Yes, when you go to export the animation, there is the "ok" box, the "cancel" box and also an "options" box. Click on the options box and you can change the resolution in there. Chris

Hi Roberto, The angle of the photo is too acute to take any kind of texture from. The nearest I could find to it on the Net, that was from a decent angle, was this flint wall in England. http://consult.north-norfolk.gov.uk/events/5619/images/web/594674_0_1.jpg I've made a tileable texture from the part on the right. If you are going to tile it across a large surface, I notice that there is a near vertical line of slightly darker stones..about 40% in from the left on the top edge. These are a bit noticeable if repeated too often. You might want to lighten them a little or clone some other stones over the top. [image: ddak_flint_wall.jpg]

@ecuadorian said: If it's a Dell, it might really explode. http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550 http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/archives//005359.html http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/dell_fire.html Just joking; it's not only Dell laptops which can explode. The problem is in the batteries. Some other manufacturers have experienced similar problems, even Apple: http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/macbook_inferno_an_apple_macbook_battery_catches_fire.php http://altatecgt.com/blog/2006/09/08/macbook-se-une-al-club-de-las-quemaditas/ http://www.nowhereelse.fr/macbook-explosion-16747/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/27/disaster-on-the-homefront-macbook-pro-battery-explosion-no-images/ http://www.appledefects.com/?p=259 Just to be on the safe side, why not assemble a desktop PC for rendering? And please, don't put your "laptop" on your lap. its not a dell its an HP and it runs fabulously compared to the dell i had, are those all linke to computers exploding?? dont want to see that i may be scared to render then!!

The best book for advanced SketchUp users. There is a very good chapter about components: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596155100 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Making Multiple Copies 1. Copying in Linear Arrays 2. Creating Linear Internal Arrays 3. Building a Nonorthogonal Linear Array 4. Copying in Circular Arrays 5. Creating Circular Internal Arrays Chapter 2 Following Paths with Follow Me 1. Extruding a Follow Me Face to Cut Volume Along a Path 2. Using Follow Me to Add Volume Along a Path 3. Keeping Original Objects Intact During Follow Me 4. Using Follow Me When Faces and Paths Are Not Adjacent 5. Creating Objects in the Round 6. Creating Spheres 7. Using a Follow Me Path in 3D Chapter 3 Intersection Edges: Cutting and Trimming 1. Trimming an Object 2. Cutting All Intersected Objects 3. Using Groups or Components to Create Cutting Objects 4. Intersecting with Groups and Components, Without Exploding 5. Intersecting with Both Intact and Exploded Components 6. Intersecting Only Selected Objects 7. Intersecting Within a Group or Component 8. Using Intersect to Trim Components with Themselves Chapter 4 Advanced Intersect and Follow Me Techniques 1. Creating Temporary Faces for Follow Me 2. Rounding Corners 3. Creating Lathed Shapes 4. Roofing with a Uniform Slope 5. Creating "Dummy" Follow Me Paths 6. Extending Follow Me Paths 7. Using Intersect to Create a 3D Follow Me Path Chapter 5 Roofs: Constraints and Inferences 1. Creating an Overhanging Roof 2. Creating Dormers 3. Working with Roof Intersections 4. Creating Overhangs with Autofold Chapter 6 Groups: Protect and Defend 1. 2. Ungluing Faces 3. Unsticking Edges 4. Protecting from Edits 5. Cutting and Slicing 6. Two-Sided Coloring 7. Locking a Group Chapter 7 Components: Efficiency in Repetition 1. Creating a Component 2. Using the Components Window 3. Inserting a Component 4. Editing or Exploding a Component 5. Renaming a Component 6. Saving a Component in Its Own File 7. Accessing Local Components 8. Painting Components 9. Repeating Objects with Different Sizes 10. Aligning and Gluing 11. Using Components for Symmetric Models 12. Placing Windows in 3D Walls 13. Reloading Components 14. Replacing Components 15. Working with the Outliner Chapter 8 Painting, Materials, and Textures 1. Finding Materials and Images 2. Getting Images into Your Model 3. Creating Material Collections 4. Painting Multiple Faces 5. Changing Material Size and Color 6. Copying a Material 7. Using Translucent Materials 8. Painting Edges by Material 9. Positioning Textures: Fixed Pins 10. Positioning Texture on Round Faces 11. Creating and Editing a Unique Texture 12. Using Alpha-Transparent Images Chapter 9 Modeling with Digital Photos 1. Positioning Textures with Free Pins 2. Editing a Photo 3. Adding Faces to Patch an Image 4. Using Images to Make Face Camera Components 5. Using Free Pins and a Single Image to Paint a 3D Object 6. Using Photo Match to Model a 3D Object 7. Using Photo Match to Paint an Existing Model Chapter 10 Modeling with Exact Dimensions 1. Working with Lines 2. Working with Rectangles 3. Working with Circles and Polygons 4. Working with Arcs 5. Importing Graphics 6. Using the Tape Measure for Construction Lines and Points 7. Measuring and Marking Angles 8. Finding the Area of Faces 9. Creating a Grid 10. Measuring Lengths and Resizing 11. Resizing Models with Groups and Components 12. Resizing Parts of Your Model 13. Resizing a Model in Multiple Directions Chapter 11 Presentation: Showing off Your Model 1. Working with Layers 2. Working with Scenes 3. Working with Shadows 4. Sectioning Your Model 5. Using Layers and Scenes to Control Displayed Objects 6. Using Layers, Scenes, and Groups for Different Design Scenarios 7. Studying Shadow Movements 8. Walking Through Your Model 9. Creating Animated Sections 10. Creating Staged Sectioning Animation Chapter 12 Displaying Your Model 1. Hiding and Softening Edges 2. Changing the Style 3. Creating a New Style 4. Saving Styles 5. Saving a Style As a Template 6. Mixing Styles 7. Adding a Watermark 8. Creating a Sketchy Edge Style 9. Using Styles in a Presentation Chapter 13 3D Warehouse and Google Earth 1. Finding Models in the 3D Warehouse 2. Refining Your 3D Warehouse Search 3. Uploading Models to the 3D Warehouse 4. Creating Collections in the 3D Warehouse 5. Controlling Model or Collection Privacy 6. Adding Models or Collections to Your Collections 7. Taking Credit for Your Model 8. Manually Georeferencing Your Model 9. Georeferencing Your Model by Using Google Earth 10. Getting Your Models into the 3D Buildings Layer 11. Creating a Placemark in Google Earth 12. Relocating a Georeferenced Model 13. Downloading Buildings That Appear in Google Earth Chapter 14 Dynamic Components 1. Finding Dynamic Components 2. Interacting with Dynamic Components 3. Investigating Dynamic Component Options 4. Scaling Dynamic Components 5. Modifying and Replacing Dynamic Components 6. Sizing by the Reference Point

