One more utility you guys might find useful called Process Lasso
It allows you to set processor and it allows you to set task priority for application. It's main function is to throttle down processes on a background to give more for your foreground app. Been using it for a wile

http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php

Pins usually work fine. Could you tell more about the problem?
Also sometimes i just drag texture directly from windows explorer and drop in sketchup. It creates a face with this texture perfectly mapped. Then you can simply scale it to whatever you need.

it is so simple, its genius Thank you so much for sharing this

I have space navigator and space traveler. Do not like it in sketchup. Feels a lot more natural using mouse. But cant live without this device in all other 3d app (3ds max, cinema, rhino, autocad)

I attached a file where i tried to solve your problem
take a look here
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=8729

you post in so many places i did not know where yo answer

Is this what you are trying to achieve?
Look in the attachment

likethat.skp

Hello everyone
I wanted to add my 5 cents.
Sometimes I find myself working at the unusual angle and with a complex overlapping geometry. This does not always allows me to switch my view in a way where i can select one half. Espatially if i am not cutting by a simple single face.

So here is my method

one half group_ag.skp

I just tried it myself. Great tutorial.
I did my own curved rope seems to work well, but it is somewhat time consuming.
I did it by first drawing a curved path, the way i want my rope. Then use circle and follow me tool on that curve. Next turn on hidden lines and using new shape as a reference draw 3 independed guide lines for your rope. Next delete original shape, leaving only 3 guidelines, use follow me tool on each of them individually to produce a rope... done