@gaieus said: Well, that card should do it (in fact, that card is a fairly good one which makes me jealous). Make sure to update the driver then. Also, under the nvidia card settings, set antialiasing and anisotropic filtering to "application controlled". I turned out that i wasn't running that card at all. The problem is now fixed and is running smoothly Thank you very much.

For a newcomer there is no better place to start than with the videos. If you've turned off the Startup screen, then you can access it again from the Help menu > Welcome to SketchUp. Go to the movie tutorials and work your way through them. You'll be modelling stuff in no time. The first video talks about the navigation tools, but if you have a scrollwheel mouse you can forget about using them...Press wheel and drag mouse is orbit. Same again but holding down Shift is pan. Scroll to zoom. It's as easy to navigate as a video game. One thing than stumps newbies is that the cursor position is sensitive to what's behind it on the screen. This means that you'll zoom much faster if hovering over something some distance away, than if you're right up close, or the mouse is over nothing but fresh air. This feature also makes it virtually impossible to orbit until you've actually drawn something, as there's nothing to orbit around. Maybe that's why they include a figure in the default template. Once you get the hang of things, you can set up your own blank file with your preferred settings...like units and shadows...and save this as your default template which will open every time you start a new file. EDit: I just checked out a couple of those videos and they seem to be a little out of date. The second half of video 2 goes on and on about not drawing over other edges. This advice is obsolete for V8. Nevertheless the general advice and explanation of concepts is excellent.

@solo said: I sent you a PM. You mean something like this? @Scott: if I were in the need to outsource some rendering job, I'd also go for Pete I guess.

Before you dive into using plugins for relatively simple operations, you may also want to learn how to correctly stretch components that have wall thickness, smaller parts in them etc. without making those walls non-uniformly thicker or thinner in native SU (we are in the Newbie forum after all and this is also the place to learn). Normally one uses the Move tool for this kind of operatiions. Here you need to do it twice - once for the body of the fridge and once for the door separately as they are subcomponents. Edit the main component then one of the subs. Go to front view and select everything on one side (in my below example, I am stretching it to the side but it could be all the top of course, too). Now grab the Move tool and start moving all the selection - again in MY example - along the green axis (left rrow key will lock on the green). Type the desired value you want to move and press Enter. Repeat the operation with the door using the same value. Quite easy and takes about a minute or so. And don't fall for Jeff's humbleness. He is one of the most knowledgeable and helpful chaps here. [image: NppP_scalewithmove.png]

No master here. FYI is what turned up in a quick search http://forums.sketchucation.com/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keywords=organic+modeling&fid[]=18&start=15

I was thinking to create a 'scene' for paralell projection and one for perspective. So you can quicly flick between both.

@sgtslick said: Thanks everyone for your responses. Several options to consider and try. I'll be trying them all out and will see if I can locate the "culprits". Strongly suggest you post your model to 3d ware house and then url here so we can find it. There may very well be more than one problem and even if you find the " gaps" the surface may not form as you desire.

You cannot get all components automatically updating. That would mean live external reference system in SU which does not exist. The closest is TIG's MatrixProximity plugin. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=7612 Saving a component within a component will not cause any tragic events but you will have a useless, additional wrapper around the component. Now this wrapper may lack some features like gluing and cutting hole in a wall (like a window) so best is to avoid this. Normally I do not even load anything straight into SU without having a look how it's made. As for my archaeological work I am actually freelancing now and only do stuff that I like (so no boss in that field).

Thanks to both,give a try with the old 3ds. @dereeei - I was asked how to import in Sketchup with textures. These files are only in dxf and 3ds.People are often lazy to change their ways

Some kind of Easter Egg or development tool?

I would love to share some of my work and inlighten some of you in the way that i use SU however due to the nature of my job, the majority of projects that i work on have some form of confidentiality and i actually cannot share them until they are made public by my clients Once they are public i will try and link through their location so that you can all have a quick look though. for a quick run down i pretty much use SU to make a base model and get my perspective right, export the image and then photoshop part of the 3d model into an existing photo so that you can get an idea of what the landscape will look like once said project is build. wheather it be buildings, train stations, dams, mines, rail lines pretty much anything. Thats just one way that i use SU. The other way is to make conceptual type models that are rended out using podium (hopefully v-ray soon though)

The only time I've ever responded to a question in the ratings was to answer in the model details section. Not the most elegant solution but an effective one.

No wonder! And I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

+1

Guys, thanks for the responses & sorry to get back so late on this subject. TIG: Checked out the contextmenuoptimizer & read thru' the threads; came to the conclusion that I am also a bit of a plugin junkie. So I did some housecleaning & basically did a reinstallation with a meaner & leaner plugin folder. MAC1: Following your advice & keeping a backup of all my important plugs. PROBLEM SOLVED! Thanks again guys.

very useful and informative tips and tricks.thanks for sharing.

Various formats got various ways to store data. For instance, .3ds doesn't embed the textures - while .skp does. Things like that make up differences.

Thanks TIG. Failed to see that. Problem solved. What do they say,..."when in doubt, read the manual...". That's what my wife always tells me.

@dave r said: that's a nice line style. What is it? hey Dave, notice in his style that some of the shorter edges forming the curve don't show up.. i'll often try to apply styles to some of my drawings which are heavily curved etc and many of the lines won't show up.. in fact, so many of the edges won't show up that i can't use the style even though i really like the look of it. is this something i can fix myself via a setting -or- is it something to do with the style itself? thanks.

As an archViz, I use Sketchup all the time, and I Have created a very personal workflow. Let's just say I wouldn't be so quick in modeling without a number of plugins. The plugins I use the most are: Extrusion Tools Tools on surface Opener (also referred to as HOLE) Lattice-izer Instances (so I can select all the instances of a component in 2 clicks) round corner joint push pull fredo scale mirror selection Rot90 I also make vast use of the sandbox tools, and I have a personal set of keyboard shortcuts. Section cuts I use a lot too. To make roofs with tiles and everything you could use: IstantRoof http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2010/11/instant-roof-instant-productivity.html wich comes in two versions: free and pro. Hope this helps