A Welcome Message to New SketchUcation Members

kevcott9 · 25 Mar 2014, 06:12

Hi
I'm a fiddler with various 2d and 3d graphic programmes. I like to draw things before I make them as it makes measurements and alignments easier.

I've been looking but am unable to find suggestions on how to set a model up. That is, do I centre it on the axis, offset it a certain distance etc.

Cheers

Krisidious · 25 Mar 2014, 07:15

@kevcott9 said:

Hi
I'm a fiddler with various 2d and 3d graphic programmes. I like to draw things before I make them as it makes measurements and alignments easier.

I've been looking but am unable to find suggestions on how to set a model up. That is, do I centre it on the axis, offset it a certain distance etc.

Cheers

That's up to you and the use of your model.

A model saved into the component folder becomes a "component" and the axis center is the insertion point, so some of these components would be good to center, others might be better to build in one direction or another.

TIG · 25 Mar 2014, 13:30

Since you can always 'swap' one component type for another, then it makes sense to at least have some consistency across each kind of thing.
So for example - always make your columns with a central insertion point at the base [floor-level ?], then swapping one kind for another will leave them still located logically.
If you had different corners or rotations for different columns then they'll jump around as you swap them !
A WC pan is another prime example: its insertion should be central on the wall it will go on ?, on the floor/wall junction, with consistent direction etc, or even gluing set to vertical-faces, so a swap to change the ref/manufacturer, isn't a major remodeling issue afterwards...

astute1 · 12 Apr 2014, 21:04

Hi everyone. This is my first post and its going to be a little different than what you might see. I need some info and some opinion, so fire anything at me you feel may be useful, as i have to start somewhere.

Firstly, to be clear, I am a complete pre-beginner at sketch up.

I am interested in 3d visualization because I see it can be of so much benefit to clients in the residential building and construction industry. It seems it is massively under utilized. I have worked in this industry at the building end for some 15yrs a portion of it being as a project manager.

I think the 3d graphic and animation used on the English "Grand Designs" with Kevin McCloud, needs to be taken to the masses. Almost all people I have come into contact with, who have had bespoke homes built would have had been hugely advantaged both in confidence and budget, to have been able to virtally tour their home before the construction phase. It would have enabled early design alterations, material choices and color options.

So question 1 easy one
Is this 3 d animation possible with sketch-up?

Question 2
I am not a designer and would never pretend to be. But I am good at making design a reality. I would like to now make it a virtual reality. If a building is drawn on say auto-cad by a designer or architect. Can Sketch-up or some other program read this and take it some way into the 3d imagery or do you have to manually take the drawings over?

Question 3

I feel there is a gap in the market here in New Zealand for this type of product. I would love to set up a business where designers and the like would contract this work out. Is that some thing that is occurring elsewhere in the world.

I said this was a weird first post.

I know I can learn the programs, but in relation to basing a business on it, is this possibly viable or am i just blowing smoke out my A.

All comments welcome

Astute 1

mitcorb · 13 Apr 2014, 13:20

Hi, Simon:
Welcome to the forum.
The answers to your questions, generally, is Yes.

But, if you take some time to peruse this site from the Board Index, or do keyword searches either internally or on the web, you will see a wealth of information to explore that is Sketchup related.
Also, for instance, take a look at the Gallery subforum here to see what folks are doing with Sketchup and rendering programs.
As you will discover, there are members from all over the world, including New Zealand.

Again, welcome.

RI_Design · 25 May 2014, 09:03

Hey Everybody. Im coming from the Solidworks community and wanted to introduce myself

cotty · 25 May 2014, 12:23

Welcome!

osicka · 12 Jun 2014, 09:12

Hello! I have just registered to be able to download the RoundCorner plugin. However when I try to do so, I get "You are not authorised to read this forum" message only. Do I need to do something else?

TIG · 12 Jun 2014, 10:47

@osicka said:

Hello! I have just registered to be able to download the RoundCorner plugin. However when I try to do so, I get "You are not authorised to read this forum" message only. Do I need to do something else?
You need to post a couple of times before you are recognized as legit... you might be a spam-bot !
Once you are able to get that "RoundCorner" plugin, remember that you also need to install "Fredo's Lib" for it to work...

osicka · 12 Jun 2014, 11:35

Thank you for you answer. Is it enough for me to post few posts in this topic? How many is "few"? I do not want to bother you or anyone with the download but so far it seems that there is no other way.

massimo · 12 Jun 2014, 11:46

@unknownuser said:

How many is "few"?

Few. Are you here just to download a free plugin?

Rich O Brien · 12 Jun 2014, 11:57

You only need to be logged in to download anything from here....

