and a third quite large folder with the camera 'old' .skps 'FilmAndStage'

@calypsoart said: I'm working on a project that has a lot of metal and truss work. I may have put in too much detail, and the model is bogging down my machine. I'd like to reduce the load. I was wondering if there is some way to remove all instances of a component. E.g I put in rivets for the joints in the steelwork. In reality, these are invisible for most views unless zoomed way in. I could remove these rivets/components and it would not be noticed. Is there a plugin that might remove or allow me to swap out a complex component for a simpler one? Component swapping is built-in - no need for a plugin. Select the component and right-click. Select Save As... from the menu and save it a place where you'll find it (like where your scene is?). Then you could "rebuild" your rivet to a single line (that could even be invisible), or some simple shape. If/when you later find out that you need the rivets again, you just select one of the stand-ins, right-click and Reload... it. But before you do, save your simple rivet as Rivet_simple or something, so it is easy to get it back later. Very convenient when building complex scenes - like with hundreds of 3D trees, cars, rivets or similar.. Just model very simple components and Reload more complex versions later when needed.

Nope. Still having this problem. Maybe it's a glitch in my vcard driver or something. Just odd that it is not apparent with any other tool bar.

I use this method frequently to help keep file size down. Here are a few hints for you. [image: 5890226823_22c8458c07_z.jpg] In this image I have drawn a gear made up of smaller segments. In the background you can see the before hiding. In the center I've hidden the edges but you can still see the back face color bleeding through because the vertical faces are still there. In the foreground, you can see that I've deleted the internal faces of the segments and so there's no bleed through. Also, these segments are components so hiding the edges on one hides them on all. [image: 5190512797_5e0876427d_z.jpg] In this closeup view of the top of a turned post, notice the hidden radial seam edges intersect the circular edge at the midpoint of the edge segments. This results in coplanar surfaces on either side of the seam line. The benefit to this is that there'll be no shading difference at the seam. Play with dividing a simple cylinder at the midpoint of edge segments and also at vertices. Look at how the shading occurs. [image: 5190404813_6dcffb137d_z.jpg] This shows the entire turned post. As you can see, it is made of eight instances of the same component. Neighboring pairs are mirror images of each other. [image: 4284864786_6e320fc9e7_z.jpg?zz=1] These bin pulls were created using this method of mirrored halves. I used the idea of the coplanar faces along the center line. The faces don't have to be very wide to make this work. [image: 4782683811_1fc61907aa_z.jpg] This applique uses the exact same method. [image: 5018580153_82e977bd99_z.jpg] As does this chair seat. And in this case, with the wood grain texture ends up with a book matched appearance.

You don't always need EVERY script that's written... use your judgment

@scozzarella said: "Shortcut_31": "0 0 0 X /Modifica/Menu contestuale a comparsa/Esplodi", SharedPreferences.json This is the problem. If I add : the it works. But next restart the json file is again buggy. "Shortcut_31": "0 0 0 X /Modifica/Menu contestuale a comparsa/Esplodi :", Help! That is odd! On my SharedPreferences.json, I see a colon at the end of most shortcuts that invoke built-in commands rather than ones from extensions, but not on any that involve the flyout context menu. For example, compare these two lines from my file: "Shortcut_58": "0 0 1 U /Edit/Context Menu Flyout/Explode", "Shortcut_6": "0 0 0 R selectRectangleTool:", The first one is my shortcut for explode from the context menu - no colon. The second is the way the json file captures the command that shows as "Draw/Shapes/Rectangle" in the preferences shortcuts panel. Note how it has been converted to "selectRectangleTool:" in the json. I wonder if there is a bug in this conversion in the Italian version? The SharedPreferences file is rewritten each time SketchUp exits, so if SketchUp is mishandling the conversion of this command, that's why it won't work when you restart. I can only suggest that you refer this problem to SketchUp support, as it shouldn't be happening. I created a topic over on the public SketchUp forum on the chance that the developers are more likely to notice it there than here.

Maybe treat it as a tablecloth, to drape, so to speak, and model it upside down. Mindful that the dangling portion will need to be cinched up, or gathered. Now, I am thinking that you may approach this like modeling a teardrop. That suggests that you could start with a basic Sketchup UV sphere or a Geodesic sphere as one element, extend it, or stretch it, or scale it upward, form a 2d profile resembling gathered fabric, progressively/ sequentially pushpull and scale for a "few" reps, then tie a rope around it when you get tired. That's probably what I would try, without getting into plugins.

