Couple noob questions

vizier

Hi all! I'm somewhat new to sketchup and I have a few questions that I couldnt find any easy answer for on this forum:

Is there a "flip horizontal / vertical" tool or command in SU? Rotate is cool but flip is not exactly the same thing...
I sometimes get a ton of textures embedded into a SU project that I end up not using. Is there a way to have SU delete all unsused textures form the file?
How can you tell the difference between textures that are actually being used and ones that were used in the past but are now deleted?
Is there a way to easily delete hidden objects? Or to hide them?
How do I change the angle of the light source that creates the shadows? Are there any light source / shadow options?
How do I change the background colors and sky colors?
What is the one big advantage of using SU Pro? I love this program so much I would pay for it if there were a good reason to...

I have many other questions but 1, 3 and 5 are my biggest priorities. Thanks a ton in advance for the help and thanks for having such a great site.

remus

Select the stuff you want to flip->right click->flip along->red/green/blue direction.
Alternativeley you can make the geometry you want to flip a component, move a copy of it across and scale it by -1. This acts much like the mirror tool in other modellers.

2.window->model info->statistics->purge unused. This will remove all the unused components and layers as well, though. There is a ruby that gives you more control over what is purged: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=11758&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=purge

If you go in to the materials browser, materials that are being used have a little triangle in the bottom right hand corner.
Not really sure what you mean here. Hidden objects are surely hidden already by their nature. You can delete them as with any normal geometry, however.
View->toolbars->shadows to turn the toolbar on. From there you can control the position of the sun. Theres some limited shadow options if you click the left most button in the toolbar.
window->styles->edit then its under one of the mini tabs.
If anything it would be layout and dynamic components. Unless you have a specific need for either of these it probably isn't worth forking out for the pro version, though.

Gaieus

2. the model info > Statistics > Purge all will also purge unused styles (beside what Remus listed). You can always purge materials/components/layers/styles from their respective browser window, too,if you only want to do it separately (see similar buttons/solutions in the other browsers, too)

4. I'm not sure either what you mean here. To make sure you are "aware" of (i.e. can see) all hidden things in your model and decide if you want to keep or delete them, you can always go to Edit > Hidden geometry. This won't reveal geometry on layers whose visibility is turned off however.

7. maybe 3d and 2d vector based export formats, too...

vizier

Thanks a ton you guys that helped a LOT!!!

@Gaieus- The reason I want to hide / delete hidden geometry is to reduce the amount of polys the comp has to draw ie make it run faster.

@Remus- The Ruby plugins look amazingly useful and cool but the fourm seems like it was made for experts. Is there a Ruby noob friendly quickstart thread?

Gaieus

@vizier said:

The Ruby plugins look amazingly useful and cool but the fourm seems like it was made for experts. Is there a Ruby noob friendly quickstart thread?

You don't need to be an expert in ruby to use those plugins. Just copy them in your plugins folder and restart SU. There they are ready to use.

(I'm definitely illiterate at scripting myself, too)

vizier

I downloaded a few of them but what do I do when it asks me to replace the file? ie some of them are named the same thing. Is it safe to rename them?

That said theres obviously a huge amount of useful things that can be done with these plugins. I cant wait to get the technical stuff figured out so I can start learning the new tools.

dale

If I understand you correctly in regards to hidden geometry, then mostly the answer is no. In other words, when you show hidden geometry, the geometry that becomes visible is the stuff that defines the surface of the object. If you start to erase edges of this geometry you will notice holes will appear in the surface of your object.
As for pro versus free. Unless as above posts noted you have need for these tools, the free version has about everything you need. As a pro user I am tending to feel abandoned by google, as they seem to be driving the development of SketchUp away from the kind of work I do, and gearing it more for other integration with their other developments, espescially google earth. As a result they don't seem to be adressing one of your other concerns, (and most of us) which is high poly count.
I still think SketchUp is one of the most versatile, easy to use tools out there, but we are left to only imagine it's potential.

Gaieus

@vizier said:

I downloaded a few of them but what do I do when it asks me to replace the file? ie some of them are named the same thing. Is it safe to rename them?

What do you men by "replace"? Where do you download them?

vizier

@gaieus said:

@vizier said:

I downloaded a few of them but what do I do when it asks me to replace the file? ie some of them are named the same thing. Is it safe to rename them?

What do you men by "replace"? Where do you download them?

To the plugins folder (after unzipping)

Gaieus

But if you are "replacing" them, it means that you already have them, doesn't it?
Then why are you downloading them (again?) at all?