If it doesn't look good in Sketchup, photoreal rendering will not fix it. Photoreal is not real, it is "realistic like a photo". I use it primarily to add shine, reflection, and texture to the image of a scene. In my case, ninety nine out of a hundred renders are the result of post processing that come with real time adjustment of dynamic range, gamma, and contrast. It cuts down the time required to get a desirable photoreal render by 50 to 90 percent.

It seems that (only) some file associations went wrong. In this case, you could have just right clicked on an skp file, go to Properties and define the path to SU 8 (instead of the removed SU 7). Whether to leave it or keep it... You can of course keep it, no harm. Especially if you use the free version, keep it as the plugin that was provided for dwg/dxf import for v.7 no longer works in v.8. Also, georeferencing (GE snapshot) is completely different in v.8 and you may want to keep v.7 to be able to grab a rotated view for instance...

@gude said: I wanted a 2d view with my components kept as block ah sorry - my method just exports lines

Interesting, Bruce. I have not experience any issues with my XP but indeed have read a couple of complaints that people cannot access the warehouse. I have not been able to find a pattern though (like Windows and/or SU versions in pair)

It was my Graphic card. Thanks for the help!

yeah reinstall. i donwloaded it from sketchup.google.com to be sure

I have Twilight, IDX Renditioner, Kerkythea and Thea (just starting to learn). Also LightUp Evaluation version (trying to get the hang of it).

Scratch that! http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=visa+lighting&styp=c&btnG=Search&reps=1 Whats cool is that you can download the light into your model, and then in the component info box, there is a link to the IES profile, which you can download as well, and then plug into your favorite render software! Good find!

@tig said: It's not a 'feature' it's a known 'bug'!..... The Geometry could be just a tiny line 0.1mm long and 'hidden' AND on a layer that is 'off' - the text is still visible...... All true. But the existing geometry, whether visible or not, must be in screen area. Once you rotate the model where the geometry is out of camera sight, the screen text still vanishes. Jean reported this bug (already in SU7, maybe even before) quite some time ago. Wo3Dan

This is all very valuable stuff. Thank you everyone who has contributed to my question.

Ah yes. Good point.

@tig said: =begin > (c) TIG 2010 > Copy/Paste code into ../Plugins/modelXYZ.rb > Usage; type 'modelXYZ' in Ruby Console > =end > require 'sketchup.rb' > def modelXYZ() > model = Sketchup.active_model > bb = model.bounds > ### NB; 'bounds' xyz values do NOT follow model axes logic > x = bb.width.to_s > y = bb.height.to_s > z = bb.depth.to_s > ### message in Ruby Console > puts("X = " + x) > puts("Y = " + y) > puts("Z = " + z) > ### text into File > if model.path != "" ### SKP was saved > filepath = File.dirname(model.path) > filename = model.title + "_XYZ.txt" > file = File.join(filepath, filename).tr("\\","/") > f = File.new(file, "w") > f.puts(x) > f.puts(y) > f.puts(z) > f.close > ### Tip; to make a 'spreadsheet' file change suffix to ".csv" or ".tsv" > ### and then 'puts' one line only, thus; f.puts(x+","+y+","+z) > puts("XYZ values written to file;") > puts(file) > else ### SKP is not yet saved > UI.beep > puts("Save this SKP to write these XYZ values to a file...") > end#if > puts() > end#def > Thanks man, this looks exactly like what I'm after. Now I just have to work through and understand it...

Another little tip, if you scale your whole model up by a factor of 10 you have further to move things, then just scale it down again when you have finished. This helps with small faces that SU doesn't like also.

Look at this short tutorial on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzbk8kYSmfE This shows how to snap an object from one point to another point on a different object, without dragging the object to the point. They indicate that you need to hit the arrow key a second time to make it snap, at least on a mac you then need to left click the mouse. This works great when you are moving the piece on multiple axes. I have not seen this referenced anywhere else, but I probably just missed it. Dan

Yes I did thank you

good to know it's possible, but that sounds like waaay more of a headache than i'm looking for. thanks for the feedback.

If you want to have the shiny things (and all real time photorealistic effects) insideSU actively, have a look at LightUp. Once you set up your materials and run the renderer ("Tour mode"), you are INSketchUp with all the effects and can walk around, export images/videos etc.

Hi folks. Another possibility of jitter that is often overlooked is when the model is very far from the origin. Open GL has a hard time with that. But, you will notice that during the modeling phase since the jitter effect would manifests itself when orbitting, panning and zooming. To see this effect, try this: 1 - Draw a cube near the origin. 2 - Move it 100 km (100000 m) along the red axis. 3 - Use Zoom Extend to find it. 4 - Orbit to see a bit of jitter. 5 - Move it another 100 km. The jitter increase. Just ideas.