If you want to get the file in some other format, feel free to PM me the file.

Ok, I think I figured out a workaround to the transparent image problem. I created another face 1/1000" in front of the surface of my ship that I wanted to apply it to. I projected the decal and painted the material onto THAT face, so that when you see through the transparent bits you're seeing the 'real' face 1/1000" behind it. As long as your surface isn't extremely curved, this should work without hours of building out a new surface. I also hid the edges of both surfaces. You'll also have to decide on the color or material of the surface, because changing it would in my mind require that either you go into the model and change the colors from the inside, or you would need to delete the face with the decal on it, change the color, then rebuild and reapply the face. I've tested this in the Twilight Render plugin as well as Kerkythea, and so far so good... Now I'm off to make weathered insignia and markings for my fighters! I'm going for the battle worn X-Wing look, and on old plastic models I'd simply use fine grain sandpaper to sand through and rough up the decals a bit. This is slightly more involved, but I think I finally found something that will work for me!

Been too busy to get back and close this.... I was able to get the copy / rotate to do what was needed. I grouped a handful of faces that had the texture properly positioned, did paste in place, and then positioned the rotate "wheel" on the center point of the arc and typed in the degrees I wanted. That worked pretty well. I did notice a couple of times there were very tiny mis-alignments... not sure if I got lazy and relied on the inference engine instead of typing a value or if the polys were mis-aligned to begin with. At any rate, I'm cruzin now! Thanks very much for the suggestion.

You always have to be very careful when using this technique however as it will display all edges by material so if you accidentally paint other edges with some colour for instance (or paint whole groups/components from outside), they will also be displayed by those colours.

Hi Anssi Thanks for your answer. I'll try that! Other deas are welcome, or ways to do it - I can't be the only one with that workflow? Best, Lene

@anssi said: I think you have to use an administrator account to be able to authorize SU. Anssi Hi Anssi - or others. It's been a while - but still have the same problem. I'm also an administrator on my office iMac. Then why can't I be allowed to insert my license number?? I really hope for some help, since I have a big project this week... Thanks in advance Lene

@cortneyrichards said: ...In my case it was the Lisanne Sketchup model. Hope this helps. -Cortney Lisanne is at origin by default and if she was at the extremes of your model, it should be moved to origin after you delete her... john

You have to apply the translucent material to both sides of the face to see through it from either side.

Thanks, Jean. 3 kites sounds like a lot of fun for the stimulus-needy; with a bigger bird, just one, something similar is called kite sailing. I'd like to see you manage three in a stiff breeze. A sunny day...

@unknownuser said: I have the SDS but for some reason, it is harder to use than I expected. yeah, for you and me both. it does take a certain mindset. please let us know how things are going while you decide.

There is a marketing aspect to modeling that maybe even your client isn't aware of. Placing a model of ones business or building in GE is not about the model, and making it so that people can do a walk through, which would not be possible without making a much more accurate model for that to happen, which you have already alluded to. The marketing aspect of a simple model, uploaded to the 3D Warehouse and placed in Google Earth is that it gets premium indexing priority from the Google web crawlers. SEO is the benefit of having a model present in GE, and now if the business has a "Google Local Business Listing," that information is now tied to the models description. All of that can be present on a web page also using the GE API, so there are some business benefits to pulling up a simple model for GE.

@unknownuser said: There are many commands that are only available in 'certain circumstances'... For example to shortcut 'Reverse Face' - if nothing were selected then there's nothing for Preferences > Shortcuts... even with a Filter for 'Reverse'... But, if you first Select a Face, then do Preferences > Shortcuts > Filter 'Reverse' will give you the command [hooray] - set it to say Shift+Q... While you are at it why not set 'Orient' to Alt+Q ? So... if there are commands you'd like to shortcut to then first ensure that the 'context' is set properly before activating Preferences to attempt the Shortcutting... I did think I had the basic context thing in mind. I'm still not with the filter, but will try o keep it in mind. And I will now go in search of prefab shortcut selections, as I know folks with good experience have put them together, acknowledging that one size won't fit all, and that whatever is implemented must be remembered to be a short cut.

Here's your model with some notes pointing to things that 3d printing does not like. I've been playing around with shapeways recently - they accept collada files so you don't even need to go to a .stl. In general, your model needs to be scaled to fit on print bed, be water-tight, and not have any interior faces. And no over-lapping faces. Following those rules, I can consistently produce 3d-printable model directly from SketchUp (for shapeways, anyhow.) library 11.3[jf].skp

That is very odd. I can't understand what a plugin would do to cause such behaviour...

vector1.cross(vector2) does indeed give a vector that's perpendicular to them. As you say, most scripts actually replicate what you could do manually given enough time and effort - it's just that they can do it quickly and cleanly 'behind the scenes'...

I haven't had any luck either and end up just giving up trying. From what I hear, the new Connectivity Extension in Max 2010 will import SU cameras and Max 2011 will do it natively.

I have done quite a few renderings in the similar style. It's 3D Studio Max to render and then multiple layers of photoshop. People and trees were added later. I'm pretty sure you can get to this rendering using V-Ray for SketchUp but your key is Photoshop

@Al Hart This is not about the mechanics but the role of advertising in relation to Google's stated philosophy and my own proposed method of working. This was discussed at some length in the topic around Solo's post but wandered off into usual wishlist stuff. My discovery of Google's Interior on line in my view reinforces what I wrote then and perhaps it is time to revisit the subject. All this has a bearing on the development of the technical aspects of Sketchup. Thanks

That plug in was just what I needed. Thanks!