I don't think you would find any argument amongst forum members here that the vast majority of models in the Warehouse leave a lot to be desired. A 9 MB car might be fine for a teenager to mess around with...when it's the only model in the scene...but try importing one or two to liven-up an architectural rendering and you have real problems.

Or simply thre Follow me tool?

I don't think I'm doing that, though. I draw two lines, then convert both to pipes with zero ID. I use the Intersect With Model to show where they touch, and that's where I run into trouble, when I try to back away one tube from the other for editing; the intersecting line says on the other tube. I figured out that I can select the pipe - and must also include the intersecting line - in order to move it for editing. That works better though I was surprised that when I selected the intersecting area and hit Delete, it also deletes the entire tube, but I can deal with that. Subject change: Somewhat related, my chassis consists of a mix of square and round tubing. Is there a plugin to produce square tubes the same way that pipes are created? I realize there may be an issues with how to orient the flat sides but having a tool would be much better than placing a square normal to a line and projecting it. I found when I use the Extrude or Follow me tool, it doesn't act the way I want and a plugin would be a great time-saver. Thanks again for the generous help and I hope to pass on the favor to others. [edit] Found this: http://sketchup.engineeringtoolbox.com/section-steel-to_2.html Don't know if it'll do what I want but I'll give it a try. Regardless, if anyone has a "Line-to-square-tube" plugin I'd like to try it.

If you can use a 64bit OS. If current software solutions at your office doesn't allow it, ensure that the hardware is 64bit capable in case you can upgrade later. Working with 3D rendering will quickly eat up your memory, if can go 64 bit then do it. (I'm now talking generally, not for just SketchUp.) The next Photoshop that's to be released soon will finally have 64bit support

thanx guys i understand

Ah, great to hear!

Well I guess the problems depend on what you are modelling. But most people find that drawing directly onto layers other than Layer0 (as opposed to drawing on Layer0, grouping then moving to another layer) almost invariably leads to a complete bird's nest of a model...faces on different layers to their edges...groups and components on different layers to their contents. The mantra for almost every serious user, right from the earliest days has been "Always draw on Layer0"

Thanks everyone... I'm still working on it and I will look into some of the rubies and the movie! Thanks for all your help!

I guess there's no need for embarrassment - he must have prepared for this. Anyway, they ll need to endure this for a version then rotate

That's sorted things, thanks very much for you help. Matt

What went free with v6 are basically sandbox print to scale (and other print) options - in v5 it was limited to "fit to page" 2d graphic export optiions - in v5 it was limited to screen resolution animation export (afaik) the ability to use rbs plugins What is still "missing": Export models in 3DS, DWG, DXF, OBJ, XSI, VRML, and FBX file formats LayOut (and lately StyleBuilder) Location tab in the Model info (Win only - funnily the Mac version has it - but Jim wrote a plugin for that already) The little [image: welcome-Plus.jpg] image however appears all over in the SU Guide according to v5. Google forgot to update this part of the guide (and a whole lot of things are also missing there - just think about intersect with selected or intersect with context which came with SU6).

thanx solo

@remus said: Whaat has also produced a UV mapping ruby, that allows you to spherical and cylindrical maps. You can find it in the ruby forum. Its pretty good at what it does, but its still pretty limited. I wonder UV coordinates if it would export to maxwell. But then again I do have some UV spherical and cylindrical mapping in Maxwell studio. I was hoping there was "something" more helpful

@alan fraser said: You can triple click the dome to highlight all the surfaces and the lines then r-click and choose Soften/Smooth Edges from the context menu. Adjust the slider till they all disappear. If you want to smooth only a few specific edges, use the Eraser with Ctrl held down. thanx guys. alan, that worked great

If you have lots of faces to reverse try the free ReverseFaces.rb plugin from Smustard. (http://www.smustard.com)

beautiful links thanks Alan

You should be able to apply a texture to anything in SU regardless of its origin.Note however that if it comes grouped or as component, you may first need to explode it or enter its editing context (double click to edit)

i think i i get it it now. i dont want to just make layers/groups/components just for the sake of making layers and groups/components i want to make them for a needed use, like for example, making a component to create multiple edited copies, or a group to er group. i think that was a my problem, i was trying to make all these complicated layers with groups and components and it was making editing very difficult because each group/component was connected to a different layer. and when i wanted to edit one layer on one component, i had to edit any layer that was connected when i selected 'edit component' till i realized that i don't need need to do that because as you said groups/components have nothing to do with layers

Yes, Joy (catamointain) and others like Taff for instance have really worked hard to put all those excellent links together

Oh, sorry, I wanted to link to Fredo's and didn't even check the link just copied it. The one I linked to creates surfaces (or grids) based on bezier curves. Great script, too!