Always good to have a student aboard as a moderator! Don't ever graduate, Remus! And welcome, Mike!

Ok, here's a starter. The attached is a staring point. It shows 2 components, one is the starting size of your T1. The second is a copy of the component, made unique and re-sized. The report shows it is scaling properly with correct output (although the model is in mm and the report is always in inches). Pay particular attention to how the X Y Z positions and X Y Z sizes of the Beam and Beamguide vary because of the different orientation and location of the AXIS for each sub component. See if adding the other subcomponents to this start to affect the way it scales. Hope this helps. timbertest3.skp

i thought my membership in the beta team had expired when they released SU7. am i still a member? is the beta forum still on? wow! i will report the problem wherever i can. i have no firewall on. have a look below. [image: xzsn_Picture22.png]

Yes, moire is a real world phenomenon as well. It has something to do with interfering patterns (like offset grids.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moire

Yes this Solo's thread is the Anthology Cartoon tutorial!

Anssi, I wish I would have thought of that....great solution! Will try all those tricks, Thank you. David, The time has come for me to learn Layout. Excited about hybrid mode too. SketchUp has completely changed the way i work and expanded my abilities as a designer. Can't wait to see what Layout can do. Thanks for helping.

You can find it here: http://sketchup.google.com/download/previousplugins.html It was written for V.5 and is pretty long in the tooth, but still works in 7. You need to place both the Camera.rb file and the folder called Previs in your plugins folder You will then find the options in the Camera Menu to "select camera type" and "create camera" along with a few other options.

@unknownuser said: This seems odd to me. An I.T dept should only be concerned with the running requirements of the proposed software. As a designer/architect/technician you shouldn't need to justify using SU to them, they should not be concerned with project delivery. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an IT man in possession of authority turns into a control freak." From experience... "What you need to do is install i-drop to work with AutoCAD. It's a free add-on from Autodesk." "We can't do that the IT manager won't approve it!" "Then he's a WCW!"

The method depends on if you have 3d, or 2d CAD files. If 3d, then the polylines must be turned into SU surfaces. If the file is 2d, then it must be assembled into a 3d model after importing, then converted into surfaces. If in either case the CAD drawing is made up of 3D Faces (connected polylines, 3 to 4 coplaner sides), then each face will import as a surface. Yes you can import the file as a component, and use it as a reference, or for parts to build your model.

I don't know, ELYSIUM, my method is pretty tedious. While it's precise, it can take a lot of work. (My tutorial model was really an exercise to demonstrate the capability of SketchUp ... and somebody dared me!) For quick representation of a rope, I'd try the textured method suggested by remus. For quickly producing an actual twisted construction, I'd use the "Follow me rotate" plugin. See this discussion: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=12965 So, Casey, now you've got several options! (...and we haven't even gotten into the catenary-sag issue, yet.) Taff

Hey Thanks Pmiller! I tried Make Faces agian and left it running yesterday evening. It worked , similar to yours with some flaws, but took 4 hours! Ive got a few more sections to do so will try the contours method. Ill post you my email now Thanks!

@davidboulder said: If your model is simple architectural shape, but with a lot of underlying detail. You could export jpegs and then make a photo-matched version. Can add in as little or much detail as you would like. If you want to get more accurate textures then instead of appying through PhotoMatch, you can jsut export matching elevations and use those to texture yoru building. That's a funny method. Wouldn't really work when using photoreal render software... I think Google could add 'proxy objects' to their export routines. The Render engine developers would be happy. It would be nice if Sketchup would provide these developers with a better platform to code their apps. (Or make Sketchup itself adapted to cope with higher poly objects...)

Hi Joseph (and welcome), Have a look at this topicwhere there are two different solutions - except that it's a wine bottle.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=2973c8df1f11d342ca27da2b5ef0c87a&prevstart=0 [image: DVjI_washbasinsDC.jpg]

The Dynamic Components I posted are not animated. Accordingly they would be of no use to you.

Thanks all for your ideas. I gave up and decided it was more trouble than it was worth to do a SU model and try to match it with the bad photo. I just added plants, grass and trees in photoshop. It seemed very difficult getting the results I wanted in the time that i needed. Photoshop was quick and was ok for what the client needed. I need to get better at photo shop;). In any case I have attached my result. [image: 2BMq_IMG00007t-3copyMedium.jpg]

@unknownuser said: then perhaps you are on Vista without Admin rights and the system has shunted them into a compatibility sub-folder ? I found this an unexpected Vista issue with SU for components and templates, but I think from his profile he is using XP which should not be an issue (providing he has not setup different user accounts with different permissions). I wonder if he is using the 'save as' in the component browser to save it to his own directory outside of the SU Components folder (in program files), and is not then either moving the directory into the SU components directory, or not loading it as an external library.

Welcome to GSCF. I believe what you need is 'Tools on surface' (TOS) plugin. Found here: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=11212&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=tools+on+surface

PM me with details, I will see how i can help.

You can always ad more cameras in SU and export them to KT - with the "merge" function in KT you can even do this without needing to redo everything that you have done there. Don't ask meabout the merge function however because I only know aboutit but have never done it myself