Right, I don't think the approach you were trying with SB is going to work--unless I totally misunderstand. With 25 points you could quickly draw edges to make triangles and take it from there. With that TIN mesh you can apply sandbox "from contours" to smooth, "add detail" or use any number of other mesh manipulating plugins. I think you are using the "smoove tool"? Not what it's for. Offhand regarding editing a simple mesh: Try "select none" (this is good to set to a hot key) and then the move tool and move point by point, not surfaces. It is easier if you have "VertexTools" plugin. But you may not need to use this method at all at this point.

It's off to the D'oh thread for you Ken. It's an easy thing to miss, even for someone of your skill, so a good lesson for everyone.

@Gilles Seems you have forgotten the screen! [image: http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Old-School-TV-television-296019_1544_1500.jpg]

Thank you, Peter. I could do the handwork on the Cintiq and will probably end up doing just that for myself. Of course not everyone has a tablet to be able to do this which is why I was looking to get some of it done in SketchUp. Back to the drawing board.

This won't fix the problem but it might offer a little consolation. GATES SPENDS ENTIRE FIRST DAY BACK IN OFFICE TRYING TO INSTALL WINDOWS 8.1

@joelm3dm said: Ok, my current system ... Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.7 GHz, 4.0 ram, 32 bit, Nvidia geforce GTS 250, two monitors I use it for SU and some light-duty video editing and photoshopping. I had a similar setup a year ago and switched to a I5-3.4Ghz, 8 GB ram, GTX 560 Ti and 64 bit windows 7 and an SSD. With anything similar or better Sketchup works great. @joelm3dm said: Initially I was asking if there's already a sticky or page or post with hardware suggestions. Wouldn't that be a good idea? Of course, it would have to be updated often, but I think many people would use it. A page could list different setups: "Bare Minimum", "Good SketchUpping", "Good SU Plus Others", "Super Ideal" Could be great if it was maintained regularly. Maybe someone will feel up for it.

Where is the component's origin relative to the geometry?

Have you tried to see if the mouse is supported...? I can only think of a visit to the manufacture website to see if they have a compatible driver/software...?

to be clear the rules I have always used but the neat PDF I got from http://www.srww.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Six%20Rules%20for%20Modeling%20in%20SketchUp.pdf

you are correct. why add the complexity of a specialized plugin that can take years to work the bugs out of. it all comes down to being super focused and diligent whenever you edit anything on a complex model. maybe also 'saving a copy as' at the end of each session so you can step back in time to see when the problem was created and re-build from there.

Hi TIG! Thanks for reply. I followed your suggestion and when I saved the component directly from the Components Browser (save as) it worked just fine! Also thanks for the tips about the instances context.

What do you mean by a colour swatch? Do you just want a flat colour or are you referring to a texture?

I think that's good for 8 hours. You could get further as you develop your method. It does take time to do all that accurately. I find the elevations are limited help in projection, but for a house with such ornamentation I can see the benefit. I have to say that I do not use the interiors as much and I would tend to be doing more on the exterior before working on the interiors (often just model certain rooms). My methods differ some. I often work with an exterior skin and add interiors separately.I tend to make my window and other exterior components and place them based on the floor plan. I extrude profiles for a lot of the elevations work and build the roof using a combination of Instant roof and my own calculations or layout. So in that approach I have left the elevations behind before long. I've been doing some projects where I still use CAD plans but never draw a CAD elevation.The elevations come from the model. That's a beautiful elevation and this is going to be a great house model. Good Luck. Pete! What is this?

I too avoid using the import lines (except things like contours). Too many times messes up the drawing. Some sort of minuscule accuracy disconnect, although both import and new edges are supposed to be on axis. Sometimes works... Fredo has a new plugin to help cleanup. Search plugins store.

You should really try to avoid the problems and not to repair them. Sooner or later they will catch up with you...

Thanks everyone. Since Dave originally said he did not see anything wrong with the sample model then I assumed that my Sketchup 7 is also if not entirely to blame, so I removed the skp file. I eventually isolated the places that were generating problems and remade most of the model from scratch.

Thanks for the tips. I will give them both a try. Tim

If you just want to create guides, don't touch ctrl. When you select the tape tool it has a small dotted line and a + sign as part of the cursor,--+, this means it will create a guide line. If you hit CTRL this goes away and it can be used to resize. CTRL toggles between the two states.

Same here, model attached... [image: moresections.jpg] moresections.skp

Cheers Jeff, I know about the checkbox in preferences and checked it a long time ago. However sketch up is the only application that still exhibits this behaviour. Its like its immune from it. Any other ideas?