A Welcome Message to New SketchUcation Members

jborders12

Hello,
I am completely novel to Google Sketchup and I know that I won't even begin to scathe the vast possibilities it offers, so please bare with me for these following questions.

I am intending on using Sketchup to create multiple 3-dimensional figures for a Cognitive Psychological experiment examining how manipulation (via a mouse) or no manipulation effects the recognition/memory of novel visual objects.

In order to do this, I am planning on making many of these objects that are very similar yet subtly different at the same time. All objects will be composed of a base (cube, triangular prism, or a pentagonal prism) and three parts extending off of that base which can either be a cylinder or rectangular prism.

At this point, I believe I understand the program sufficiently to create these objects, but i've run into a confound. I am hoping to be able to bend some of these parts that extend of off the base. How would I go about bending such shapes? I've looked around and found the script, "shape bender" but I am uncertain as to whether this would work for me.

Thank you all for any help you can lend; It is truly appreciated.

TIG

jborders12
Welcome...
'ShapeBender' will almost certainly do what you want.
The geometry needs to be a group or component-instance.
Ensure you have all of the required files/folders installed as the instructions, and that progressbar.rb is also installed. Also note that the 'red' line and 'curve' cannot touch each other or other 'raw' geometry... Also the original geometry should not be exceptionally small or the radii of bends too tight...
If you have queries about a tool please post in the tool's thread...

jborders12

Thank you for the quick response.

One last set of questions and again, sorry for being so clueless.
How do I go about utilizing the plugin? I am running free Sketchup ver:8 on a mac running OSX Lion. I downloaded the shape bender plugin but I am unsure how to open the program on Sketchup. Do I need to download another file and/or copy the file(s) in different folders?

Thanks for all the help

hc3

Hello. I'm Henry. Got the SketchUp bug a few days ago. In the past I had considerable seat time with NX, was called Unigraphics. I'm working on modeling custom race car parts for a Bonneville team. I like to design mechanical systems, e.g. now looking at chain drives, belt drives/etc. I found, downloaded and got working PipeAlongPath and it worked great. Need for chassis layout. I can't find where to download it now to put on my home computer, I'll eventually figure it out. I also am using the k_tools for putting a filet between two lines. I hope I posted this in the right spot.
Thanks,
-Henry

hc3

Hi,
Henry again here.
I'm new and having trouble getting plugins to work.
I have Vista and SU8.
How do I find the correct forum location to post questions for e.g. 2DTools or k_tools_50.rb ?
For k_tools_50.rb I'm using the right click to setup the function, so I think I'm doing that correctly.

Re: 2DTools
I downloaded 2Dtools_4.9(1).zip and installed per the instructions.
I can get the pull downs to work/etc.
Select intersecting lines and can't get the fillet to happen. Tried a number of different sequences of inputting the radius/etc. with 1" or 1' and other radius values, after checking that the radius was reasonable considering the length of the lines.

Re: k_tools_50.rb
I downloaded k_tools_50.rb and got it to work a few times and now can't get it to work.
The function I want is to put a fillet between two lines..

Sorry for the newbee questions.

Thx,
-Henry

TIG

Henry

It quite easy to draw two lines that do not intersect.
If they don't 'cross' at some point you can't 'fillet/trim/extend' them.
Try drawing a rectangle that's around 5'x10'.
Now use the 2dFillet tool, typing in 6" as the fillet radius.
Pick two of the lines that meet at a corner.
They should fillet.
Now highlight one of those lines and use Move+Ctrl and copy that line up say 2' vertically above the original.
Now try the 2dFillet tool again [the radius should be remembered as 6"?], but this time pick one line in the original rectangle's set and the copied line that not coplanar - and no fillet can be made.
Now change the radius to say 2' [24"] and re-fillet the two rectangle-edges that are already filleted at 6" - you will see those edges trim back and a new arc added. Now change the radius to 0 and pick those two edges again, this time they'll extend to a right angled corner [zero fillet]...
Edges to be filleted/chamfered need not meet at a right-angle BUT they need to be coplanar and non-parallel - otherwise they can never be 'filleted'

hirschma

Long term lurker, coming out of the shadows.

I've been using SketchUp for product design. Finally getting somewhere. Here's a sample of something I was working on recently..

first final proto piece.png

So, hi everyone!

jh

mitcorb

Hi, there, hirschma:
Is this like a junction box for low voltage lines? The model is nice and well done judging by the mesh lines.

TIG

@hirschma said:

Long term lurker, coming out of the shadows.
I've been using SketchUp for product design. Finally getting somewhere. Here's a sample of something I was working on recently..
So, hi everyone!
jh
Hi, looks quite well worked out...
What is it exactly ?
A couple of tips.
[I realize its a 'wip' ]
You have some 'blue' [back] faces showing in the view - reverse them so all of the visible faces are the right way round - it can cause problems later with many 3rd party renderers...
If the object is a proper manifold solid [without internal 'partitions' etc you can orient all faces quickly by selecting one and all others will flip to match it - however, non-solids will give unexpected results!
The 'object' looks quite small - remember that if you try to make facets with side <~1mm or 0.01sq" with say FollowMe or some similar scripts it can fail and leave small 'holes' or even rare Bugsplats! - it's a known limitation of Sketchup/OpenGL - which is designed to model typical building-elements, through building themselves up to building-groups... but not microbes, wristwatches or at the other extreme cities or counties - BUT if you are making 'small objects' you can scale them up temporarily - say x10 - and then when the small facets etc are created you can scale back to their original size - say x0.1 - the new small geometry can exist but it's its creation that's problematic...

zandro

Hello! Im new here in this forum.

