@dave r said: How much more do you need? It isn't a complicated thing. As the continued discussion shows, it apparently it was and continues to be unnecessarily confusing. Sorry TIG, but IMHO the length of your excellent clarification just illustrates that. The meaning of a keyword should not change from one important dialog to the next. Yet nothing has been done in five years to fix it.

The first thing you should do is quit copying extensions/plugins from an older version installation. Always install fresh from the source. You created problems for yourself by doing the things you've described. If you use the Sketchucation Extension Store extension to install the extensions and plugins from here, a bundle will be created. The next time you update SketchUp, install the SCF Extension store from a fresh download. Then let it install your bundle of extension with the freshest copies. They'll get installed in the right place and you won't waste time trying to troubleshoot problems. Your signature line indicates you are using Vray 2.0. If that's correct, you'll find it problematic with SU2017. Vray version 3 is designed to work with SU2017.

@whitelock said: no I'm on 2017 can't work out how to change my profile thing any help with that would be good. I always put "I'm on Mac Version 2017 pro user etc" at the top of my posts now. Click on Settings. [image: JJpb_Screenshot-5_19_20175_20_34AM.png] Under Edit Profile, scroll down a bit to find SketchUp version. Make any other changes and then click on Submit. [image: 25vJ_Screenshot-5_19_20175_22_18AM.png]

"You are the first in over 10 years I've ever seen make a comment about setting UTC per scene." Well, I'll be the second one in 13 years then, to comment on this. I find it very unintuitive, that it is visually a part of the Shadow dialog box, but isn't included in the scene settings under shadows. I just stumbled onto this by mistake, but nearly did a sun/shadow-analysis with 5 or 10 scenes showing the shadows 1 hour wrong (DST). This might, worst case scenario, have resulted in lawsuits regarding loss of an hour of evening sun, as a result of a building being built on incorrect documentation. Yes, I'll file a "feature" request.. Fredrik

You know that may be the case. However, it was working then after not using it for a couple of days it stopped. Anyway, hope the answer helps some other user. Thanks for the info. Ken

Thank you Pixero.

Good info. Thanks.

I Knew it was hiding somewhere! Thanks for that!

might be an issue with the OpenGL suppor of the used video driver... intel HD/Iris and AMD Radeons are known for this.... update the graphics card driver first and if e.g. a notebook with integrated and dedicated video system ensure that SU is running on the dedicated graphics card (see 3D options of graphics card control panel). You also may want to click on the "View Report Details..." of the Bug Splat application for evaluating the exact cause of the problem as e.g. an affected runtime library (DLL) denoted: [image: bugsplat-window.png]

Thank you, Anton! I used an old plugin by Rick Wilson "fixAspectRatio.rb", but it does not seem to work in SketchUp 2017. The problem is, my original scene has no gray bars. After using your line there are dramatically changes in FOV and focal length. But there are no gray surfaces in the exported 2D-image - a first success! Edit: One possible solution is to restore the old FOV values in the menu Camera Advanced (plugin tt_camera) after entering your code line into the Ruby Console.

Try this to get you started... post.skp

your model is fine in sketchup and the face orientation is correct. i saved it as version 7 and imported in max 2014 as skp.. it works perfectly, no face flipping at all. that said, i suppose the problem can be related to newer versions of max/sketchup reader.

@pixero said: It's a bit hard to know the cause of your problem with so little information. Do you get any error messages when starting SketchUp? What does the Ruby console look like? Any info there? Some plugins need other plugins (libraries) to work (like Thomthoms and Fredos). Are you using the Sketchucation Plugin Store for installation? If not I recommend it as it makes it super easy to install and update plugins for SketchUp. https://sketchucation.com/resources/plugin-store-download Hi When I install a plugin that does not work, the plug-in has been installed and I can see the plugin file in the plugins folder, but when I reopen the program I have a load error window. The window reads: Error Loading File 1001bit_freeware.rb Error: # <Encoding :: UndefinedConversionError: "\ x9E" to UTF-8 in conversion from Windows-1255 to UTF-8> / Users / Hoodia Huminer / AppData / Roaming / SketchUp / SketchUp 2016 / SketchUp / Plugins / 1001bit_freeware.rb: 23: in exist? ' C: / Users / Hoodia Huminer / AppData / Roaming / SketchUp / SketchUp 2016 / SketchUp / Plugins / 1001bit_freeware.rb: 23: in <module: GCH_1001bit_load> ' / Users / Hoodia Huminer / AppData / Roaming / SketchUp / SketchUp 2016 / SketchUp / Plugins / 1001bit_freeware.rb: 5: in <module: GCH_1001bit_free> ' C: / Users / Hoodia Huminer / AppData / Roaming / SketchUp / SketchUp 2016 / SketchUp / Plugins / 1001bit_freeware.rb: 3: in <top (required)> ' In addition to this problem, you told me to install SketchUcationTools. I installed it and it does work, but when I choose a plugin that I want to install and I click install, the software does not respond and the plugin is not installed. Unlike the previous problem, here there is no window that appears and warns of a problem but there is no response at all to click "install". Thanks

@jvenning said: Does anyone know a good plugin for size and position of window opening for daylight. You can take a look at Double Cut. @jvenning said: Also any plugins dealing with passive solar design would be great. Extension Warehouse search word "solar."

Well the way I make a surface a plane is to use the rotated rectangle, pick three points that should lay on the same plane. This makes a rectangle that is a least a flat plane to three of the points. Then I offset the rectangle until it covers the area I wish to cover, then intersect with model, and pesto, a flat plane. Note, if the flat plane does not connect to all the edges, you will need to move the plane to connect to all the other surfaces, or modify the surfaces that don't connect to the plane. Ken

@macker said: I was using multiples of 1024. What an odd issue to have. [Edit] HAH! The issue comes back if you use styles. Brilliant. Surely trimble must issue a fix for this? Well, if you change styles, then this pattern works: 1024, 2048, 4086... I have no idea but it works like this! Edit: False alarm! I had tried that in a rush and it doesn't really seem to work with styles

The advice re scaling up small objects before attempting to chamfer them then back down again after is golden. This nearly drove me nuts before I read it.

Mystery to me. So far when I use SU everything I select goes into a group. Otherwise I think I'd go mad. I especially like "Group and delete" to clean up drawings and usually the edges are contacting non-selected geometry.

Doesn't the library no load all items direct from the 3Dwarehouse? The Components Sample has some framing objects.

The blank window issue has been solved in the latest version of AmbientOcclusion, you can get it here