Thanks Gaieus. I'm looking forward to SU7.

Finally broke down and upgrade to SketchUp Pro 7 yesterday. Since I work from home part of the time, I need to put Version 7 on my laptop as well. Now I know I did this with SU6, but I can't remember how? Can any one advise how to get my license on both machines ?
I am in a little bit of a dilemma since I didn't realize that SU7 was not automatically backward compatible with SU6 and of course the flash drive files I brought home are in SU7.
So my next question is, (and I don't have SU7 in front of me),how do you export to SU6?
Thanks for the help.

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Absolutely fantastic work. Love your attention to detail.

So if the pieces are all separate groups or components could you actually use SketchUp to play a game of chess with your model, perhaps using a scene for each move?

To add to what Anssi said, be sure you have opened the group for editing before using the tape measure tool.

@chris fullmer said:

How do foggy and dreay belong in the same sentence? Fog is possibly my favorite weather element. Though I suppose it does need some sun once in a while to remind me how much I miss the fog

Chris

Well we've been stuck under this fog blanket for about 10 days now, so I'd be glad to send you some. The hard part is after quite a west coast cloudy winter I know the sun is up there. Then a friend emailed me the following photo taken in Vancouver (BC) this morning from Cypress mountain. I'm 21 miles out to the right and about 2500 feet down in that.

Sure would be easy to get your point across to other development team members with a drawing like that. Nice work.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to just export the components to Cad/Cam.

I tried to have a look at your problem, but the screen shot below is what I get when I try to download the file. Sorry

@bigstick said:

From Vectorworks, export as .dwg for import into SU. Unlike AutoCAD, you do not change the viewpoint to a 3d view.
Top/Plan or Top should both be fine. I have always selected 'export 2D fills', and 'Triangulate to preserve fills' in the 3d section below.

Every time I have tried this, it works as expected, but I have found it is better to explicitly set the units for each program.
I haven't tried this with VW2008-9, but with earlier versions, all 3d faces were triangulated, most likely because I selected the option to do this in the export dialog. I haven't tried without the 'Triangulate to preserve fills' option though.

BTW, importing the 3d SU model back into VW works well too, and you can create sections from it, but again the critical thing is the import settings.

I'll certainly follow your recipe. I'm using VW12 currently, and so far any dxf or dwg import to sketchUp arrives as a 2d drawing. 3Ds has been my only success.
I am still not so sure that it may not be better to go the 2d, then trace the walls route, as there is a lot of work associated with any alterations on the 3d models once in SketchUp. That would be sad though, given that the model is already at least partially developed by default in the cad programs.
I'm not giving up yet though.
Thanks for the tips.

@caddict said:

Having said that, the way SU receives a dxf file depends on which dxf version was used to write it. My cad application exports v12. When the model arrives in SU (which is usually painless) it has no layer, group, material(colour) data.
On first importing the 3ds, the model appears free-floating, waiting for you to "earth" it somewhere. If you snap to the origin, then when you import edited or new parts into the model, the origin will be consistent.

Thanks for the tips. A question: Does your above mentioned dxf file arrive as a 3d entity when you use the version 12 export, when exported in plan view? Do you have to export using an isometric view?
You are right, the 2007 export arrives with layers intact, and mostly set up in SketcUp, although I have had some weird glitches, like a layer physically being on two layers at once.
I like the idea of taking the 3ds components to groups, although I first thought that having each wall for instance as an individual component a pain, I don't mind the ability to edit them separately, particularly because of the excess geometry some things, like windows for instance carry as excess baggage.

From an outsider point of view, I think that in order for change to take place you have to believe it can, and work towards it. I think Obama is giving many the belief that it can, and from recent speeches has made it clear that everybody will have to work toward it.

Well congrats on your work and good luck with the suits.
Still amazes me that you can start fairly raw with a model of this complexity and accomplish the visuals you have.
With all the complaints about SketchUp, I don't think there is a tool out there that could perform with this ease of use.
This has been a fun thread to follow, and I have gleaned a great deal to apply to my work, so thanks for the post, and to all the people of the forum who have contributed.

Hey Todd

Do you think that script would work if I attached it to my banking transactions?
Then after I paid my bill it could just move my money back!

hey those Romans aren't as formidable as I thought..... I love your work

+6 C here on the other side of Canada from Ross Macintosh, but foggy and dreary.

I have had this problem once or twice, but as Todd says it is usually because there was a huge distance between the "component" and what I wanted it to attach to.
I recently had one file though where the damn thing wouldn't use inferencing no matter what I did.
In the end I took my tape measure tool, and drew a guide between component A and component B, and component A followed the guide to where I wanted it to go. I don't know why this happened, as it usually doesn't, or why the guide worked, but it did.

Yes , I think what is trying to be accomplished can be given by the following example.

You are presenting your work to a client. First you would like to discuss the site topography and massing. To do this you set up a set of scenes choosing the sytles, shadows etc that you feel best expresses the project.
Then, without opening a new file,(and bumbling around in the process) You move to concentrating on landscape features, styles etc may change, but it is a new set of scenes within the same file.
Next you want to feature the architecture..... and so on, but this is all done without opening and closing separate files.
Having been lucky enough to attend Google's 3D Basecamp last year, I can see a real use for this. A lot of embarrassing moments for presenters came while trying to open different files to show examples. By being able to set up scenes in this manner simple presentations would be less likely to have problems.

If you open Kerkythea, pull down the "File" menu, select "Open" it will take you to your computers directory hierarchy. Find the file folder with your xml file in it, highlight it and tell Kerky to open it.
I have an older mac that I have to sometimes place the file in a folder that comes up in the file heirarchy (see attachment, I put the file in the Kerky models folder) because for some reason it won't take me back to my desktop. Computers, can't live with em.......