The only other thing I can think of that might cause this, may be Firmware write-cache handling by the IDE of the harddrives themselves. To change this you would need to run an OEM utility downloaded from the harddrive manufacturer's website.

The zipped file worked! Thanks again for all the help!

Thankyou for putting all the videos up!

Just got informed by mail about your response- the thread is almost two yrs old But thanks for your workflow- actually it would be nice if it wouldn't disappear somewhere as it is a good how-to. There are some more ways to handle larger scenes or objects with high poly count: using layers using ghost-components plugin But loading / replacing components from single files is definitely good- building up some kind of library for future use is surely beneficial.

@unknownuser said: Try this http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=23616 and for making a curve with equal segments use this http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=13563 (polyline divider for Animation - and set max and min length of segments at same value) Many thanks! I'm in awe..

Jonathan Mate I normally find it quicker to make materials like that rather than hunt them down. A few minutes in PS rather than an hour on the web.

In the UK simple timber-members supporting floors/roofs spaced at 16" c/c [400mm] the rule of thumb is for a width of ~2" [50mm] the depth is span_in_feet_as_inches/2 +1; so a joist spanning 14' [4.270m] needs to be 14/2 + 1 = 8" [200mm] - if you use the reg-tables or actually calculate it that is what you'll get ! For most steel-beams we'd take 1/20 span as the initial design depth, so generally a 12" U-beam spans 20' [300mm for 6m]. Obviously these things need calculating properly, but this is useful as an early design indicator - indeed, the standard way of designing a steel-beam in the U K is to 'guess its size', then check that with its live+dead-loads for adequacy in stress/shear/deflection, then if it's under-stressed you 'go down', or over-stressed you 'go up': there are several 'weights/linear m' of most standard steel beams which are nominally the same overall sizes but have differing wall/web/flange thicknesses - since you pay 'by the ton' it can be cheaper to use a deeper beam with thinner cross-sections, as that may well be cheaper than a heavier beam that is smaller - of course is you are stuck for space you may well have to use the more expensive one ! It is difficult to estimate the depth of 'engineered' timber or steel members; however, the manufacturers will usually give tabular indications of spans/loads >> depths etc... A lattice beam may well be deeper than a solid beam for the same span, but of course the lattice version will contain considerably less material, so balanced against its fabrication/connector and additional external envelop costs it can well be cheaper than the solid equivalent - and of course the heavier solid one can have knock on affects on other members/foundations etc, and it is also less suitable for passage pipes and ducts within its depth...

Katie, you are probably having difficulty because most window components (if they have been constructed properly) will automatically cut holes into whichever wall they are laid onto. This results in the window itself appearing to be lying on its back if you open the file. The point is not to open the file...or if you do, in order to download it or check it out...then save it somewhere. What you then need to do is import it into your existing model of the house. When you do this, you ought to find that not only is it the right way up but it will orient itself to whatever surface you lay it against and then cut a hole in that surface and embed itself the way you would expect it to.

One more thing: you will end up with a bunch of unnecessary edges dividing that face that you have reversed (blue). You can delete all horizontal ones (then reverse those faces so that the white is showing outside)

I know...on the other hand it's not an infinity sign either...that's 2D. I had to call it something without being too pedantically long-winded.

If there is no simple solution, maybe this is a point for the wishlist for SU9?!

Hi Kris, try this link to a video of how to get larger images out of GMaps. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1073912/google_maps_hack_how_to_save_large_maps/ What I do is go to GMaps, switch to satalite mode and zoom to where I need optimum detail then run the process. It's a but of trial and error at first [to get the required amount of image you need] but is a great trick. I found it on the Digital Urban website http://www.digitalurban.org/ Good source of info across the board with SU and urban design.

You're welcome John. And of course Gai is right.

Well making 2d Drawings with a CAD System from 3d models is quite a piece of cake and can be done fast with the right Software. I am using Solidworks or Solid Edge for this work. May be SU Layout will help you if you dont want to use a mechanical CAD-System.

Thank you, you helped me a lot. I'm new to sketchup, I will follow your cue to start using layers.

Ah Alan, thanks very much for the reply. That seems to be it. Very succint explanation too, many thanks.

Or.... click the red CatchUp button at the top of this thread and download edition 7 which has a step by step tutorial by Eric Lay in modeling a bottle.

Not too much the file size but the model complexity - and in case of the video card, shadows and image based materials (image sizes) that counts. Is this a new laptop? If yes, lately they are shipped with two cards - one integrated chipset into the mother board (tzhis is good enough to write a letter or browse the internet) and a dedicated card (like your nvidia) but you need to make sure that more demanding applications are set to use this card. My system is Hungarian so you may need a bit of guess work here but here are the screenshots of the settings. Go to your control panel (this is Windows 7 but there should be something similar) > Hardware and sound... [image:27asricb]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Hk7Y6RJIAfA/TpKkv7GQIOI/AAAAAAAAGto/EgCMXWHWBxM/s855/Acer-02.jpg[/image:27asricb] Then to the nvidia control panel... [image:27asricb]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ou5QouXzSkA/TpKkvDGt0LI/AAAAAAAAGtk/VaUGmnqYHPk/s855/Acer-01.jpg[/image:27asricb] Then 3D settings [image:27asricb]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lrBPbU8SWW0/TpKkwT-tZ2I/AAAAAAAAGts/vzA6E9_q4gM/s920/Acer-03.jpg[/image:27asricb] And if your setup is like mine, either make sure to set your nvidia card as default for everything or in the next step, go to program specific settings and set SketchUp (at least) to use that card. [image:27asricb]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CQU3HShpBUw/TpKkw3ei0fI/AAAAAAAAGtw/Bk9KrJ1yvKw/s915/Acer-04.jpg[/image:27asricb] Now if your system is not set up this way and this is all your card can "offer", you will need to learn to work this way or at least disable shadows while you are working.

Thanks Marian, that's what I needed. -Brodie