So what's all the fuss about then !!! But seriously, I get it. Thanks again Tig. Thankfully I don't have to mess with Autocad and its relatives very often. And once Layout is up to speed, I doubt many others will have to either. Baz

I've been running this for a while now as well because of this problem. It causes all sort of problems for me in autocad!

I was just answering Stephen's question.

OH GREAT! I did not know that v7 pro reverted to free after the trial period expiration! Thank you guys! (BTW: looking for v7 free just because of the dwg import feature, smart intuition )

a lot when debugging things, or adding extra functionality [like Web Inspector] it so easy to do from Ruby Console using unix or SU cmds.

I guess the thing I'm looking for, rather than buying yet more software, is to find a way to get my existing models, all of which are already set up to render directly to Maxwell or Vray, animated. The nice thing about Maxwell is that it translates SU materials to Maxwell MXM files and the MXS it creates can be opened into Maxwell Studio for further refinements and rendered from there. If Vray created a file I could open in 3DS Max I would be all set, but lo, Chaos seems to like to complicate their software with incompatible material types and a distributed rendering system that defies all logic. I guess they earn their name.

Bravo for the good work!

Thomthom's Selection Toys and Cleanup plugins may also be useful here.

Wow. I did not know you could do that! The major limitation is that it only downloads the 12 items that show up in the search results at each time. Anyway to have the search show more results? The collection has over 6k components. I have contacted the modeler and he didn't seem accommodating to zip the files and upload them to a FTP.

@unknownuser said: Why did Google sell SketchUp to Trimble? Google are moving to automatically generate building for Google Earth - making redundant all the manual labour. @unknownuser said: My wish is that the Trimble team will expand the API so that ordinary people like me will make their own tools. At Basecamp it was emphasized that the API would be expanded. They are even hiring. Good signs.

Well, I see in the source several problems: Most likely suspect: Set.rb - it includes the Set class from the Ruby Standard Library which is incompatible with SketchUp's own Set class. There are modifications made to the core Kernel class, Object and Module. (And Fixnum and String) That's not including what REXML might do - it's quite a large library, and terrible slow! I think the Set.rb file is added for the sake of ReXML. I'd suggest you contact the author and point out the incompatibilities the plugin causes. Post back link to this thread so the author can see the full story. To the author or this plugin, should you read this - please have a look at this article I wrote about developing plugins for SketchUp: http://www.thomthom.net/thoughts/2012/01/golden-rules-of-sketchup-plugin-development/

Recommend you try 'Fraps', it allows you to modify the 'fps'. Also if you like making camera & objects animations easier I recommend you take a look at 'SimFonIA Animation Tools' because you can easily achieve more organic movements and it has a video exporter were you can also set the 'fps'. Cheers

HI, yes, as TIg said, it is a known bug. Another simple workaround is to open the exported file, type units and set them to the units you used on the original sketchup file.

Nevermind guys I've got it figured out. Not sure how I did it but it works

That is a good trick. I find that is often useful to have the CAD layers intact, in addition to having the CAD group on a layer that can be turned on/off.

No problem, glad you were able to get it done.

do you have only maxwell for sketchup or the full package? With the full version you can export as mxs from max and then use it as mxs reference in sketchup. Or import the sketchup scene in max, place your objects and merge the two scenes in studio.

Walter, Clipping - its a real pain in the neck sometimes !!! A few things to try / check on your model: Are you working a long way away from the origin (0,0,0) ??? SU doesn't like this and it's one cause of clipping. If this is the case in your model, turn all layers on, unhide everything, select all, group all, move all your geometry back towards the origin. Does your model cover a large physical area ??? SU is not particularly keen on this either - again a cause of clipping. Turn all layers on, unhide everything, check to see if you have any stray linework etc miles away from where you are working. ............ Hope this helps Regards Howard L'

Not sure if this is an appropriate option for what you want to achieve but you could save the file with the scene(s) you want without any model as a "template" and then import the model.

There is a plugin named "polyreduce", and Artisan has this feature as well..