@jql said: Nope, nothing's changed. But you might have been using a different style or there might be something you're not aware of and so you're not telling us. Well interesting.......... I just took the 2015 file and opened it again in 2016. I noticed that the style icon had the round arrows on it so I updated the style and WaaaLaaa, it worked. So it was a styles issue all along. Do not know why I did not see that yesterday. Now a couple more interesting things: I do not have any layers or section names associated with the section plane I added the SectionCutFace and was able to set the color of various portions of the section cut.One interesting showed up that I had not seen before when using the SectionCutFace. Of course it showed all of the cuts to the walls and applied a face which I was able to color to match the texture of the walls and floor. Then a new one showed up in that it applied a face with the default color to the entire rest of the building. I then colored that face white and set the opacity to 0. Now a couple of questions: When trying the SectionCutFace plugin before I had not seen that happen. I did do the update of the plugin yesterday. Is this a bug? Even though I got the section cut to work properly today, is this the wrong way to do it? I have seen several other examples and tutorials before where the author (and some of them very advanced authors) did not add a section name and put it on a layer to control the visibility. I suppose (and looking at the parameters of the SectionCutFace plugin) that the best organization is to name the section cut and put it on a layer and control the visibility via the layer. Just trying to understand the best/correct way because I will be using this for some later endeavors.

@garystan said: Hi everybody : First, I'm using version 8. I have a couple of questions. One comment though. Too bad there wasn't a "converter" that could "convert" older version files to the newer file version. I AM thinking about switching to a newer version of Sketchup. Also, on the redering plugins, do any of them have "adjustable" settings. Such as settings for the amount of reflectivity (or shine)? And adjustable transparency ? The only other concern is that, I've always had problems getting the plugins installed and working. Thanks, garystan As above, newer versions of SketchUp can automatically open files saved in older versions. Yes rendering plugins have all sorts of adjustable settings for materials and lighting. Try using the Sketchucation PluginStore software to find and manage plugins. There is also the SketchUp Extension Warehouse as a source. With newer versions of SketchUp you will find that the methods for installation have been enhanced, though the underlying mechanism is still the same (saving to the appropriate folder). Start from the beginning (as if you've not done it before) and read the instructions. There are sticky threads here as well.

You could likely do what you need using the C/C++ SketchUp SDK, which can read and write the SketchUp file format. But there is no official support for C# or java as such. You would be on your own getting a bridge from those languages to the API working. The file format is proprietary and unpublished, so you could not legally roll your own API. SketchUp embeds a Ruby interpreter for extensions, and you could use that as well - though not as a standalone Ruby program. SketchUp would have to be running to execute the Ruby internally.

Nope... It's fast if you use Blendup. Just Hide all edges and then, unhide where you want your seams to be. Then UNwrap there using the Unwrap tool. It should be a straight forward job to you (because it is for me). The only thing is that when your model comes back to sketchup, if modify it's geometry without a plugin that keeps UV maps (like SubD or Artisan do) you are probably f''' up and need to redo the map... But then again, with those seams in the right places it's fast. For flat faces it will be better to UNwrap in Sketchup.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately that thread is from me from last week too I couldn't get the 2015 program to work even after trying everyones suggestions. I finally got the 2016 Pro and it worked fine for 3 days and then started doing the same thing. I'm sure its just a simple setting or button that has been activated in error but I can't find it...

Are you allowed to share one of those dynamic components? Are they very complex ones? How long did you wait? If SketchUp don't respond it normally keeps working in the background and will probably finish after a longer time.

Yes!!, Thanks Box.

Indeed it does work (with the x86 version, oddly). I'm not sure I can share it with you. Maybe you can request it from Trimble, or register as a developer? It's quite easy and fast.

The 2 free monster for Landscaping and other things! for any size of Project! Unity 5 UE4 And this cool free one : Lumen rt VIZ 2015 for SKetchup (2015 2016) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1gxxp_poA LightUp can go to the WEB! Plugin for you but not for the visitor! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gLetWJduuU

You won't get prompted to give the style a new name although that could be a nice new feature to request. It just appends a number to the style. I would suggest that you keep all of the style options ticked normally and only untick boxes for special cases.

i've been wondering the same thing hopefully vray will support that on its next release

Good tutorial, thanks for posting!

@jql said: You can have a referenced Sketchup file changed in layout, but you can also have a reference component in your sketchup file and change it for another. Layout stuff refers to Sketchup Model and Sketchup model is switched on the fly by another component saved on disk, keeping sections and scenes. I use this system for window components in my architectural projects. Yes and this seems like a VERY good tutorial for that sort of thing. It just goes so fast (and I only speak English) that is difficult to pick up on all he is showing.

What is the date set to and the latitude. If you haven't changed it, the latitude would be set to 40.018309N so the sun only rises at or before 5:30 AM between the third week April and the middle of August. I get shadows during that time.

Which version did you go with Joe?

Thanks both of you for the prompt replies. Learnt something new from this as well . Anyway, I've "fixed" it by re-doing it at the desired scale, though from what you say slbaumgartner I could have just scaled up a component - oh well . Should at least go quicker & easier next time.

right on, thanks for the help Dave