thank you

Jim, Is the plugin you mentioned for importing cameras with a 3ds file available for download? Thank you

The lines dont show in shaded mode because I unmarked lines in view mode. "Anyway I think the last picture is just an "optical" artifact. The profile edges on a curved shape should not be affected" When I exported the hidden line model to Illustrator the lines were cut just like in the screendump. "if you intersected faces as you said, you should see the edge where the top of the knob intersects the shaft all around" Yes, I did that and the top line showed, like intended.

Thank you solo. With 360 segments, my circles look, well, like circles.

As already mentioned. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15%26amp;t=63032%26amp;p=577207#p577207

I don't quite follow your question either, but, you can right click on a line and select divide.

When I say frustrated its just that everything goes so slow. I have always wondered what it is like to control a mars rover with control delay. I could not believe selecting a texture, and hitting the delete button does not work at all any more. I have to right click and "erase" and wait about 7 seconds for it to go. Moving a texture or even something small is almost impossible. So frustration was expected and experienced. Loading the model into the renderer (8.2 million faces)takes about 6 minutes so about 12 minutes from hitting the render button to getting the first frame render. Strangely though the renders only take about 5 minutes to cycle to a good standard. I followed as much of the advice I was kindly given from this forum, and the computer I use is of a high spec so I think this is about the limit of shetchup. So basically it is just a very big model. It did test my patients though.

Thanks driven, will give it a try but I think this still means saving each assembly one by one. I'd like to find a way to save multiple components at a time. Will try tomorrow. Cheers Sam

@driven said: are Preview Pane and Thumbnails turned on in the Windows Explorer? john Sorry, been very busy. No, I did not have Preview Pane turned on, but I never do. Turning it on made no difference. And, yes, thumbnails were turned on. Finally resorted to the old standby, Mystic Thumbs. Price has gone up a bit since I used it last, but it does the job. I've decided to keep Win 8. It's kinda interesting, something different. I am going to replace the SSD and HD with better ones though. Overall, this new laptop is amazing. It was touted as a desktop replacement, and I believe it. Kinda silly for me though, I only use it when I go out for coffee.

sounds good... K120 Logitech Keyboard - Space Mouse Pro - Saitek-Cyborg Rat 7 Mouse And I just ordered 3 extra 10-Key pads for customizing via this Instructable. I'll make them into SketchUp quick command shortcuts and maybe sell the other two once done.

calibrate it with game controller in device manager. probably has dust or object in the groove.

@khai said: for my vote, it's the Logitech Performance MX comfy and configurable. I won't use anything else.. (had the MX revolution until it's battery pack died.. when my Perfomance dies, I'll goto the MX Master....) I had the revolution myself but didn't like the performance. It was somehow the same, but everything was slightly different wich made me feel awkward. The m705 is even better than the revolution. No battery recharge, reactive, all buttons configurable, cheaper, very easy to travel with yet large enough for desktop and confortable. It might not be the case for people with bigger hands than mine... for me it's perfect.

@aris said: No, the point is that you want to keep the initial components interlinked so as to keep working on them.What I want is to unlink the "children-components" from their perspective "parent components while keeping them in place If it's about one parent component with a child component, 'Cut' and 'Pasted in Place' or the 'Outliner' would suffice. But to get the child out of all parent instances and keep them all in place you also need the 'Component' browser and its option to replace a selection of components by another component. Copy the parent =(A with child C) to the side. Make it unique =(B with child C) > Get C out of parent B's environment > Componentize (B) + (C) into component D =((B)+(C)) Select all instances (A with child C) and via the 'Component' browser replace the selected components (A with child C) by component (D) > then explode (D) to get all instances (A) with all the respective instances (C) in place. It's quite fast, even with hundreds of instances (A with child C)

@krisidious said: if you want to spend the best $25 of your life you can buy Vertex Tools. +1

Just install the SCF Plugin Store on your other computer, log in and give it a few moments to connect. Then click on the gear and go to Bundles. Select the bundle you want to install and install it. Check the EW, too if you've gotten any extensions from there.

@driven said: copy paste your wall into a new skp and color the target faces a distinct color and I'll see if some ruby code can add them in place... really appreciate the help. file is attached recordWall

Oh man, thank you so much for the lenghty reply. Kudos.

Thank you Jiminy and Pilou. I checked Light Up out and you are both correct - perfect for what I need. Thanks for pointing me in that direction Richard C

it appears to have knocked down the requirements by 1GB once I've loaded a project - which seems positive. I will run it this way for a while and see if thats the headroom it needs to remain stable. thanks again for your time

Sorry this has taken so long to report back. In short the answer was that I could only render reliably at 9999 x 9999 pix. I couldn't get to grips with splitting the image using camera tools. I ended up enlarging the renders in perfect resize and got pretty good results from this.