you can usually fix this pretty quick by turning on hidden geometry, window select the faces you'd like to give visible edges to, copy, exit group (or group original), paste in place, turn off hidden geometry, explode group.. (sometimes readjusting the soften smooth setting on the copied face after pasting.. or selecting the face and deleting, etc..). attach the .skp if you can't figure it out.. i'm pretty sure you should be able to do it on this model.

Dashed lines: There's a dashed line plugin available from Smustard.com but I don't really have any problem drawing dashed lines in LayOut. If there are a lot of them for a given viewport, I will make a scene with those lines displayed and explode that viewport in LO. I like that option when I expect the model to be modified and will have to modify those lines. These methods work alright for my use. Call outs: You could make a scrapbook with the callouts you need. Or you could make a group of the leader and the text box before you copy it. Callouts can point either way and it's easy enough to add an additional leader if you want more than one. BTW, please complete your profile. It'll be helpful.

It seems texture support was only taken so far in SU to accommodate the basic flat surface modeling. Organic modeling wasn't a priority. Therefore it appears to the user that tools are lacking.

@ntxdave said: @dave r said: Did you explicitly set permissions for the SketchUp Plugins folder to Full Control for your login? It doesn't sound like it. Yes, and I went to my old computer to check that they were set the same. I am not seeing the difference. I just went back and checked again and my login was not set. So I set it (again), now all seems to be working fine. Thanks for replying. I do not know how the permission did not get set before.

Do you mean that the shadows aren't displayed while you're orbiting, zooming or panning? If so, that is intended behavior. SketchUp temporarily turns off the shadows while you are navigating in the model to improve navigation performance. You might experiment wit turning Hardware acceleration on or off and see if it happens less but it isn't something that can be eliminated entirely.

Thank you. Guess I'll have to get used to it

Dear Bob, I don't believe there are any security issues but you need to have administrative rights to install programs. I've run into this when trying to install tools for working on the medical equipment I take care of. For that reason and despite our IT dept.'s desire to get rid of all Win XP machines, I've kept an XP laptop just so I can run those tools.

Thanks so much guys, it worked. I scaled it up by 10000 und then used Fredo´s bending tool. I still have minor surface damages, but nothing i couldnt repair.

Thanks Deereei, I hadn't thought of that, and Pbacot, yes - I was looking at Artrage last night http://www.artrage.com/, it's moved along a lot since I last saw it, and with its layers and blending, it should do fine (and is probably as automatic as I'm going to get).

@cjryan said: I've had great results with my ASUS Republic of Gamers G750JH-DB71 17.3" Notebook , it's heavy, and the power block is the size of a brick. But it rocks SU. I'm not that familiar with "Lumion", but I also use it for renders, and I'm a heavy PhotoShop user. It handles everything I throw at it. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983611-REG/asus_g750jh_db71_i7_4700hq_24gb_1tb_128ssd_x2_windows_8_64_17_3.html For what it's worth... Chris This laptop is def on my wish list, Ive had the G74sx for the last 2 years and its done a great job.

Now I can post a "result". Everything you said works, I tried all plugins. Feels like holding a weapon now My "tower" was a very fast created model - just to see, that I've understood.. THANKS AGAIN! [image: MQO2_thing.jpg]

@matheusbragagnolo said: Yep, it's a Retina display! I thought it could be due to it, but was not sure. Thank you Yeah, the adaptation of SketchUp to the Retina was a mixed bag. Some things are wonderfully clear, but others are so tiny they are hard to see. I often find it hard to make out a selected Edge or to be certain that a cursor's hotspot is on an Edge. Fredo has been tearing out hair trying to make view.draw_text use a non-microscopic font. The programmers did not expose any interface to let users configure these things... Steve

Good job on the video! \

stl importer by Jim Foltz I'll give that a try. Thanks.

$50 an hour for changes or a number that makes me feel good about the totality of work.

Seems you can also use this free crazzy Plugin Manifold for Wings3D! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t3Ng27kzAk&list=PL8liErXtlMzc-CKedSY4uGMZctSXZFMOK

CaptLogic <--- Welcome to SCF. In SU if you right click on a component you can save it as a model, I assume this same logic is applied in 3DWH, so you do not need to create a new model for the component, you can save it directly to 3DWH as a model. (at least that's my logical explanation)

Or you can use components to "copy" your editing... like in this example screencast...

Something I started doing was using MP4's, as the file size is much smaller - the sacrifice being the quality sometimes, but it's good enough for my needs. What you mentioned is what I did though, just stitch them together in some movie editing software. Hey ho!