Not sure if this id relevant. But i was having the same issue, and kept getting "Invalid File" a later noticed i had the file i was trying to import referenced onto my cad file, in other words i was beings used elsewhere. Once i close the Cad file it allowed me to import the image without any issues.

hey, thanks i already checked the warehouse and im a member of cadyou but the last link has some useful pieces thanx a bunch

Thank you. I guess I'll settle for that. You certainly can't be worse than I am. I have wood in my shop that has petrified before I could get round to using it.

Don't do it. Google themselves even say so. Depending on the distance from the origin, and simply speaking, the accuracy of the lines themselves can actually become inaccurate due to the software running out of decimal points from the origin. It's not as bad in SketchUp but all programs suffer this and some tend to be better at it than others. I know that Maya is shocking at this when you have drawings kms away from the origin.

What do you mean by more 'efficient' exactly? Both locations are on your hard drive so they're exactly the same. Only difference I can see is that SU knows where to find the ones in your Components folder whereas you'll have to point it to look in another location if they aren't there. Same with textures. Regarding the speed of SU, the only time that the amount of components/textures will affect performance is when you open a components/materials folder that has a lot of stuff in it - ie. it may take a few seconds to load. Other than that, it won't affect your orbiting around a model or the size of the model so long as they only exist in your component/material folders. Once you start putting a component/material in your scene then the file size will increase accordingly. -brodie

Unfortunately SU's shadow engine does not recognise transparent areas in images thus they will always cast a rectangular shadow unless you really cut them around (thus adding more geometry though the use of billboard entourage would be to avoid this) or you can completely turn off casing shadows of these entities and use a single component for all to cast shadow. If you download Alan's tree from here and turn hidden geometry on, you will discover three, horizontal components inside. They are painted with a completely transparent png image (but as per above, this transparency is not recognised by SU therefore will cast shadows). True that they will also add extra geometry to your model but you only need one shadow caster component in the whole model (you can even put it on a separate layer and only turn it on when needed) so overall file size should not go too high. As for the pivot point; when creating the Face me component, there is a button in the dialog to "set component axes". Use that to set it into the middle of the tree trunk and it will pivot around that.

Ecuadoran— Wile the answer to this and many other questions remain shrouded in the realms of mystery, you can select an object, Scale, start to move a control point, and then type in the percentage or size you want to end up with. If you are shooting 0.1% (or less, say 0.01), just grab a control point and move it a bit, then type in a number. Less than one shrinks, more than one expands, negatives make mirror images. If you add a unit of length afterwards, it scales that dimension to the number you typed, as in 1mm; 3.5"; .7m; 42'. Best, JIm

I'm not bothered, and as long as it gets the job done I'll use any version that's put in front of me (as long as my plugin's work too! ).

Hi folks. See this SU file for ideas. I made it with SU 4, when Scenes where named Page as an other tutorial on how to draw an oval or "Ove" in French. This is more egg shape than a circle scaled as an ellipse, although it is possible to make an egg shape by scaling only part of a circle. I just added a few scenes to show a possibility with basic tools. Broken egg.skp

What Wodan says. You are probably trying to apply the smoove tool on pre-selected geometry. Note that it is actually a good feature to be able to use the smoove tool on pre-selected geometry (and not be confined to a circle) just you should not forget to deselect before applying if that is not your intention. Edit; I also "guess" this from my own experience as I often make this little mistake myself.

"usually redrawing one of the edges makes SU fill the face." Anssi, thank you. Yes, that works!

I've never had a .skp or .skb file stored on the Desktop except if I explicitly pointed to that location.

@tig said: @glro said: @dedmin said: http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rubylibrarydepot/plugin_details.php?id=198 the text written by this plugin shows one line for each instance of a component it doesn't make the total for each component You never asked for that your plugin "ComponentReporter++.rb" produces 3 text files: *_CR-Component+Report.csv *_CR-Instances+Report.csv *_CR-Parentage+Report.csv With the included example: "essai_CR-Component+Report.csv": DEFN-NAME,COUNT,DESCRIPTION,GUID Composant#1,1,,29b53a7c-2e6c-40b9-9f78-41e4abc0a62f Composant#2,1,,2306d93d-9156-46c9-bf4a-5a4e8a2f5e38 Composant#3,4,,c969203b-e788-468f-b495-5936ea9bdd48 As you can see, Composant#1 and Composant#2 are counted once only, when in reality, they appear 4 times in the model; the problem comes from the fact they are nested within Composant#3 If Composant#3 instances are exploded, Composant#1 and Composant#2 are counted 4 times, and it is what i am looking for. But would be possible to get this result without exploding anything, using the information in your file "essai_CR-Parentage+Report.csv": 'essai_CR'<Model>,''Composant#3<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,''Composant#3<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,''Composant#3<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,''Composant#3<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#1<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#1<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#1<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#1<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#2<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#2<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#2<Instance>, 'essai_CR'<Model>,'Composant#3'<Definition>,''Composant#2<Instance>, By counting the last definition instance of each line, and produce the result in a file like "essai_CR-Component+Report.csv"? This is what sketchup does in the statistics windows, when you ask to developp for the component hierarchy, and it was my first question... nested components example

Here's a picture of my first attempt. I'm referring to the carved worm between the top and bottom turnings. The extra lines above and below them I left in for editing purposes. Thanks in advance, Jim [image: L07U_Knop.jpg]

Thom? Although I've recommended your Plugin, I am stumped to now provide an answer! Can you shed any light here, as it's something I need to know as well! Tom

Either will do. It depends on how you are going to use the model. Obviously pngs look more realistic for far fewer faces than even low poly geometry. But if you are going to use them as non Face Me elements, like railings or balustrades, then they have to be in a position where they will not be seen edge-on, or so close you can see the pixels. Generally, low poly is the best route. A single one of those corinthian columns is about as high-poly as it's sensible to go if you intend to use an array of them, together with all the other architecture and entourage in a visual. You could always replace one of them with a higher poly version if you were making a render from a position close to its capital. Images are handled by the graphics card, which on a modern system is usually well-suited to the task; so they are not going to tax the cpu any further. This attached model is much larger than the other two but far easier to navigate....as it has less than 200 faces. [image: Edrc_hovel_thumb.jpg] hovel.skp

Look for k-tools [in ...crai...] too - which includes 3D surfaces...

It's no more than a standard stair with the landing expanded as one of the treads. My guess is your are not " dropping " the stringer to equalize the risers from top to bottom, they are usually not allowed to vary by x which I think is about 1/16. Just design a standard stair and find out where you are making the error. Try to use a story pole to make the layout of the risers easy on your self without all the math, that is use SU line divide function to establish a ref. FYI Rule of thumb for the run is ( 2x rise) + ( 1x run) = 25 ± 1 When all else fails post your model if you can

@bigtom said: Thanks TIG What is a colorized texture? When you have a 'textured' material [e.g 'brickwork'] in the model materials collection you can edit it. One of the edit options is 'colorize' - this adds a colored 'film' over the texture [you edit the RGB - reset uses the 'average-color' of the texture] so you can tweak your bricks to be 'pinker' or whatever you want...