Hi Tobbe, Note that after selecting an object (in Remus' case a group), you don't have to click on it with the move tool but you can click anywhere. If you create that offset to guide you, you can click on a midpoint of it, start the movement and click on the midpoint of the other, opposite line for instance. The leg will move accordingly. Oh, by the way, hitting Ctrl+Move will make copies of your legs.

They do have their own forums, altohugh i can remember where.

Dama, There is an item called Check for Updates on the Help menu. Layout is included with the Pro version of SU only. If you're using the free version, as I am, you don't have it. ~Voder

the smoothing was the problem...got it now! thanks!!

Thank you for help

@watkins said: Have you tried opening and working on the model on another machine. As I said before, a recent Windows XP security update caused my machine to lock up when working on large models. I don't allow Windows to automatically update for that very reason. I have all the major service packs, but none of the recent "fixes".

Go to your styles dialog > In model (the little house icon) > Edit > Watermark settings (the little icon with the "OK" sign). There you can ad a background image with a bunch of settings after you start adding it (see screenshot) [image: XVJS_ScreenShot010.jpg] Then make sure that in your background settings ground is turned on (it should be by default in the 3D templates) otherwise the sky image will see through the ground: [image: aZTR_ScreenShot011.jpg]

@ steve6 Like I said before, if you need help, I'll be pleased to help you. regards

@unknownuser said: Turn off hidden geometry? Pic might be handy... Thanks, that did it.

Hi Jon, Uncheck "Use view size" in the export options window (that refers to the actual size displayed on your screen). Setting resolution used to be a Pro feature in v.5 but since v.6 it is also included into the Free version.

Thanks for that. It definately not a group or component problem. Further work seems to suggest that I can only select the item at the back of the view I am working in (which is not at all helpful). Jon

Also note that by using the Tape measure tool to scale a group/component only within your model, you should first enter its editing context (i.e. double click to edit) and scale it there. In this case only the group/component will be scaled. To scale something with the scale tool with your example (one side is known to be 6') follow these steps: select the component then the scale tool: select one of the grips along the axis you want to scale press and hold Shift to scale uniformly (so that the component won't get distorted) start the scale operation (you can now release the mouse and the Shift key), type 6' (with the unit symbol) and hit Enter. Note that if you scale with the tape measure tool OR with the scale tool inside the component's context, the component definition will also change while whatever you do with it from outside, the "original" definition won't change so if you insert another instance from the Component Browser, it will look like before scaling.

Hi Kim, Listen to what Honoluludesktop (OMG - calling someone like that ) suggests; there are some good points there. Also, just start doing it; jump in (but be prepared to having to start over) and whenever you encounter some problems, come and ask. The best way of learning SU is to practice.

@anssi said: @goggin said: I'm technically minded, but will that have any advantages over using GIMP to convert to JPG? Will a DXF file have better line resolution? If the PDF is vector-based, importing it to SU as a DWG or DXF file would let you use the geometry in the file directly as a base for modelling, importing converts the linework directly into edges in SU. Even if it is not as good as having the original CAD file to model from, it would be more accurate than re-drawing it all by eyeballing from a raster image. Anssi I'll try this, but is there a way to know in advance if the PDF is vector based or not? I expect that it was created by exporting from AutoCad (or something similar).

Changing it can be a bit tempremental sometimes, if you switch to another tool then switch back to the grid drawing tool (and then try changing the spacing) you might have some more luck.

to get rid of the lines between the components, just hide the lines in the component (select the lines->right click->hide.) In terms of changing the number of segments, having 38 segments for the main tube was a very sensible idea

I was using 1' squares--I will try bigger ones. The other weird thing is that when I activate the Smoove Tool on the grid, the yellow cubes appear in many other places on the drawing! Also, I'm not sure to erase the sandbox grid once I apply it, if I want to change the size, etc.

You only have to hold down the Alt key while sampling. Not before (while positioning the texture) and not after you sampled (when you paint the other facet).

The thumbnail of a component is alway created from the view when it is created. So when you want to create a component, orbit to a view you would like to se in the thumbnail and make the component then.

@sintra said: my component is made up of a number of components within components ould this make a difference. Yes, definitely! In my suggestion I really meant simple, raw geometry. If you enter into the parent component's context only, then either a right to left or a left to right selection will only select the nested (child) components only. So I have looked into your linked file and saw that there are only two components within the parent component; the leaves and the stem Now what you can do, is to enter the context of an instance of each of these two components and do the above operation in each separately. On a side note; while this shrub seems to be nice, it is etremely high poly and way too big in file size as well. Also, what I noticed, the images on the leaves are cluttered and since the leaves themselves are not instances of the same component, this would be rather tiresome to fix. This also counts for the very big file size however.