Thanks for that Irv. I like the idea of having the joint as a separate component.

Hi, I had (have) the same prolem with the 2.5 D trees I use. I have noticed that if for instance the window and the tree are NOT in a group there is no problem. But if the window is in a separate group (what I usually do for easy editing) it 'shines' thru the 'alpha channeld' tree. (png texture). Hope it is of some use. erikB

Free version of SketchUp seems to work with WINE and Ubuntu Hardy Heron on my older workstation... [image: IRqw_Screenshot-0.jpg] However, fast feedback is disabled and there is a tendency for the window to go black for a few seconds following minimizing or resizing. There were a couple of unaccountable crashes while I had SketchUp minimized. The delete key doesn't delete (I have to use the Eraser on anything). And it seems a little slow... I had to make some changes to the WINE Registry to get this to work (otherwise crash on startup): [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\SketchUp6\GLConfig\Display] "FIRST_TIME"=dword:00000000 "HW_OK"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\SketchUp6\Google SketchUp TOTD] "HelpPage"="0" "ShowOnStartUp"="false" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\SketchUp6\SnappyInstructor] "Show"="0" This is on a quad-core Pentium D with four gigs and decent NVidia card with a half-gig of VRAM from about two years ago (there's no convenient system profiler in Ubuntu, or at least I can't find one, and offhand I don't remember what is in this). Oh, and Compiz needs to be turned off from Appearance Preferences > Visual Effects. Is this worth doing just to be free of Windows or Mac OS? I don't know. It's likely there are some bugs I haven't found yet. As opposed to wasting a few hours seeing if the Pro version will work on one of my machines on Linux, it might make more sense to adapting my working methods to some Linux-native app.

You can only set the segment number of native SU circles, arcs and polygons - and even this only until you affect (modify, add walls etc) to the entity. The problem with CAD exports is that the circles/arcs do not come through as circle/arc entities (not even as a continuous polyline) so you cannot modify them later. The only solution is what Dylan says; draw a circle with your custom segment number) and resize it to fit to your needs. Now you have the circle entity and can delete the original ellipse (yes, this method is very cumbersome).

Well, Justin, it often depends. With a brick wall and light mortar, you would create a negative but when the kmortar is darker, you can leave it like that. Actually to create a really good bumpmap, you need to tweak that image a lot more. What Remus posted, has darker and lighter areas and the wood board bumped with it would seem not to be well sown at the minimum. But basically this is the method. If you wish, you can Google for "Crazy Bump" which is a beta tool for generating and tweaking bumpmaps (and specular maps and displacement maps and all those funky ones not even mentioned here). Also, the folks at the Podium forums have shared a bunch of them as well as have a nice collection of material site links (like we do, too) some of which contains bump and/or specular maps with the texture diffuse maps. Look around a little bit and you will find a lot I bet.

SketchUp is fully capable of doing so. (Wrong term though -- SketchUp uses 'drape' to describe something else. If you're searching the Users Guide, you don't want to search on that term.) You want to 'project' a texture onto the terrain surface. This is described in one of the Google video tutorials here: http://sketchup.google.com/gsu5vtvideos.html (#12, "Using images as signs") I've produced several textured terrains with projection, including a tutorial: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=2ff3fe050d0f83a549a70958796b8e8&num=50&scoring=d Hopefully, one of these models provides the help you need. Regards, Taff

Dear Joe and Bob, I've just tried the two. I'm not sure with Joe Solution because inference is missing to adjust the second arrow on the first one. Do i've missed a step, there is always some space between. Bob solution works fine. ('paste in place')"Got the good tip!"--- even if it needs a little practice. (I should never have found this Tip by myself. No mention of it in UserGuide!!) [image: arrows1.jpg] [image: arrows2.jpg] Great Thx to both of you. ;-)slb

Fred thanks, I delved into the SketchUp 5 book last night and read up on TINs etc; I have to admit to being a little shy of the Sandbox tools.... thanks again! greg v.

Thanks for sharing Jose.

Hi, It seems you need XrefManager script don't you ? -> Add Xrefs and Manage Xrefs, Autocad-like tools to insert and manage external references within SketchUp. Version 5, requires -win32ole.so- in the Plugins folder. Documentation included. d/l here: http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/em_fil_page.htm

One sure fire way is to scale your model up (factor of 10 or 100?) as I think you're pressing the envelope with SU precision working at such small scale.

Sorry for the delayed response... Yes, you could have your Steam Engine animate and "run" using Antics V3.1 BasePack and for more information on how to make this happen have a look at our SketchUp Tips and Tricks section at http://www.antics3d.com/forum.php?action=topics&cat_id=24

Thanks guys. After great deal of research and try outs, I concluded that SU is not yet there for fine designing. Its power is in quick presentations and models. Saying that, I have not finalized the tool I will use but am glad that at least I won't spend more time with SU for this purpose. But, I will surely use SU for lot other reasons. till then so long.. (not for long) Pankaj ps: Thanks Alan for pointing to new tool.

Following up on what was said above regarding printing to scale, to turn off Perspective, under the Camera Menu, select instead Parallel Projection. In effect, perspective views do not have a reference to a scale; orthographic and oblique projections do. Hope this helps. Cheers, Diego -

This would be nice too: faster exploding. Probably been mentioned a couple of times before.

well, meanwhile... many moons later... I have created the file. It shows the ADA Toilet Room Grab Bars (to the best of my ability/understanding) exactly as specified in ANSI A117.1 ... So attached you will find a SketchUp model with the ADA grab bars for a toilet room built to ANSI A117.1 standards. I expect to one day be in a toilet room in the African desert and see this grab bar setup - got it?! Enjoy! DISCLAIMER: USE THIS ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK. IT IS PROVIDED ONLY AS A COURTESY AND NO LIABILITY IS ASSUMED BY THE AUTHOR FOR PROVIDING THIS. IF YOU BUILD YOUR TOILET ROOM ACCORDING TO THIS AND FIND IT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH YOUR CODE BOOK THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. NO WARRANTY, GUARANTEE, OR ANY OTHER IMPLIED OR STATED ASSURANCE IS PROVIDED THAT THIS IS CORRECT. DOWNLOADING OF THIS ATTACHMENT ACKNOWLEDGES ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DISCLAIMER.[image: MxpI_GrabBars_Wisconsinism_per2008code.jpg] GrabBars_perANSI A117.1_2008.rar

Happens to me all the time...I just thought it was a standard thing like when you draw a line to cut geometry and it creates a new white face over your existing material face.

"use fast feedbak" it's the problem!!!

thanks a lot Boofredlay and lapx! these are both such cool tricks. I didnt know either of them. thats one of the moments, when I know, why I visit this forum every day!!!

I'm having this same issue, I've looked on the SU Animate Website and didn't find any help. I've posted the same question on their website in search for some answers.