IF you export a 2D dwg it is all on one layer, as lines, with no arcs/circles etc. IF you export a 3d dwg it retains its layers and has true arcs/circles etc. Just experiment - there aren't THAT many possible permutations

no, crummy I know but no there isn't. I wonder if a plugin could do that but that's a different forum first part no, no sure I get the second part of the question, there are a couple of plugins that offer more specific control of info on the camera, this is one http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=21047. The plugin CADup http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=35096 will create a series of 2d drawings from your model if that's what you are after. Which version of layout do you have? v2 and v3 have dashed line options under the Shape Style dialog (for lines drawn in layout, v3 can control the scale of the dashes which is key. If you put the model in vector mode you can explode it and alter the line work of the model but it is no longer referenced to the model but you could overlap it with other instance of the model that is still referenced. I'm not sure about the method you are alluding but another option is to put the model in vector mode and to a scale, then export a pdf, import it into illustrator and everything comes in nicely so can use layout to get sketchup models into illustrator. There is a plugin that will replace a complex shape with a basic shape(proxy or placeholder), but I haven't tried it but the author suggests you can go back and forth between them in the menu. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=179977#p179977. There might be another version out there as well. Hope this helps

Wow Rich & Marian I'am blown away by these brilliant interpretations. So, Rich I downloaded Fredo's Curviloft and did just what you said, viola! That is soooo smooth and pretty simple to understand the way in which you can achieve this through the drawing of the connected curves. You're right, after this just spend a little time and round it up a bit. Marian, nicely done as well. Your process ended up pretty smooth and not leaving a whole lot to fine tune. I guess it depends on how critical and precise one wants to get. I will now take some time to attempt your process and get back. Awesome, thanks a million

Hi All, Hi Fredo I don't have the pretention to modele a ship. I only exercise on spline curves. In fact I exercise on curves because I would "design/dessiner" (for the fun) eyeglasses. In the beginning I underestimated the task and it appears to be a big one. No books related to that and no one talk about it: a secret or so. I imagine that specialize softwares exists but are not offer for sale. Eyeglasses are spline curves by excellence. Thanks for your answer. [image: ax6N_Frame-ClassicBezier.jpg]

There is a free tool called weld.rb available at Smustard.com It lets you selected connected edges and weld them into a 'curve'. Arc etc are already curves BUT this lets you combine arcs and other lines into a single 'curve'. Most of the EEby... tools need you to select 'curves'. Even if you want one straight side you need to Divide that edge into 2 or more pieces and then make a curve of its parts using weld. A 'swept mesh' is what you get when you use a tool like EEbyRails - the faceted surface the mesh, and it sweep along the rails...

in America AAA is for American Automobile Association but many companies who want to appear first in the phone book directory choose this as their name. it used to work for web directories as well. it can also be used to draw a picture of pretty mountains... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i have my standart modeling tools assigned to mouse buttons in combination with "shift", "strg" and "alt" (the mouse buttons no.3-5 have assigned the function keys "F3", and "F8" and "F10" assigned) I can select them without thinking. It's more like finger gestures that happen automatically. The resulting combinations are at the moment: F3..........................pointer/select F3+shift.................push/pull F3+ctrl...................mirror selection (plugin) F3+alt....................line F8..........................move F8+shift.................rotate F8+ctrl..................scale F8+alt...................rectangle F3+shift+ctrl..........tape measure F3+shift+alt...........circle F8+shift+ctrl..........fredo scale - box scaling F8+ctrl+alt............follow me F3+shift+ctrl+alt....paint bucket F8+shift+ctrl+alt....offset and some keyboard only: ^............................reverse face X............................toggle x-ray Q............................remove all materials H............................toggle hidden geometry G............................make group G+shift...................make component v............................field of view z............................zoom extends T+shift+ctrl............uv-frontface to backface T+shift+alt.............uv-backface to frontface T+shift+ctrl+alt......delete backside material and some standart shortcuts like shift+ctrl+v............paste in place T............................top view . . .

My experience is that HQ renders take a long time to cook. Vue does not give you free render nodes if you wanted to distribute rendering to other computers. Vray does allow you to render on up to 10 machines for no extra cost. I guess it depends on how much of work is landscape related. If you are mainly rendering interior and exterior architecture, my personal advice is that Vray is the best plugin for this.

You can try something like this free good one BBFlash Back Express I have not seen your file because I suppose that is not in SU6 format ?

Yes. Coping a molding profile like that is faster with Solid tools. If I had a lot of molding to cope, I would probably do it once, convert the coped molding to a component and then use that one piece of molding for any other pieces that need coping using Make Unique and resizing as needed with Move. I have run into a few cases where Solid tools "breaks" a solid component/group and leaves it unsolid. I reported it and it was confirmed as a bug so hopefully a fix is on the way. I'll cross my fingers that they add the option to leave things as components, though.

Took a detailed look at the model. WOW, you did that on your lunch break! It's your own office isn't it?-)

@gaieus said: Me oops,. i meant who uses free version...

@unknownuser said: It sounds like my best bet is to just adjust how I'm used to working. For example, when I have a window, say, on a 45 degree wall I would sometimes copy it out and turn it 45 degrees so it lined up with the world axis. Then I could go in and edit it based on the world axis and later delete the extra component. -Brodie Yeah that axis change in SU-V8 really irks me. I was drawing an ancient (circa 1907) V8 aircraft engine with a very complex cylinder construction, where all the push rods and valve rockers were exposed. It was at about 50 degrees tilt each bank. I created a dummy cylinder component (just a rough sized cylinder) and copied it 7 times in the correct locations and angles. Then I made a copy and set its angle straight in some remote location on its own development layer. All my construction work was done on the development copy, while any interference adjustments were made on any cylinder on the full engine. Did the same thing on a radial engine. Worked like a charm.

First, always get rid of any symetrical pattern, all that is symetrical can be cut in 2 and reassembled later ...

Excellent! That's what we're here for!

Interesting method by TIG. I will have to try that. In any case, I just bought the sMustard script, along with something they have that repairs the dxf. Thanks for your helpful reply, mitcorb.

I do a lot of sketchy edge image exports at 3000 pixels wide. They do take longer than at lower resolution but I've never had them take 10 minutes. I haven't paid attention to the number of edges I've got but I suppose with that many, it might take longer. Try a little experiment with a model that seems to hang. Hide about half or more of the components/groups and do an export. Does it complete the task? I wonder if there is some sort of time out that would stop the export or cause it to hang.

No - neither the Ansi ä or the Multi-byte ä can be used in a DC attribute name. I got off track a bit on this post. The to_ansi() function is useful when dealing with Umlauts and/or accents which are converted from ANSI/Extender ASCII to Multi-Byte automatically by Ruby or SketchUp. But still doesn't solve the original problem. I will be interested to see if it help with Web Dialogs or other problems.

@martin-art said: I just wanted to post an update on the licensing situation in Shaderlight. For Shaderlight 1.2 we incorporated a new licensing system which has made the installation process much more straight forward for our community. However, we discovered that a limitation of this new system was that we were unable to allow multiple activations on a license code or have the ability to transfer the license to another machine. We have been working to resolve this and importantly maintain the straight forward licensing. Our development team concentrated on allowing multiple activations on a single code, new commercial Shaderlight activation codes can be used twice so you will be ok to activate your Shaderlight license on your office and home computer. The licensing of Shaderlight allows you to have Shaderlight installed on 2 machines, but only use 1 at a time. Customers that have an existing Shaderlight license will need to contact support@artvps.com and their license code will be modified. Martin That sounds great Martin. Thanks very much!

Model Info > Animation fiddle with the scene transitions times etc...