Oh, that's so true! Every model done (finished or not..) and the model folder is full with every step imaginable of the entire "development history" - for now, a manual process. This autosave configuration is a must have, but I think that it must be integrated with Sketchup. And yes, I too think that crashes are related to certain operations when saving, like plugins.

thats just creepy! did you see the fish one, pretty cool.

Thanks Mitcorb. Hope I didn't confuse too many readers. The only reason I am familiar with this stuff is that I used a solid modeler before switching to SU.

You DO need Jim's 'Construction Line Tool' ruby that lets you draw construction lines as if they were normal lines. http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2008/02/plugin-construction-line-tool.html Note that if you use the tape-measure tool and start at a vertex and pick another point then it makes a construction line between the points, with construction points at the end... Picking a edge makes the infinite offset construction line...

Its working, thank You!

Thanks for that Andrew. I can appreciate what you are saying about incremental updates. And clearly folders containing plugins, components, materials, etc are unaffected by updates. Thanks for the great work...always appreciated.

@chris fullmer said: That British guy is the brilliant Adam Billyard, a regular on the forums (AdamB) And I go back and forth on whether I think SU should implement lots of new features, or leave it to developers, or have rendering, or not, etc. But lightup is definitely one of the great 3rd party apps out there. My vote is for more power to the core and API.

Hi, you can find some skp tutorials concerning Kito's methods on 3D Warehouse. In particular have a look at this one: Horn tutorial http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=fdd2be9e2c033f2dda5d621c43d2258&prevstart=12

Wmanning, thank you for your tip and I also found another solution for the issue. For those who has the workflow between SU and AutoCAD, There are option to check. If you use 2009, Go to Tools-Option in the top menu bar. It opens up the option dialogu box. Under the User Preference tab, in the Associatice Dimensioning category, there is a check box. If you check this option, the issue will be solved. I will post a image. P.S: I am sorry. I know this is rather CAD issue but I have been frusttrated by the issue for a long time. I think this will be a good tip to whom has the same issue. [image: aNqW_option.png]

http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2007/08/plugin-unfoldrb.html

Thx for the infos!

@thomthom said: Not sure how things work in Maxwell, but if you use V-Ray for Sketchup, which runs from within SU and doesn't export anything this is a good aid to set the HDRI position as there are no visual aid provided. VfSU simply asks for offset values. Mate maxwell is the same, studio (the standalone app) will allow you to position your background visually, though reflection, refraction and illuminaton channels are all by trial and error and lots of both! For many the best way to avoid the excessive testing is to use a chrome sphere in the scene to replace the subject, run a test to see on the reflections where the location is and then adjust to correct, delete the sphere and unhide all other for the render, to get the reflections good enough to see this can take some lengthy render times! I'm just reversing this process to speed it up and get accurate results first go!

Thanks again. I missed this options-button.

Yes, we're not talking about simply turning on hidden geometry.

Been so busy I forgot we were going to create a video or two on the workflow for this thread. Dropped the ball, sorry... I'll get on this, as the one we have on our web site doesn't go into too much depth. But you can see that one here if you like: http://downloads.imsidesign.com/Flash/DoubleCADFlash/Import-From-Sketchup-800-600/Import-From-Sketchup-800-600.htm William

Thank you both, although I think in this particular case the solution of "mass uniqueing" (selecting various component instances and making them unique) was more appropriate to what I was doing. one way or the other, it was really helpful what you guys told me, and I am sure I will use it in the future.

i love the way you presented a peek on how you model organic shapes.. love it solo/

after clean up, unstick the 2 windows and repast it to a snap corner point and all will work fine Edit : in fact you must move the line horizontally on the same plane! // green axe! [image: 6q1e_MOVE.jpg] Weirdresolved.skp

That would install it into SU 6 (as it says). Just install it into F:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7 - if you have Program files installed on the F drive (normally this would be the C) it will find the Components folder inside automatically.

@dcauldwell said: I am currently trying to develop a workflow link from SU to CAD drawings for architectural work (small scale stuff - houses). So far I have worked out that the plans and sections can be exported from SU with a thickness applied to the section cut, thus eliminating the need for linetype adjustment later. I am currently using CAD to add dims and some shading to the SU import. That just leaves the actual detailed drawings and as I import these as 'standard' details (to be adjusted per project) this is quite simple. With discipline in the creation of SU model, so far this is working quite well. David Your response got me thinking, because one of the major issues of exporting a section cut aligned view from Sketchup are alle the single lines you end up with in the drafting program. Then I thought about Archicad and I think there is a nearly automatic solution for this problem: Since version 11 Archicad has intoduced a feature called "linework consolidation", that lets you transform all the 2d lines you get from a cad in single polilines. It allows you to transfer all of these lines on a single layer of your choice, change the colour of those lines and so on. This comes from the need to create more polished drafting from an autocad import, but now it occurred to me it would work nicely with a dwg file coming from SU as well. Will havo to try it out!