Section Cut Effects

not registered yet

I'm not finding the ability to change section cut colors in SketchUp 6. I believe this was under Model Info prefs in v 5. Can anyone help?

Also, how grateful would I be if experts could advise on the best way to achieve a poche section cut effect. That is, turn the edge lines into planes, preferably isolated onto its own layer. Is it a completely manual process, or are there tricks I am missing, please?

Thanks in advance, and hi, btw. Excited to find a SU community.

P: skpark

Gaieus

Skpark,

The colours for section cuts have now been moved to the "Styles" dialogue dropdown. Go to the "In model" tab and edit the selected style - one of the small icons there will allow you to set all that once was listed under the Model info (see attached file).

As for the section cut faces, see TIG's script here:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=1517

not registered yet

@gaieus said:

The colours for section cuts have now been moved to the "Styles" dialogue dropdown. Go to the "In model" tab and edit the selected style - one of the small icons there will allow you to set all that once was listed under the Model info (see attached file).

I swear I hunted before I asked!

Thank you much. Better it's here.

@unknownuser said:

As for the section cut faces, see TIG's script here:
http://www.sketchucation.com/scf/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=773&hilit=section+cut+face

ooh. Guess I'm about to delve into the world of Ruby. Thanks again, so so much.

P: skpark

Gaieus

You welcome - welcome here, in the forums, too!

not registered yet

I see that it's possible to change the color of the planes' outline in "Styles", or even make the planes completely invisible. What I'm wondering is if it's possible to make the plane itself invisible, while still keeping the border in sight? This would make texturing while using a section plane a lot easier without the plane lightening everything behind it.

In the same vein, it would be nice if the eyedropper didn't insist on picking the material of the section plane when one is reaching for the texture behind it.

Solutions to any of these problems would be greatly appreciated, as they bother me quite often.

P: Tapsa_Kn

Gaieus

Tapsa,

You can always toggle the visibility of the section planes as well as section cuts on=off from the section toolbar (as well as from the View menu).
Additionally, you can right click on any of the section planes and hide them like simplye geometry.

As for the materials - if you are talking about TIG's script mentioned above, it is a group. You need to edit the group (double click) to be able to paint/copy the material of the individual faces separately.

If this is not your problem, please, elaborate.

not registered yet

I had noticed that you can hide the section planes, but after that I'm unable to move them unless I unhide them again. Granted, this isn't such a huge inconvenience as you rarely need to move the planes around a whole lot.

Regarding the materials, I'll try and clarify my point(s) via the following image:

A simple block colored black
Putting a section plane in front of the block makes the texture behind the plane appear gray. Of course this isn't a problem here, but when using a section plane to remove the roof from a room for texturing for example, trouble arises (though in that specific case one could simply hide the plane without too great of an effort).
After using the eye dropper tool on the covered-by-plane surface I only get the plane's texture instead of the black one.

P: Tapsa_Kn

Gaieus

Tapsa,

There is not only the option to hide (individual) section planes buit also to toggle their visibility off (as I posted above).

You can have several section planes (and thus section cuts) in your model and you can get any of them "active".

To your material problem I'd suggest not to eyedropper/copy the material of a section plane (I dodn't see the reason...)

not registered yet

@gaieus said:

To your material problem I'd suggest not to eyedropper/copy the material of a section plane (I dodn't see the reason...)

This mostly happens in the aforementioned scenario when I'm trying to pick the texture of a floor surface (not the section plane) while the camera is hovering above the section plane (which in turn is horizontally between the floor and the camera). It seems it all boils down to me having to stop being so awfully lazy and managing to make the few extra clicks to adjust the planes when needed, thanks for helping

P: Tapsa_Kn