I want to share my problem. My VRay does not respond every time I render such a big file. Any suggestions? My SU version is Pro 8 in Win7.

Thanks!

TIG

@zandro said:

Hello! Im new here in this forum.
I want to share my problem. My VRay does not respond every time I render such a big file. Any suggestions? My SU version is Pro 8 in Win7.
Welcome zandro,
Can I suggest you post a message in the special VRay forum here as you're likely to get a better response there...

Gultekinmg

Hello,
this is my early sample at SU.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=16c8b57688f3fd719489d80069630f38

Has been long time i have quit sketchup due to could not utilize tools to design POPUP books.
I am back here to search some bone connection scipts to animate pop-up books.

All Sketchy Scripters makes me download are here, i like it.
I hope it helps me achive my goal.

makizushi

Greetings, all.

My name is Ryan. I work at a church and used SketchUp to create a model of the property so that I could more efficiently plan a haunted house / maze for Hallowe'en last year. I haven't got a background in CAD and have no talent for reading blueprints, but I've worked with Adobe Illustrator some and ported the skills from there to SU as best I could. The result was a usable, if inelegant file. I'd hoped to have become a SketchUp pro by now, and to be wowing everyone with mad-skillz visual walkthroughs of how we're going to do this year's haunted house...but that hasn't happened (yet). So to remedy that I've come to sketchucation for guidance.

My hopes for this forum?

I need a basic vocabulary so I understand the terminology when folks use it.
If someone could point me toward a 'best practices' guide for creating and ordering the components & models - such that I could have multiple POVs, cross-sections, etc.
also, if I want to upload my working file and ask people to critique and/or improve on it, where do I go?

Thanks in advance, and it's nice to be on such a friendly forum.

Gaieus

Hi Ryan and welcome!

There will probably not be any direct guide for most of your questions as some are quite complex.

As for "terminology": there is a "Glossary" in the SU Help Center which explains all the terms used in the application.
As for organising your model and especially using components - whenever there is the smallest bit that is repeated at least twice in your model, you should use a component and its copies ("instances") for it - but of course, this advice is ultimately vague and we could demonstrate much better with an actual example (model).
Under the text area where you are posting, there is an "Upload attachment" tab. You can upload attachments up to 2Gb here (I think smaller for images but of course you need not use 2Gb images) but if your file is bigger, you can always use the 3D Warehouse to share your model and paste the URL here.

Thoryan

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to do a quick intro.
My names Tom, and I'm in the UK.
I'm following in the footsteps of other action figure fans and just trying to create my own mods for figures, and was recommended sketchup by many of the guys on some of the figure forums.

ConnorBC

Hello everyone. I'm new to SU. I've been playing with SU Pro 8 for a few weeks now and really enjoy the program. I have never played with this type of 3D program before and have been told that SU is a great way to eventually jump into SolidWorks.

I have always enjoyed traditional drafting since high school. I am currently designing and developing new compound bow components. I have been submitting all of my traditional drafts to a second party for modeling and would like to speed things up by building the models and generate the required PDF's and DXF files right from the start.

I am able to generate simple components to scale but feel I am still some time away from completing more complex models. I will endoubtedly have many questions while learning SU.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to being an active forum member and hopefully can contribute to the forums very soon.

Connor

mitcorb

Welcome to you, Connor:
I hope you enjoy the ride. Feel free to ask questions. There's always somebody who either has an answer or can point you to a solution.

ricabescobar

Hi my name is Richard, I'm from Guatemala, that is in Central America!!, and I'm an Architec student, but I'm already working as an Architect, and I love to work with Sketchup, my primary job is in Autocad, but everytime that I can, I work something in 3d on skethup for presentations to clients or my boss. I also work with 3d max.
This is my blog and some of my works:
http://visual3drcab.blogspot.com/

I'm very happy to find this web!
I hope to find somethings very useful here.

Supreme Line

Hi Guys

I Am Ryan From Scotland.

I Started Google Sketch Up in May 2011 and since Then I have Created about 15 Ships In Which Iv Made A Ship Line Supreme Line I have 6 Employees that Build Ships For My Virtual Ship Line.

This Is My Ship Line Wiki Page
http://www.peekarica.com/steampedia/index.php?title=Supreme_Line

This Is The Official Website of My Ships
http://supremeline.weebly.com/

My Old Ships are out of date as i am learning how to build better etc.

Hope You Like Them anyway if you have any question please Aks and ill get back to you soon as possible

Waves
Supreme Line

Gaieus

Hi Ryan and welcome!

There are a couple of ship-makers here as well.

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=20385&p=170602
or
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=333&t=33757&p=296873

Have fun!