@jerrymich said: I understand now what you are saying about the components being unique. So, if I make a change to one of the unique components, it will NOT make it on the other unique ones as it normally does on a change to a component. Correct? Yes, essentially. I general, when you make a change to one instance of a component, all other instances get edited which is incredibly powerful when used correctly. Make unique breaks the relationship so the unique component(s) is no longer related to the others. This is also very useful in some cases. @jerrymich said: As a general guideline, is it better to make components as you go and then come back and group the components? Thanks for your help Jerry My approach is to make all the individual parts as components and do the nesting only after the individual parts/components are finished. I see too many incorrectly nest components in models by others. You have some good examples of that in this model. For example, take a look at your "board#18" That component is made of a component called "board#22 and a bunch of loose geometry that looks like a drawer case maybe. I don't use groups for anything. I only make components. Others do use groups but in about 10 years of using SketchUp for woodworking projects I've never found a case where a group makes more sense than a component. You can do as you choose, of course.

No trouble caused. Glad you got it worked out.

Dave has shown you how to use move and autofold beautifully, you could also use "scale" in this case too. I'll let you think about how. People sometimes miss the intricacies of scale. You don't just use it to modify whole pieces, you can use it on a single face to modify a shape. Scale one face of a cube and you can create various shapes with the variety of scale options. [image: F3AP_Simplescale.PNG] It's well worth pointing out that it's easy to get a bit plugin blind. Many of them are so good you often don't need the basic tools, but that can lead to problems. If you don't understand what the plugin is really doing you can tie yourself in knots unnecessarily. Being able to make your models in "longhand" is crucial. Using plugins to speed up and perform repetitive tasks is what we all should aim to do. I guess it comes from my time as an apprentice and then having many apprentices of my own, the rules were always the same, once you prove you can do it manually I will let you use a "Tool". If you are old enough to remember letraset, we had to show that we could do the lettering by hand before we were allowed to touch one sheet.

It's hard to determine an appropriate design without seeing the design of the rest of the room/house.

Thank you Oli. Problem solved by plugin.

yes it's the 3D program who has the more speedy learning curve!

Yeah cheers i will keep that in mind when i try & create a my own default style

Hi & thanks for your comments. I'm running SU8 on windows 7/64bit.Both the work file .skp & .skb backup sit on my local desktop. I copied them there to avoid the autosave over the server but the 0.skp swap files are still being tried to save on the server, e.g. material library. Whenever my PC is stuck in autosave back to server I cut the VPN, a 0.skp warning appears and save manually. Attached a screenshot of preferences > files. All linkes used to point to the server so I just changed models and export to the desktop - do you think that would help? [image: zAQr_preferences_files.PNG]

Perfect! Thank you very much!

What do you mean by it doesn't stay closed ? Are you referring to the bottom car profile ? If yes, then you should zoom in in the back and near the wheel arches and you will see that the lines are not laid on the ground plane . Other advices, keep your curves with smaller segments because it will be easier to manage in the future . Also why haven't you tried to search the forum for some tutorials, there are a few. [image: 5365_CarSketchrev.jpg] CarSketch rev.skp

Hello! I also use a mac. Tooltips are extremely annoying if not implemented properly. The delay in sketchup is extremely annoying. If you take the mouse focus to another palette and back you have to wait another 10 seconds. There is no way to list materials(in the mat palette) in a text format(only icon)so you have to wait every time you go to the model window and back. Please give us the ability to turn them on or off in a prefences button. Even GIMP does this. The ideal situation for SU would be pressing a key while hovering, only if I need the tooltip. I also use Painter and they are on all the time, popping up with useless info 90% of the time, covering up what I actually need to see or click on. Maybe the people at Sketchucation can get thru to Trimble! I have posted the Mac issues at least 20 times and I don't even get a response. A note to developers: Please don't turn them on all the time to compensate, unless you give us a way to turn them off. I will have to pay for another shrink visit! A 2-3 second delay is OK if this is the only option. The hotkey on mouse hover is the best solution. If you use 4-5 programs as a designer, Arch, etc. Icons become worthless. Who can remember which icon is what in which program. The only option for a professional is text lists or icon and text. I need speed not pretty icons. In closing, having been 3D modeling for 20 years now, Sketchup is still my fav 3d surface modeler. The Mac version needs a little work, Though.

Posting an image would help us help you... Any three lines drawn so that they connected at their ends will automatically form a triangular face, because their three shared vertices must always be 'coplanar'. But if you draw four separate lines that join at their vertices, then their four vertices might not be coplanar, and then no face can form. This can be resolved by drawings a 'diagonal' line to form two triangular faces from those four edges - because the two sets of three vertices must again be coplanar and thereby support a triangular face. If you need 'rectangular' faces then use the rectangle tool to draw them - this guarantees that the the face forms. This also works for circles or polygon faces. OR you can draw edges snapping to the same larger face [perhaps within a group] so that the result is a loop that will 'face'. If a edge needs by a face is erased the face vanishes, it can be remade by redrawing the edge. If a face is selected and then deleted, then provided that all of its edges remain it can usually be recreated by drawing over one of those edges; some very complex outlines [especially those with inner-loops forming 'holes'] might not 'auto-face' on overdrawing an edge - in that case draw one or more diagonals to split the loop and get two or more faces added, these unwanted diagonal lines can be erased afterwards without compromising the integrity of the remade face. If you do not draw a full 'loop' of edges then no face will form, since an 'outer_loop' is needed to support any face, no matter how simple or complex its outline is...

Look up Ramit Sethi's blog - he has awesome advice for young people looking for a job.

There is a custom toolbar plugin that might work for you. Look under Jim Foltz in the Plugins directory.

Update on using the Surface. Still hate their stupid commercials -among those that spoil what little TV I watch. Works great with the HDMI connection on large screen TV and monitor. Excellent companion to a small Epson projector I recently bought. All wireless operation makes it easy. Mouse works with the surface for good navigation. We have used the combination for several small Powerpoint presentations. Tomorrow will give it the first big test to promote a project at a Economic Development Board in nearby town. Will be projecting still renderings and animation. Hope it impresses the board.

@box said: In the shadows dialog box, un tic Display on ground. Perfect, thank you.

Guess I'm just not an ALT kinda guy.

You can use more than one projection face (it doesn't have to be a 3D thing, it can be just a face) but you'll need to paint the materials one at a time. You might actually get a more realistic look if you place the projecting plane vertically instead of at an angle. Are you trying for realism or are you just trying to insinuate the wood grain?