Posts made by Alleyviper

bah. Ok thank you.

I make very complex models using the model one half, copy, scale to -1, put two halves together method. I have alot of curves in some of my models and SU doesn't like to join them automaticly for me after I explode the two groups. To get around this, I explode the two groups, select everything, context click, then select "intersect selected". Then, for the most part, I can go through and erase the joint lines.

I was attempting to create the head of a screw with SU and noticed something odd with the follow me tool. I would start by drawing a 2d circle on the ground about 1/8" diameter. Then, I would draw a line up from the center of the circle about 1/8". Using the arc tool, I would draw the shape of the screw's head out from the top of the center line to the outer edge of my circle. Then, draw a line from the bottom of that arc to connect it to the bottom of the center line. I know this is hard to follow but basicly what I have at this point is a circle on the red axis and the shape of half of my screw head on the blue axis. Now, I use the follow me tool to drag the screw head around the circle hopefully ending in what should resemble the top half of a sphere right?? No, I end up with a smaller circle on the red axis or a partial shere with faces missing. When I do the exact same process but scale everything up from inches to feet, I get the result I'm looking for. Why is the follow me tool acting silly on small scale items?

I am just a 3d hobbiest and have only ever used sketchup. I tried other programs but the learning curve was too big. I've only found two things so far I can't do with sketchup. 1.) I can't rig a model so I can pose it. For example, I made a model of a man in a space suit and wanted him to be posable. I couldn't make something like an elbow bend. To get around it, I made the upper arm and lower arm two groups on layer 1. The two groups overlap each other so as one moves, the overlaped parts of the other are exposed to fill in the empty space. I built a rig on layer 2 and grouped parts of the model to the rig in layer 3. It works, but it doesn't look great. 2.) I can't unwrap my models in sketchup to texture them. I think the pro's call it UV mapping. Whatever it's called, I can't do it in sketchup.

When working in layers be sure that all of your groups and the faces in those groups are on the layer you want them on. This happens to me all of the time.