Hi folks. For me, the quickest way of repairing this damaged cup would be to: 1 - Delete one half containing the damage. 2 - Copy the remaining half. 3 - Flip the copy. 4 - Join the two half. 5 - Smooth the junction line. It is faster to do than writing this post. Just ideas.

Yea - File size isn't a good scale for a "light" component. Textures alone can make a simple model be very heavy in file size - since they store the original size - not the 1024x1024 that SU actually use. Max 100Kb & 1000 faces? (Maybe a couple of thousands more?) What's it's going to be used for?

There is also IDX Renditioner (with a free trial, too). All these applications have the basic concepts about reflections, bump maps and such to make your renderings more (or less) photorealistic. Once you have the basic idea, the the rest is just to get used to the UI of the different applications.

Thanks all. Being new to this animation and rendering thing I wasn't sure if 800 frames was huge or not. That was my main concern. Thanks for the answers on that. I feel better knowing it's probably just a normal size. I will probably try a save overnight tonight when I leave work. I think that will give it time to save all the frames without interrupting my work schedule. I'll let you know later in the week how it turns out! Mary

and maybe you'll just keep writing such cool plugins that make the rest of our lives a lot brighter

Hm. I am not sure how it works inside nested components and where i anchors the texture when in several level deep.

If you don't plan to render it, you can use Morisdov's "Video on a SketchUp face using textured material": http://morisdov.googlepages.com/

Sorry to say but that card indeed seem to be an integrated chipset "only". Nowadays manufacturers simply build motherboards with these integrated graphics accelerator so that you don't need to put in a separate video card (this ha been the case with sound cards for long). But no matter what they state about their OpenGL capabilities, these chipsets are not capable of serious 3D work (like SU). And like if someone badly wants a good sound system at home because he is a hi-fi maniac and he needs to build in a more serious sound card than what the motherboard supports, the same way, you will need a real video card that fully supports OpenGL

@dedmin said: http://www.us.kohler.com/tech/cadsymbol/cadsymbol.jsp Thanks!! this will be very helpfull in the future. Lots of (free) models! but... I could not find what I need.

Wow, thanks guys. I'm now on the right track to have crisp, quality images devoid of jaggy lines. Yay!

Hi Monkey, Unfortunately currently there is no way to extract 3D data straight from GE (unless, as you discovered, the buildings are also uploaded to the 3D Warehouse).

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=surfboard&styp=m&btnG=Search

@mirjman said: how are you controlling the height of the displacement so that it matches real world units? I'm not... I just eyeballed it, did a couple of tests before settling... I did think about it, and I guess a more precise way of eyeballing it (so not precise either) would be opening both files, use the front view on both and compare. I remember reading somewhere the multiplier for displacement maps had some real world meaning, I'll do some research.

@djh said: Can one export them as PDFs? No but you could do that with LayOut.

You can view the meshed objects in plan, or elevation view and then use the Autocad command "Flatshot" and it will create 2D a block of what is visible on your screen. Then you can explode the block and delete out any little bits that you don't want. It's still a bit of work, but it's way faster than exploding an entire 3D object and sorting through the garbage that happens when you do that. JP. Bernier Draw! Studio @carrye said: The .dwg I have received are not good at all. They are wire mesh and not only do they have to be gutted but smoothed out. I can only smooth them so far or I end up losing too much detail so I go in and hide lines manually after a certain point. Can 20/20 models be exported as smoothly-curved AutoCAD solids instead of meshes? Is it better to export to .dxf than to .dwg?

Yeah, something like the gentlemen above say. If you set it to privte, no-one but contributors/collaborators will be able to download edit whatnot (there are endless possibilities - pplay around with them). One caveat: if you do NOT want Google to include your models to GE, make sure that the "this model is real and GE ready" (or what) box is NOT checked. Although... I believe that those kids would definitely deserve some kind of encouragement, incentives and "real" credits. Why not the whole town/neighbourhood know about their talents and efforts? This is also always encouraging for others (and they won't be spending their time on dope on the streets at least). But of course, you know what you are doing and I don't want to interfere... Next week I am starting with a secondary school special afternoon course with kids in my old school (I graduated from). This is something you would call a middle school and high school in the US I think. I am looking forward to what I can achieve with them and I will definitely leave it for them to decide what they want to go public and what to keep private even though we'll be using the 3D Warehouse.

@mogogirl said: I think I've found the answer to my own question. I don't believe you can export animation with the demo version of Twilight. That's actually not right... Even with the demo version you can render animations... Check the Animation tab in the Settings window (where you also select resolution, render method etc...) @mogogirl said: However for $59 (until Sept. 24) I think I'll invest in the program, it appears to be a good one and worth the money. Most definitely... It's a real bargain... I'm sure you won't get disappointed...

If you are upgrading or downgrading, do not copy the Plugins or Tools folders over between versions - Ruby files in the wrong version of SU are a frequent source of bugsplats. When you uninstalled before reinstalling, did you check what files and folders the uninstall had left behind, and delete those "manually"? Also, are you using Windows Vista? There have been problems with the SU Startup application that do not appear if you open SU by double-clicking on a SKP model in Explorer. Anssi

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6be3e544deece8441191025061735ea3&prevstart=0 This one doesn't seem too bad. Probably could be a bit lower poly but it seems like a fairly clean model. -Brodie

Another possibility is that your model is very large and/or it is very far (miles...) from the SU axes origin point. If it is just far off, the solution is to move everything near the origin. If the model extents are too large (diagnostics: the model seems to vanish if you Zoom to Extents) you should delete all extraneous geometry and move the rest near the origin. Anssi