And if you want some infos of 180°, 360° images go to there From Paris.com a crazzy site made by a French guy but it's in English!

Hi I have been having the same issues with a few of my models too. I purged all custom textures from one model and the issues seem to have disappeared for now. I had also fiddle with the openGL settings, turned them all off, restarted, turned them all on, restarted again. So something worked somewhere but if anyone knows exactly whats going i would love know... somehow I feel the problem will be back. D

I totally agree with ledisnomad on his comparison between packages. I've found revit a very steep learning curve beyond the play about stage. The main trouble is that everything has to be a family/component/block, & the editor is not the most user friendly. Once you have a kit of parts, you are laughing, as you can create new models in no time. I think the cross breeding with AutoCAD will pay dividends in ease of use, but it has a way to go yet. Perhaps Vectorworks is another package to look at...

@dsarchs said: I usually use a texture for glass in Sketchup as a stand-in for a bump in rendering programs (Thea). No glass is perfect -- slight warping and imperfections. I usually use water textures scaled much larger (5 or 10 times larger than I would use it for actual water) and then a VERY slight bump setting, just to subtly bend and warp reflections. That's exactly my process... (rushing off to patent office)

This is what I have. But SU does not first look here for the components. I have since removed the sample components from the Google folder and it seems to be going to the D drive now.[image: QSuW_components.PNG]

To find the Plugins folder for this MAC SUp installation just type or copy+paste this into SUp-Menu > Window > Ruby-Console <enter> Sketchup.find_support_file('Plugins') There are some pre-loaded 'examples/utility' scripts in Tools that are auto-loaded from there and need activating from Window > Preferences > Extensions. Any Plugins that you add should go in there or for complex zipped sets extract into there keeping any files that are in subfolders in the zip file in the same subfolders in Plugins etc... Read each script's instructions... Some Plugins also come as Extensions and will need a one off activation. Others might not appear in the Plugins menu but under perhaps the Draw or Tool menus, some have a Toolbar [activated under View > Toolbars] to run them either in addition to a menu item or sometimes as the only means of running them; whilst others only appear in the right-click context-menu when a suitable select has been made. A few others are 'helper files' - like 'progressbar.rb' - and only add functionality to other scripts whilst never appearing separately as themselves, or tools are used so rarely that you type a command into the Ruby Console to run them, rather than have any menu entries..........

What am I in the middle of?

@driven said: [attachment=0:2der91j6]<!-- ia0 -->option_dropdown.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:2der91j6] I have not seen this window before. Can someone tell me where in the menu structure it can be found? Thanks, Randy

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=35366

It is not a SU setting (and definitely not a setting at model level - which means that cannot be set with the template) but indeed a printer setting so you are stuck where you are now and what you already know.

I have Podium, Kerky , Twilight, plus I have played with Shaderlight, Hypershot and Vray for SU. After seeing Pete's Demo in boulder of Thea, I am leaning toward a purchase of that. What does this mean??? I'm rendo-schizophrenic. And I suck at all of them.

I really hate advertising my own topics/posts but have a look at this tutorial about texturing arches with ThomThom's new version of UV Toolkit. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=34072 If your friend has already made that arch"ing" texture, how about posting the file here?

possibly the most noticeable difference between the two will be the paint bucket tool. mac su uses the OS X color picker and if your friends are familiar with their computers then they'll be familiar with the color picker.. unfortunately, SU modifies the color picker so that a list view of the materials aren't given in mac SU and you have to rely on thumbnail views of materials or popups for the actual names. there are also differences in which modifier keys to use with different tools.. namely the cmmd and option keys on macs being different than ctrl and alt on pcs. see these reference cards for details. http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu8/docs/en/SketchUp8RefcardMac.pdf http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu8/docs/en/SketchUp8RefcardWin.pdf there are actually a few things you can do in mac SU that you can't in windows but since you're training from pc to mac, i don't think it matters much at this point. re: setting up the workspace.. the toolbars work differently on macs and pcs.. all of the toolbars on mac will be floating unless the tools are added to the custom toolbar at the top of the su window.. that said, as far as teaching sketchup goes, it shouldn't matter much and your friends can just arrange their toolbars as they deem comfortable. all in all though, sketchup is very similar on both platforms.