Thanks TIG for the feedback - I eventually used a lisp routine to read the text and place it at the correct elevation, then I used another lisp to place a point at the text insertion followed by your point triangulation routine in SU and all done! Could be simpler if the surveyor just used 3d from the word go...

There's a whole raft of plugins you can use for this...once you get into it. Thom's QuadFace Tools has a great usability too. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39442

Does this happen with every SKP you try, or a specific SKP that might be corrupted ? If it's SKP related try this. Open a new SKP. Preferences > General > Check models for problems tick Automatically check... AND Automatically fix... OK. Close SketchUp. Now reopen the problem SKP. It should be fixed as SketchUp opens it. Now try Model Info... again... If it occurs with every SKP then you need to use Control Panels > Programs and Features and Reinstall/Repair SketchUp v2013 - something is wrong and needs fixing. Failing that, try uninstalling SketchUp and reinstalling from scratch... Any custom files you have [e.g. Plugins will NOT be deleted by a proper uninstall using the system-uninstaller]

the difference in my case is that I use render[in] rather than podium... it is annoying having to force quit every time... and having to load back the plugin's icons. solutions anyone?

@blastfurnace said: .....When I relocate an axis then I grab a group I want the Protractor (Axes) of that group to snap to the current axes. **(A)**It doesn't always do that and **(B)**sometime it is off by so little between two axes that it isn't quickly noticeable.... (A) I notice that some groups are "stubborn" and keep their own axes to align to. They simply do not wish to adopt to the new drawing axes by use of the 'Move' tool and its protractor. I don't know the cause of this. Your flang group is one of them. (B) Don't snap to axes. Use input 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees after rotating to arbitrary angle.

@calypsoart said: Is there any way to transfer the workspace from my desktop to the laptop? if Windows you may wanna try our BackUp Prefs Tool for dumping your SU config to file and restore from this file on the laptop... at least if using the same program directory. as always, use at own risk, don't moan if it scrambles you destination installation of SU hth, Norbert

@jeff hammond said: @unknownuser said: Thanks guys! What I mean is: it's usually best to think ahead in these situations.. copy the lines when they're more selectable then paste in place once the surface is made.. [attachment=0:18rbck4m]<!-- ia0 -->untitled.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:18rbck4m] perimeter curves curviLoft's geometry options -- generate only junctions or intermediate lines (or both) using curvizard (other plugins available for this) , select a segment on the curve you want and it will automatically select the rest of the segments then weld.. do that for the lines you want visible then Copy make the surface - smooth if necessary Paste in Place . Thanks Jeff, that is what I want!

You can Kris but I need to turn off a single building and have the rest showing. The client wants to see their tower with modifications in context.

hm... so even in SU2014 adding geometry in many smaller groups are slower..? This doesn't sound right...

actually double clicking on poping window should be ok

Jim, Thanks so much that worked! I just did not know "STereo Lithography was STL and did not look close enough.

There's a TUTORIAL forum where it is less likely to be buried over time

Thanks for sharing!

I often need alternate styles while working. I have scenes set up that change the style (and nothing else) so I can look at the presentation of export style, then switch to a style that is easier for working.

THanks guys. The video helped

Thanks TIG, that worked perfectly.

@mathieuweekes1 said: I have turned off extensions in Preferences and also removed everything out of the plugins folder in the library via Applications leaving the extensions that come with SU (sandbox, dynamic components etc) and Shaderlight. The result is that it is still crashing? Does this mean there is a problem with the renderer? well, what happens when you turn off Shaderlight? does sketchUp still crash? or, sketchUp is crashing while rendering with / using shaderlight? because to me, it's starting to sound more and more like shaderLight is causing the crashes as well as the odd toolbar behavior you're seeing.. you probably should contact shaderlight support.. @unknownuser said: Is it worth uninstalling SU14 and Shaderlight and reinstalling? if it were me, i'd try to narrow down the cause a bit more and if i concluded shaderlight was the problem, i'd ditch it and go find another renderer but that's just me.. another problem is that shaderlight may be doing something 'bad' to the .plist ..so if you do decide to uninstall it, you should probably reset the .plist again as outlined earlier in order to get rid of any possible corruption the plugin may have caused. @unknownuser said: To improve my understanding of best practises; What is the best method of installing plugins in SU. 2014? Is there anything I should avoid doing? the 'best' is to just use the sketchucation plugin store and trimbles built in extension warehouse.. if you get plugins from elsewhere, always try to get .rbz versions then install them via Sketchup->Preferences->Extensions->install Extensions.. doing that will eliminate any install errors.. unfortunately, it won't prevent errors in the plugin's code though

You can try thrupaint from Fredo tools. SketchUV will do it. Quadfacetools from Thomthom will work in this situation too.

You can use Edit>Copy and Edit>Paste or PasteInPlace on anything in one SKP and thereby duplicate it in another SKP. You can't readily reuse a Group in another SKP later on, unless you convert it to a Component [context-menu item]... The usual way to make one SKP's Components available for use at any time later, is to open the Component Browser and either Save an individual Component [you can also do this for a selected instance, from a context-menu item] or you can choose the flyout menu option to Save all of your Components to a Collection. You can delete any unwanted SKPs from that folder... That Collection [aka Library] can be made accessible from the Component Browser, so that you can use those Components in future projects... If you are thinking of keeping all of your Component SKPs in a single location then ensure you have FULL Security permissions to that folder - the standard SketchUp/Components folder might have limited permissions by default...

When reading this a thought came to my mind - how does SketchUp shadows work? Isn't it a graphic representation of the angle between sun and the face. And it is smooth. The same could be used in this case. Sorry if I am talking nonsense. I am not the TIG