Hi Mitcorb, hi folks. I agree that it could be a nice addition. For example, a "Selection" button added to the "Model infos --> Statistics" that would activate only when something is selected. Clicking on this button would update the infos to thoses in the selection. Then the buton would show "Whole model" instead of "Selection" to allows the user to switch back to the statistics for the whole model. Similar to a toggle switch. Just ideas.

@gaieus said: There is this same difference with expandable and non-expandable nested components. I think it was Chris who brought it up on that other forum why we cannot have collapsed components in the browser when the child components only exist nested in parents? It would be logical and very comfortable as tiny bits would not pollute your valuable work space. Yes - I'd really like to see the user (and developers via the API) to be able to control which components are expanded (internal) or not. Would make organizing a model so much easier.

@solo said: group that has a defined path (bezier, etc) The camera can be set to either look ahead, or follow an object. controlled with a time scale, allowing some animations a delayed start, acceleration, camera can follow an object for a determined period then be set to follow another of just look ahead. Good idea Having the ability to export to .swf would allow for simple interactive animations with embedded 'scene triggers'. Taking a regular scene based SU animation but adding extra elements that involve the end user the ability to interact at pre defined points. The user could toggle through various 'triggers' when the animation reaches certain junctions. This would pause the animation and allow pre defined extra features to be enabled. So, for example, a room could be viewed with - different furnishings; different colour schemes; different times of the day; or a mechanical component could be viewed - exploded outwards; cross sections; This makes sense to me but i'm afraid i may be a little deluded

Thanks guys. Thomthom can you tell me how to do this with photoshop after i extract the image from sketchup?

@albion man said: Think I will stay away from the new updated version of Vray for a while. Looks like they still have quite a few wrinkles to sort out. Are you an official beta tester? What do you think of the new version? Yes - I've been a beta tester since the beta first started up. There are some issues - yes. I had originally planned to stay with 1.05.30 until the patch came out, but I had a model at the office that took ages to parse with the old version - and the new parsed it so quickly that I risked it. So far it's been going fine with only minor hickups. I've been working with simple clean new scenes - not any existing ones - so that has probably made be avoid many of the issues. But this release is generally very good. When the patch comes out it'll be brilliant. V-Ray materials follow the Sketchup materials so we can copy between models and make components with V-Ray materials already set up. AO, render frame, IES and alpha channel support are great additions. @unknownuser said: There's lots of material under the Download section at ASGVis There's lots of material under the Download section at ASGVis website.

Thanks for all the info TIG, my approach to your Toolset has now changed completely. Keep up the great work

http://www.3dvinci.net/ccp0-catshow/SU.html http://www.sketchupartists.org/spotlight/daniel-tal-google-sketchup-for-site-design/ http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321672865 http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470175656.html

Last night I converted about 300 groups into 1 component in 1 swell foop. It also showed I had about a dozen almost identical groups with a common very minor change in them, that did not convert, as expected, but they would be hard to find otherwise. I did this by selecting ALL, and converting. After the conversion to a single comp, only those unique groups that did not convert remained highlighted. Note: it is not necessary to highlight any of the multiple groups, except the single any one group to effect the conversion. All same groups in the model will convert. I have not tried testing with layered and visible same groups yet, but I will. Now I will try to figure how to convert those similar groups into the same single comp. I think I know how, but I haven't figured out the correct sequence yet. (edit added) I just noticed that my old 43mb+ file is down to 31mb, and I'm not done converting yet. And it saves faster too. Bonus.

thanks so very much, it was one of those things, if not done correctly it could not get done, the key was naming it, hit return, hit the refresh button, then it was saved.... thanks again... that was a frustrating few hours...

Thank you, Sir.

I am not sure I follow that methodology, but that shouldn't surprise anyone! I just need to give it a try tho. IT's probably pretty good.

Hi Larry, hi folks. In supplement, the Text Tool will default to these informations: line: length. face: area. endpoint: coordinates in the form X,Y,Z. One trick: you can switch units between use. For example, if you use the Text Tool on a face, you will get the area in square feet. Then, switch to meters and you can add another text entity with the surface in square meters. Just ideas.

I am not actually sure if this is what you mean by messing up with the system but I think in installing the application, you just have to uncheck the option on installing the Google search bar. If it does not have a checkbox then you just have to change the homepage of their browser after finishing the installation for the school laboratory. There is a free version of the SU that you can download from the internet, see if it will do for your students. Chrysalis School Montana

The download is an installer - you should be able to just run the file and it will install itself.

works , thanks , whit scale dimension to axe .

Very cool guys, thanks a lot. I knew you could download them but wondered if there was a plugin out there somewhere.... Not surprising, there was!!

i have tried to ad the skp files using both my work imac and home MBP is there something I am doing wrong as they won't attach.

@tfdesign said: You are right, but AutoCAD, apart from ACIS 3D kernel, is primarily a 2D app, and SU isn't. acked, never understood why AD is bloating their 2D CAD with additional 3D stuff having AD/MD resp. Inventor in the portfolio... maybe the GSU effect Norb.

@anssi said: If the graphics card is an ATI one, you may be in more luck, but you would have to look for a suitable driver, possibly from the ATI pages. if ATI isn't able to provide a working driver, the quality-moded OmegaDrvier is always worth a try. Norb.

@ianglo said: It seems that unless I have Pro 7 version and therefore can create dynamic components that I can't go down the exploded view as shown in the answer from dedmin. Is there another option, other than doing a copy of the componets onto the same "sheet"? Cheers The term is misleading. Just as you can make a component you can also "unmake" it. It does not look any different; just sheds the characteristics of a component. How about ... Put each copy on its own layer. Explode and manually move the pieces of one copy into an exploded view. Make two new scenes each with one of the layers turned off.