GREAT, thanks a lot TIG, i'll give it a try in a minute @dave r said: Why do you need the subgroups to be on a layer if their top group is on that layer. Turning off the visibility of the top group's layer will have the same impact whether the subgroups are on that layer or not. It's about importing a skp-file to 3ds Max where 3ds splits up all groups with subgroups into seperate objects- and puts them to the layer each group was put on in SU. For toggeling visibility it would have been enough to change the layer of the top-group, you're right.

Excepted that it seems we can't buy SU PRO right now...it gives me an error page ! Edit : After succeeding to reach the page, it seems that the coupon doesn't work !! Maybe too soon...

Hi folks. Be aware that the Generate Report function works correctly only if you use the dot as the decimal separator and the coma as the list separator. I was set like in many European country, using the coma as the decimal separator and the semi-colon as the list seprator and was never able to generate a usefull report. When doing so, all the info was dumped in only one column. Not very usefull. Just ideas.

I don't know about Maxwell but it seems to be a bit tricky. Searched Sketchucation and found: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=44406 Maybe that helps. Good luck.

If you already have a face shape that's part of something else... select the face and Edit>Copy. Now edit another component/group [make it if you need to] and Edit>PasteInPlace the face is duplicated inside this other 'container'. Now you can push pull it in that edit as desired and it's separate from the original geometry. If you want yo 'remove' the original face from its original context and put it inside a component/group you can select it and make the component/group from it and a 'hole' will be left in the original geometry. You can also use Edit>Cut + Edit>PasteInPlace on a face [do not select its edges as that might affect other geometry unexpectedly] to 'move' it into a new container, rather than replicate it...

@massimo said: In the link I posted there is also a Mac version of the shortcut. ha.. i didn't make it that far in the thread before replying

@jim said: @alexdobras said: where's the exporter now ? :-s The download link is here, but the plugin is for version 6 and hasn't been maintained for recent versions. t might work with Version 8, or it might not. http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu6/plugins/sketchup6webexporterwen.exe works fabulous! thanks Jim!

Great! Thanks I'll go try that script right away

OK, thanks again Gai. I'll see how things pan out once I'm finished building. I really need to make it look smooth/finished/etc.

I see that from time to time when I'm working on imported geometry - it appear to be some small inaccuracy issue which compound eventually to problematic inaccuracy.

I have made a few tests where I gradually use the 'outer shell' command to combine chunks of cubes, it works better but the weird 'artifacts' are much higher this way (see new attachment) and I don't think it's a good way to do it :-S [image: AbWL_outhershell2.jpg]

I only use a fraction of them regularly. I "disable" many, too (renaming the extension or temporarily moving them into another folder) but when one is on the forums too much, often help with those plugins is needed and I keep many active.

Hi Amix, hi folks. If you have not done it yet, disable Enable length snapping in Windows --> Model info --> Units. Maybe you can also use larger units to avoid the problem that SU has with very small objects. Use meters while pretending thay are millimeters. When done, scale down by 1000. Notice that SU will not accept 0.001 as a scale factor. It will however accept 0.01 and then 0.1 or the reverse. You can also use the pae measure tool to rescale the whole model or only a group or only a component. Just ideas.

Wll, since I have had my nickname for ages now, I could not have recrated the whole proces but remembered somewhere I learnt it from Beryl, a SketchUp (and GE) TC.

You can also change the screen resolution to show more.

This has been discussed numerous times in the recent past. You might want to do a search on the topic rather than starting it all over again. Type in your search terms in the Search box on the upper right of the screen.

Try A new home for SketchUp thread here for a long discussion on its merits and concerns

My suspicion would be that Trimble...as the new owners of SU...will help manage (sarcasm there) the 3DW for as long as Google needs it for populating Google Earth with manually made content. After that, it's anybody's guess. We've already seen links on this forum to very impressive examples of scanned, auto-generated buildings and terrain. It's only a matter of time before Google Earth follows suit. As Pete (or was it Jeff?) suggests, SU is old technology for populating a globe...nether fish nor fowl...not fast enough to build an entire city, not accurate enough for professional purposes...and 3D buildings in general are nowhere near as practically useful as Street View. I can't think that Trimble are going to be overly impressed with the vast majority of the content available, which makes me doubt that the 3DW will continue long in its present form. Vetting content is a non starter...SU is now way too big; and the rate of upload is stratospheric. The 3DW is based on the model of Objective Networks, the free precursor to FormFonts. ON was vetted...and it took a small army of student volunteers at CalPoly in San Luis Obispo to do it...and that was when SU was Pro only, with a tiny userbase. We are way beyond that stage now; and the logistics of control are simply impossible. It may be OK limiting it to manufacturers etc, but the free exchange of models by casual users is utterly unmanageable on any kind of regulated basis.

@jrm1 said: I'm a landscape designer. My SU models use a lot of 3D plants, which slows the Mac down after a while. I was wondering if there were any tips for keeping the size down. For instance, does grouping reduce the 'load' on the computer? Hey, do all the modelling in the landscape arch team. what i do is combine the VRay render wit photoshop. I avoid 3d trees like the plague. My pc (at work) and macbook pro (at home) both struggle with 3d plants at all. If I were you i would forget the 3d plants and buy a good image pack. This is the one we bought, obviously it is £300 but they do smaller packs. http://www.3drender.co.uk/products-page-2/bundles/all-in-one-bundle-complete-1000/#

Thomthom's Mesh From Bitmap tool is now split into 'Mesh From Heightmap' and 'Mesh From Bitmap' http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=275772#p275772 The second one does this... [image: file.php?id=63395]