i'm wondering if su8 is somehow allowing bigger exports.. i just exported a 10k entity model to 19,500 px wide with AA off and jpg compression set to best. (14 seconds with shadows off.. 24secs with them on) iirc, i used to only be able to go to around 15000px. anyone else seeing similar improvements?

thanks guys, i really appreciate your suggestions... for me if they can do it, why can't i? i will just give it a try... thanks guys.

@meike said: There are many, many, many plug-in's and I wonder wich plug-in's are the best ? That is an entirely subjective judgement. But as you can see from this post - some plugins often reoccur when people are asked for what plugins they use the most: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=31957

obviously no help to you but just in case a mac user wants to do this, sync these files: via - Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Google Sketchup 8 > SketchUp %(#BF0000)[plugins Components Tools Materials Styles] via User > Library > Application Support > Google Sketchup 8 > SketchUp %(#FF0000)[Shortcuts.plist Templates] via User > Library > Preferences com.google.sketchuppro8.plist [most of these are obvious as to what they will do and all of them aren't necessary.. the last one (com.google.etc) will sync toolbar positions, startup template, units, etc.]

Try this - it's free and works well - I have used it for training sessions. Teamviewer

Thanks

charly & numb, guys thanks a lot, step buy step, little by little i'm learning... thanks

Man, you guys are good! Turns out I had in fact "purged" my model, moved all the hidden stuff to a separate file. I'd forgotten I'd done that, and since it was hidden I guess I never missed it when I scaled down my beastie. Can't get one past the experts!

@dave r said: By the way, Intersect does not intersect coplanar faces. It doesn't? See, I learned something else... I'm sure there are a few issues with the original drawing, I slapped it together in less than an hour without the carvings. I did take another look at the fan component and found a number of mistakes that I can correct. Playing with it now and am found a number of edges that did not line up to a plane, fixing them and I was able to get a partial intersect with the face. Half of the fans are still not intersecting which is strange since they are exact duplicates of each other...

The drooping strings suggest the plugin Catenary by the famous Remus Knowles. Look in the plugins index in this forum.

Solid tools are the fastest but a model that is not solid will not work, so going back to the old intersect method works.

Thanks guys for the highly interesting material. I'll follow up all these interesting and hopefully helpful hints. It's nice to see how well this community can respond to various SU-related needs - even in case they are at quite some distance from the main topic.

As Thomas writes, "Use only as many edges as you need..." A small hole can look round with relatively few sides while something like a round table top would benefit from having more sides. The same goes for arcs. A small round over will look fine with three or four sides but a larger curves need more. Don't waste geometry where it isn't needed but don't skimp where it is. In models you find in the 3D Warehouse, it could be they are drawn with few sides on circles and arcs to keep file size down. This is the case with many of the components from the @Last days. It could also be they were drawn by someone who didn't know how to control and utilize the tools well or they were just sloppy. With the Warehouse you get all sorts.

one method I have used for this is to copy the whole terrain down by the height of your curb then to create a block from the extrusion of your roads and intersect it with the whole model. after that clean up the model and you will have curbs and roads at a lower level than sidewalks. there is some work involved in it but it works.

Hello Galland and welcome! I am not sure but I guess this is the one: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=28957 The plugin is attached at the bottom of the first post (a bunch of ZIP files - read the change logs to know which one you need)

@ghalko said: So before reading Chris's post where he said he was doing building B I was already modifying it and so forth, but fortunately the most work I have done is one component with many sub components that can be moved to just about any building foundation. I might move it to that water one. Also I was thinking about the story. Just my thoughts no need to adopt them. Originally it was a well guarded retreat for several of the world's top scientists. A scientist that was never allowed to go there, manipulated his country defeat the defenses around the island and then capture it. Not much damage was done to the island, and the 'evil' scientist was finally in control. Soon after the hostile-takeover all of the scientists disappeared including the 'evil' one. Since all of their transportation had been taken away, no one knows how they disappeared. The country that had captured the island opened it up to International Investigation and the player is one of, or the, investigator. Just an idea, it also sort of pushes away from the over-used exile theme, more like the scientists had plenty of time and materials to build to their fancy, including puzzles and other interesting things that delight the mind. However with the disappearance there is a definite possibility for a bit of darkness. I love it, and you're right about overused exile theme. Maybe one of the buildings could be a ruin of an invasion tank or robot. Also we could include defensive perimeters, unsprung traps, and access puzzles.

Download version 7 here: http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60107

That yuuguu program works perfectly, thank you so much!

This may not apply to your specific issue, but: If you create abutting groups like you suggest, then modify the groups in any way, you have to be careful that the modifications you make do not deform the edges/faces where it touches/ matches the adjacent group.

Thanks for your advises Tom. I'll check for some stuff on the web when I'll be about to buy it and I'll post the description here