Ouch, thanks Cotty. I guess it will be better to "explode" all of the components in that case in a final model file.

Thanks all for your responses. I ended up using Scan2CAD with very good results. I found that importing a raster image, converting it to a vector, and editing the vector was easier. [image: WI1y_OrchidCapture.PNG]

@rich o brien said: [image: sellotape.jpg] Seriously.... There's Fredo's Hover Select http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=155058#p155058 ...but that is for raw geometry. That better then the duc tape I'm using?

There is a issue in this with general terrain and site elements. Changes require a lot of work and the model gets fragmented and messy. Still looking for ideas myself. Some approaches may involve keeping elements separate for as long as possible. So the road is not joined to the terrain, but the terrain is shaped to accommodate it. Also valiarchitects instant terrain may help. One can add items and join it together with the main terrain. then retexturing becomes an issue....

I work on mac and I have had the same problem. Here is the trick I have found and this works for me. I extracted the file with Stuffit Expander (rather then Archive Utility, by default on Mac).... and miracle Skin Soap Buble works now, (even if I don't see any différence in the files open with Archive Utility or Stuffit Expander).

A 2d DWG/DXF puts all SKP entities [lines etc] onto Layer 0. Arc/Circles are made from lines. A 3d DWG/DXF uses the Layers that the SKP entities have: so the export does keep the same layering

First example is done by Fredoscale "Box scaling to target". You must do it one side at time. You must make a point to snap to for your one meter measurements in each direction (a meter square on the ground and on perhaps a guide vertically. Since one dimension is .6 to 1.0 and the rest are .9 to 1.0 you have to do each side. For the stairs Fredoscale could make it scale as well. It seems like these scenarios all depend on what the different parts need to do. And so a plugin can't fit to all situations. If I had a steps that needed to be larger, I would not want to change the dimension of the "lumber" parts unless I were accepting the parts would be out of scale, slightly.

It would be a whole lot easier to show you how to do this if we had the SKP file which you could attach. I would take care of the off-axis thing first. You should be able to rotate it the required angle to get it to align with the axes. You might find turning on hidden geometry will help you with that. A guideline parallel to the axis closest to the axis on which the cylinder is aligned could be useful, too. If the cylinder is a component or group and it is rotated inside its bounding box, open it for editing and rotate just the geometry. Once you have the cylinder aligned, close the component or make it one. Then the Move tool will make it simple to rotate the cylinder to the standing position. Hover over the component/group and look for the red crosses. Move the cursor until it shows a protractor over one of the crosses on the side. Click and rotate the component/group into the vertical position. Placing the plate will be easiest if it is a component. You can move the component's axes so its origin is centered on the bottom of the plate. The origin will be the insertion point for the plate. Put a couple of crossing guidelines at the bottom of the cylinder such that they intersect at the center. Import the plate into the cylinder model and drop it at the intersection of the guidelines. After you have the first plate in place you can make a stack of them by using the copy function of Move to make a linear array.

http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=36261 http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52154

There is a great plugin that will do that ¡¡¡ http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=382150#p382150

You can also download (and print if you wish) the Quick reference card that lists all the modification keys: http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=116693

Damn...I was too busy those days...really missed it ! Thanks

@masterpaul said: @ely862me said: replace the lines with components. Is there a plugin that does that? Not as far as I know; I copied, scaled and rotated them manually !

What? No, I'm not saying that. The highlighted area should be two parts, but it didn't slice through. The lines are there, but it's still two separate areas!!! [image: NZd4_intersection.png] It doesn't matter if it's a solid or not. It still doesn't slice through. I've attached a simplified example. If I do intersect-with-model on the bump that hasn't been cut out (the same one in the picture), it won't split. Edit: I noticed that after splitting, there was a single polygon where the outline formed along the surface of the main object that was not cut . When I drew a line cutting it (the polygon), the bump shape separated immediately in two. I don't know why Dave didn't experience this: [image: aVyB_nocut.png] notasolid 2.skp

Also, forgot to mention. If the model checks out and everything is true/square, then use the delete coplanar plugin, and all those goofy extraneous lines will go away. I'm not sure how to link you to the page with the plugin, but it is in the plugin sub-forum somewhere here on Sketchucation

Hi, IAho: Since you mentioned plugin in your thread title, maybe tak2hata's Building Structure Tools? maybe not. What I said in my first reply still holds. When you insert all of those skp's of different parts of your assembly, they are defined as components in your working file. That is because a Sketchup component is basically a .skp file itself. Collecting a bunch of components and defining this collection as a component with a unique name will create an "assembly". Does this help?

Here is an old post on old post on uncropping a photo. It would also work to fix photos that have had tilt shift done. But I agree, for your example, could just draw a box and then project texture manually, and skew as necessary. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10895

I tried make terrain meshes but is not what i need. So the only way is exporting the SKP to another modeling software, like solidworks, autodesk simulation cfd and now Xflow CFD

Excellent advices ! If the material of the printed parts is good enough(won't broke or chip) you could use a tap and a die(which would be like $10) and the outcome will be great !

Glad we could help.