What's your beginners tip?
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I would like to share another method that helped me to keep every thing in order. Suppose you are modelling a complicated shape, like a designer window inside one of the rooms in a house. First you turn the window into a group. The window should be at the exact location where you want it to be in the finished model of the house.Move this group a particular distance, say about 300 cms or 10 ft(using multiples of 100 will be easy. Also dont forget this distance) along the blue axis in the upward direction. Now the group is away from the model of the house. Now you can select the house without affecting the window and hide it. This will reduce the load on the computer. The parallel projection mode and front, side or rear view can be used with advantage for selecting the house. Now do the detailing works on the window. After that unhide the house and move the window 300 cms down.
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Hi James,
What if you turn the window into a component instead of a group and only move a copy a little out of the way? In this case, you can work on the component while the original copy (being just another instance of the same definition) will instantly inherit any changes you make on this copy component.
You basically spare only one step; moving the window back to its original position but this can even be a bit more tedious and in this case you need not even do those movements so precisely etc.
Another way to work on elements without the disturbing surrounding is to "hide the rest of the model" while working inside a group/component (this can be found under Window > Model info y Components - but you can also add a toggle shortcut key)
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I agree with you Gaieus. Components are more powerful than Groups. But I had a feeling that all features of Components are not available in Sketchup free version. I am trying to learn more about them.
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You get the full features of Groups and Components in the free version.
There is very little difference between Pro and Free. The main differences being file export and Layout. There are a few more but all the modelling tools are the same. -
Note that with Free you can use Dynamic Components, but you can't make them - that needs Pro...
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True but for this job, you do not need Dynamic Components.
In fact, though I have the Pro version, I extremely rarely use any of the Pro functions.
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Hello group. My name is Craig. I'm fairly new to sketchup, having used a variety of 3d modelers in the past. Really enjoying it. I have one question. I'm looking for a plugin that would provide 'saved' selection sets, or the ability to re-highlight last selection or group. I'm not going to bore everybody with why, and therefore's, but needless to say it would seem a valuable time saver.
thanks for your time, and thanks for a great forum.
craig
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See http://www.smustard.com/script/SelectionMemory for free, or the inexpensive v2 there too...
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@tig said:
See http://www.smustard.com/script/SelectionMemory for free, or the inexpensive v2 there too...
thanks a bunch. that will work.
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I did not read all of the other tips, but I'm sure someone has said this already, and it's worth repeating.
"SAVE OFTEN" ...SketchUP has a tendency to "crash often".
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This may have been said before but please SAVE YOUR MODEL FREQUENTLY, Every few minutes, just take the 10 seconds out to push [CTRL] + [S]. you don't want to be in the position where your model bug splats (crashes) and you lose all your work. I learned this the hard way, but i hope you won't.
Another tip: Learn by watching. Look at other users' models, especially their WIP (Work in progress. AKA an unfinished model) models. You might see how they do it. You might learn a new trick or a new way to use a certain tool. Don't be afraid to ask someone how they made a model either. -
@unknownuser said:
Look at other users' models, especially their WIP (Work in progress. AKA an unfinished model) models. You might see how they do it. You might learn a new trick or a new way to use a certain tool. Don't be afraid to ask someone how they made a model either.
Agreed. But about saving, that's why SU has autosave
Though it is always good to be on the safe side. -
Save is cool but when your file becomes some big that is less cool
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The problem with autosave is exactly what Pilou says. When your file becomes rather large and it "hits" you the worst time, it can take forever. Imagine you are in an operation with a heavy ruby plugin (which can take a while in itself, too) and then in the meanwhile comes the autosave.
I basically turned it off and got used to saving the model at every possible and "logical" time (mainly after some major steps). However it would be a risky thing to suggest this...
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Ah, well, being a rather lazy person, I never make models so large tht it takes a long time to save 'em, but I get your point.
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@gaieus said:
The problem with autosave is exactly what Pilou says. When your file becomes rather large and it "hits" you the worst time, it can take forever. Imagine you are in an operation with a heavy ruby plugin (which can take a while in itself, too) and then in the meanwhile comes the autosave.
I basically turned it off and got used to saving the model at every possible and "logical" time (mainly after some major steps). However it would be a risky thing to suggest this...
ditto
although when you forget to manual save.....................
happens more than i will admit lol -
I did the same. And now I am hard wired to hit save before any plugin operation
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Yes indeed, I also forget to save sometimes and once it did happen to me that I splatted and lost some hours of work - exactly the worst timing as it was a tight deadline.
That's why I also wrote it would be risky to advise this...
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Model somthing that is accesable to you, your house, letterbox, a piece of furniture etc model and delete/build until you get it right. Emulating the real world will force you to uncover new aspects of SU you may not otherwise stumble upon.
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As a beginner myself (more aptly called a newb) I can say with confidence that the first
thing someone should do is RTFM (read the 'manual'). It's long, boring, etc etc et al ad nauseum but more than worth it.Just the toolbar and tools sections are worth the time and effort. There are so many context and tool altering keyboard
key combination's for the various tools that it'll really be worth your while.
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