Question: Shader Light vs Twilight Render - which is better? Answer: The one you master and your talent.

If you explode the re-imported (reloaded) component in the original but otherwise useless model, it will work as if you'd modelled everything in place there. Your imported component will still be in the model file though but you can easily get rid of it by purging. I do this (in a much smaller scale however - city block vs. individual buildings) but have done it successfully with a whole (Medieval) town and its churches. You can see some shots here. The extent of the model is about 1.3 kilometres / 0.8 miles so there was no such problem however I had performance issues. As for modelling and geolocating, it can be used for GE quite efficiently although you always need to keep in mind that GE is a spherical projection and SU is orthographical so after a while this will cause conflicts. Try it out with a simple, not crucial model first.

Well,it needed a little cleanup afterwards (as often does - in this case I think also due to the very sharp offset) but here it is. You can select the road face and move it up/down to exactly fit your needs. base_model_test.skp

it all depends on the codec used. try also uncompressed when exporting.

This is an awesome way to rearrange your home without getting your hands dirty. One of the first things i did in Su was model my apartment and all my furniture. Then i rearranged everything in SU. Its nice to use the position camera feature to see exactly how it would look from say your front door, or standing in your kitchen. you can even set the position camera tool to your exact height.

@galbavy1 said: if you want it around a perimeter of a face Unfortunately there are many times when it is not a simple face I want to use the follow me tool on. But when that is the case, this tip does help. Glad it helped, and muito obrigado for the Mac help Edson. I can never remember how the keys correspond. Chris

Well, let MEbe the first to kick your @ss http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=6913&hilit=Plugin It does even morethan you wish.

Yeah, you probably went for uncrompressed jpgs, very senseible for normal use. If you want to post them on the forum you can easily compress them in PS, not sure what version your using, but there should be a 'save for web' option in the menu, thats usually enough.

I've used that layer and I don't recommend it. It gets really tedious to hide and unhide in the outline in my opinion. Its hard to know that something is turned off burried 4 levels down inside a group by using the outliner. All I can say about the weird lines getting lsot on weird layers is that its something that used to happen to me more frequently. Now it almost never happens. I think it is just because I have gotten better at keeping my geometry cleaner and making sure I create groups and components cleanly. But using any of these methods you can do very details work in SU. I modeled Neutra's house down to the outlets and light switches. On that model I just used the outliner to control my geometry. It worked all right, but it felt like it was more difficult than necessary. Other modles I've used layers better to control visibilty. Anyhow, keep it up. Feel free to post models that are getting messed up and let others look at them. They might have tips on how to keep it cleaner or how to clean it fater. Have fun, Chris

1 - make faces 2 - extrude lines up, extrude lines using 2 points, etc... all them extrude lines commands. 3 - Windowizer (creates a curtainwall) 4 - select all instances - is that a ruby, or built-in... I forget now... 5 - Joint Push Pull (for push-pulling curves) 6 - pushpull face in any direction (using 2 points), and other pushpull face commands... along normal, along Z, etc. 7 - stair generator 8 - SU2KT (SketchUp 2 Kerkythea) 9 - Proper Animation - (great for showing diff. options for furniture, or doors swinging open) 10 - Scene Exporter pro - once get used to having it... can't live without. 11 - Automated 2D Output 12 - Mirror Selection 13 - Deselect Edges (Deselect Faces) - I think these are rubies... 14 - Offset on surface (and tools on surface) 15 - Purge (this should be number 2) 16 - Layers and Materials plugin by Didier Bur 17 - Intersect overlapping lines 18 - Selection Memory 19 - Soap Skin Bubble 20 - Protrude (closest thing we have to greeble plugin for SU)

That Image looks great. But you have three vampires in the forground (no shadows) Us LA should be more visable

Well, Eric linked the Smustard site to you already.Here is a more direct link to the plugin: http://www.smustard.com/script/Drop

In case anybody has a problem like this, Ive found that skechup (as well as CAD) has problems with arcs that you offset repeated times..... everytime Ive had this problem since I first posted this, I realized it always happens with offset radii.... now I just draw quick free hand contour lines instead of arcs and tangents, the accuracy doesn't matter as long as your close - because triangulation (what SU uses to create a TIN in sandbox) is kinda random and organic, and should be to represent earth forms.