time limit though, like 30 min maybe??

intersect the walls with the driveway, select the driveway geometry the group it. its now detached and can be freely moved. just rotate it from the edge you want the slope to start at.

@chris fullmer said: But if it has a built in "refold" process, it would not need to be turned into separate components. The idea then would be to take a component. Edit the component. Save that state of folding (no unfolding). Then unfold how you would like. Save that state as "unfolded". Then be able to switch back and forth quickly from folded (original form) to unfolded mode (flat form). So you could unfold your components and lay them flat. Edit their textres easier, then flip a switch and they rebuild themselves, with materials in place. That is how I think it should work. Chris Exactly what I have had in mind. Also, perhaps it would be nice to have a 'solid state' copy of the model while you unfold the other copy for texturing, that way you could quickly see if textures are lining up correctly as you apply them. But if that was too complex the quick unfold/refold options would be great. Attached is a model of a building I made today. I textured it from the materials within SU, then unfolded a clone of it using the technique in my tutorial, ably assisted by Chris' Make Component tool. The layout is for printing to make a paper model. While I can accurately scale it to 1/87 (HO) when I export it as an eps file it loses the textures when loaded into Illustrator. Why I havent figured out, but by loading into Photoshop at A4 300DPI I can apply textures to the model, and either print it or export as pdf. The large rectangles are the A4 page layouts. To save each layout I hide the others. it keeps the saved files tidier that way. Bob [image: U2kU_demohouse.jpg]

What I am anout to suggest may not be the simplest road to follow, BUT it will give you the best interaction possibilities for your clients. Once you are done modeling with sketchup, import the model in Blender. If do a search for game blender you can then implement a first person moving camera in the model. Once texturing and lighting is done (although I have no idea if texturing passes correctly from one program to the other), you choose your first viewing angle, then save an exe file that works exaclty as a first person shooter videogame. Except from the part with guns and monsters/zombies give it a try it's easier than it sounds!

@gaieus said: My problem is (was) the same; I could make the animation in SU but couldn't export it. It's been a month, so you probably already know this: You can export the "proper animation" with Whaat's "Smooth animation" plug-in.

There are some really good ones here... http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=9749

If you choose a base point at the corner or midpoint that has some meaning e.g. base of a tree or corner of a bench leg.

Hi chinese friend thanks for the link , but you know there is only a little problem I can't speak nor reading the chinese , so is quite difficult understand what I'm clicking on that site !!! And what about you Jim you're right the plug-in isn't what I'm exactly looking for but is useful to , thanks again . I hope some one some day will create this ruby ( that I think must be not so complicated ) . Grazie a tutti , questa comunità di SketchUp è fantastica !!! . Thanks to all this community is great !!! Ciao

Hi All, Sketchyphysics and centerpoint work well for convex or cubic volumes, respectively. For example, centerpoint will use the center of the bounding box. Both approaches will not give you the true centroid in your case, which you need to figure out the center of gravity (assuming you have a homogenous material). You can only do that with my plugin but only for 2d shapes. If you need a better evaluation of the volume centroid, then look at a software like Rhino. Cheers, Alex

Hi All If you are using logitech devices along with setpoint in XP try this: open the logitech setpoint application (mouse and keyboard settings). You can get to this by opening the application directly or through the "mouse" application in the control panel select the mouse you are using on the pull down menu now, here is the key operation....on "scroll wheel" which is menu item no. 3, select "Other" from the tasks available for the scroll wheel, then select the function "Generic Button" from the rather large number of possibilities. Be sure when the "other" task for the scroll wheel is selected, no 3 now reads "generic button". click on "apply" and you should be all set. Regards Jim

Well, I took Google Translate as an example. If YouTube uses its engine (or anything else with that efficiency), I can imagine the results. Just try to translate something to Hungarian and then back to English with it! Nevertheless, as I stated above,I do think these subtitles are useful.

How about using the "paste in place" command (in the Edit menu) after you copied the geometry? It willput anything that you copied/cut into the exact same location and orientation. You can even assign a shortcut to this function (as it doesn't have a separate toolbar button).

in sketchup it is a good idea to use components for any repeating objects, as although there is a slight overhead in terms of file size it quickly pays off in a model of any size. Im not sure how components work in google earth, though.

haha, I totally read this thread title wrong. I read it like "3D warehouse, cheating?" Unlike a normal person who would realize that they misread the title from reading the first two posts, I was still like "what? you want to contact the owner, to say that you are stealing his material?" ...no I am not crazy.. I swear.