I would think about 2 options: Use a autolisp-routine to rename the autocad-block to include the wanted ATTDEF-info in the blockname. Then a ruby can parse the component-definition-name and store it where you want. Use a autolisp-routine to write some ruby's on the fly which does reference the block-name and store the wanted data back to the components.

Hi Alan, Thank you for your short tutorial. Now I finally understood how to use alpha masks in PSP. That brings me a little further into the question I had asked in this topic. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=23243 Thankyou Karlheinz

Hey, so it took a day longer than I expected, but I got this plugin updated finally. Here is the plugin thread where you can download it at: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=23517 Once I verify that this new version is working on PC and Mac, I think I might send email it over to the folks at logitech. See if they are interested in doing a little write-up on it or anything. I think it does add value to their line of 3d mice. Chris

@layziefj said: Hi I've been trying to apply a material to a layer and it doesnt seem to work. If you're wanting to apply a certain material to everything on a certain layer then turn off all other layers select all apply material turn other layers back on

Thanks for the tips, all. I am just going to use Premier to do some post for this project, but this would be a neat feature to have in future versions! Cheers, Jason

Nice. Thank you madhav. I give you 5 textured stars from 5.

Ah, you guys are actually right that I don't have to project the texture. I thought anything that was curved needed a projected texture. In this case I just painted the texture normal and everything looks as expected. Thanks all for the help! John

I was opening a V6 version when the Updating message appeared (I have some versions 6 or 7 As nothing special arrive before that I thouth that a new version 7 was born Next time I will wait another posts

HI, I put the 2 files into the plugin folder and renamed toggle_units.txt to toggle_units.script and I get an error when starting SU "Error Loading File toggle_units.rb cannot convert nil into String", but then the plugin works. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance, Tom

Hehe... I am not a teenager either (and was already over 40 when encountered SU)

Hi Pontilaki, hi folks. The showing of vertices via the styles is only a visual effect. Vertices can be manipulated, whatever their appearance. The inference engine will show you a pop-up message "Endpoint" and a green dot when you position the cursor over any endpoint. Just ideas.

Thank you guys I did find that there were several double lines in the cad file. Unfortunatley this is a project with multiple people working on it so I am getting work from people of varying skill levels. I also am unable to download plugins to this computer because it is a work computer and I dont have admin rights but I will get these plugins for my own laptop. Jim, you helped me A LOT!!! THANKS I have been banging my head trying to get this working.

BTW, do I need any particular rubies to make these tutorials work? I hope I can soon post without waiting for mod approval, it should be obvious by now that I'm not a spam bot. Ummmm spam ooooaaaahhhaaaaoooo.

Thanx ! I didn't think to create a box which fit my object ! It's easier of course ! Thanx.

Make sure you have your pointer over what you want to zoom in on. Quite often if you have your pointer over empty space it will zoom in "too fast" and "too far". Try that and see if it makes a difference. If not it could be a setting / graphic issue. And welcome to the SCF. [image: RMbsC28W33794092.gif]

Planetarium Seating, Stellar Model 35-306A?