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

TIG · 12 Jun 2014, 12:04

Please remember that this is a community... so sharing knowledge and giving something back is nice - but it's not compulsory...

As for 'few'...
If you make another sensible post on the forum you'll probably have enough 'credits' to start downloading etc.

Most importantly - remember to switch off any Ad-Block add-on you might have on your browser, just for sketchucation.com - it's part of the ToS you agreed to when joining - if you have one active and you are not a Premium member, then you may be barred from seeing images, downloads etc - the modest income derived from the small ads on the SCF pages help to pay for the site to exist...

osicka · 12 Jun 2014, 18:51

Thank you guys for the information. Yes, originally I came to this forum to download a free plugin. I have found multiple WWW pages saying that RoundCorner is great and that it is free. I just wanted to quickly show how some furniture will look like in our new house to my wife.

Since I could not download the plugin apparently because of the local activity-credit system, I made the round corners by the Follow me tool as I always do, it just took 1-2 hours longer than it probably would take when using the plugin. Plus about an hour chatting on this forum:)

I use Sketchup only for testing architectural features of our house so I do not consider myself an expert to give advice to others. This means that I won't be able (not mentioning to have spare time) to contribute to this forum which in turn won't allow me to download. Seems like chicken-egg problem.

I'm describing my situation for local admins to consider the download limitation for newbies. For me it means that I'm leaving this forum (at least for a while) abandoned with the Follow me tool to do round corners. Who knows, since I have over 20 years of programming experience (I also know Ruby but not from Sketchup), I could provide it to this community based on my experience with the plugin downloaded. But this won't happen now because I have nothing to look at.

Thank you for your time!

Box · 13 Jun 2014, 01:32

As pointed out above, it's your adblocker, popup blocker or firewall that is preventing your download, not your number of posts. A few posts are moderated to see that you aren't posting spam but many thousands of members happily download everything they want without ever posting.
It only requires registration and the acceptance of a few sketchup related Ads to see images and downloads.

Sandy Jackson · 2 Sept 2014, 00:10

Hello all
just joined tonight.
been using sketchup for a few years, I've learned enough to get by but I want to learn some new chops. I've gone stagnant in my learning, happy to find this site. Picked up a coupla things from the "tips for new user thread" already.
I've been using the program long enough to be an intermediate user I guess but it seems my skill level is probably "beginner".
I seem to be familiar with the components, groups, exporting 2d drawings and I've gotten fairly handy with all the tools but..............
short list of stuff to learn would be, layers, plug ins, space mouse? go to pro version?
layout?
I'm a cabinetmaker not a computer jock and an old fart at that. A bit intimidated by all the info on this site. Any guidance to particular posts would be welcome, until then I'll just continue plowing through that newby tip section.

Thanks
Sandy Jackson

Phillip H · 1 Jan 2015, 13:35

Hi All,

Thanks for the warm welcome and all of the informative posts. Greetings from Houston, TX. This being my first post, so I thought I would share a little. I have worked or dabbled in a little bit of everything it seems. I'm an old man with a young kid inside.

Started with computers building Motorola, Zilog and various other 'computer on a chip' kits, mainly playing with 6800 and z80 series chips sets. Did a lot of machine code programming with dedicated microprocessor stuff from a hex pad. My how things have changed.

These days I'm learning to use SU to plan and build projects for the needy. My last project was an emergency shelter based on Paul Elkins plans found here: http://www.elkinsdiy.com/stationary-shelters/homeless-emergency-shelter/ My material and size requirements differed from the original so I had to make some adjustments.

I claim an intermediate user level but that might be an exaggeration. Though I can get around in SU, I have a lot to learn and will share what I can. I look forward to stealing all your ideas. Thanks in advance.

Phillip

ghanson · 11 Apr 2015, 15:36

I am using SU for planning and modeling woodworking projects. I started with SU 2 weeks ago so I'm definitely at the Beginner level.
My first projects have been a workbench and a washer/dryer pedestal. The good news/bad news scenario is now that my wife has seen the SketchUp models she is coming up with all kinds of new projects for me!

Will C · 30 Apr 2015, 02:50

Hi. I came across this forum to download some plugins, for what I've seen this seems like a good place to get plenty of help and advice. I'm an intermediate Sketchup user mostly using it for level design. I have improved my skills the past year and I hope to continue to improve them by reading the tutorials on here.

santodomingo · 1 May 2015, 20:55

Hello, I come from AutoCAD and now I'm starting with sketchup because I think a great program. I was told about this site to learn and have resources and plugins. Thank you for allowing me to participate