@tomot said: Its possible absolutely , via Virtual box. Make a small version of xp sp3, running nLite: Make a bootable SDHC card, 2GB will do, (this is quite a challenging process) Install XP sp3 from cd rom to the bootable SDHC card. Boot XP sp3 from the SDHC USB drive Install Sketchup to the XP sp3 OS Boot Ubuntu from HDD, run XP SP3 via virtual box, within Ubuntu Run Sketchup Viola! now isn't that cool! Yes you are right tomot. I'm using Linux just 3 year and i'm run my windows XP in VMware workstation ....... It's too good about Virtual box you try it ........... Thanks ........

Dear Chris, thank you for the effort you made for me. That helps me a lot. Thanks Elysium for your answer. Karlheinz

I love to draw technical stuff; airplanes, boats, houses, etc. But I am more into the details of the internal fabrication, than just a simple outer view. I have gone though several versions of ACAD 2D and then into ACAD 2 1/2D (they call it 3D, but it isn't), and was totally baffled by the so-called 3D interface. Never got a good render of anything, especially on my big cargo airplane concept, and it took forever to get anything right. Books and tutorials were no help either. I tried TruSpace, also a dud in the interface area. And a few others that lasted maybe 10 minutes on my PC. I subscribe to ZD-Net and 2 years ago they had a brief ad for SU. It looked interesting so I loaded it and tried it, without any tutorials to start me off. In less than 2 hours just playing with it, I accomplished more than I could with ACAD in 2 weeks. By the end of day I had a decent 3D view of my big airplane, for the first time. I now have over 300mb in 15 files of that airplane as I design the internals; landing gear, fuel system, passenger cabin, cargo deck, cargo handling components, etc. All fit back to the master drawing, and each drawing is details on some set of internal components of the airplane. Yeah, I know SU is a sketching tool, but with some tradeoffs I use it more like a 3D CAD. Plus there are dozens of drawings of other stuff. One of the latest was a rendering of my main bathroom reno, which worked wonders in explaining to my contractor what I wanted, and to the cabinet maker. Then I had to revamp our laundry area, as the new front load washer and drier would not fit in the space where the 28 year old top loads went. I carefully measured the space, and played with 7 options to place the W&D and move the laundry tub and shelving. I showed the "boss" the options and she said "that one". That one also showed an interference of 1 inch with the furnace relay box mounted on the side, so I had to move it to the inside, well before delivery. Then I completed the plumbing, electrical and shelving layers and from that made my hardware shopping list. I attach the SU file of that, and a photo of the laundry area, with some minor shelf changes requested by the boss and a view from the SU model at the same angle. Next is the kitchen. With SU I can quickly depict many ideas and alternatives, for the boss's approval, then flesh out the final choice for the contractor and cabinet maker, rather than trying to repeatedly explain what is wanted, with restrictions and problems/suggestions to work around. All you need to start is a very careful measurement of the area to make the basic layout, with at least one layer to show the existing for comparison. Taking photos of the existing helps a lot. Then get measurements of the various cabinetry and appliances you will need, and make simple outline groups/comps that you can place or move about. Make a layer or 2 for each alternative so you can quickly compare one to another. Then all you need to do is pan and zoom and display/hide layers to describe them. When the final layout is selected, add the plumbing and electrical components (on separate layers) for a real virtual fit and fiddle before anything starts up. Even paint schemes can be placed on layers to play with. Try all that in ACAD. SU-6 file SU drawing of laundry area revamp with various layout options and final layout with details. [image: 1dLl_Miele-WampD-Feb10003sm.jpg] [image: 3gtH_37-Risdon-Laundry.jpg]

yea - if you can set north angle for illustrational purposes, you should be able to set the timezone. Of the two - timezone doesn't affect the model location.

@d12dozr said: @jgb said: Now if only SU allowed mouse button shortcuts, I can make use of the many extra buttons on my mouse without interfering with other apps use of those buttons. Ditto that! heads off to Wishlist Good idea, good thing I thought of it. Kidding.... Posting it there now.

I'm starting to comprehend what you're getting at and I'm remembering why I gave up using outliner for scene management. I do recall that what gets hidden in there over-rides the scenes layers settings. That is also why I never select an object and hide it using the hide and unhide options. I only hide things using layer management. I am not sure how it would work, but it would be ideal if there was a better link between all of this.

Haven't worked with SU API and exporting, wounder if could this be handled automatically by a ruby?

