The reason is that i need these arcs to get segmented ("polygonally") at these certain lengths later due to a certain textures structure i work with. Can you give me a hint about harnessing dynamic components to do the job ?

Jean's suggestions are good and generally used when there is a problem like this especially with some CAD imports (where you can never make sure if there's some stray geometry far away). Also, did you make sure that your model - no matter how "not big" it is - is not too far away from the (original!!!) World origin? This would create the same issue. If it seems to be close to the origin, right click on one of the axes and if "Reset" is available in the context menu, click on it and it will place the origin back to its original position. Another guess could be a far away georeferencing. Are you by any chance modelling for Google Earth and have taken a GE Snapshot? Also (as I see you are on SU 7), in the very bottom left corner, there is a light bulb like icon (BTW what the heck is it supposed to be?). Hover over it and see if your model is georeferenced (by default in Boulder, Colorado). Other than this, my only idea would be to upload your model here...

The .igs file should be in your skindigo, i think it's called default.igs. Its worth noting that this will be deleted when you start a different render, though, so it's better to go plugins->skindigo->export scene if you plan on resuming the render.

How about using the "paste in place" command (in the Edit menu) after you copied the geometry? It willput anything that you copied/cut into the exact same location and orientation. You can even assign a shortcut to this function (as it doesn't have a separate toolbar button).

i'll have to take a look at jing

If you have the control SW (Catalyst, I guess), make sure that you set "Antialiasing" (and maybe "Anisotropic filtering" - whatever it means ) to application controlled (see attached). [image: ZOoM_Catalyst.jpg] Note however that the control centre will not substitute an updated driver so indeed make sure your driver is updated. On the other hand, this machine at work has been the second one I have had Ati card on and neither have been really perfect with hardware acceleration on (although thank God, I haven't had display problems with them either).

As has been mentioned 3ds files can come into SU just fine with textures. If you have a 3ds model and no control over it I don't know what to say. If you have a model in 3ds Max the trick is to change the materials from Vray or some other specialized format to Standard. Then they come into SU perfectly. -Brodie

During the early days of experiments with split processors, there were ones that were single core but when it came to apps that could use multiple cores, this single core could work in "hyperthreading" (i.e. like nowadays multiple core) mode. I have a 3.8 GHz processor in my laptop and it can do that (so for rendering I can use it as a dual core). Probably the ideal machine for SU. True that together with the adapter it's about 9 kgs / 18 lbs and though it has two batteries, when unplugged, it will run out of charge within about 30-40 minutes (well, an old one anyway). Still, at least portable (with a wheelbarrow). Unfortunately this kind of development proved to be a dead-end.

@xrok1 said: nice, thanks, did you post them on 3Dwarehouse as well? Thanks. They're pretty basic so they can be modified easily. I have not posted them 3D Warehouse. Just here as a contribution towards a component I borrowed. I'll contribute some more things in the future.

@l.frisken said: Just out of interest, which program are you using, because I'm also looking for good, free hdr progs! Depends on whether you are a Mac guy, if so, I am playing with Photomatix demo (watermarked until you buy it), FDR has a basic version, however, the one that's giving me the prob is called: 'qtpfsgui', I suppose the weird name should have been the tipoff. If you have the inclination to share your shots, there is a nice little posting started by 'nomeradona' down at the Corner Bar.

Sziasztok! Nem kis erőfeszítés árán jutottam el idáig. Mindent beleértve! Működik még ez a fórum, mert komoly segítségre lenne szükségem és eddig senki és semmi nem működött!

Dear all, thank you very much for your feedback. We are also preparing a Mac Version. Regards Graziano

that is a nice idea, magnato. running around in SU models like in an ego-shooter would be fun. perhaps that is something that can be done with a ruby script... but then it had to freeze shortcut-keys while active, so that one can use the a,w,s,d keys freely for running around. (left mouse-button is for pushing objects out of the way with sketchy physics for animation )

Hi Dennis, It should be Flash IMO. That's the most cross-platform and cross-browser format and its embedding routine is also straightforward. Sure you could also try to embed QT asmost PC users have a plugin for that.

Yeah, I just noticed that, Mirjman...thanks. I have to make a single image into a component in order to allow SU to change the color: but since some of the render apps need the images exploded, I'm going to test using a png material instead of an unexploded image...then I can get rid of all the components inside the group of leaf faces. I'll test if this is faster with a hundred or so trees.

Hi McGuyver (hm... I seem to have been beaten but anyways...) This is not a stupid question at all and you guessed right; it's especially relevant if you want to export your model to other applications (I know it causes problems in 3ds format for sure). First of all, you need to understand that since in "real world", everything has some kind of thickness, therefore virtual, 3D models should also have thickness. Then there is a difference between "solid modelers" (where this "thicknes" is symbolised by some kind of a solid object) and "surface modelers" (like SU) where we only "pretend" this thickness by creating hollow boxes. Now the faces in these latter modlers obviously have two sides; a "front" (that should always be oriented to the "outsie world") and the back (which should be orinted towards the "inside thickness"). Normally only front faces are supposed to be displayed to the viewer (as you never go inside the thickness of anything unless you are a ghost going through walls). In SU, the "default" front face (depending on the template you use) is whitish or light brown (beige) while the back face is some kind of greyish-bluish. You can however change this at SketchUp (Window on PC) > Styles > In model (the small, house icon) > Face settings (the second icon on the top). See attached image (I'm on a PC so the dialog might be a bit different but you can get the idea) where I deleted one of the faces so as to reveal the back faces symbolising thickness oriented inside. [image: 38O3_FrontFace-BackFace.png] The best is to get used to correct orientation at the very beginning of both your learning curve as well as the beginning of any (later to be complex) model. You can always right click on a back face (or a whole selection of back faces) and select "Reverse face" from the context menu. Also, you can right click on a properly oriented front face and select "Orient faces" although with more complex models (especially when there are excess faces inside a "solid") this may not work properly. There are also plugins that automate correct face orientation with more or less success.

@londonpieman said: did you find a fix for this problem? I removed Indigo and now have 2 pop ups every time I open sketchup, really annoying! Which version did you have installed? How did you remove it?

As xrok said, you just let it go until your happy with it. Depending on your computer and the scene this can take anything from 30 mins to a few days. If youre using indigo/skindigo 1.0.9 you will lose any progress once you have stopped the render. If your using indigo/skindigo 1.1.16 then you can resume the render from the .igs file (the indigo scene file.) If you head over to the indigo forum whaat has posted a very good tutorial for skindigo 1.0.9, it should be enough to get you started

Hello Raindodger, You can find lots of tutorials at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=SketchUpVideo&view=videos and http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=aidanchopra&view=playlists. Hope this helps. Regards, Bob