@gaieus said:

There is a "Film and stage plugin" for SU - although originally it was written for version 5 and has not been upgraded AFAIK but I think it should work on later versions, too):
http://sketchup.google.com/download/previousplugins.html
(scroll down to it).

I think it can do what you wish here.

I downloaded it and have been playing with it. Documentation seems to be a little thin. I'm still determining if some strange behavior is normal or if there are problems with it with SK7. But it's showing great promise for what I'm trying to accomplish. Thanks!

drew

I would like to place the camera inside an object so that it is basically "looking out" through a window in the object and then be able to move this object around with the camera always in the same position in the object (and looking the same direction in relation to the object). Basically, the camera is always "looking out the window". Is this possible?

Thanks
drew

@jim said:

Hello and welcome.

SketchUp has a ruby tool to draw rotated rectangles available on their script download page.

The tool shows up in the Draw menu once installed. To install, download, unzip and move/copy the file into your Sketchup/Plugins folder.

On a Mac, the location is:

Hard Drive/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 7/SketchUp/Plugins

Thanks! This is it. I'm just very curious about why several of my first questions about Sketchup don't seem to show up in the help or even in searches of the forums. I think these are basic things to using the program. I need to watch more tutorials.

drew

@gaieus said:

You can always enter precise values for the rectangle tool. See this article of the SU Guide:
http://download.sketchup.com/sketchuphelp/gsu6_win/Content/C-Drawing_Tools/DrawTool-Rectangle.htm

I am not sure what you mean by the diagonal... Maybe: if you start your rectangle on a diagonal line, you can always infer to that line to place the opposite corner.

In the link you posted, the rectangle is at 0 degree or 90 degree angles to all 3 of axis. If I want my rectangle to be at a different angle, I'm not sure how to do it except to draw the rectangle first and then rotate it. I have not been able to get any inference to change the angle (in relation to the axis) of the rectangle, only the dimensions and placement of it.

Thanks

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to draw some things quickly on account of the rectangle tools apparent simplicity. For instance, if I have a "diagonal line" that I want to draw a rectangle against, how do I do it? It seems that i can draw all four sides manually with the line tool. Or if I know the dimensions of the rectangle I can draw it loose and then move it into place. Or I can?...

Thanks