Jim, I'm not trying to be arugmentative. I'm trying to find out where you find it impossible to get the actual dimension. Perhaps to help you out with it. I have done a lot of dimensioning in LO and while I've had some gripes with it, it has always given me the actual dimension between the two points I select. Would you show an example--upload the SU and LO files--so we can see when it fails?

1 Step. Before Illustrator. *)Layout > AutoCad joining linies together, making different line weights. !B

Thanks, Gaieus: Your illustration is icing on the cake that Dave served.

Got it! Thx bro! Alot!

Alternatives for the Cpoint insertion: Didier Bur's Projections Tool? ThomThom's Guide Tools?

I sometimes have problems too. I wrote them off to not restarting (Mac) often enough, because that often helps. Jim

PM me your ballsed up code and I try to fix it...

There are some cool, new features of SU 8 Pro (like solid tools and a bunch of improvements in LO for instance) so if you want to try them, I suggest installing it. Do not touch SU 7. Just download SU 8 (Pro if you want to try) and install it side by side version 7. I have 6, 7 and 8 installed (and use them all occasionally). You can even run two, different versions at the same time. Then if you like 8 Pro, you can upgrade - and yes, I also think it's about $ 95.

I am on a windows 7 64bit machine and I opened 4 sessions at the same time and got NO expired warning and no lag. Scott

@unknownuser said: @jgb said: As for a mesh tool, I think Curviloft does me just fine. In fact it creates too fine a mesh, and I spend a fair bit of time reducing lines. But that is still way faster than my old way of tweaking a manual mesh. The density of the mesh is primarily driven by: the number of vertices on the contour (Curviloft respect all of them) the sampling factor you may apply (usually it is to get a more dense mesh) It may be worth working out the contours to minimize the number of vertices and then perform the Skinning operation. Fredo Thanks Fredo, After I first played with Curviloft (CL) I realized it followed all my verticies, but added more so I now create my initial control curves with a reduced segment count that looks crappy raw, but nice and smooth after CL does its magic. However, CL introduces a significantly higher vertex count in the mesh, sometimes dividing a controlling segment into 4 or 5 bits, with some very tiny. It is those very small segments that I have to eliminate, yet still keep a smooth mesh. But even so, that is far less work than tweaking a manual mesh. In my 3 problems above (Cargo door fairings for my big freighter airplane), I created a segment size of about 24 inches on average, figuring on CL dividing those segments in 2 or 3, but I got quite a few segments that were less than 1 inch. At the scale of my model (308 feet long), that was way too fine. Is there any way within CL's control parameters to adjust the "sampling factor"? I would like CL to divide a control segment in 2 or 3 vertices as a norm. Then I can control the smoothness with my initial arc and spline segment count. Also, how does the "angle value" figure into the control? Mine is set at 40 deg, but I have not played with it yet. And, while I still have your attention, is there any way to default the start location of the popup control toolbar? It always starts at top left, but in my case that area is hidden by my Components Window. Then I have to temporarily move the Comp Window so I can move the CL toolbar down to the lower left of screen. I would prefer that as the default start position. Charly2008. Thanks, but as I inferred before, when I was made aware of the gaps by Rich, I fixed them and had no problem forming the curves, exactly as you did. Now I am more careful in creating my control curves and have done a few far more complex skins since without problems.

Arghhhh!!!!! Stupid guy, it's written in the doc!!!!! Thanks a lot Regards, Alain

I've had pretty good luck going from Revit -> SU actually using this method http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3271&p=15926&hilit=revit+layers#p15926 I used it recently on a 3 story hospital rendering and animation. I brought in the building, site, mechanical, and structural elements. I can't imagine anything much more complex unless you had 3d furniture and such coming in from revit as well, which I didn't. The plugins mentioned in the above tutorial made it very easy to apply the appropriate materials. I only skimmed TIG's responses but as I recall the components worked decently - that is to say, it did actually create components rather than just having everything in groups which could be a nightmare. So changing one window element might not change every window element but it will probably change a fair number of them. Most of the hassle comes in cleaning up the model which will likely be far more complex than you need - but that's neither Revit, nor SU's fault. -Brodie

Cheers Csaba.

I get those numbered SKB's when working on a new file for a while without saving with a real name.

There's also the Unfold Tool by Jim. I did this in N-scale: [image: 5356417176_1c6b05956e_z.jpg] From: [image: 5355804283_aaf9ed2243_z.jpg]

Hi to All Thanks Jeffe, Thanks Simon Really some Rubies are well-hidden. A multi-entries glossary of all plugins is a necessity to avoid such idiot questions. I am not a database specialist but I think it's feasable. Of course I will be fired (By who knows) for saying that. Thanks ThomThom for your generosity.

Tgi3D SU Amorph's "view locking" feature also makes it very easy to draw curves in 3D. Simply draw the curve and "view lock" it from an angle you like and adjust the topology in other views. You can change the view lock to other views as you continue. Remember Ogan's palamar knot in the Speed Modeling Challenge #38 - Fishing? It would have been a lot harder to draw the initial topology of the knot without the "view locking" mechanism. [image: 9QTE_palomar3.jpg] Below is the video of how "view locking" works. [flash=480,385:3f72q944]http://www.youtube.com/v/0q4HLBfZCV8?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash:3f72q944]

@unknownuser said: @broomstick said: What could be an issue is that Sketchup Models lack the face "subdivision" which is common for 3ds max solids, so tools like meshsmooth, bend, turbosmooth and other things will not work properly on an imported model! I'm assuming you mean SU models are made up of n-gons. This is easily overcome by using the cut tool that comes with Artisan to make your meshes all quads. I'm talking about topology, I don't think 3ds max recognizes loops and rings in the imported 3D (but I have to check!). It is true I read about a re-topologize thingy in the new Max 2011

I just bought 2 GTX 470's $200 a pop on Newegg.com I absolutely love them... [image: OdWg_hellyeah4.jpg] I'm running (3) 19" monitors and a 42" HDTV

Thanks for the help! Dumb me, I was using the "get models" under the file menu. When you import models this way you get just the model. If you go to google warehouse with a web browser and then click "download model" and then click "open in sketchup" you get the scenes. I did not know that layers that are turned off could be a problem. I will check this out. thanks again! I think I need the "stupid" ruby mentioned earlier.... s