Component.
I have downloaded various components from 3d warehouse.
For some reason not as yet understood by me - after fetching the component from the component pull down menu and I want to adjust the size - the blue line for moving the component turns yellow - no handles for size adjustment - when I try to adjust the size - it does tell me to use the green handles, but thes are not present - please help or direct me to a tutorial which differentiates between the yellow lines and the green sizing nodules.
Thank you
Hans

File conversion

I build the odd web site and would like to know if I can somehow convert the completed 3D model into a pic with an alternative ext., such as Jpeg
or for onward sending convert to a pdf file as part of a document?
Thank you
Hans

@tig said:

First off the car does seem a little 'short' - you need to scale it up, or get a better model.

Next when you place a component like a car into the model you can use Move and pick a point on the car [e.g. bottom of a tyre] and then snap to something on the surface you want to place it onto - like the 'driveway' - and it then on that 'plane'. Subsequent moves can be constrained in any of the three axes using shift or arrow keys.
When you've placed the car you have done it in an obscure way, positioning it so that it looks right in that view but of course when you change camera positions it's wrong - in fact 'flying'! You are not taking cardboard cutouts of things an making a montage, rather these should be proper sized objects that are placed relative to each other in the right relationships.

BUT let's skip the car for a moment...

So you understand this try this experiment...
Hold you hand out at arm's-length in front of you, palm away from your face.
Move it around until it obscures about half of something in the room - say the TV.
Now slowly move your hand nearer to your face so it obscures more and more of the TV.
When you hand is near your face you can't see the TV or other parts of the room near it.
That's what you did with the exceptionally small car, by moving it nearer the camera you hid more drive-way until it looked the right size BUT it wasn't changing its size just its location. You accept that your hand's location affects how much it obscures from your view AND it doesn't physically change the actual size of your hand!
I suggest that you edit the car component [double-click to go into edit mode] and use the Tapemeasure tool and pick the centres of two of the wheels' hub-caps on the same side and type in what the wheelbase is likely to be - for that kind of car perhaps '2.5m' ? This will rescale the car to be the right size. Exit the edit-mode.

axis when you only wanted to move it 100mm is easily fixed by typing 100mm after the ~1m move but before you pick any other tool...

When rotating an object the rotate-gizmo appears locked to the plane its on [or lock it by holding shift] and you pick two points to do the rotation by eye - the VCB shows the actual value OR as with Move you can type an actual angle so if you want the car rotating 5 degrees type in 5...

Hi Tig,
thank you very much for all your time in helping me- I'm geting there.
thank you
Hans

@unknownuser said:

Delete the car.

Open the 'Component' dialog box from Window > Components menu.

Click the 'Home' icon to display components in your model.

Select the car (even though deleted it remains in your library).

Now place it in your scene making sure it's touching the ground.

Hi Rich,
Thank you very much for the lesson - wow what a program - the videos are awsome - did you use camstudio to make the "Car movie"? I get so involved with it that last night I even forgot to finish my Scotch!
Thanx again
Hans

@ecohomes said:

@tig said:

So the garage is within the size range that we'd expect...
Looks like you have been unfortunate in your choice of cars you downloaded - some are not properly sized and the earlier guidance on 'rescaling' the contents of a group/component by using the tapemeasure tool and picking two points a known distance apart and then typing in the value you know it ought to be, is the way you need to fix these errant imports...

THANK YOU TIG,
HAVING ANOTHER GO

Hi Tig,
Finally, in an attempt to understand my battle with the warehouse down load I attach 2 pics I notice that the car measures 2m 9approx) and the garage 6m - yet the proportion of car to garage seems right - is this an optical illusion or is this a result of faulty down load?
In the 2nd pic, using the side view my car takes to the air - how can I keep the car in place sothat as I rotate the model looking at various views, the car stays in place please? See the front view and the car psition.
Thank you again,
Hans

@tig said:

So the garage is within the size range that we'd expect...
Looks like you have been unfortunate in your choice of cars you downloaded - some are not properly sized and the earlier guidance on 'rescaling' the contents of a group/component by using the tapemeasure tool and picking two points a known distance apart and then typing in the value you know it ought to be, is the way you need to fix these errant imports...

THANK YOU TIG,
HAVING ANOTHER GO

@tig said:

You haven't mentioned your model's 'size'.
Please use the Tapemeasure tool and pick two points across the front of the garage, then report the dimension here that is shown in the Measurement pane [also known as the VCB and usually located bottom right]... A single-garage should typically be about 2.5/3.5m wide?
Is yours?
On the positive side, your model seems to be oriented correctly relative to the origin/axes.
Your model is quite orthogonal, so you should be able to rotate a [correctly sized] car in plan either by eye or by typing in the required angle so it faces the way you want...

I'm puzzled by your difficulties, which as I said earlier might stem from you not modeling to full-size ??

