That's it. Thanks a ton Chris.

I had looked into it, but the materials used for 3D printing tended to be quite fragile/brittle, as far as I could tell. CNC milling from real materials (i.e. aluminium) seemed the way to go, although more expensive. I also couldn't find anyone capable of printing semi-flexible 3D models (i.e. hard rubber), instead of solid resin. Is this because it is impossible? Thanks for the help AJ

Red -- I've complained about this behaviour through the beta testing channels for a while now... they keep saying they've fixed it, but as you've noticed they've done anything but. Check out my posts and my YouTube channel (timdanaher) for examples...

nope, that was the floor plan r

i also use hidden lines as quick guides some times.

SU does not have UV mapping gizmos like other apps. If you apply a box UV map in Max, then when imported in SU the UV mapping will not behave the same as in Max when you change the mesh.

Or, you could use my Selection Toys plugin: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=14975 Personally I've assigned Ctrl+1 to select only Edges and Ctrl+2 to select only faces. Shortcuts I use all the time.

Thanks for the help. I got decent results by doing the whole dome and then erasing the half of it. And, with this Extrude Edges by Rail plugin it worked just perfect.

@unknownuser said: You have a scene that you like, and you wan to make another identical scene. So you activate the scene you like. Then you create a new scene. That is about as far as I undesrstood. But you're saying something about the new scene does not rememeber layer visibility correctly? How do you mean? The display is correct but is inconsistent with the layer manager settings: layers which are visible in the display are not checked in the manager. @unknownuser said: It will not let you turn check the layer visibility box? No problem with that, I just want the parent layer visibility settings to track to the new scene, as the display does correctly. As I said, I think the layers created 'hidden' are turned off but the display is not adjusted for that and there's the frass. @unknownuser said: Or it forgets what layers you have on or off? Yes, so to speak. It adjusts away from the parent settings but doesn't immediately update the display, and I'm flummoxed when it does that update subsequently. I just want it to stay true to the parent or at the very least display consistent with the settings.

That is very odd. I can't understand what a plugin would do to cause such behaviour...

Ok. Thanks. I was afraid of that. Maybe I'll write a ruby to set them with one click.

Tim's reply was not very clear, so let me clarify for him... BACKUP!

Well, I thought I had tried it before posting. Must have botched it somewhere. Thanks.

Agreed! To get my geometry into its own separate file out of Autocad, I normally will select it all and a wblock command which will write it out as a block - essentially its own file. Then if I need to I go into that file and audit and purge and remove unwanted layers. And I tend to export from CAD in phases. I NEVER ever ever try to export everything at once. I wil generally make a large "X" symbol in my CAD file and then I always export that with everything that I export, so I can always line up that X inside of SU to make sure it all lines up correctly. I export first my topo, then a layer for fences, then a layer for concrete, then building footprints, etc. THat way I can deal with them all much easier inside of SU, separate from one another. I once had an old instruction sheet of how I like to export my CAD stuff. I'm sure its still around but I think its very outdated and I've updated some workflow issues. I should get that out and re-write it. Chris

@unknownuser said: By "Both Managers" do you mean Scenes and Styles? Yes. @unknownuser said: The styles manager would be annoying if it warned you everytime a style was changed. I take that update arrow circle thingy as a warning, and then one might even be explicitly warned if that setting is in place.

Hi, Philip, I don´t really know what kind of plugin do you have in mind. There is a way to set up Photoshop so it can use the tablet input, but I don´t know if this applies to mesh painting. As far as I can remember, PS CS4 Extended allows import and export of OBJ, U3D, KMZ, Collada and 3DS models import. You can edit textures on 3D model in PS CS3.

wow, that worked, .. now my drawing is cluttered with all of the failed attempts to get the grid and guides to show!!!! again, one simple little thing holds me up and eats up time... It did not even say this within the manual that I have... thanks aloha red

Could be firewall setting...?

I don't think so. sketchup on my work computer used to take up to 45 seconds to start after I opened it. It is now down to a reasonable 5 to 10 seconds. (though at home it is almost instantaneous). So even when I had opened it once before, and then re-opened it, it still took over 30 seconds to start. But that seems to be largely cleared up recently.

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=20485 Have a look at this maybe?