@jmilton01 said: I am about to be contracted to model a large piece of flying machinery. Along with the model I will be providing schematics and interactive 3D environments so the mechanics can look at the way the engine is built or how the wing is assembled. This will be my first job doing this. I am fluent in most CAD softwares. However, I didn't know if some of you had any recommendations for which softwares to use with each other. For example, I was thinking about doing my modeling in Sketchup then using Inventor for my schematics. I'm not sure what to use so the end user (mechanic) can rotate the part and look at it or click a name in the bookmarks and the view change to that part, ect. All input is greatly appreciated. Edit: Hi josh. Would not really trust SU with precision. Inventor does stress tests as well ontop of what you stated. You could use SU to project a visualisation of what you intend to make. Quick and fast. Not sure how good SU pro exporters are since i use the free edition. Okay not really free since i had to pay over $1000 in plugins & renderers

Illustration/Artist -- I use it to generate 1, 2 and 3 point perspective reference imagery (for drawings and paintings)... often in conjunction with Maxwell (for photographic-type lighting reference). Best, Jason.

It could be extreme for a much more complex shape but SU should be able to handle that geometry on a relatively small model.

I stand corrected

@fuzzion said: @nickdk said: I'll take a look at TGI3D, it looks like a great plugin? I have searched google and tried a few things in Max but it hasn't been successful yet. The tgi3d upsample feature is what i use as my final plugin before printing. Sometimes it makes the model look odd. But 95% of the time it works perfectly and is worth the money. Comes with many other plugins then just upsample. Create mesh being my favourite. Oh and the bend feature is superb too. The UV tool is cool but i got used to artisan. Tgi3d plugin + Artisan = Must have Hello Fuzzion, I bought the Tgi3D plugin and it did produce a visual ok result after upsamling, but it ruined my model while doing so. The model was filled with mesh errors and holes afterwards so I was back to squar eone trying to make it a solid, this is impossible due to the many mesh issues :S?

Seeing the result would help understand.

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for.

It's as I said earlier, any object within a model or a component/group that is 'miles' from the origin [even when it's unseen] will affect the model's extents and exacerbate the 'clipping-plane' problem. That particular guide-line is ~60 kilometers [~40 miles] away from the origin

Reinstalled plu-ins as I had suggested I would. Just thought there might be a quicker way. Not something I was concerned about.

It's a building that love Jeff Hammond as wood carpenter! In theory if you give the wavy perimeter, some horizontal sections of the columns the sand box "from contour" can build a surface in one move : alas this one is not very fluid in any case [image: 2fol_sandbox.jpg] Maybe Cuvyloft by Fredo6 can make something but its a "big program" itself so must be learnt in deepth !

Today I updated to 8.0.11751 - on my iMac, the popup stopped We must ask the Sketchup team about this small but but annoying issue. /michael

In the mid 1990's. i had tried rhino3d and bryce. Got bored quick. While I was at Uni , I smoked alot of pot. My housemate, an arch student showed me SU. It was fun to smoke and draw. SU became a hobby, not the smoking, but the drawing.

Here's another way [image: AExR_Capture.PNG]

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=45516

@tig said: Looks like the text was exploded into lines that would then be importable [although the file size gets very big!]. It's good idea to edit the CAD file to remove unwanted/unused detail that won't get imported [like hatching], then purge/audit before trying the import. If you save the DWG as a DXF [say r2004] then you can import that DXF's raw geometry [keeping the CAD origin], then use my 'importDXFtext' script to import the CAD text part only, it comes in as 'flat' 3d-text, using the equivalent size/font/style/location/layer/color etc wherever possible. The two imports should then overlay properly; so that then grouping them as one you can move them back to a sensible SKP origin... TIG, I've managed to import my text using 'importDXFtext', but only once. I tried to import the text once again and it didn't work and I looked for other solution. The problem with the text is that you don't have any common origin point between imported lines and imported text - sometimes it is crucial to have the same reference point to align drawings. Dear All, As TIG said it is a bunch of vectors – approx. 15,500 of them, but it works ! I don’t have enough time to do the ‘proper’ tutorial, but I have listed the software and steps taken. You need the following: • AutoCAD (LT is fine) • PDF Creator • Any PDF to DWG Converter • SketchUP PRO Step 1 – Open DWG, explode all objects, change all fonts to simplex.shx Step 2 – Draw rectangle around the drawing – would be used to scale the drawing in SU Step 3 – Print to PDF – I used PDF Creator Step 4 – Save the drawing as exploded DWG – we will use the drawing as ‘Scale Reference’ in SU Step 5 – Download ‘Any PDF to DWG Converter’ Step 6 – Open the PDF with 'Any PDF to DWG Converter', set in ‘Options - Centreline’ and ‘Convert Now’ – it could be converted to DWG or DXF – I used AutoCAD 13 • I didn’t manage to have the right scale but, the rectangle from Step 2 would come to the rescue later (see Step 10) Step 7 – Open SU PRO, import ‘exploded DWG from Step 4’ and make group Step 8 – Open 2nd session of SU PRO and import ‘converted DWG from Step 6’ and make group Step 9 – You could copy one of the drawings (Select and Ctrl+C) and paste to the other (Ctrl+V) Step 10 – Scale using ‘anchors’ – simply drag ‘edge to edge’ of previously drawn rectangle to match the converted drawing size Regards

Bricks are a pain. Mason is a bigger pain. Using TGI and Artisan UV spraying helps. Including SU texture alignment option. Oh and pink cows do exist! [image: BhkC_Pinkpig1.jpg] [image: A0jj_Pinkpig2.jpg] [image: A7ap_pinkcow.jpg]

I guess this answers my question http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Thank you.

@deanlegg said: Hi all Anyone recommend a good chair while designing , mine makes me hunch my back I seem to try and get in the screen Are blow up gym balls any good? Thanks dean Hand to elbow straight. Arm at 90 degrees. Top 3/4 of the LCd should be at the eye level. Memorize shortcuts without looking at keyboard. Get a good mouse with many buttons on it so you can assign it for shortcuts. Chair should have good back support and legs should not be dangling from chair. 90 degrees is best. If you are getting lower back pain, then ball is good. upper back then the tips above will help. Never tried that chair , looks interesting but his position is all wrong. You shouldnt be looking that down. Oh, and pls for the love of good try to refrain from using a laptop for drawing ,etc. Get an adjustable height CAD LCD screen.