The good thing about the i7 processor is that it has a feature called turbo boost. That means that it can selectively overclock its processor cores when the overall processor load is low. This is a benefit for single-threaded applications like 3D modellers (like SU). I haven't got an i7 laptop myself, but I helped a friend choose one, and I seem to remember that the 1.73 GHz processor he finally chose can turbo-boost up to something like 3 GHz (you can find the exact specs in the Intel webpages). So it is likely that you shall be OK, but that there will not be a mind-shattering increase in SU performance.

Anssi

SU version 8 has the Foreground Photo feature in PhotoMatch that makes the model look like the image overlay covers it. What baffles people is that the controls for this behaviour are not in the Match Photo dialog but in the Styles window>Edit>bottom of the Modeling settings tab.

Anssi

It displays quite OK for me. What graphics card do you have? - it could be a graphics driver problem.
Anssi

@jalsina said:

Graphics is Intel GMA 4500MHD (integrated).

Whatever Intel might say about its graphics chips, they are not OpenGL compatible, and do not run SketchUp with OpenGL Hardware Acceleration on. They are slow because they share the memory with the CPU.

Anssi

@mitcorb said:

I suspect that porting it through Revit reset the origins/axes of the offending geometry

So it does. Revit, although it doesn't use OpenGL, is almost as bad at large coordinates as SU. When Solo imported the DWG file and then re-exported the view, the origin was set at the Revit model origin, not the one in the DWG.

Anssi

Whatever you decide to do to tweak your model to look more "real", do not save your tweaks in your original model but keep it for further modifications (when your wife asks for something different, for instance).

A model that has small irregularities is always difficult, if not impossible, to work with. That is why even professionals make their walls generally vertical and their angles straight. You must also realize that every measurement taken also has its tolerance, so that the reality may be more regular or more irregular than they show. For instance, measurements taken by a laser tachymeter have a tolerance of about 50 mm, so that when you get a measured drawing representing a system built structure, it will show a lot of columns with lozenge-shaped cross sections - and you know RHS steel columns of a structure that hasn't collapsed are square. Of course, irregularities so big that they must be taken into account when planning modifications, had better not be overlooked.

Anssi

A simple solution might be to export two views: a wireframe view and a hidden-line view. Then you import the first into CAD, assign the dashed linetype of your choice to all the lines, and then import the hidden-line view and place it directly over the first one. If the excess lines worry you, you can use the "Overkill" feature in AutoCad (I think it is part of Express tools) to delete at least part of them.

Anssi

In Windows 7 Professional the LayOut template default location is:

C:\ProgramData\Google\Google SketchUp 8\LayOut\templates

Anssi

It really depends on the purpose of the document. A poster is usually meant to be viewed from far away, and I think that there are rules of thumb about the relation of the smallest font used to the overall size of the sheet. On the other hand, a technical drawing is meant for close scrutiny, so font sizes do not have to differ from normal office documents - it's more important to be able to cram in all the necessary information. And documents like architectural working drawing plans have lots of textual info like door tags that have to closely associated with a graphical object but must not cover it, so text styles for things like these tend to be rather small.

Anssi

TIFF files come in many variations - mostly to do with compression methods. All are lossless so the variant has no effect on quality, and there is really no reason to use uncompressed unless the receiver for some obscure reason demands it. LZW compression comes closest to PNG in size as the compression method is the same in both formats. TIFF supports layers and channels, I don't think PNG does. PNG also doesn't have a bitmap mode, so usually I store scanned black and white drawings as TIFFs.

Generally RGB is the preferred colour space - CMYK is intended for traditional colour separated printing press production, and its colour gamut is smaller. The Windows version of SU doesn't support CMYK at all.

Anssi

@hellnbak said:

There seems to be about 3 dozen different models of the GeForce GTX 460. Can you be a bit more specific? Thanks.

Nvidia (just like ATI, too)licenses it's products for different manufacturers - apart from the brand name there should be no difference whatsoever between the ones with the same chipset (VRAM amount, perhaps).

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@unknownuser said:

@anssi said:

installing the DWG TrueView (free download from Autodesk) might give the same functionality.
Anssi

Indeed, is free download, but is trial version . It costs $1200.
Thanks anyway. I'll be looking for free alternatives (or very low-cost, if it worths the money).

Are you quoting the price of AutoCad LT? The viewing application Autodesk DWG TrueView IS free,
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=6703438&DCMP=ILC-DWG-PUV
( I noticed that they are advertising for LT on the right of the page, while the "Download now" button on the left, in the text column is much smaller...clever businessmen?)

Anssi

If the development of the viewer takes resources away from the development of the full application, I am all for scrapping it altogether.

In the days of SU 3 or 4 when the hardware requirements of the viewer were less than those of the full app, and when you could burn the viewer together with model files on a CD, and it would run from there without installation, it had a limited usability as a client presentation tool, but since the arrival of the free full version it is rather obsolete.

For modellers concerned with their intellectual property rights versus their clients, there are better read-only alternatives available, like the 3D PDF format, as a full model file sent is always to a degree a model file set free, regardless whether the recipient is aware of the existence of a free version of SU.

Anssi

For my room interior projects I have created a template that has all the ortho views in place as scenes, together with their accompanying vertical and horizontal section planes, so that if I model the room around the origin, the needed views are all ready, all I need to do is slightly adjust the section plane locations.

Anssi

@unknownuser said:

Is there any better alternative? I really need to see dwg/dxf and 3ds thumbnails.

I have Windows7-64 Pro and AutoCad Architecture 2011 and I can see thumbnails/preview images for DWG files. I would guess that if you don't have AutoCad, installing the DWG TrueView (free download from Autodesk) might give the same functionality. Also, TrueView is very useful by itself as a viewer and converter. Besides viewing and printing it can convert to old DWG and DXF formats down to AutoCad version 10 or 12 (from the early 1990s).

Anssi

@pep75 said:

It's strange and it's a bit confusing, but I think the Fermi architecture play a very important role in this. But nevertheless, the numbers, in the Sketchup test, are strange. I thought I've bought a high-end card that would blow away all those Geforce game rubbish....not....

It does not go quite like that. Gaming cards have definitely more bang for the buck than the QuadroFX models. What you get with a Quadro is some more reliability and better drivers optimized for 3D content creation.

I have been happy with my FX1800/i7/Win7-64 combination, also with Photoshop. Are your drivers up to date?

I am not sure about the situation today, but some years ago Photoshop and DTP professionals used to prefer Matrox cards, and definitely they gave the best looking screen image on CRT monitors. You have to forget about SU, though - I once tested, and got a BSOD...

Anssi

What style are you using? Does this go away if you switch to a standard non-sketchy-edges style? Are Extensions on?

Is your camera oddly positioned? What happens if you turn on Perspective, Zoom to Extents, and then turn back to Parallel projection.

Basically, SU is not designed to be used without a graphics card.

Just suggestions

Anssi

A couple of suggestions

• upgrade your graphics card driver, if you have not already done so
• do not use any other system (such as the Nvidia NView) than the basic Windows one to manage your screens and desktop.

Anssi

@unknownuser said:

seems like a lot of structure just to get good cable tv reception. . .

I have heard it isn't quite as useful as that...

I like to read Bob Park's opinions about manned space flight (and other science-related things) at http://www.bobpark.org

Anssi

"Extreme modelling" at its best! I just love all the detail.

Anssi