I started with the exiting topo, was able to create some contort lines from the plan sections, then used the drape tool to make a representation of the existing grade. I lined some points and elevations up with the civil plan to get the height relatively correct. I then took a copy of the slab which I drew from the house plan, worked hard to add grade cutbacks to that, all the while correcting "solid" mistakes (holes from using solid tools) and finally had something to drop onto the existing topo then did a cut (or whatever it is) with the solid tools to get what you see. It was a fair amount of work. Now, I see what I think are issues with the civil plan and want to amend the cut, but I think all I can do is start all over. I'm sure it will go quicker this time!

Thanks for your kind comment. I still consider myself a newbie at this SU thing...

Bob

@pilou said:

@unknownuser said:

with solid tools

The Boolean ones ?

well, the ones that come with sketchup... I don't know if those are the same as what you're referring to.

I've worked a significant part of the weekend modeling a building pad excavation. Went down several paths, decided they weren't the right ones, then started over. I finally got something "acceptable", but was thinking there must be a way I didn't consider, something a little easier to accomplish. I recognize part of my struggle was due to not being very familiar with solid tools... but I'm learning.

I'm including a link to the file here in case anyone wants to have a look at offer some suggestions for making the process a little easier next time.

Thanks to the forum members!

Bob

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jw6mv2hasfyalmg/hanlon%20civil%20terrain.skp?dl=0

Thanks, Dave, I'll look around.

Sorry I didn't find you at Basecamp. I will be looking forward to the next one!

Bob

Thanks!

SketchupArtists has a number of styles available for download. But, I'll be darned if I can figure out where to put them / how to get them into SU. Extensions are easy, but how does one make use of an "after market" style?

Thanks!

Bingo! Thanks, Box!

I've lost the ability to position textures. I'm using SU Pro '16 and when I paint a texture on a surface and right click, I get the textures>position choice ok, but as a result all I get is 4 undifferentiated pins - no green yellow red pins as before that let one manipulate the texture in various ways. All I can do is distort the texture. No rotation available, etc.

Anybody know what's going on?

Thanks!

I duplicated the scene as you suggested and fiddled a bit to get the view the same (or very close). The camera still leaps away when switching from one view to another, but at least I have something I can work with after exporting the animation, by cutting out the offending transition.

This behavior of view changing, in animation, between projection changes seems odd though.

Thanks!

I'm stumped in an animation I'm trying to create-

I'm starting off with a scene of a building section in parallel projection using one of the standard camera views (front, in this particular instance). It may be important to note that I am not using SU section tool to create the section, rather I have imported the architect's section at that point into SU as DWG (grouped and assigned to layer). (I'm laying out the architect's plan in 3D space in SU, so that I have the basement level, 1st floor and 2nd floor all aligned but separated vertically by the difference in floor elevation, and then I've also brought in the various section cuts from the Architect. So, I have a "model" of 2D architectural sheets arrayed in space.) I want to animate from this parallel view to perspective and then start rotation of the "model". But, when I select "perspective" from the camera menu, the the camera position jumps way away from the previous location in parallel view. This behavior does not occur in the opposite direction (perspective to parallel). Am I doing something wrong or is what I'm trying just not possible?

I tried to upload the model but it is apparently too large a file...

It can be downloaded from dropbox here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bq0gej1h65rcjm0/39%20Strand%20Beach.skp?dl=0

Thanks in advance for the help!

Bob

"I think this is point where SketchUp is lacking."
Agreed! Thanks for the plug in recommendation.

Bob

Hello Dave

Thank you for the response, I figured you'd weigh in, you're always a very helpful fellow!

"The scenes you made previously don't contain any information to turn the new layers off."

I can't think of any other app I use that works in this manner. I would think that the default would be the exact opposite. Either that, or I don't understand correctly the use of scenes.

When I was early on in this model, I was finding issues with the structural elements (steel beams, retaining wall heights, embed plate conflicts) in relation to other assemblies in the project (mechanical ductwork runs, for instance). I would create a scene of a particular aspect of the model for later illustration to the structural engineer, number and make a note of it, so that when I was going to meet with the engineer in a week or two, I could quickly recall the particular scene(s) in order to discuss the specific issue(s). In the interim, I continued to draw, group or component and layer, to develop the model. After a week (or even a day!), my originally created scenes were so changed with added objects and layers as to be useless for the purpose of illustrating the problem for which they were originally created! I had to go through each and every one (20 - 30?) and change the visibility of many added layers to get back to the scene I had originally created! And I had to do this immediately before my meeting and not draw anything else until after the meeting! With all respect, I can think of no use for this behavior in SU.

