Sorry to take so long to respond. I appreciate the responses from you guys. I went with DaveR's approach since it would be the easiest (IMHO) to use when a new version of SU is released.

You have to install it from within SketchUp: https://help.sketchup.com/de/article/3000263#install-manual

Yes. The Save_As... option will save back as far as version 3. Use the drop-down list.

@hellnbak said: I don't know if SU itself has a fork in it's future, but I do know that these forums are not what they used to be. For several years it seems member participation has pretty much died down to just a predictable few. Sad Can't argue with that. I joined the SketchUp forum only fairly recently, so I'm barely past newbie status yet...but I'm spending far more time over there now.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, I will try a few things out in the coming weeks, G

Discovered that if I export as a 2D graphic (dwg) and then import that, it has got rid of all the rubbish. All of the layer controls have gone, but I don't need those anyway. This method has the added bonus of truly flattening the file as well.

Crosspost

Can you share an SKP file in which this occurs?

In the early days of SketchUp, before there were any renderers at all, one method I used for depicting a more ambient light in an interior was to go to the Shadows control (now part of the trays setup) and reverse the position of the sliders. Move the Light one way down and the Dark one up. As long as you don't slide them clear to the end (which is effectively the same as turning shadows off) you'll still have shadows, but they'll be far more muted.

Also, if you don't want the profile edges to appear as thick lines, don't turn off Profiles. Instead, set them to 1.

SketchUp Pro 2016 and SketchUp Make 2016 - Maintenance Release 2 Released: September 20, 2016 Version: 16.1.2418 (Mac 64-bit) General Note: Mac: This update for SketchUp 2016 for Mac is to address a number of issues which arose with the release of Apple MacOS Sierra (10.12) SketchUp Release Notes Fixed Fixed a crash which occurred when closing a tab in fullscreen mode. Fixed some resources in SketchUp which didn’t display as translated. LayOut Release Notes Fixed Fixed a crash which occurred when editing rich text. Source: Release Notes

There is no secret. It is just photogrammetry tools gotten that good. Take thousands of photos, dump them in,a few days later get the result.

It's a part of FredoTools: http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=FredoTools You will need LibFredo too, if you don't have it already: http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=LibFredo6

There is one definite advantage of having the corners mitered. It simplifies outside wall textures. A number of plugins do miter for this reason.

I need to reiterate.......the software needs to be revised so the materials palette pops open when the paint tool is activated - like it used to do.

No, not yet. Summer has driven me adrift. It is still in the back of my mind thought.

Hi Guys out of the office yesterday, many thanks for all your comments and assistance, invaluable as ever.

Hi Bob, Probably the quickest way to accomplish this, without extensive use of plugins, is to control your camera location/movement through scenes. This precludes the need to manipulate the model in any way. For example, you could draw a hexagon that encloses your entire model, with one vertex lined up with the front view. Then you could place your camera on the front vertical of the hexagon. Use guide points to try different elevations until you get one that frames your model correctly. Now adjust the height of the hexagon to match the perfect height. Re-place your camera on the front vertex, making sure that you are in the front view, and save the scene. Now place your camera on the next vertex and repeat the process and save a scene. (you can control your camera even more if you make an alignment face for each vertex that is perpendicular to the plane of the camera view at the vertex and use that to align the camera after you place it on the vertex. This might be more control than you actually need and "fudging" the camera location to better frame the model in each location is a valid method too. Once you have all the vertex views saved as scenes, run the animation. You may need to zoom in or out slightly, at each scene, to keep from clipping the model as the camera moves. Keep refreshing the scenes as you dial in the flow. It sounds more complicated than it is and you will find that you can "fake" an object-based animation pretty easily.

Nothing, eh? Well, that's ok, I solved it myself.

@pritam8888 said: Hi, is there a plugin to create smooth sketchup video from scenes ? Look at: Smutard's Presentation Bundle 2 D. Bur's ScenesTool (Extension Warehouse)