Glad I could help.

Hi guys, although we have gone a bit OT, it's a nice curve. So never forget that after all we are on the SketchUcation site so see Wodan's tip a bit expanded here. Ans certainly Paul's idea about the shorcuts is a very useful one since then you need not keep openin/closing that dialogue.

tried one with cheetah.. just using the trial version for now (everything works normal and it doesn't expire - you just can't save anything.. this is a screen shot).. [image: rWxm_trifoil_cheetah.jpg]

I saved the SU file as a new one and had no problems with it. WEIRD!

I found some useful stuff on youtube that actually taught me some new stuff. (Which is always good.) Youtube: SketchUp + CAD videos

Oh, I remember these from the old forums, Ross! Lerarnt a lot from those tuts!

The email never arrives for me. Download it directly here instead of waiting: http://forums.renderplus.com/showthread.php?t=704

You might also want to check out Cheetah here:- http://www.cheetah3d.com/reviews.php

@cyberdactyl said: I would like to see more flexibility with scene making. Buying out Indigo might be a lot cheaper. . . Yeah right, we've all got massive powerful machines and a day to wait for a decent render [Edit: I vote for 'proper' texture mapping, more speed, higher poly count support, fix the damn clipping bug, make the Mac version work as well as the PC version, parametric components, ability to make sections exportable (and renderable) with added cut faces and better modelling of complex curved surfaces. It would also be nice if LayOut was completely overhauled to look and feel like SU, as well as made to work even half decently]

I don't know exactly, but you mentioned cutting out MDF board. why not export a dxf and import the dxf in your cnc cad program ? Or maybe if the building is solid, use the ruby slicer, so you've got the building in thin piece's and export these with ADO ? and import these in the cnc-programming software. what kind of cnc-machine are you talking about (how many axes ?)

Cheers Paul much appreciated!

Thanks for the reply....gave me another idea...DWG viewer. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=6703438&siteID=123112 Import dwg into SU, then use the viewer to see what is missing. Glenn downloaded, installed, looks like it will do the trick. I just need to see the notes in the dwg file about materials, etc.

render posted here http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=6602

[image: hug.jpg]

I believe the component window will do what you want - just click on "in model" to see all components in your model. Click on the details menu and you'll see options for saving them.

Maybe you're searching for this topic?

Good point!

Deep exploration would probably work best, however thats a rather expensive piece of software for just conversions. Try copying the model using the select all and pasting in a new instance of SU and trying again. Deselecting stand alone edges in options may also help. If the problem persists then you can email it to me at pete@solosplace.com and I will use DE to do the conversion for you. (but do let me know if you are going to email me as I am terrible at checking my mail)

Well, as I'm not able to create whole tut on this right now, I can only give a couple of tips on this. What I'd do is not to use the drape tool in this case but the stamp tool like the steps below: crete the terrain as you have already created; use the contours of the road to create a face (hopefully they are coplanar and forming a closed loop) move it down to the highest point of your terrain divide the face with additional lines and/or use the autofold feature to rotate the other parts of your road face as close to the terrain as possible - but only in very general when you're done and the road is smooth enough (but obviously "floating" above or "submerges" below the terrain, select all and use the stamp tool to integrate it into your terrain. soften edges where necessary In the "realy world", roads are either running higher than "valleys" or cut into hills so that they don't beed to follow smaller details of the terrain. This will be the result with your road, too.

Gene, I dealt with part of your question towards the end of this thread. http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=5929 I have attached a quick example here, in which I have used the standard cherry wood material from SU itself. Rather than messing around with the material control handles...which can be a little messy if you have many orientations of the material to deal with...I simply painted it onto one surface (in order to load it onto the In Model collection) I then right-clicked the swatch in the In Model browser and exported the material as a jpg to my desktop. Obviously, you don't need to do this if you already have a bunch of wood textures as a starting point. I then imported the image (as an image, not a texture), stretched it to a good-looking size, then duplicated it and rotated it to all the different angles I needed. I then selected all these and exploded them. All you then have to do is sample the appropriate one (Paint Tool + Alt) then paint it onto your panel. I have left hidden geometry showing in order to demonstrate that you can use lines, then hide them, in order to separate different angles of grain on the same flat surface. (Not so much for your benefit as for any passing complete beginner.) You can achieve the same result by right-clicking any texture and choosing Texture > Position...I just find this way faster and more convenient. panels.skp [image: TWO1_panels.jpg]