A Welcome Message to New SketchUcation Members

Daggs · 6 Mar 2009, 02:07

Hey all, this is Daggs (Hello, Daggs), and I'm glad this board exists. Been evaluating other 3/2D CAD programs, they either suck or are uninspired. I'm looking to use SU to do some 3D drawring, then convert to CAM and finally G-code so I can run the CNC mill that I'm building. "But Daggs, why are you building a CNC mill?" I can hear you ask. Because, in the words of Sir Edmund Hillary, it is there. I'll figure out apps for the mill after I have it. Maybe kit furniture? We'll see.

Anyway, on with the show. I'll be here a bit, I think, because this prog looks like something that is worth mastering.

Daggs

Gaieus · 6 Mar 2009, 12:14

@daggs said:

(Hello, Daggs),
and welcome!

Indeed there are people who use SU to build physical models with CNC mills and you willprobably find some useful plugins (such as converting to stl format and such) useful here.

buk2noy · 9 Mar 2009, 00:26

hi! everyone!? thanks for accepting me as a new member,

IdahoJ · 9 Mar 2009, 01:48

Greets to the community!

I'm a semi-retired IT professional and programmer of 20+ years experience who now has time to pursue other interests and hobbies in his life. I'm currently using SU7 for woodworking projects, furniture design and wood strip canoes. I also have programmed in Ruby and look forward to developing some useful scripts for release to the community.

Cheers!

Chris Fullmer · 9 Mar 2009, 04:15

Hi IdahoJ and welcome. What part of Idaho are you from?

Chris

Gaieus · 9 Mar 2009, 06:30

Hi Jojo and IdahoJ and welcome both. I see (IdahoJ) you have already signed up for the Woodworking forum.

antipode77 · 12 Mar 2009, 12:44

I am not sure where to post this so I'll try here.
I can't seem to get my orbit and shift/pan functions to work with the middle mouse button. I press the middle button and no matter what else I press or change, all I get is some sort of zooming which is really annoying.
I have SU 7 on my macbook pro and am using a logitec v470 bluetooth mouse and the logitec control panel. Middle mouse button is assigned to button 3. I know it works for some mac users but for some reason it is not working on mine. Right click is working fine and I can orbit and pan using shift+control+command keys and mouse button 1. Those are single button mouse setting though and not user friendly.
Anybody have any ideas?

Gaieus · 12 Mar 2009, 13:21

Hi antipode (and welcome).

Though I'm on a PC, these settings with the Logitech mice should be the same IMO. I have also assigned the middle button function to the wheel button in the control panel. see attached.

IdahoJ · 12 Mar 2009, 13:26

@gaieus said:

Hi Jojo and IdahoJ and welcome both. I see (IdahoJ) you have already signed up for the Woodworking forum.
Thank you for the welcome Gaieus! This is a wonderful forum to be part of, a comfortable kind of place it seems, and a helpful community. I've already learned a number of "tricks" in just the short time I've been here.

Ah, woodworking... Yes. My "escape" from the working world... Between some projects my wife would like me to design and build for the home, and my hobby of constructing wooden canoes and small craft, I think SU is going to be a fantastic tool!

I hope to post some of my work as soon as I get to be a bit more proficient...

Cheers!

mymakao · 13 Mar 2009, 14:07

Hi everybody!!!!
I used to work sometimes with sketchup 6 - thanks the university, I just have got sketchup pro 7 (youhou!)
I wish you'll can inform me better on it (sorry for my english!)
have a nice day!!

remus · 13 Mar 2009, 14:10

Hello mymakao, your english is probably a damm sight better than mine

sceyefeye · 17 Mar 2009, 13:54

ah once again I join a forum and then some time later actually say hello, scuse my poor manners

thanks to all who are proving most helpful on the forum, nice to be here

Gaieus · 17 Mar 2009, 14:38

Hi Simon and welcome. Never mind saying hello a bit late - we don't notice the lack of these "manners" until you tell us!

potchimotchi · 17 Mar 2009, 14:39

Hi everyone,
i'm a new sketchup user since yesterday evening. I already love it, especially the tutorial and online help. However, there is something that seems basic to me but i cannot figure out how to do it.
I would like to export 2d images from my model, at each step of the modelling. I would like to take those pictures from the same camera position, but still be able to pan zoom/etc during modelling.
Is there a thing like a "save/load camera position" function?
Thanks in advance for the help.

Gaieus · 17 Mar 2009, 14:55

Hi PothiMotchi (nice name, BTW ) and welcome!

As for your "wish", go to View (menu) > Animation (at the bottom) and Add scene. By default, scenes preserve the Camera location so you can pan, orbit, whatnot - when you click on the Scene tab created this way, you will orbit back to the view you had when creating that scene.

Note that if you want to have a different view, you can orbit/pan there then

either right click on this scene tab and "Update"
or right click and add another scene
Also note that by creating several scenes will allow you to create an animation between them and you can even export this animation as a movie file - but let's not rush with all these things; see if it works for you first.

potchimotchi · 17 Mar 2009, 15:28

wow, that's magic. thanks a lot.
I thought i read in passing that exporting animation as movie files was only possible with the pro version. is that right?

Gaieus · 17 Mar 2009, 16:13

That's true for SU 5. Since SU 6 (and of course for the current 7) it's been possible with the Free version, too. They forgot to update that Users' Guide about two years ago

There are a bunch of other things that are marked as "Pro only" but are avaiable in the Free version, too, such as

print to scale
image export bigger than screen resolution
the sandbox tools
since SU 7, the Location tab under Model info in the Windows version (interestingly this was available in the Mac version before) etc.
to mention the most essential.

mwenvironments · 22 Mar 2009, 14:58

Hi! I have been a sketchup user for a couple of years now and consider myself an intermediate user. I am an environmental designer and use sketchup to build environments I am working on. I love Sketchup 7 - it seems like a nice improvement over 6, but one thing bugs me and I have not been able to figure this out:

How do you 'turn off' the overlapping lines where lines intersect? I want to sometimes be able to view the model without these accentuated lines and also want to be able to print or save a JPEG file without these showing up. I could not locate anything in view or in preferences.

If you know how I would love to hear.

Thanks!

Mark

Gaieus · 22 Mar 2009, 15:22

Hi Mark (and welcome)

It's a "Style" setting. Go to Window > Styles and in the dialog In model (the little house icon), select the style you are using (by default there's just one style) > Edit tab > Edge settings.

Now when you are here, turn off extensions and endpoints (I generally turn these off as well as profiles).

If you wish, you can save this file as a template (File menu) and from Window (Sketchup on Mac) > Preferences > Templates use your custom template with these (and in fact any other kind of) settings.

mwenvironments · 23 Mar 2009, 17:23

@gaieus said:

Hi Mark (and welcome)

It's a "Style" setting. Go to Window > Styles and in the dialog In model (the little house icon), select the style you are using (by default there's just one style) > Edit tab > Edge settings.

Now when you are here, turn off extensions and endpoints (I generally turn these off as well as profiles).

If you wish, you can save this file as a template (File menu) and from Window (Sketchup on Mac) > Preferences > Templates use your custom template with these (and in fact any other kind of) settings.

Thank you very much Gaieus! I knew there must be someplace to do this.

Regards,

M.