After playing with TopoShaper I ended up with several (three) terrains overlapped. Why this happened? It seems I am missing something in functionality of this plugin, so instead of refining the just created terrain, I end up with new modified copies of the terrain.

actually they have A LOT to fix on it... I tried to...try it. There are 2 executables, one for OpenGL 4 and one for 3.3. My video card runs 3.3 (verified), still the program said it cannot run because my OpenGL version is lower than 3.3 ... But as everybody said... promising, but yet not ready for production.

http://awesomebump.besaba.com/tutorials/

I have this topo points cloud that I imported in SketchUp and I need to convert it in terrain surface.
I know there are some methods, but as i never needed such, I am a bit stuck in "i know is possible, but I have no idea how".

maybe you can recommend a plugin that does that?

Cheers.

@slbaumgartner said:

...color by axis also has a built-in tolerance and will accept lines that are slightly askew.

@wo3dan said:

@s shepherd said:

Yes, many layers, and oly two (+Layer0) remain after purging the model..

Thank you slbaumgartner, I was relying on ColorByAxis until now, assuming it is precise. I won't anymore.

Indeed, the model was part of a bigger model (a house model with many layers). The CAD outline I imported it afterwards. It wasn't part of the drawing. All other layers had geometry on the original drawing. I just cleaned everything off, to keep the element that was trouble making. All other geometry was perfectly aligned.

But is interesting how the geometry ended slightly off-axis when all of it was drawn using axis inference.
This was actually my problem... i know how to measure/check things... but I am still confused how can be possible that drawing parallel to axis can result in displaced geometry. And whats even stranger is that turning on ColorByAxis, all edges seemed aligned.

@dave r said:

Every drawing program has to have some sort of tolerance setting.

It may not help but I don't see the ~ when I reduce the precision.
[attachment=0:1r3zxqoz]<!-- ia0 -->Screenshot - 6_13_2015 , 8_52_26 AM.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1r3zxqoz]

That's what i was talking about...reducing precision places that strange symbol "~"

@dave r said:

There is some tolerance as in any drawing program. Sort of a close enough thing. Maybe you're running into that.

Maybe. But if that's the case, SU should be fixed by Trimble to properly handle this tolerance. Like not showing the ~ symbol when that's the case. Somehow is reassuring to see that is not so common issue, that means is something that i shouldn't be so concerned for other drawings. But still annoying that i can't figure out why it's happening here.

thanks all for the effort.

@cotty said:

I would follow Daves suggestion and try without the length snapping...

I'll try that

I see that off-axis... can't figure it why either. And is incredibly small displacement too. How can I check is my XYZ axis are perfectly perpendicular? As I said, the model's axis might be modified to align to the topo file.

@dave r said:

I don't know why axis orientation should affect it. Perhaps it has to do with having length snapping enabled? Try working with it disabled for awhile and see if that has any impact.

I actually used numeric input for all dimensions and axis inference. So, length snapping has nothing to do with his. Once I input a size and hit enter, it should go for that size, shouldn't ? The same with push-pull.

@dave r said:

I work at much higher precision than needed for architectural applications and I've never seen SketchUp "randomly" change dimensions. It doesn't matter whether I'm working in imperial or metric units.

your answer is making the things even stranger... so, I am the only one who encountered this? Again - could be because of axis orientation? is there something wrong with that and I can't figure out?

@cotty said:

You draw the wall 12655 mm long and it is dimensioned that way?
I can't reproduce this... if I create it with that length or scale it to that length, the dimension will reads as "1655,000000mm" in your file (and without the ~ with less accuracy).

As you can see in my file, there is one 300mm dimension. That remained unchanged. But others change randomly. This is why I submitted this in SketchUp Bug Reporting. And the funny thing, this happened all over my model, not only on this walls. Could be the axis orientation?

I attached the original file - with the original axis orientation. Is part of a house that has a specific orientation, based on some topographic measurements and terrain.

the original file, preserving the axis orientation

@kaas said:

My question though is: do you really need the decimal accuracy when using mm's for your line of work? As an architect I'm happy if the contractor is that accurate. No need for me to worry about decimals when using mm's accuracy.

I only REALLY need to get rid of the (~) mark when SU decides to wrongfully approximate my dimensions. The reason why I used so high accuracy was to show the imprecision that I am talking about.
I don't mind if I have several 1/100mm error, as long as for a 0.0mm accuracy I don't get the (~) symbol in front of my dimension.

EDIT - and there is not only architecture drawings that SU is used for... other kind of drawings and design use much smaller geometry than a wall.

For some reason, the geometry I'm drawing doesn't keep always the dimension i intend it to have. Instead, after drawing I realize that it has some weird dimensions. it wouldn't bother me too much, but if I reduce the precision (let's say to 0.0), it still shows me the approximation symbol (~).

For example, see the attached model. Add walls were supposed to be round dimensions (I drawn them that way), but instead I have a lot of decimals when double checking on them.

How can I rely on software that decides to change the dimensions randomly? And also, what's the point in having the option to choose six decimals precision, when the software isn't able to handle that properly?

Component_134.skp

SUClock BUG with Su2015 ?

I don't know if SU2015 is to blame, or my project files, but after linking 2 SU files to the same project, i can't open any of them anymore (bugsplat). In order to open it, I have to rename the .suclock file so the app won't recognize it (i am altering its extension). Then, the SU files open normally. After opening, if i rename the extension back to .suclock , it will link properly and work as intended.

Great plugin ! Just started to use it. Please, please add Twilight Render support to it.
And second, automatic start with A LOT of layers crashes sketchup. Worth investigate.
Keep up the good work!

EDIT:
-too bad it doesn't have a sorting function by column (name, state).

Please continue developing it. It is a really good plugin (and I would pay for it, if that is the condition for you to continue development). Or at least, if you are not willing to, maybe someone else would take it to continue, if you will agree on that. Is so bad that an advanced layers manager goes to die.

EDIT2:
-In SU 2015, "Highlight Selection's Layer" doesn't seem to work.

I tried to buy the plugin, but the promotional price doesn't seem so promotional after all... especially that I have bought the first version few years ago.

First of all, PayPal not supported... second, what is that "tax" applied over the declared price? And if there is a tax, why the price isn't displayed WITH the tax, because I am not interested how much money the developer (or the website) gets from this, but rather how much I have to pay. Adding extra fees on the way is just not a fair way to do it. My opinion.

Is this project still under development, or abandoned?

Yes, much bigger than average "home" printers (but there are bigger, I am sure... they are just not that common, so not averaging )
Yes, it will have 4 printing heads (look closer to the printing heads detail render) that are simultaneously loaded with 4 wires and it can switch on the same model.
And the other features are something that the vast majority of printers on the market don't offer. Most printers are printing in open environment and they don't use any integrated computers, because they are meant to be controlled by one (via usb) all the time. This one we designed could be made in both versions...either self-controlled, or cheaper (with the need of a external computer).

Unfortunately, for now is just a project... but I hope that will change in the future (it is a collaboration work).