This reminds me of the way things had to be done in SU6 to get colour textures on terrain. The technique was set out in detail in a go2school video. Not sure if its available from them still - it was a great help to me at the time. The technique was to explode the mesh of the B&W, get colour imagery from Google Earth as PNG, Project as Texture, measure on mesh then use the tapemeasure to scale. Final adjustments were possible using the pin tools. Hope this helps!

The models were aligned to the origin in standard orientation. It was one of the things I personally checked to make sure this wasn't a factor. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me that all features like edges, groups, components, and planes, are ignored in the conversion from SU format to STL format and none of this information is saved with the model. When you use the export STL plugin from the Extension Warehouse you need to select all parts of the model you want to convert (I just go CTRL-A), choose the format (binary or ASCII) and the units and away it goes. If you haven't exploded groups/components and turned off edges it will tell you it has ignored these things in the process of creating the STL file. This is what leads me to assume that things like datum planes are also being ignored in the process. I need to workout how to reorient the model in Pro E by inserting new datum planes... which I don't know how to do yet. Maybe if I could export the SU file as some other format that preserves these features that would solve my problem???

Could you post or PM me the full error message (from the top) Also, I see a mention of jbb_layer_panels in the error message. So there may be a conflict there too. Fredo

@lorenzos said: ... because I can not buy the license anymore. yes, we can (sell) you a SUP v8 lic., just drop an email with the platform and your full address to our sales. hth, Norbert

Thanks TIG, I understand now. Appreciate the help

@tig said: I first saved_as a R12 DXF [25Mb!] - which retained geometry etc, imported it using mm as the units, *NOT retaining the CAD origin... and it came into the SKP pretty quickly. *Some of the DWG's geometry is pretty far from 0,0,0 Here's my v2013 SKP version, looks like everything is there ? I zipped it because it's 5Mb. TIG You're a star. Thank you again for your time and skill. Talk about a convoluted path to getting the thing to behave itself. I am pressing on now with the model at full speed. Have a great day. Patrick depth3d

Got it downloaded.... Thanks a lot!!!

thank you guys! this will help my journey with this sculpture, this week the metal is coming and im starting welding soon

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, all are workable, I was just hoping that there was a way/plugin to drape the DWG.

one more thing....thank you all for your help thus far...

Well that me leads to another conclusion. VisTools locks the hidden geometry. So going to give it a try. Very frustrating to use the laptop. Program has a long way to go before if can complete with other programs on stability. Thanks for your insights. Ken

Cool! What is it?

Also have a look at these threads about. They probably don't add a lot more to what you already learnt from Ely and others, but could be helpful. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=335&t=37611 http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3961&p=19894#p19894 http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2650 Tanks http://giganaut.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/ Planes (download the archive file included in the first post as the links don't work anymore) http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13036&p=95245#p95245

Beginners often miss the basics of the program. To move the endpoint of a line you must use the move tool not the select tool. With nothing else selected click on the endpoint of the line with the move tool and you can move it anywhere. You can type a distance, or a set of co-ordinates or simple drag it to where you want. The trick is not to preselect or you will be trying to move the whole line.

Oh. Just a flat panel, then. Not raised?

Yes. This is basic stuff in SketchUp. Put your components into a folder or folders and choose them as "local collections". Add those collections to favorites so you can quickly get to those libraries in the future. Place the component axes and origin to make inserting the components easy.

You might want to get on the face orientation thing and correct all those reversed faces before you get much farther along in your model. They are likely to cause you headaches later.

PROBLEM SOLVED EVERYONE it turns out i didn't dig deep enough into the layers of parts used to compose the drawer boxes . For instance, the groups that comprised the middle drawer box component, dbox_2 (the left and right members, the front and back members, and the bottom), contained references to the top drawer box component, dbox_1. As soon as I changed all the "dbox_1" references to "dbox_2," the middle drawer box started resizing according to overall cabinet depth as it should. Obviously the same worked for the bottom drawer box, dbox_3. as you might have guessed, the reason the groups that comprise dbox_2 and dbox_3 had references to dbox_1 is b/c I created the middle and bottom drawer boxes by making copies of the top drawer box, dbox_1.

A simpler way would be to revert the Tools changes [you cannot be sure that the versions between 8 & 2013 are identical], then install the latest 'su_dynamiccomponents' set from the Extensions-Warehouse ? There are several plugins that used to ship with v8 Tools that you need to get from the EW and now appear in Plugins...