SketchUp Failed to Save File
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The saving manually is fine, so I don't know why I am getting that message and again - just started happening yesterday and there is a message - the one I wrote in the subject that says - "Unable to save file", but again, if I hit cmd/s it saves, so it has to be the autosave and of which there are none.
However, this all becomes moot, as my piggy bank will not allow me to purchase Pro, at least not now, and certainly not with that price as a yearly license and sub fee, so I guess SU and I will have to part ways for the time being. I'll miss the little darling, but c'est la vie. Thanks for all of your help over the years Dave. It's been a pleasure.
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@kathryng said:
... and certainly not with that price as a yearly license and sub fee...
You don't have to pay the yearly fees if you don't want to. They get you the upgrade to the next version and tech support from the home office. Once you've bought the license, it will continue to work for that version of SketchUp without any further fees. You should get your "employer" to do that. It's the least he can do.
I hope you'll reconsider.
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The thing is Dave, it's a little more complicated than that. I only work part time, and more like party time. I can go months without doing anything in the event off-season which is historically the summer, and then anything I do is definitely just hobby stuff. It would not be fair to ask my employer (who happens to be my nephew) to pay for SU as he already does way too much for me as it is. My working season is really only from September to maybe February if I am lucky. The rest of the time it's "rake and scrape".
I totally understand that SU is a business, not a charitable organisation. I really do get that, and we all have to live and pay our bills, but we can each only do what we can do. Maybe I can ask for donations for Mother's Day or something and put those in the SU piggy bank. Would be nice too if they had a true subscription service like Photoshop or Illustrator, actually Adobe, which takes the sting out. Although I hate owing money, so I should not talk as I pay both of those in full for the year. Such a contradiction I am.
Trust me - don't know how I am going to survive with SU. 
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Kathryn, I get where you're coming from, I honestly do. However, please realize that every single current license is subsidizing you (and others, like you, using the software for business purposes against the very terms and conditions you agree to when you install the software).
I know for sure I could apply the funds in a different way (or keep it in my pocket, so-to-speak), the funds I spend (and spent in the past) to purchase and keep SketchUp up to date. Of course this extends to certain extensions that are version bound, but this is none of your (or anybody else's) concern.
$695 isn't a little bit of money, but it isn't a whole lot either. How many job's do you do in a season? 10? Add $70 to each job's fee and within a few jobs you've recouped your spend. Thereafter you pocket it or use it for extensions and maintenance (when it becomes due, after a year, if this is your choice).
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You are right - and I shall indeed more than likely have to bite the bullet. The other consideration is that I can apply it to my income tax as per my CPA. I am nowhere near an expert in SU - far from it, but am able to do what needs to be done to get my renders looking as I want them. My work is in special events, so not everything requires SU or a render. A lot of my work is involved in preparing vector artwork and if I'm lucky actually getting to design something for printing like a fabric mural for an event. But... SU is important in reeling in the client, so bullet biting it will be. Have a super weekend. Cheers!
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PS - juju
My other thought is that I use both Twilight and LightUp to light and render my images, and regardless of the settings used, the end result can be less than stellar when viewed close up, and while I don't expect "vector" looking edges, the pixelation can sometimes be upsetting. Any thoughts on this, and what do you use? If I am going to spend this money, I want images that are crisp and clean when complete. Thank you. -
I tried SU Podium a few years ago, but settled on LightUp and Twilight instead. I don't believe there is an option in Twilight to choose a resolution? Will have to investigate that again.
Oh and do I ever know about the time involved. I recently did a render that I had to leave overnight. Not a problem if I know in advance when I will need it. A zillion faces and edges and no option to reduce the amount. Photoshop is my baby. I have been using it since 1990 shortly after it was first created and it's not that expensive, about $120 a year. a lot cheaper than SketchUp! In addition to which I use a lot of actions both recorded myself and some purchased on Envato. I also use Topaz Labs plug-ins and Digital Tools Light, a lot. My work is not really photographer/photography. More designer and artist. However... it has always been my feeling that digging in one's heels gets you nowhere, and we need to be open-minded and ready to explore all possibilities.