Just to let you know, I did an architectural renovation to a metal building as a real project. Although I was less interested in the deep detailing, like fasteners and gusset plates, and more in the massing of the existing structure, as it affected my additions and modifications, I used the simple Sketchup toon shading in order to present my ideas to the client/ user. These presentations were very helpful in developing and explaining my design. It also helped me to determine how to draw the required CAD drawings. But your premise about the usefulness of Sketchup in the metal building industry is right on.

The reason I asked is because one of our CAD persons was watching me build some structures with Arches and Domes in SU (we use a lot of piping and tanks in our models). They conceded that it was probably easier some to create some of these structures in SU rather than in AutoCAD. They were wondering if we could develop a workflow where I could create some models that he could import and use in his AutoCAD 3D sites. But on our first try, a many-sided cylinder didn't display correctly. The CAD person is relatively new to 3D cad, so I thought there might be some default settings in AutoCAD or specific commands that need to be done that they were unaware of.

Actually, I just found another problem. When the SketchUP scenes are imported into Kerkythea, every camera is identical. I assume this is a problem with importing axonometric views -- does anyone know if there is a work-around for this?

Hi folks. A trick: if you need to jump back and forth between two distant locations, I suggest making a scene for each of these locations. Don't forget that you can switch point of view, including changing scene in the middle of a move or drawing operation. For example, you need to start a circle on a precise point in a very cluttered part of the model (lets call in "Part 1"). You will need to zoom in closely to be able to snap to the precise point that you want. But, the circumference bust be snapped to a point that is hundreds of meters away in another cluttered part (lets call it "Part 2"). Option 1: 1 - Zoom in on Part 1. 2 - Start the circle on the proper point. 3 - While the Circle Tool is still active, zoom out, pan, orbit, whatever to get Part 2 in view. 4 - Zoom in on part 2. 5 - Click to finish the circle. If you need to do that only once, you have probably choosen the correct procedure. However, if you need to add, for example, a serie of lines between two parts that are far apart from each other, it can become very tedious. Option 2: 1 - Zoom, pan and orbit to set a usefull view for part 1. 2 - Create a scene (Scene 1, for example). 2 - Do the same for part 2. You will have a Scene 2. 3 - Click on the Scene 1 tab. 4 - Start a line. 5 - While the Line Tool is still active, click on the Scene 2 tab. 6 - Complete the line. Repeat as many time as required. When done, delete the scenes if they are not required anymore. Just ideas.

This may be similar to the Baxi system which I believe uses Ballard technology. The thing to note is that the BloomBox seems to be a co-generation system like the Baxi, in the sense it requires natural gas (or bio fuels)as co-gen power, so it's efficiency will likely be in the 70% range. Still a good step forward, but a long way to go. http://www.baxi-innotech.de/index.php?id=home&lang=1

Other modelling packages often let you edit the geometry by editing the vertices. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=18021&p=227736#p227736 With this Vertex Editing plugin I'm making, you will be able to use soft selections - so that when you do changes, like move a set of vertices, the ones at the edge of the selection is affected less. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=26387&p=227665#p227822

For some reason, it took me a couple of tries to load your model - it locked up SU one time and crashed it without warning the other. I did get it loaded on the third attempt and my first action was to use Thomthom's Cleanup script on it. The script found and erased 63 lonely edges - I have no idea if this was a cause of my problems or yours but as far as I can tell, Outliner is working fine on the cleaned-up model.

I don't think that the kind of tablet is a problem. I use an old 12"x12" kurta, that can respond to a multi button mouse. My cad menu consist of a small drawing area, standard CAD functions, and a area for custom commands. My pointing device is a multi button pen. The system can be configured to replace a mouse with the pen for other programs, but I do not use it that way as the pen is harder to pick up then reaching for a mouse when switching from the keyboard.

@jean lemire said: To copy objects, why not use "Copy" (CTRL-C) on the objects in one file and then "Paste" (CTRL-V) in the other. On the PC you can open more than one instances of SU at the same time. Bonjour Jean, This technique works great. I never thought about it even though I use the copy/paste all the time with other programs. Merci and have a terrific day! _KN

@unknownuser said: Double click your grouped geometry to edit it select each curve one at a time and right click and select entity info under segments you'll see 100 ,change that to 20 for example. Repeat fir each curve Many thanks. Fred

From my experience, printing a 300 dpi A0 format takes ages. I would suggest to start with a 150 dpi A0 to reduce sizes and problems.

Thankyou Tig. I knew I was missing something.

I know this is a very old thread by now, but I have found a way getting round these limits and exporting at any size you want. It is here in the Tutorial forum: "Exporting 2D graphics with NO size limit" http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=26527 I have also posted a second tutorial on exporting Alpha masks for your 2D exports. "Creating an Alpha mask of your model for 2D graphic export" http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=26530#p228664 Bon appetit! David Mac