Thanks to everyone who passed on some suggestions on creating "draft". I discovered the perfect solutions to the problem. I found the plugin "Chamfer_Along_Path" allows me to cut the necessary angle not only on straight edges, but, curves as well. Using "smart extrude" maintains the chamfer as I extrude upward. I was able to ultimately create the entire horseshoe with SketchUp. It was converted to .stl format and submitted for 3D printing. I do have one issue that gives me problems of alignment which I'll post in the Newbie section...Bob

I use a few ruby scripts to match the cameras between sketchup and renders. I don't recall the exact names, camera controls? to get the tilt, pan and rotation. I also use a script that places a construction point at the position of the cameras. I then draw a tiny circle at the point and paint a material named camera# onto that circle. When I go into whatever render I am using usually Vue.( I can't get the script for Vue cameras to work) I place a camera at the position of the tiny circle that I exported with the model. I then adjust the camera orientation based on my camera settings I read from camera controls. I use the field of view setting from sketchup. Depending on the render you might need to adjust the angles of the camera. If camera control script said the camera was at -30 degrees you might have to enter it as 330 degrees in the render. Hope that helps.

SU 8 has a solution for this; save (and restore) toolbar position.

Good to hear.

Hi KXI System, Thanks for helping me out, surprisingly easy. Greetings, Willem.

What both of you have suggested works great for the first part: creating a larger circle using the segment length of the smaller one. But now that that is done, I need to create the arc. When I first posted this I was at work and did not have access to my drawing, but now that I am home I can show you exactly what I am trying to do. I am creating tank tracks but with only two hubs. The issue is that one hub is smaller than the other, hence the 24 and 36 sided circles. Each track has to be the same width, but now I need to copy the rest of the tracks between the tops of the two hubs. Typically the tracks have a small amount of slack that hangs down on the top part of the track, hence the 11 segment arc. I know I am being a perfectionist about it but I want it to look right. Also I would like to maybe convert it into SketchyPhysics later, so I would like it to be precise. Here is the pic of what I have so you can see exactly what I need: [image: 97f.jpg] [image: 97f.jpg] So again, I am trying to make the arc with 11 segments that are all the same size as the line that the arrow is pointing to on the left hand side of the last picture (it is showing ~ 1 31/32"). The variables that I need are either the bulge length or the angles that each segment need to be from one another in order for all 11 segments to fit within the larger chord and be the same.

I have a little tutorial on a shape similar to Daves here: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/36-intermediate/147-inner-bevel-with-a-bit-of-trick Of course, it is not as complex - and the different parts are not separate components but to imagine a basic technique you can develop further...

Super stuff lads, in the right-click menu alright. Thanks alot.

[edit] yeah, what TIG said here's a thread from last year that basically discusses what you're seeing.. 7pages long and not 100% relevant to your exact question but it might be worth reading. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=23947 .

Thanks that fixed the problem. I will look at the graphics drivers also Keith

No problem. I only knew because I did it myself at least one time.

$150.00 for a 24" monitor?-0 That's a fourth of what I paid for mine. Are 30" under $1,000.00 now?

@jean lemire said: Bonjour. Je te suggère de t'abonner au forum Français. Tu auras de meilleure chance d'obtenir une réponse. J'aimerais bien t'aider mais je ne connais pas Kerkythea. Pour t'abonner au forum Français, utilise le bouton "user control pannel" (en haut à gauche) et suis les instructions. Sur la page où tu vas cocher le bouton en face du forum Français, n'oublie pas de défiler jusqu'en bas et de soumettre (Submit) la requête. Salutations. Merci Jean , je ne savais pas qu'il y avait un forum français, ça m'aidera en effet car mon english n'est pas parfait... salutations

yes, i spent some time trying to identify a better solution but currently none exist... so i thought i'd leave this information here in case other folks ran into it...

Different objects will require different model-making processes. The 3d modeling process you decide on will help determine the best way to export your Sketchup model.

That's very kind - perhaps when you get back from the other place. However if anyone knows how to do it directly I would feel much better! Thanks

@kxi system said: Currently there is (as I know of) only Twilight [not the book] that can render with the "proper animation" "mover.rb" and "sketchyphysics" look in the .zip folders that you downloaded. For my understanding SU2KT/Kerkythea can handle "proper animation" too. And I would not be surprised if SU2Thea will soon support that as Thea Render has build-in animation controls.

Brian, Thank you very much, that was it ! There we go, after using SU for some six years, learnt something new, thanks to you. Curious that the program decided all by itself that that style was wanted........ Gustav

if the repetition is linear just copy and then enter n x istances , otherwise there should be some plugins to copy objects along a path... I remember this one http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=200751#p200751

@solo said: C:/ProgramData/Google Sketchup 7 Delete that folder and reinstall. found a solution: update my graphic card driver directly from the ATI website (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650) the update from windows control panel, did'nt work