deaneau , nonetheless, thanks for the advice and knowledge. It was still very helpful.

@jql said: I usually use groups/components for this. If you set the axis inside a group or a component it will never revert to the original position again until you change it back or explode and regroup it. You can have as many axis as there are groups and they are independent from scenes and they are being used on the fly as you're jumping from group to another group editing stuff. This is way better than Ortho ON as this is multiple intelligent and context sensitive user driven ortho on the fly. +1

That worked. Still had to go to the website as the manager connection was slow, but it worked. Thanks again john.

I think multiple or split screens are great no matter how good the scrolling is. I am on this thread cause I am looking for that feature. Trying to see if they have added since 6 or 8 to 14.... I use split screen in autocad. Obviously in 3d mode it allows you to have the different viewpoints all at once, but even in 2d drawings it allows you to copy/move objects from areas of the drawing that are any distance from your desired work target area. Scroll Copy Scroll Paste Scroll Copy Scroll Paste Scroll Copy... it get aggravating when you know there would seem to be a common addition that sooo many other programs allow. Even the Excel xl spread sheet allows split screen for crying out loud, (since I am crying out loud..) I am back at exploring Sketchup again, after coming and going several times...the best advice I have ever been given for this program is "When you use Sketchup, you totally have to forget about any other program you have ever used...." And that does help. http://sketchucation.com/forums/posting.php?mode=reply%26amp;f=15%26amp;t=20769# But it is still kind of sad. For some reason Sketchup reminds me of the Monty Python bit where the candy maker is caught using "real, whole dead frogs" in the candy. And the constable or judge ask "Do you include the bones?" and the candy maker says "Well if it didn't have the bones then it wouldn't be crunchy." There is always a "crunchy" answer to these types of questions. The candy maker was probably selling enough candy to suit himself. Evidently Sketchup is selling enough programs to suit themselves. The right answer is "We are working on that, we just don't know how to do it without a major rewrite, or we want to do it and it is definitely on the list." But instead you usually get an answer that you don't understand the benefits of "crunchy frog bones."

If you do a Google image search "roof" you will find some large photos. Too correct them and make them seamless in Photoshop: Filter/Lens Correction...to get shingles to lie flat Filter/Other/Offset...to create the horizontal and vertical seams Burn or Dodge....to expose the image evenly (flatten) so that shadow/light/dirt are not creating a pattern. There are other ways to flatten...i.e. You can "radial fill" towards the sun source with an opaque mask to reduce shadow. Take a neutral sample from the image. (this is a bit advanced and needs a bit of practice.) After a few tries it is quick solution to make your own and you never need to waste time looking again.

FYI, I got it sorted out. I think it has something to do with the z and y axis being flipped. My solution, was to download a trial of Atlantis, imported the obj with textures, then exported it again as an obj to a different folder. Then imported the obj using sim lab into sketchup and it worked like a charm. Hefty file indeed, it is the city of Seattle after all. Thanks for your help.

Hello, I am encountering a similar problem however mine is a bit different. In my Catalyst Control Centre there is no option to switch Sketch Up to use the AMD GPU. Is there another way to force SU to use the AMD GPU because currently it is using my intergrated Intel HD GPU

David, I'm happy to hear you got your problem sorted out. I imagine it would have taken a lot of folks a lot of guesses before hitting on that one. Hopefully it never happens again.

@rich o brien said: Win10 is next. So Win10 will be called next instead? I like it Winext!

I can see how you might expect this - many office apps save printer settings as part of a document - but SketchUp does not do so. It just picks up the OS settings for the selected printer.

For that scene you can also adjust the light/dark settings in the Shadows window. This will however also affect the shadows on the robot. The curve in one instance gives a nice graduated backdrop, but in the case of the side shot, maybe a flat face is better or curved opposite? (You don't have to use the same object as backdrop in each scene.) The shading feature makes many SU renderings work great and is also good for modelling interface but causes issues, for example when we want to show an elevation of a building and the roof, ground, or ceiling becomes super dark.

It isn't always better to leave it checked. It depends upon the GPU and the driver. It seems for a lot of users things look better with it unticked. You can play with it and see what happens. The style thing may come back and you'll have to untick it again.

@tim said: @slbaumgartner said: I don't have an explanation for you problem, but it is extremely unlikely this is the cause. Computers don't take more time to do arithmetic based on the value of the numbers. Sure they do. Just exceed the integer range of a typical CPU word-size and watch things take longer. Assuming of course you're using a sensible language that can handle arbitrary length integers. If not, it will take a really long time since you'll crash! And no, floating point is not a proper solution in many cases. I was trying to keep it simple. While you are technically correct, your reply is also irrelevant. What makes you think that SketchUp uses any sort of variable-length numeric representations?

Install SCF Plugin STORE on both versions. Create a bundle from your 2014 version and then open version 2015 and install that bundle there. http://sketchucation.com/resources/plugin-store-download

I thank you all, Yes, XRefManager works; and yes, it works great.

Thank you all. I am still discovering this marvelous sotfware...

@samyell77 said: Been in touch with him a few times regarding BOM plugin. In a good way! Thought this sounded a little negative. Inteloide helped me out a lot with the BOM plugin... for the record!

Sorry...made a mistake and can't edit.... As I was trying to say I do use the drape method depending on how clean the CAD is. Often I find it easier to hand trace small jobs and offset the curbs sidewalks etc. But from time to time when I have to mass up a lot of buildings I will drop the CAD onto the surface.

"Also, What is the usual set back of the baluster from the front of the rise and the face of the stair carriage?" Typically, the face of the bottom of the first baluster on a step aligns with the face of the riser and carriage below, as illustrated in the image below (from the WM Coffman Stair Co.). If the change in baluster spacing where the stairs transitions from straight to curved is bothersome to you, you might consider a closed stringer design instead. [image: WM Coffman.jpg]

Thank you for your quick replies. It looks like the issue is tied to the particular machine I am using. The method I use to try and hide the leader is to right click the text and then select entity properties. From that dialog box I then change the leader from pushpin to hidden. When I select that the entire text object disappears. It also does not look hidden as I have tried using Edit->Unhide->All and also View->hidden geometry. Another interesting point is that I am using an add-in call Comp2Scene/Layer. This add-in is able to create a text object with an invisible leader! I also noticed that if I create a leadered text object and then delete the object I can hide the leader without affecting the text part.