My nephew refers to me as an "all-rounder" Brit cricket term for someone who can take all places on the cricket pitch, and so while Photoshop fits that bill and in addition to which I need to be able to use Illustrator in conjunction with PS, I am going to have a look at the Affinity Photo that you spoke. Never heard of it to be honest.
Sigh... so many programmes, so much to learn, so much to earn, and so little time. Have a brilliant weekend, and thank you ever so much for your input. I really like getting others opinions. Makes me think!
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You can choose the resolution or size of the render in Twilight. It's right on the render window. I raise the resolution every time and reducing the image after does help.
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The way I work is to double (or quadruple) the export resolution to what I intend in using at the end, that way when I resize the image it becomes crisper (w.r.t. the edges). This works well when exporting straight from SU as the time difference in exporting is negligible.
When doing renders I do the same thing, however you need to take more care as renders can take muuuuuch longer when you bump up the resolution. When rendering I seldom bump up more than double the resolution as you typically don't have the black SU edges to deal with.
Rendering software I have licenses for:
- Podium: I haven't used (or updated) it in years. It was very easy to use and output was acceptable for the time. I've recently seen some very appealing images rendered with this, it may be worth a look? It's not expensive either.
- LightUp: I haven't used (or updated) it in years. It was easy to use, some nice features (photometric rendering, IES support), but I never could get used the oldish game engine looking output. I think this may have improved since, but I'm currently using other software.
- Indigo Renderer: My licence is current (version 4, latest release / build) which sports CPU / GPU (OpenCL) rendering. It's not too straightforward but results can be hyper photo realistic, depends on how much time you spend texturing and setting things up (this is true for all rendering purposes though). Also has IES support. They've made a lot of progress on program optimization, and continue to do so. There are two versions, the "RT" version is a lot cheaper with some limitations when compared to the "full" version. The "RT" version may be good enough for most archviz (or similar) applications though.
- Thea Renderer for SketchUp: My licence is current (version 1.5, latest release / build) which sports CPU / GPU or hybrid rendering. Also not too straightforward to use, results can be photo realistic depending on how much time you spend texturing and setting things up. Integration with SU is quite good, it has features I want (photometric rendering/reporting, IES support) and have conversion tools for textures created in Substance Designer.
- SketchFX Ex: My licence is current, still want to get their other extension (which works with SketchFX) AmbientOcclusion. I use this for NPR / artistic output, doesn't have architectural lighting (or IES) support though...
I have / use Affinity Photo instead of Photoshop, it works just as well, supports PS plugins, has perpetual licensing and is much (as in much much much) cheaper than PS.
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@pbacot said:
You can choose the resolution or size of the render in Twilight. It's right on the render window. I raise the resolution every time and reducing the image after does help.
You are so right - don't know what I was thinking or not thinking as is the case. I usually render at 1200 x 900 and Preset of 6, but even so - see how blurry this image is? It was a really big model, so don't know if that had anything to do with it. I also find that the progressive render did no better. Maybe my expectations are too high. This image was 3672x1724 @ 300 ppi (overkill I know - but I never know whether it is going to be viewed on a monitor or if I have to print - it's a tough life
) Reduced here to 1600 for the sake of upload. Viewed full screen it looks dreadful. Small it's just barely OK. PS - I am a mediocre SU artist, so don't judge. I keep practicing. 
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juju!!!! Said I would check things out and I did - well Affinity Photo to start out with. BOUGHT IT INSTANTLY! It looks quite amazing, and just the fact that it can save history (undo) states alone on closing a file would have have sold me. That is my biggest bug-bear with PS, so this is just totally splendiferous!!! THANKS for the tip.
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Glad I could brighten your day Kat! If you do any vector-based stuff be sure to check out Affinity Designer, I don't use it though.
From what I hear Affinity's working on some other tools to replace some other Adobe graphics-related tools with, I think it is lightroom they have their cross-hairs on but can't tell for sure.
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