Thanx again Tig,
attached is a jpeg of the house with some sizes.
Hope this helps to solve my query.
Thank you
Hans
@tig said:

You haven't mentioned your model's 'size'.
Please use the Tapemeasure tool and pick two points across the front of the garage, then report the dimension here that is shown in the Measurement pane [also known as the VCB and usually located bottom right]... A single-garage should typically be about 2.5/3.5m wide?
Is yours?
On the positive side, your model seems to be oriented correctly relative to the origin/axes.
Your model is quite orthogonal, so you should be able to rotate a [correctly sized] car in plan either by eye or by typing in the required angle so it faces the way you want...

I'm puzzled by your difficulties, which as I said earlier might stem from you not modeling to full-size ??

@gaieus said:

I use Jim's Custom Toolbar plugin and it has some extra buttons otherwise not available in the native SU toolbars. Some of these allow quick style changes and these style settings can be very useful when trying to fix a screwed up model (or trying to find endpoints to snap to).

Normally I do not use any fancy styles (and keeping it simple also helps with performance when the model is getting complex)

Thank you for your interest.
I have used Daves method and was absolutely delighted when I ended up with a nice clean edge drawing.
thank you
Hans

@karinagm said:

Also you say you are having troubles finding the right perspective. Are you trying to photomatch your models? Because then you should first set the scene to match perspective, and then the objects will look right, but just in that scene, if you move your camera it won't match.

If you are not trying to do this, then the perspective is "automatic" when you place an object

Hi Karina,
Thank you for the interest. No I am not trying to photomatch anything yet - I have only just begun in the program and am still trying to get to grips with the basics. I have replied to Dave and uploaded a few Jpegs of my first attempt. I was merely trying to put a car at the garage.
Thank you again for the interest.
Hans

@dave r said:

Hans, could you post a screen shot of how you have things now? We'll be able to give you better, more specific advice once we can see what you're trying to do.

Hi Dave,
I am not sure you received the uploads - on this side it tells me you have not - I am trying to upload the model I built (my first one) directly from sketchup - no go.[attachment=2:1p1at3wb]<!-- ia2 -->House 1st attempt-2.jpg[/attachmentattachment=0]House 2nd attempt diff view-2.jpg<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment:1p1at3wb]

I hope you can see these - however they are only jpeg files nd not the
sketchup file extensions.
thank you again,
Hans

@tig said:

Sorry to say, but many 3Dwarehouse models are notoriously poor...
Several contributors don't even model at the right sizes - which seems weird as it's so easy to do with Sketchup.
This means, as Rich said, that you need to scale the contents of the imported component by using the tapemeasure tool... So it you know the car should be 4.41m long, you simply edit the car component [double-click it], use the tapemeasure tool to pick a point at the front then and a second at the back [that you know ought to be 4.41m apart], if the Measurement pane figure isn't that then you can type 4.41m, then answer 'yes' to rescale the component's geometry. Now the car is the right size...
This works for all sorts of groups/components where the size is flaky...

Hi Tig,
Thank you for the assistance. I have had the program 3 days and find it very stimulating and very effective in the work I do, albeit, I continue to struggle with 3d downloads.
No problem getting it downloaded onto my model page, but I can not get it settled into the right position - I simply can not move it, or turn it. I download it onto my model page as a 3d pic... right?

The car I want to use arrives in a very large format... I have used the
scale tool . Once it is the right size it has to be turned to fit into the perspective and it has to be positioned in the right place... as much as I have tried, no go... I can not get it turned into the right perspective neither can I move it to the right place. Would you have a go at explaining this again please in a sort of 1. do this 2. do this kind of mode... I am a beginner at this. I have built a little house and I dont mind letting you see it so you can critisize - for me to learn.
Thank you
Hans

I come to the beginners forum as I am afraid that my questions may be obvious to those who know, but today I have had possibly 3 hours trying to place downloads from 3D Warehouse on my model and also size them properly. Please assist some one... cars seem a real problem.
Thank you

@mike lucey said:

Mmmmmm ..... a 'nice blond secretary' or SketchUp? ... a 'nice blond secretary' or SketchUp? ... a 'nice blond secretary' or SketchUp? ...a 'nice blond secretary' or SketchUp? ...... Tough one!!!

Welcome Hans, I like your priorities!

Mike

Hi Dave, thank you for the prompt reply - i sure enjoy the program... its great - going to try your remedy now.
Hans

Hello I am a newby (75 years young)- stopped building actively, but still involved managerially, started recently on sketch up -its worse then a nice blond secretary - can't leave it alone - absolutely love the program to the point of addiction.

Please help me here.
I have completed a reasonbly good looking (I think) little house, now I noticed that the lines showing all the line join "nodules' stay in place - however, when I click my mouse on the work it momentarily romoves all the "noduled" lines and gives me a beautiful sharp and crisp finish to my model - it makes it so much more professional - how can I then permanently remove those noduled lines to retain the nice sharp image as a finished product?
Thank you