@tig said:

You need to make the profile[s] and top/bottom rails as complex curves [weld...] and then use a tool like my EEbyRails or Fredo's CurviLoft to make the swept mesh........

PS: your sweep must meet the straight parts 'tangentially' [square], otherwise you'll always get a noticeable crease at the join...

Unfortunately, I don't understand alot of the terminology you used.
When you say weld, what do you mean?

Also, what is a swept mesh?

Sorry for the confusion, I'm just still an infant at this.

I know how to make a bank curve using the follow me tool. But I can't flatten the bank curve back out when its finished.
I've attached my sketchup file. It has the bank curve, but the sides are not connected because I don't know how to make the curve go from being turned sideways to going flat.

banked curve.skp

@dave r said:

If you orbit to look at your model from underneath, you probably have no bottom to the walls.

That is correct. there are no bottom to the walls.

@unknownuser said:

It would be the cause of the inside out faces. If you really must have that face to draw on, draw the rectangle, reverse its face so it has the correct face up and make it a component or group. Then draw your floor plan on top of that and pull the walls up. They'll be right way out. Of course as far as just drawing goes, there's really no need to start on the rectangle either.

Thank you for the advice. I guess I will try really hard to start the house without the large rectangle to build it on.

Quick question, when I made the new component and tried to put it into the wall, it goes sideways instead of vertical. I set it to vertical when i made it. in the air it is vertical but when I try to bring it down to the wall it turns sideways.

@tig said:

When you made the component you didn't set it to glue/cut or have the right axes [a cutting component's z/blue axis is perpendicular to the face it will cut... etc]
When you make a component make sure all of these get set...
Here is how to fix this existing component that is wrong...[attachment=2:35kkqb20]<!-- ia2 -->Capture.PNG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment:35kkqb20][attachment=1:35kkqb20]<!-- ia1 -->Capture1.PNG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:35kkqb20][attachment=0:35kkqb20]<!-- ia0 -->Capture2.PNG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:35kkqb20]
PS: Please make objects so the front face is 'out' - everything in your SKP seems to be made inside-out

thank you very much!

as far as everything being inside out, I start out by drawing a large rectangle (that is sort of like my piece of land I build my house on). And then start the house on top of that rectangle. Perhaps that is causing everything to be inside out?

@gaieus said:

It sems that your component is not set to cut an opening automatically. Could you share it?

(Also, all faces are reversed which may add to the issue but more about it later maybe)

I attached the sketchup model. You can find the window component listed as "window 1".

Thank you

test.skp

I just clicked the house icon. Never thought to click that.

Thank you very much. I see it now.

Ok, question.

Let's say I make a window. Lets say its a rectangle shape window that is divided in half. I've attached a pic. When I make that a component and try to use it again, the wall appears where the window is knocked out.

Should I make windows components?

I uploaded a new image....you can see the new window on the right (I used the component I made to do that one). But you can see the new window made from he component doesn't have the openings. And its actually kind of difficult to punch the openings through on the new window.

When I make something a component, how do I access it?

I went to Window | Components, but it wasn't there.

@thomthom said:

hm... not noticed that...
the speed has always seemed to vary on how much you move the cursor...

Maybe that's my problem. I've been using the arrow keys to walk around. I guess I need to try using the cursor.

I was kind of hoping, eventually, you could walk around the way people do in computer 3D games, where the forward arrow moves you forward, the back arrow moves you back and the left and right arrows sidestep you left and right (not turn). And the mouse looks around.

Its almost like that. All they need to do is change the left and right arrows and slow down the walking speed.

I'm using sketchup 8. I've noticed the walking speed (feet icon) is faster. Is there a way to slow it down?

@thomthom said:

I'd separate the ground by itself,

would i do that by drawing a large rectangle and then making that rectangle a component? then I can start building on top of it?

@thomthom said:

draw a rectangle on the wall-face, select the face and it's edges (doubleclick) and then "Make Component". Then in the dialog you get ensure that "Replace Selection" is checked as well as cut opening.

so after I draw the window, do I cut out the opening and then make it a component?

thank you all for the info. I will definitely start to use components.

Thank you very much for all the info and advice. I really appreciate it.

I teach middle school and I have my students build a house in sketchup. I don't expect the house to be perfect by any means, but the more I know, the more knowledge I can share with my students, the better and easier it will be for them and me.

Right now, I tell them to build a large rectangle and then start building a simple floor plan on top of that. And then I tell them to lift the walls all at the same time.

Should I set each wall as a component? And when we start the windows, should we draw the window on the wall where it will be located or is there a better way?

As far as having the backsides showing instead of the front sides; when I'm looking at the house from the outside (orbiting around) should all the sides be the front sides?

@dave r said:

Let me guess. You're dragging the selection box from right to left?

A left to right selection box selects only those entities that fall fully within the box. Right to left selection boxes, on the other hand, select anything that falls even partially within the box. This is the way it's supposed to work. Not a bug.

No, I'm selecting from left to right. I saw the videos, I understand the difference. To be precise, it seems to be selecting the bottom edges of some of my walls as well. It does not make sense.

I watched the videos, but I'm still confused.

So, if I zoom in to the window and put a box around the window (from left to right)....how do entire walls that are bigger than the window (thus bigger than the select rectangle) get selected?

Is this a bug within google sketchup?

I have a house window. When I use the select tool and select the window (put the rectangle around it) it selects the window and some parts of the walls in the back of the house. Why does it select that extra stuff?

If you select the window and then rotate it and look underneath the house, you'll see the extra stuff selected.

Why does it do that?
I've attached the model.

house.skp

Is there an easy way to create a helix? Or do you need a plugin?

@dave r said:

In the case of a cylinder as you describe, you can select those softened edges and right click on them. Then choose Unsoften. You could also select the entire thing, right click and choose Smooth/Soften and set the slider to 0. If you knoew before making the cylinder that you were going to want the lines to show, you could explode the circle into its individual lines segments and then extrude it or you could use the Polygon tool, set it to the desired number of sides (24 for a default circle) and draw the "circle". Then Push/Pull.

thank you!

what does smooth do?

When you create a cylinder or any curved surface you can select View | Hidden Geometry and you make all those dotted lines visible. Is there anyway to select a bunch of those dotted lines and quickly turn them into real lines?

If I draw a shape, lets say a square, is there an easy way to draw a very thin rectangle down the middle of the square?
I do often do this when I create windows for houses and want to have a separation in the window.

I know how to create a line down the middle of a square. Sketchup helps you to do that very easily, but drawing a thin rectangle right down the middle is difficult.

You can start the thin rectangle in the middle, but that would make one side of the rectangle in the middle and not the actual rectangle itself.

@unknownuser said:

Yes, use "Paste In Place" as oppose to just "Paste".

oh my goodness that was easy....

thank you so much!

@thomthom said:

It seems that the non-border edges of your shape prevents SU from splitting that large square. Cut the internal edges, then Intersect, and then Paste In Place to restore the internal edges.

Wow....it worked...thank you guys.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again? Perhaps build the outside perimeter first and make sure it is sealed, then start on the walls inside?

Also, when I cut the lines and then try to paste them, it is almost impossible to line then up exactly where they were before. I can only imagine if this happened on a more complex floorplan it would be that much harder. is there any easy way to paste them to exactly where they were before? lining them up seems very difficult.