oh, so use the slider on the material and make it 0%
got it

Very nice, looking good

ooh, interesting idea. So create a transparent PNG, make it a material and apply it to the outside of the dome?
Then leave my sky material on the inside?
I will definitely try that!
thank you

Blender is a great modeling tool too. The learning curve is pretty high because it can do so much... Rendering, UV unwrap, game engine...
I have been playing with Blender for the last month and have learned alot about the provided tools.
Your best bet is to learn the keyboard short cuts. Just like in Sketchup, there are keyboard shortcuts for every tool.
Much quicker than "space" menu, menu, menu
Let me know if you have any Blender questions...
I build my low polygon models in Sketchup, export as OBJ and import into Blender. Then I have learned to UV Unwrap and optimize for game design

I created my own skydome to use in conceptual presentations landscaping.
Its simply a massive half-dome with a sky projected across it.
The main problem I have, is that when I turn shadows on or use sun settings, it casts a shadow across my whole landscape.
I have done some research and the only suggestions were to make it transparent, but if I do that, you won't see the pretty sky.
I have also tried telling the group/component to NOT cast shadows, but still have the same problem because it blocks the sunlight.
So does anyone know of a plugin or setting that will allow a skydome but somehow it ignores the sun or does not cast shadows?

Its hard to tell you all the steps to modeling a sink, but honestly, I found that you can model anything with Sketchup.
Even an animal or person.
I would suggest doing one piece at a time.
Try the "revolve" tool and the "follow-me" tool to create organic shapes.
I usually create a geometric shape first and then use the "M" tool and "S" tool to tweak it into an organic one.

Also, sandbox has a lot of capabilities to create organic meshes. Its harder to use, but I created a Grotto (Pool cave with waterfall/slide) with the sandbox tools and it came out pretty good.
Takes a lot of patience but once you learn all the advanced capabilities of Sketchup... anything is possible

I'm not sure what the problem is because you can add as many transparent images to any face you want.
You can easily replace the image by using the paint bucket and add a different material.
Also any PNG with alpha-channel can be a material and painted on any surface.
If you just want the plant to sit in a yard by its self, then create a face and use the paint bucket to apply the PNG (alpha-channel) plant to the face.
You will have to make the PNG a material first.
Then if you want it to project shadows, you will have to cut out the plant on that same face with lines or the free-draw tool and then deleted the outside faces.
Its tedious but works very well.

Just use the photo as originally intended and model the addition.
Then download and install Kerkythea.
You can export your model from Sketchup to Kerkythea very easily.
Then you can add some adjustments in Kerkythea like normal/bump maps and tweak the lighting/shadows.
You can even adjust the camera angle on the addition to match the existing photo.
Then do the same with the sun lighting.
You can even add the photo as a background right in Kerkythea.
Make sure to do a bunch of low quality renderings while you tweak the lighting/camera angles.

I'm sure you have already tried sandbox
that last picture look like you did.
Sandbox is very flexible for creating those organic shapes with triangles. Then you can tweak each one later.
I have used sanbox to create organic walls or floors. Hope this helps

Make sure you apply the materials directly to the faces not a group or component.
I found that if I do a UV unwrap in Blender, I can have full customization of the UV coordinates for my materials.
Its not as easy as in Sketchup, but for in-game meshes, its absolutely necessary.
I also found that I have to "triangulate" all the faces before exporting to OBJ because of the quads.

does it have to be exactly like the city? every building?
You could do a few blocks manually and then copy/paste them into the rest of the city...
That is a pretty big project, I can't think of any easy way to do it...

If you can, 3D it in the CAD program where it originated from.
If you can't, then import the file into Sketchup as some vector format. If you don't even have that, then import it as a JPG or PNG and trace it with lines, arc, circles and rectangles.
Once the drawing is traced, you can easily extrude each piece into a 3D solid. One problem you may find is that they will all be joined together.
What I suggest is, to trace once object at a time and extrude it, right-click select create group and then do the next object.
This way all of the solids will be separated for editing later and/or using different materials on them.

Some of the HUGE differences is that Sketchup 7/8 will import DWG files with the free version. Does require a plugin, but you can do all of your 3D in CAD/Architectural Desktop and then import the solids directly into Sketchup.
Then add your materials for a real-time walkthrough.

I have not used some of those earlier versions, but sketchup 8 has a outer-shell tool that will join two solids and automatically erase all of the inside faces.
Also, the "sandbox" tool is great for creating organic objects like boulders, mounding, mountains, etc.

Great plugin! I usually do it manually by adding a material to a face, adjust UV coordinates, then inherit the position and apply to the rest of the object.
This plugin should speed up my workflow!
Thank you

Awesome Script! Thank you for provided it to the community.
I will be using it to triangulate faces for export as OBJ, then importing it into Blender to prepare for games.