Some beautiful geometry there Mr. Red. Actually it is possible to get a reasonable approximation of rope or other helical structures just using an image mapped to a cylindrical extrusion. It gets a little dodgy on the tighter curves, but in a large model serve its purpose pretty well. Link

So it seems that only nested components in groups explode via exporting. Have you tried not grouping them but making another component?

Hi, Just in case anybody else wants the answer... I have figured out that all you need to do is zoom out, point your cursor to where you need to go, and zoom back in. The focus goes where the cursor is pointing. Just a slightly different way of panning around but works. (Still prefer the SketchUp method though) Regards Mr S

@solo said: OT:Would this be a good place to discuss the new Indiana Jones movie? Sure Pete - where is the scene going to take place?

Hi Fred, How do you perform the draping operation? Do you drape the whole geometry onto the terrain in one (maybe as grouped)? It is most probably layered (from the imported CAD drawing), could you try to drape the geometry layer by layer? To me it seems that the drape tool somehow has its limits at certain cases.

@sintra said: ...Also how do i turn off AA in sketchup ? ... Go to Window > Preferences > OpenGL settings and there you can turn hardware acceleration on/off and when it's on, at the bottom you have a couple of options to set (depending on the driver, several AA settings, too). Experiment with them to find a good balance between performance and look.

Thanks a bunch! Didn't know about the Create face tool. Much appreciated!

OK then I did remember well from the KT Forums. Thanks for working on it - it would extremely speed up the workflow (imagine using it with Didier's component spray tool!)

Cheers Remus, will give it a go... Ta,

BTW Gaieus I am slowly working on a SU model of my lodge(with the logo scene, thanks) but it has 14 rooms, 12 bathrooms, and a 28 feet high open greatroom. Seems easier to build the real thing 11 years ago. Cheers alpmeadow

If only TIG's script worked with dynamic section cuts! But I fully understand that it's impossible. Apart from this, it is a brilliant script and I love it!

The floor plan was drawn in autocad and them imported in SU. The walls were then drawn on top of cad with the rectangle tool. I then made a slab/ floor with thickness hoping to intersect with the walls which should facilitate texturing separate floor areas. I'll try and post the model when I figure out how to link a large file. I suprised no one has run in to this problem. The surface does not always clean up-some lines are thick (which means not cutting the plane in su or not intersecting) and some are thin. There is always some trace over that has to be done after intersecting. BTW I am aware of stray lines and intersect ruby's to check. Even these are no garantees at times to indicate all is well.

Well, I couldn't find any text files with odd looking names so I uninstalled the whole shootin match and reinstalled and now it works. Must have been a corrupt file somewhere. Thanks for the ideas.

Yeah, soory. It's just too late here...

Thanks for all of the good suggestions/comments. I have used a few ruby scripts but for nothing like what has been suggested. It's good to know SU can accomplish this task, however I might choose. I haven't had a call for models like this. I'll need to find some tutorials on curved faces and using ruby scripts. Thanks again. Tim

For those interested, I've added the upper chamber to the above-referenced 'work in progress.' (I'm done - I certainly don't intend to model the blast damage from the 2005 bombing!) There doesn't appear to actually be a 'chamber' in there - only internal spiral stairs to the roof deck. It looks like it's completely filled-in stonework (conjecture.) Historically, there was apparently a wooden post-and-roof structure above the deck. (Only the sockets for the posts remain today.) Model is posted in the SketchUp 3D Warehouse: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=de78ece7f12a167c663f954f31de8916 I'm certainly wrong about some of the upper details, but I can't find photos taken from the correct angle - showing the doorway and internal stairs at the top. Updated Trimble 3DWarehouse URL for the SketchUp model: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/de78ece7f12a167c663f954f31de8916/Malwiya-Tower Regards, Taff [image: yAE8_Samarra.jpg]

XP? If so r-click desktop/Properties/Setting/Advanced/Troubleshooting. Set hardware acceleration to none. Try SU. If you can get in, reassess OpenGL settings. Was fast feedback checked? If so, that could have been the real problem once hardware acceleration was checked. If you are on Vista, the OS does not support OpenGL. The driver is everything.

Hi Aaron, To tell the truth I'm not a style wizard but my opinion is that when a style uses vector based lines it doesn't have a stroke setting while the ones using raster based lines have this setting (since they need these raster images to be defined). You can "mix" styles in the style dialogue or - if you have a Pro license - you can use Style Builder to create your custom styles. I'm moving this topic from the Tutorials forum since it is not a tutorial. Also, read about the basic concepts of styles by Ross here. It will explain things more deeply than my puny answer above.

pns000, what is your handrail's profile like? I've noticed when working with small curved profiles with the follow-me command, they don't always behave as expected. Usually, enlarging it say 100x (after copying the profile and path to another file) it works correctly; then I just reduce it.

Also it seems that there can almost nothing be found on the net about SU that would not already be here...