I'll try out the plug in mentioned in the post below, to see if this does the trick. If I could ask another question, where would one go to suggest to Trimble the ability to modify this "default" behavior?

Thank you again, Dave!

Bob

I know questions of scenes etc have been posted on a number of occasions before, I've ready many them. I've read books and explanations of scenes and creating scenes. But I still don't understand the how and why of many aspects of scenes. Perhaps, with the forum's indulgence, once again from the top:

I'm putting together a presentation of a model of a custom home I've been working on for over a year (I'm also building the project at the same time). Ultimately, I want to make an animation of / for the presentation. I rotate / pan / zoom to a particular view of the model I want, turn off most of the layers (a couple hundred) I've created during the course of it all to get the exact view of a subset of the model I wish to present in "Scene 1". I continue on with rotate / pan / zoom to new views of the model, different layers being turned on for visibility as desired and creating new scenes from these new views - scene 2, 3, 4 etc.

For one particular scene, I've added an object, grouped it and put it on its own, new layer. Its simply something to illustrate a change made in the structural design to accommodate mechanical ductwork. For some reason, ALL of my scenes now include this new layer with the new object, without any input on my part (such as updating the scene to include the new, added layer). This is the exact opposite of what I would expect. If I were to draw a new object and place it on an existing layer which layer visibility was ON for a particular scene, I would expect this new object to be shown in the scene. But why would you want any and all new objects, placed on new layers, to be visible in all previously created scenes, unless you specifically updated the particular scene to include this new layer / object?

What am I misunderstanding here??

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment offered...

Bob

I use a MacBook Pro for work and do most of my SU modeling there. However, I have an iMac at home and occasionally work on models with it. SU Pro lets me install on 2 machines, so that's no problem. But, I have a couple of good plugins I've bought and use (3Skeng and Skalp plug plug) in addition to additional materials. Is there a way to direct SU to look to a cloud based locations (iCloud, Dropbox...) for extensions and materials so that I always have them all available on both machines? Or, do I need to install everything on the 2 machines separately?

Thanks to the community in advance for what is always quick and useful input!

Bob

I just upgraded to paid membership here, am using SU Pro 2015 on Mac OS X El Cap, downloaded some of the various materials groups / folders from here. How in the world do I get these actually into SU so that I can use them in my models?

I've been working for some time on a project, a custom home I'm building. Some time ago I oriented the model to its location on Google earth and rotated the drawing axis to the new building axis. But, when I go to make a horizontal section plane, it always is rotated to what I suppose is the original drawing axis, not my rotated axis matching the building orientation on GE. So when I select "align view" by context clicking on the section plane, and camera> parallel projection, my section is rotated off perpendicular to my screen. I am unable to rotate drawing to "square" while keeping the "align view" properly oriented (I'm using the 3D Connexion space thing). Has anyone solved this "problem"?

Thanks in advance!

Bob

Thanks all for your responses. Yes, I must pay better attention!

Is there a way to know if there are any objects associated with a particular SU layer? Here's what happens to me all too often

I draw and object, make it a group, then move it to a layer. My next step is often to adjust the precise location of that object. I hit the "m" key for the move tool, and SU creates a new "m" layer. It seems that I need to first deselect the object, then reselect, then select the move tool by the "m" shortcut. This happens with the measure tool "t" pretty often too. So, I now have a model with an "m" and "t" layer. I want to delete these but don't know if I have any geometry or objects on them. Any easy way to know? Aside from turning off all other layers, of which I have more than 100.

Thanks!

I have been working on a model of a home we're building for awhile and its fairly complex. I have many components over many layers. I want to lay a red colored line on my "slab" component for use as a control line. How do I make an individual line in a color other than black? Color by material doesn't work as I then lose all of the black edges of all the components I've made - they blend in with the material used to color the particular component. I simply want to draw a line on my model and have that line be red (or any other color).

Thanks in advance!

Bob

Hi Jeff

No, I had not grouped the objects before changing the layer status of the objects. (If I understand SU correctly, you don't actually "move" objects to a different layer, its only an organizational construct). I'll try that. I must say that properly selecting all of the objects to group is a bit difficult. I have, before, spent some time selecting objects to group, only to make an errant mouse click and lose all my selections, then having to start the selection process over. Perhaps there's a trick to this as well.

Anyway, I'll try that. Thank you!

Bob