@gaieus said:

This is just a visual effect while (and before/after) you are trying to match the photo. Eventually you need to project this photo onto the model you make based on it - did you also do that?

Gaieus,

yes basically what I do is to export the scene as a jpeg with the photo...then in PS import the photo again and paste it over the combined image and erase to reveal the composited image below..

this works quite well only the model on the image below is partially transparent so it looks a bit ghosted...

@gaieus said:

Hi David,

Are you trying to adjust things here under styles?

Hi Gaieus,

yes I had read a previous post of yours on photomatch which mentioned the styles tab for adjusting the transparency of the photo...and was wondering if this was where they settings for the model itself were

Hi again,

I am trying to drop my model into different views and I am using photomatch.

However for some reason my model appears to be partially transparent in the photomatch viewer and when I exit by clicking done.

I have looked at the styles tab and the only settings for transparency seem to be for the photo ...not the model.

Background and foreground photo seem to let you adjust the ...well background photo only in my case... or even turn it off.

I would be happy just to turn it off export it and do the final comp in PS but cant seem to do this.

My only idea which I will try now is to orbit out of the photo view..change styles and then click on back camera...

but not sure why I need this work around ... assuming it even works.

thanks as ever

@gaieus said:

Well, you were too speedy to reply - I have amended my post with the other, additional idea above aver since.

Gaieus...ok...I just need to get the concept of world axes and local? axes straight (no pun intended) in my head...

I might just practice with a simple model as the real model I am trying is huge

and Gaieus another question if I may... on Maxwell Render via the SU Plugin FIRE...

I think the size of my model may be affecting the camera views I get... in SU I get terrible clipping planes in the view...so that means I can't use SU to give me good views...

I had planned on rendering the views in Maxwell but the FIRE preview is about 90 degrees of the camera view in SU...so I am left with trying to find the view I want by trial and error... not funny...

have you come across this problem at all in the forum or directly yourself?

Good night and thanks

@gaieus said:

David, when you make a component of something, SU tries to create its component axis as close to the geometry as possible (ideally, when the geometry is rectangular and aligned to the world axes, into a corner).

Now with this, you obviously need to eyeball where to place your saved and then imported component. Use this plugin to place the component axis into the world origin (actually, with just one component, you can easily do it manually, too) and - provided that the world axes of the two versions of the file are still the same - when importing the saved mesh component, use the world origin to snap to when placing it (by default, the component origin is its insertion point in SU when importing).

Important: make sure to reset your world axes in case you moved them for some modelling reasons first. Right click on an axis (over empty space) and "Reset" if it is available.

Let me know if this works (I have another idea, too but it's 2:30 AM here)

Gaieus thanks for the reply, it is 1.30 am here...I will read your advice several times to see if I follow and try it then and let you know ...in the morning at this stage I guess...

@unknownuser said:

are you saying that you've already tried sketchup's 'paste in place' and it wouldn't work?

(if not, select & copy from file1 then Edit->Paste In Place in file2)

Yes I tried that but the file is very large and the elements I need to paste (which is a terrain mesh and a series of meshes representing a road network and a river) I think are too big to be simply cut and pasted in place...

so to answer you question yes I did try but SU just crashed or hung...

what I tried to do was to save the terrain as a component and then save it out using the left click and save as...

then when I went to import it into the developed model ... the (now) component just waited for me to click somewhere in order to position itself...

ideally what I want is for it to paste into perfect register as the element is too complex for me to position manually

You need to do the following...
first make a shape to be your light and apply a unique material to it...call it IES emitter or something useful
next in the Maxwell Scene Manager using the materials tab assign an IES emitter material to this material you just created in SU.
You should see different previews of the various IES lights that came with the Maxwell plugin.

If you don't see any light try reversing the faces ...
if this doesn't work try increasing the power or wattage of the IES light...however this is just to see if it is working

Essentially Maxwell works just like a camera so for interiors lit by lights you need to increase your exposure which is done by changing the EV value in the Maxwell scene manager..

as you do this the FIRE render should update and allow you to tweak the settings until you get the light level you want

Hi there I have two models based on the same 'base model'.
I developed the second model further with more detail but somehow I accidentally deleted some of the hidden layers such as terrain and roads and some others in the more developed model.
I would like to cut and paste these elements from the original model but can't seem to find a way to 'paste in place' so that the layer comes into the 'developed model' in the correct position.

I tried having both models open running two sessions of Sketchup but the file was too large to cut and paste this way and SU crashed.

I am familiar with saving out a component and reloading it... which always come in perfect position but in this case as the layer I want to replace in the developed model is missing or deleted I can seem to use this work around.

Any ideas on how I might do this?