I prefer to think of Hiding components as a temporary thing. Layers were specifically implemented for controlling visibility and it is much easier to use them for that than hiding components with the hide tool. I'm sure you saw my examples of working with components hidden instead of having the layers turned off. I would find it a PIA if I was only hiding components instead of using layers. Besides, with hiding, you have no way to organize the model as you do with layers.

Thanks Guy's, But I'm aware of most of what you all are suggesting and have done what has been suggested but no luck. I know the problems but there are no easy solutions that I've found. Sketch up does not handle hatch well. The plan was done in autocad first. Correction for Terry - Autocad is the most used software amongst architectural firms here in the US interms of doing construction docs. Terry Dont get me wrong. Autocad is a necessary evil in my industry. Until we can find somethiing better or the majority of the industry dumps it we will have to use it in our workflow. I'm trying to stream line and take advatage of lines already drawn by someone else on acad. It would be perhaps best to re-texture the surface in sketchup to match the grid pattern in autocad. If someone has a better way let me know. I already know the problem which to this point I am not to convinced of a good solution. Ultimately the lines were to show up in a Kerkythea rendering using a wire porcederal shader. What was the method Ithil used to do his floor? I'm sure it was in a CAD program, no. The pattern I'm showing should be a piece of cake. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=32677&p=293887&hilit=Ithil#p293887 Thanks, Lapx

@jim said: ...has a nicer user interface... Well, at least simpler (with lots of easy to use presets) and easy to use, fast to set up... @jim said: Is it correct to say anything that can be done in Twilight can also be done in Kerkythea, but may be more work to get there? True. In fact, there are some features that are not present in Twilight but from Twilight, after setting everything up, you can easily export your model to Kerkythea and use those features there.

@d12dozr said: Does this recent tut by Gaieus help? http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=299717#p299717 Only if arches as "textures" is enough. That plugin is awesome and if you have any good guide to bend the arch to, it can texture any format.

I just switched over to 8 yesterday and saw the same behavior as well. I couldn't pull it down to reveal more of the pane. When it next happens I will send in a bug report.

LOL, yes, I've been bitten by this too.

Thank you, Gaieus! That must be what I am missing. I looked at online help for this but I didn't see that. After using SU8 for a while I would have stumbled over it eventually, I guess.

Very nice tip. I didn't know about 'laydel' I'd always done a right click -> select similar -> delete and then purge after i'm done. your method saves a lot of clicking! -Brodie

Thanks Gai, guess I won't worry about it.

@gaieus said: 2007 October/November That's when I started my new job and began to use SketchUp. nostalgia

@richard said: Ok I cant find where I posted the first idea for this but have worked out a simple workaround for locating HDRI offsets in SU for exporting to render apps. I took out the previous process of needing to develop the sun / grid map together externally. Not nailed yet but in general: ROTATORS: Sphere mapped with a Grid (PNG) - the grid would suit the offset parameters of the render app! Sphere mapped with a JPG representation of the HDRI - this is UV mapped with the map relaced on use with that selected (via material edit). A sun that is rotated around the orgin to match the sun location on the above HDRI map. USE: (DO ALL ROTATES WITH MOVE TOOL) Drag in component and explode Replace HDRI with selected Rotate sun (X/Y) to main light sorce on the HDRI sphere Group GRID, HDRI and SUN - "Locator Group" Turn off perspective and orbit scene until objects in scene trace ground shadows as seen from the camera Rotate "Locator Group" until sun covers its own shadow cast. DONE read off the Offset Setting from the grid at the red indicator! ThomThom mentioned this as maybe being a godsent for other apps such as VRAY where the HDRI results cant be previewed. I hope that this might also be developed beyond my limits as a dynamic or ruby assisted process, would be cool. I can imagine once the sun is manually positioned to the HDRI sun all after could be "hit button, choose render app and bang offsets listed, or made available for the exporter plugin to read. [attachment=0:21jniyfw]<!-- ia0 -->globe2.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:21jniyfw]

It can be just right with the rotate tool. You only need to be careful with snapping to points, directions etc. Draw a flat plane, bring your objects to intersect with it and rotate with the intersection line as axis.

@tails said: AutoCAD WS!! Still don't think I can edit line colour. You should be able to. I just tried it and it worked for me.

@rattusnor said: @frederik said: Any news about the price for this plug-in...?? i would also like to know that. It looks like a powerful tool. His already talking about SDS3 so SDS might become a yearly release. If that becomes the case, I would say a range from 19 to 39 with previous versions going for free or dirt cheap prices. SDS2 must be the most highly anticipated SU plugin release of 2011. If any had to hap hazard a guess, how many SDS1 were sold? PS. Check out his Fb page for more info EDIT : Here is the webpage http://www.facebook.com/whaatsup

@tim danaher said: Nice stuff, fuzzion... what plug-ins did you use (if any) to get the beveled cut-outs on the red waste bin? As for the job, yes, it's great fun, but it's only two hours a week (due to some bullshit German employment law). Also, it's definitely for beginners.. I can't confuse them with plugins... the basic toolset seems to be confusing them enough... Mein naam is Yoshua (That’s all I know hahaha) It was made with Round Corner by our whiz kid fredo I had to limit the number of sides on the chamber because once I tried having 40 sides on an edge that was 5mm in breadth, the mesh edge formed minor deformities. I think the most important tool for product design is SDS by Whaat. The entire Chrio chair was made by SDS . In fact, if SU got rid of all the plugins except for the ability to draw straight lines, I reckon I could still make almost anything. And at $22usd with the current exchange rates, it is a steal! I really think you would find it hard to compose industrial designs without SDS since subdivision is bread and butter of the automotive industry and perhaps many others. *Yes im salivating at the new SDS2...Two words for it - Holy Cow !

@unknownuser said: Maybe google can make a special v6 with no shadow bug for you I am dreaming of that A cool after-sales service department along ten years

Thanks D12 that is what I am searching for and to apply it to a face as "Make Fur" is applied would be so useful.

@hassanykb: Are you talking about photorealistic renders, perhaps? Or are you talking about all lines in an elevation being the desired length? These questions lead to two different paths. What is your experience level with this program?

Thanks for the pointers.

The Alt key+ Move is called Autofold. Search for this in Sketchup tutorials. What it does in practice is: Sometimes you can click on a vertex and try to move it, but it seems to be locked in one direction defined by the edges and faces it is adjacent to. You want to move the vertex to a particular location that is not coplanar and not colinear with those adjacent parts. Autofold makes new edges, folding the faces so that the vertex can move freely, and keep the geometry "faced". I hope that makes sense. It is a very handy device for closing volumes or aligning end faces of push pull overshots or follow me overshots. I hope THAT makes sense.