Hi, it could be a login-issue. Try the following: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sketchup/thread?tid=63461ea8cc877b77&hl=en [url=http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sketchup/thread?tid=6180bf382d1c7498&hl=en:2f00j1mf]http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sketchup/thread?tid=6180bf382d1c7498&hl=en#fid_6180bf382d1c749800048918c3bb94c9[/url:2f00j1mf]

thanks guys, I knew it would be simple !

Then you don't have a problem Sketchup Menu > Help > License > Authorize Copy+paste the text for the fields in the dialog from the Google email, and OK... You should now be licensed.

Gotcha thanks

@pbacot:

If the beams would be used in standard increments of length, I would suggest you settle on some number convention that identifies the length of the beams. Perhaps that would be 10, 20, 25, etc. So you might have "Beam 10", "Beam 20", "Beam 25", etc. If you also have beams of differing cross sections, you might want something like "Beam 1.5-10" which would represent a 1-1/2 inch square beam that is 1 foot long. If you are using CutList don't add commas to the Definition names or names as that will create issues in the CSV file when you generate it. Add the word Beam to the Parts Words so that they get listed in the Parts section. This will prevent CutList from calculating how many board feet of beams you'll need and give you just a shopping list containing quantity and name of each beam length. If you are also including fasteners in your model, add words like Bolt, Washer, Nut the Part Words list so those parts will also show up in the Parts section. Once you have the CSV file created, you can massage it in Excel or another spreadsheet application to make it look like you want.

Eddy, don't float your object in space. You have light coming in all directions and it reflects back to your camera killing the black you are looking for. Here is a quick trick that will help you. Get a shiny black hand-sized object to stand in for your gadget. Get at least three small LED flash lights at about $2.50 each. Set up a small table top mini studio and move lights and reflectors around until you get the effect you want. Then go back into SU and set up your scene with lights and reflectors in the same relationships and your render will come out just they way you wanted. The advantage is that feedback is instantaneous and you can hone in on a desired result much quicker than doing multiple test renders. After you have done this multiple times you will be able to previsualize your results and will not have to refer to you ministudio quite so often. Its just a learning process.

Hi Jim, I've been around for quite a while, but never felt I had much of anything to contribute. Time to try and give some back to all the great contributors on this forum. I don't think the precision is there to get that last <0.1mm on the calculations. I have ran the calcs through an excel sheet for both the spiral staircase and for some I did exploring making a dynamic reducer after looking at perryman's thread, but in each case the calcs are correct but lacking on Sketchup due to rounding errors. I'm going to explore factoring of the calcs to reduce the rounding error, but I feel the final solutions will always come up minutely short. In saying that, the incomplete geometry is only really visible when zoomed in, so for a lot of models it will not be a problem. For me though, this lack of complete accuracy is driving me mad for a solution.

Sweet. I haven't seen it before. Thanks for the link.

@unknownuser said: does it update my pro 7.1 No @unknownuser said: does it create it's own new icon Yes @unknownuser said: do I have to pay a cost for it No, you get 8hrs of free use of the Pro version including LayOut and StyleBuilder before it reverts to the free version.

Sure thing, here is a link to a sample: https://healerslibrary.box.net/shared/1iailniaainexkbyt4b6 I appreciate the help! If I can use a renderer to make these, it will be a great timesaver!

@All : thanks .. perhaps its useful ^_^

The problem is that the forum software seems to restrict you to words of 4 or more characters - so 'fog' doesn't count on its own! The trick when searching for short words is to use Google with something like http://forums.sketchucation.com render fog

What kind of models are you making?

Each 'context' can have one active section-cut. So if you make two groups and add an active section-cut inside each one then you have what you want. For more cuts you just sub-divide your model into more sub-groups... Also see here... http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=344761#p344761 and many similar threads that can be found using the Search tool...

@gaieus said: Well, I would not necessarily call it "correct" behaviour. Maybe "actual" behaviour. I said "correct" meaning that is how you said in the earlier post... I was confirming your findings. Sorry for confusion.

If you're new to layers, just be aware that they are not the same in SketchUp as they are in, say, AutoCAD...they don't separate geometry. They are generally only used for selective visibility/invisibilty of the kind that Csaba just described. The Golden Rule is to make sure that you actually draw everything on the default layer, then group it or make it a component before moving it to another layer. If you actually change your active layer from the default and start drawing on another one, you'll quickly end in a horrible mess with geometry all over the place...maybe faces on one layer and some or all of the edges defining those faces on another layer...then both of those grouped together and moved to a third layer. It can get very ugly very quickly

glad the import helped... also think someone built a scene importer plugin as well...

Where did you get the SKP file? Is it one you created? I have on a couple of occasions created SKP models of tiny bits of hardware that have some issue with geometry that SketchUp didn't like when it saved at close. I couldn't get them to open again without an immediate bugsplat. I discovered that if I e-mailed the file to myself, I could download it and open it successfully. After repairing the bad geometry all was fine. Why that worked I can't say but it did work.