Posts made by Alan Fraser

I think Shaun has it about right...plus many people might simply be busy at the moment...I know I am. It happened from time to time on the old forum, even at its peak.
Activity on the old forum is almost non-existent. There have been only 24 posts in the last 24 hours...including some spam...almost none by people who's names I recognise. Also, I doubt whether it is a case of slinking off to the New Google forum. I haven't managed to see what it's like yet, or even see whether it exists. Every time I do a search for SketchUp Pro groups I just get a message saying my membership is still pending.

I'd imagine that the future of this venue gets more secure as each day passes. It's the basic rule of supply and demand...if you can't deliver a reliable service (which Google isn't doing...if only by virtue of all the uncertainty and the way things were originally handled), people will drift off in search of other sources of supply, so that even when you are back on your feet you've lost a good part of your market share. Any new Pro forum will now need to be REALLY good from the outset to affect this one in any way.

Alan

I have CS3 and Zoomify is already there. I don't remember adding it separately, so presumably the plug-in is for earlier versions.

When you are exporting to 3ds...or anything else for that matter...you need to go into the export options (small, hiding-in-plain-sight button on lower right of export dialog box)and uncheck the Export stand alone edges box. You should only need to do this once.

For anyone wanting to put flythroughs onto their website.
Riva FLV encoder is free and works very nicely from SU-exported avi files. It gets good reviews too.
http://www.download.com/Riva-FLV-Encoder/3000-2140-10320097.html

I use Photoshop...on a PC, but of course it's exactly the same on the Mac. If you haven't got that, in fact if anyone on any platform doesn't fancy paying mucho dinero for a full-featured image editor that's about as good as PS, then I'd suggest trying The Gimp. It's free open source and there's a version for any platform including Linux. http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

The only problem is that Gimp developers tend to be rather geeky and seem to bend over backwards to only provide source code, not a proper installer. Installers can be found, though, with a little searching.

Very pretty...but it's Photoshop magic. Since when do trees have nipples, belly buttons and thumbs?

Well, now you have hawk-like vision, you might want to try this.
http://www.happywomanmagazine.com/DIY/append.htm

You mean like this?

A piece of street art in my home town.
What to do with a disused building. there are some other clips showing the mechanism from the inside.
Youtube Video

Very impressive.
Free running has been used in a few UK ads over the past year or so. Here's a couple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2O5Jf9NLcY
Youtube Video

I was middle of the road at high school...art and science. I was undecided between architecture and graphic design. The graphics won. I became an illustrator, doing teaching on the side.
I started using various 3D programs to help with the illustration and eventually found SU, which is very good for certain types of illustration...right out of the box.....that combination of outline and simple colouring.

In the early days, it was quite obvious that large numbers of people were in love with the software but severely hampered by a lack of content (the basic 3D man was as good as it got), so I started work on a CD of about 130 people in different poses. All those years of life drawing classes came in quite handy.

I got a phonecall from Fred Abler who was at that time running a site called Objective Networks...a free precursor to the 3D Warehouse (but with a degree of quality control)...and Bingo! FormFonts was born.

It's very strange to think that when I was at college my present job was in the realms of science fiction. As students, we occasionally went into the Faculty of Printing next door. They had linotype machines that looked like something dreamt up by Heath Robinson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine
A linotype machine was a very complicated looking piece of mechanical design which started with a guy typing onto a keyboard (the old typewriter sort) and ended up with a pot of molten type metal being poured into a mould of a complete line of type formed by the dies of the different letters which fell into place as the operator typed.
Even in my younger days it looked like something out of the Ark.
Progress just kind of sneaks up on you, doesn't it?

Thanks for starting the thread, Pete. I was going to review it but my copy seems to have timed-out. So if you find it useful you'll need to register as a Beta tester to carry on using it. No big deal I would have thought for such a handy free app.

I'd agree with some of the others..that SU is a tool and being good at it is a matter of fulfilling the needs of the client. In my case, that usually involves modelling people without the whites of their eyes or wrinkles, but people who look reasonably natural from a few feet away. With SU's obvious handicap of being geometry-intolerant that means modelling anything as economically as possible but with the appearance of being far more detailed than it actually is.
Personally, I'd say that using SU to model detailed organic shapes is a bit like modelling a full size bridge out of matchsticks...it's possible but just not the best tool for the job. You'd be much better using ZBrush or a new freebie just out...CB Model Pro http://www.cbmodelpro.com/
I'll do a heads up of this on a separate thread if people think it's worthwhile.

I made a similar one last year...and yes...it was a bitch.
http://www.formfonts.com/requestFile.ph ... lide01.jpg

I found out very early on that Follow Me was going to be no use at all (that twisting thing)...so I decided that the best way was to actually make it modular, like the real thing, then join the modules together.

I made a profile, then arrayed it in a quarter circle at 15° intervals...rather like the ribs of a bent boat. Then I calculated the drop over a quarter turn and adjusted the height of each section accordingly, like a spiral stair. It was then a question of physically stitching all the nodes together to give a smooth surface.

That's not a watercolour effect Ron. He really looks like that.

I've tried several gyms, but I guess I'm just not disciplined enough to get into the habit. Anyway, I find the experience really boring...not to mention the extra waste of time in getting changed, strutting your stuff, getting a shower then getting changed again...it all adds up to something quite substantial.

I've fallen back on the old-as-the-hills idea of the 'morning constitutional' I get up and go for a 2-3 mile fast walk. Not the hip/arm swinging type...just walking in what you might call a determined manner for about 30-40 minutes. It's something that you can do without raising too much of a sweat, so no need for all the other stuff...if I can't manage it first thing, then I do it mid-morning or whatever, then straight back to work. There's a history of arthritis in the family; so far I've been lucky but I don't want to tempt fate by doing anything involving impact...that's why I've always swum and cycled, not jogged.

Anyhow, I've been doing this pretty much every single day for a couple of months now, coupled with my own diet of no carbs before 6.00 pm. I usually just have a banana for breakfast, with a cup of coffee and something like a light salad and yoghurt for lunch. This means that in the evening I can eat/drink pretty much what I like...so no need for sanctimonious "No thanks, I'm on a diet." when I'm out with friends.

I had been watching the calories anyway, but despite that, seemed to be stubbornly stuck around 210 lb. With the walking, I'm losing a steady 2 lb a week. Not as dramatic as Ross, but it's something that is infinitely sustainable....and I still get to drink beer.

Coen, we need more smileys

Thanks guys....yes, that's another 600 million miles around the sun notched up. Tom, not quite double but pretty close.

A banana...that's it. My wife makes me have a croissant every Sunday morning, to keep her company. Those things were never meant to be eaten indoors; I end up with pastry flakes all over the dining room.

It's interesting how many people turn to Roman stuff. One of my early projects was the Baalbek complex in Syria. Here's a WIP off the old forum.
http://betaforum.sketchup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120078&d=1059040164

I just thought I'd share this startling scientific discovery with the rest of the world.
I was microwaving a pint of milk yesterday evening...full power for 3 minutes. Unknown to me, a large moth had decided to take a nap inside. The milk came out at near boiling point, the moth didn't look too pleased either...but otherwise was perfectly ok.

It was still fine this morning. I guess it's because they contain so little moisture. Although, judging by the state of my windscreen at the moment, they've certainly got some.

My car also bears testimony to the fact that the pigeons belonging to the guy at the back of us also contain a degree of moisture. I think I'll try it on one of them next.