@thomthom said: Here's a little plugin to configure components from the context menu: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=35667 Looks good

Just ran across this beta Chrome extension for remote desktop - haven't had a chance to try it though. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp

I told you knew!

Bezier patch==Bezier Surface, a deformable grid similar to Blender's Lattice Deformation Starting with this link: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=bezier%20patch&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FB%25C3%25A9zier_surface&ei=-JVHT9r3EPOrsALRnNnqCA&usg=AFQjCNFRHwkJEdlkp2H0fOfWOhC-5NOtig&cad=rja ThomThom was thinking about this or something like it a while back.

Thanks a lot for the fast replies, I just went to model info-statistics-purge unused. From 263 materials that I had, now I have only 11 I just can't figure out why I haven't thought about it. You guys rock, thanks.

OK, broken the problem down, it is apparent that quite randomly, sketchup is breaking an arc (curve, whatever you want to call it) into its constituent lines. I know of the weld tool but frankly this is getting too much. Is there a way to stop this from happening or is it an inherrent sketchup problem? This occurs BEFORE I do anything else with the geometry.

Hi Adam, 1 - Yes. After SketchUp is finished loading, open the Ruby Console from the Windows menu. Type in: require_all("e:/plugins") (Assuming your portable plugins are on a device named e:\plugins.) 2 - Not exactly. You should be able to save and restore your toolbar positions on the school computer. After you load your portable plugins and organize your toolbars, use the Save Toolbar Positions item in the View > Toolbars menu. Then next time you load your portable plugins, you can use the Restore Toolbar Positions item. Note: not all plugins will work correctly from a location outside SketchUp's default plugins folder.

I've never had a .skp or .skb file stored on the Desktop except if I explicitly pointed to that location.

thanks for all the replies. It's fascinating. It'll take me a while to master it. thanks again

There is a link to an 'earlier version' on the download page.... BUT the latest version should be very similar, both time-wise and it now avoids issues with flipped instances etc...

Seams to work only with Blender and 3D Max is that true?

Tricia, Check out the Construction drawings thread in the LO section of the forum. You might try making a floor plan that is at the height you want the symbols to be, then hide it when not placing symbols, or to review, showing the final plan below. This way you have a plane to work on. Z-fighting is a fact but I usually see edges OK in a situation like this (I couldn't replicate your effect). Peter

lol well I didn't think it was possible to model myself into a corner lol. Thanks, So you recommend doing the angled walls manually? I don't get why non of the plugin worked for it

Cheers Dave, yeah that's what I do to change it back. Sometime when you're churning away you forget you've change the axis orientation which affects groups and components made at this time.... maybe it's something for thomthom's axis tools.... say a context click and maybe a 'reset axis orientation around components axis location'...? That would be cool. Thom?

I feel your pain and sympathize with you. Often when I talk to woodworkers about using SketchUp they tell me that they would make components of things that have multiples in the model such as the legs and aprons of a table. The top, on the other hand would be made into a group because there's only one top. That's fine, I guess. But in my work, there wouldn't be just one table top. The entire table model would get copied off to one side and an exploded view created from that copy. If the top needs to be edited after the exploded view and I had made it a group, I would have to either edit both copies or edit one and copy it to replace the other. Since I would make the top a component, I don't even have to think about it. [image: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3651/5785139027_a35496db66_z.jpg] Yes, you can get snagged by the Make Unique but with a little practice it becomes second nature. Of course there's also the old saying, "Don't draw anything twice." Components can be saved out into a library for future use so that makes them a "labor saving device."

thanks wind-borne for the pointer and muchos thanks to our great coders who once again provide a solution! i may well be overlooking something but this seems like a basic flaw in functionality within SU? i mean, world axes are world axes - if you change them, then everything relating to them should surely change accordingly? discovered this issue recently while working on a site where the buildings don't all have the same orientation. when i tried to produce the usual ortho views of one particular building ... oh oh

By the way hanthu, HERE is a wonderful, and quite remarkable series of videos exploring the 4th dimension and related dimensional tensors. Not sure if they still offer the 720P versions for download anymore, but they are still beautiful to watch.

Yes, that practically automates that "stretching" function. I have also used this rounding method - although learnt from my experiences and if I use it again, will only use at the very end next time. Here are some images: https://picasaweb.google.com/116030646877186188585/Bazilika I even made custom materials for the pillars so that after rounding the pillars and wrapping the material around the pillars, the two ends of the material matched seamlessly. Now imagine when you need to modify something in such a model. I really hated my colleague sometimes.

Are you using the default blue-gray background color? I find that the green protractors and lines are particularly difficult to see against it. I have my background set to white and that works for me.

Hi Simon, When importing a dwg/dxf file, do not miss the import options (bottom right of the file browsing window when importing). There you need to set the correct unit the original file was modelled in. [image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-utZuae1KFxs/T0DQkqaoElI/AAAAAAAAHz8/t3pHK9BgUjs/s747/dwgdxf.png] Also, when you are at it, some dwg/dxf files contain geographical data. Best is to uncheck "Preserve drawing origin" below the units settings as SU may import the cad file many kilometres/miles from the origin thus causing serious head-aches with clipping and other issues.