Why won't it work?

Larry Bates

Ok,

Thanks Gaieus for trying to make sense of my post, I was a little frustrated. It would probably help if I posted up the model I started on. I was trying to follow along with Krisidious's post on how a pro builds a model. So, I created a plane first, then applied my floorplan as a texture. I then scaled a line, or so I thought, and traced the plan. The first thing I notice is I am having trouble getting the walls to fill in. So, I start again from scratch. I am tracing a so so print, and since it is black I change the color of the lines to pinky purple, so I can see them. I can't get the walls to fill in when they become closed. I change the line color to "by axis" and see that many of the lines I thought were correctly done aren't a color, they are black, which means they aren't on the same plane, yes? It seems that my lines are not cutting each other when they cross. So, it works pretty good when I know exactly where the line will end, and I can just inference that point. Also, my measuring tool is really driving me mad. It keeps cutting my measurements short! I must have something not right. Any suggstions? I will try to upload the model in a while, maybe later today.

Thanks.

Larry

Gaieus

@unknownuser said:

I will try to upload the model in a while, maybe later today.

Larry, that would be kind of "essential" in this case.
Kriss' method is very straightforward and easy to follow if you are working from a blueprint (i.e. you just need to trace lines - nothing else matters).

Yet sometimes it is better to believe SU than the drawing when it comes to inferencing and on/off axis alignment; so use the drawing only as a kind of "guideline" which direction to go.

I think even he suggests this (when mentioning "real" architectural dimensions for wall thickness and such...)

Larry Bates

Ok, I've linked up to Kelly's server (step one ), and am trying to reduce the size of my already huge file.(27mb) I'm assuming that it is the scan of the floor plan image that it is so big.

Larry

Gaieus

Any links Larry?
How on (Google) Earth could we know where you put it?

Larry Bates

Hi G,

Well, I wasn't sure I should upload such a large file. It is ok? I will delete it later.

Larry

Gaieus

OK, just go ahead.
Maybe if we really don't need that image there you can delete it from the file (and purge unused materials). If you think you need that image, leave it in there for now.

Larry Bates

Thanks Gaieus,

I'll do it sometime today.

Larry

Larry Bates

http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/sas/Newbie/Walts%20model%202.skp

hope this works. OK, this should work now G

Thanks.

Larry

Gaieus

OK,

So what I tried to do first was to select all (triple click) and choose "Intersect selection" and "Intersect model" several times to fill in the walls but no avail.

Then - still hoping that all the lines were coplanar" - I made a group of the big face with the image (and its surrounding four edges on the outsides), drew a diagonal line to "triangulate" it then made a group of the rest of the model (all the lines you had drawn) and draped this latter group onto the first one with the use of the sandbox tools.
Then deleted the remnants of the diagonal line, exploded bboth groups and your walls now seem to be separate faces from the big face.

Here is the link (once it uploads...
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/sas/Newbie/Walts%20model%203.skp

Larry Bates

Um ok,

I don't understand, what does that do? Please don't take this wrong, I don't know how to say it in type without sounding ungrateful. How will this fix help, or is this just the first step?

This is not an actual job, so don't feel as you need to give me a quick fix. I am just trying to understand what I am doing wrong. ( sorry about the size, next time I'll reduce the size of the scan )

Thanks for taking the time.

Larry

Gaieus

Larry,

I did exactly write down every step I had done because I felt you needed the "way to do" not just the final model.

Please, tell me if you don't understand something - I'd be glad to help.

Larry Bates

Gai...
I'm sorry, I understand what you wrote, I just was wanting to understand what it was I was doing wrong.
So, are you saying that because I didn't make the scan of the floor plan a separate layer that the lines were becoming part of it?

Modelhead, yes it is a large file, and I will make it smaller, I was trying to get as clear a scan as possible because the print was not that good that I had to work from. Making it gray scale would probably help too.

Thanks for your help guys.
Larry

Gaieus

Larry, layering wouldn't help since layers do not separate geometry in SU only control visibility of them Thus you should never put "primitive" geometry on different layers - group them or make components first and only then put them onto different layers.

If you are worrying about your image being split up by the lines, group the image rather than put it on a separate layer.

As for the image size; SU "shrinks" your image to something 1024 pixels anyway so loading a bigger image is useless.

Anssi

@larry bates said:

So, are you saying that because I didn't make the scan of the floor plan a separate layer that the lines were becoming part of it?

Hi Larry,

Layers in SU do NOT separate geometry, they are just one way of controlling the visibility of objects. So to keep your lines separate from the scanned photo, you should group it. Grouping or componentizing are the only ways to keep pieces of geometry separate in SU.

As to using layers, it is a good practice to draw everything on layer 0, and if you need to use layers, make groups or components of the geometry before moving it to another layer.

Anssi

Larry Bates

Gaieus,
Ok, smaller image got it. Thanks for your help guys. I'll remove the LARGE FILE now. and try building again. I hope this is not what I have to do everytime I build something.

Larry