The email server is up and running again, just received my trial key. Just wanted to inform this for anyone who had communication problems with the site and/or with it's admiminstrator.

Ahh! There it is! I knew it wasn't far! Thanks so much!

I updated the driver a few days ago and all is well since then (though the splats had been periodic before, so fingers will remain crossed). On a related issue, it appears the hardware thread fruit is withering on the vine, which is too bad for folks looking for some good input on gearing up to use SU.

@solo said: The 'Model this' challenge is not time restrictive, you can take as much time as needed to get it right, the point is when you do succeed that you share your technique with everyone so that it works like a learning thread. doh! i was thinking of the speed modeling challenge being the same as the 'Model this' challenge thanks for the correction chris<pixelmonkey>:D

Hi, I only use SU in order to model this work. And I don't know Revit so can't tell you if it's better or not than SU. And I Think that for equivalent skills whatever the software...I think the difference comes when you want to use your model after for other goals than 3D presentation. SU is only for 3D modelling and presentation, I think that Revit can do a lot more. Regards

I'm sorry, but I don't think it's currently possible to get a texture to bend around curves in SU without stretching the pixels. There are plenty of times I've wanted a stone pattern to bend around an arch or curved wall while maintaining orientation to the object, but no luck. Best bet would be to manipulate the image in photoshop to bend it and them project it on the model, paint the cladding exactly as you want it to appear, or export the model to a package that supports better UVW manipulation.

Link to video on glass in IRender nXt. Link to forum on IRender nXt

There are no texture generator plugins for SU. You'll need to reserve work like that for whatever renderer you work with or photoshop.

thank you! I will try. Hope it works

Trash your SketchUp preferences, and try again. If that doesn't work, reinstall Sketchup, dumping everything related to Google SketchUp in the bin. Restart and try again. Go get 'Easy Find' too http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/

Ah, thanks guys. I was using geo-referencing so I didn't notice the time zone was wrong (I thought I had checked everything!) - that accounted for the few hours difference. Guess I will just abandon geo-referencing for the time being, but at least my faith in sketchup sun is restored..

i made a request here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=27682

@unknownuser said: SU exports are at 72 dpi. If I need a nice crisp drawing, I do the following: In the Export 2D Graphic Dialogue Box, go to Options. Uncheck "Use view size" and set a larger image size. I like my images to be 300 dpi for the most part, so if I want a 10" wide image, I set the width to (300 dpi x 10") = 3000 pixels. Then use photo editing software to reset the size and dpi before you send to your client. This does not work for me. I would think that SU asks to set image size if other than view it might remain at 72 dpi max, though it does seem to export as you input for the view, thereby upping the res for the view, somewhat contrary to the dialog: it is still the view but at a higher res. But then when I import the supposedly higher res image it looks no better, even worse as it is more gray, less black, even after converting to 2 color (black and white, and sharpening). Probably for an attempted line drawing export, anti-alias should be 'off'???

Hi Marius, SU has an OpenGL limitation to be able to render on-screen an image resolution only up to 1024x1024 (or if you turn "Use maximum texture size under Window y Preferences > OpenGL, up to 2048x2048) pixels. So if you stitch relatively large images together, be prepared for this quality loss while looking at it in SU. Nevertheless the resulting image will actually have its original resolution so if you right click on it in the Material browser and "Export texture image", you should be able to see the image with a normal resolutio in your external image viewr/editor. I am not sure however what quality loss SU will cause in UV mapped and united textures however so check it out first. Maybe the OpenGL preferences setting (above) will already result in a bearable quality.

Hi, Yes, it is the output from when you Export 2D. Looking at the scene via the viewport everything looks fine.

Ed, Attached is a dxf (change extention from txt to dxf) that you can import into SU (origin unchecked). It has all the components, and 3d features preserved corectly. You can explode and edit as you see fit. ABR15.txt

Yes, more or less. In SU Layers are not to separate geometry (groups are to) but only to control visibility. If you put different pieces of raw (i.e. not grouped) geometry on different layers, they might end up conflicting with each other all the time. Just imagine that you decided to unite two groups and move the geometry from one to the other. It's really unpredictable how it will behave. The other thing is that Layer0 is a bit special layer. Although all raw geometry is on there (if you follow the rule), if you turn it off, the geometry is still visible. Lastly, until you feel really safe with working on different layers, I would even recommend not to work on other than Layer0 (always keep that the active layer) and only move things to other layers after grouping and through the entity info box (it's rather small so you can even keep it constantly open). If your file is already a mess, use this plugin by TIG: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=7638 It will move all raw ("loose") geometry either grouped or not onto Layer0

http://s845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/halceon2007/?action=view&current=sectionalrendertest01.jpg Hope this works, didn't have any success with the uploading.

We are posting and contacting the winners this A.M. See: Contest Winners First Place Winner - Private booth at Day - Elijah Bell - Murray Associates Architects, P.C. www.murrayassoc.com [image: 3252%20Final_%20Private%20booth%20at%20day.jpg] Second Place Winner - Misty Fountain - richcat [image: misty%20fountain.jpg] Third Place Winner - Inspired by the art of Lebbeus Woods - Nico Stegemann [image: Render%20Contest%20FINAL2.jpg] People's choice - Honorable mention - New Helm - sgabbott [image: New%20Helm.jpg] Thanks to all the contestants, judges, and SketchUcation members (who helped in the voting) for making this a successful contest!

Hi Marklavin, hi folks. Why would you want such a behavior ? If it is to insure that the two objects always keep the same spatial relationship and that, if you, for example, rotate one and want the other to rotate as well to effectively maintain this relationship, I would suggest grouping the two objects together. That way, any movement or rotation of the group will affect both objects at the same time. If the purpose is different then, I have no idea unless you give more explanation. Just ideas.