In the past I have purchased many similar storage units (clip together). I needed something to help keep my kids rooms tidy. Well I've never come across one that would last more than a couple weeks. Kids demolished them - plastic clips all broke!!

1. Lite shelving designs made of rubber coated metal mesh wobbled like crazy.

2. MDF board units were too heavy for the plastic clips to hold together.

My kids are all grown up now and off living their lives but I'm sure there are tones more moms out there looking for a cheap solution. Plus my now college age kids are probably looking for cheap storage ideas as well.

I am trying to model a house very much like the one shown in your first pictures. I love the idea of a private inner courtyard separating the bedroom area (private) from the living/dining area (public).

Could you include information of how you processed/rendered the pictures. I assume these are modelled in sketchup?

I am very new to modelling and have yet to render anything.

I love this idea. I think this idea could be broken down into separate units.

One type of pod for sleeping and personal storage only (security and rest). The most basic and cheapest unit. Like the sleep boxes mentioned.

A slightly more upscale unit would include a porta-potty (chemical toilet) and very small fresh water storage tank (sponge baths only). Mostly for eco-tourists.

A much larger and expensive pod would provide facilities for showering/laundry including facilities for fresh water storage and waste water disposal. To be economical this would have to provide services for several clients. Kinda like some of the campsites found in the US and Canada that have showers and laundry facilities. These can be semi-permanent structures hooked up to local water and sewer or completely self sufficient. The cost would be prohibitive for the individual user and more likely to appeal to a corporate or government client.

I recently moved to India from the US and I've been noticing the horrid living conditions of the highway construction workers near my apartment complex. (new elevated toll freeway to the new Bangaluru International Airport.) Anyways the 'shelters' vary from corrugated tin shacks to some tattered tarpaulin/cardboard leaning against an existing structure. I've seen the men bathing (with their clothes on of course) from a hose that must be attached (illegally) to a well or the city water lines. The women are cooking over burning rubbish/vegetation that they have collected nearby. I can see all this from the car as I drive to the shops.

1. The government or corporate authority involved is not going to spend much on these poor souls unless legislated to do so.
2. There is a real problem here with plastic/paper/glass in the landfill. Plastic has been banned in the stores here recently. So recycling plastic/glass/paper would be a very appealing argument.
3. very real problem of air quality - equally from these rubbish cooking fires as from automobiles. A country of nearly a billion people generates a lot of smoky cooking fires.
4. India has a lot of money in the hands of a very few people who are eager to make more. Ideas like yours will really take off and can be immensely profitable in a country that is experiencing an economic boom at the moment.

I like Roger's version with more light. It's sunny outside and brighter inside and overall make me feel more cheerful. The nymph ....

My pet peeve is the word (?) 'gotta'. I have even heard it on Canadian TV - the National News no less. I've always felt that 'gotta' is pure slang along the lines of 'aint'.

Don't mean to bump this mundane thread to page 1 again but had to thank Peter for his compliment. I'm a rank amateur as far as house design goes (emphasis on the 'rank'.) Using SU makes my houses look sooo goood. The credit is all Sketchup's. Also followed your links to the 2 Tutorials by Krisidious. I too am waiting for Part 3!!! (hint Kris if you read this )

Thanks Gaius again. I downloaded the plugin. Here is another way I am organizing which bypasses my obsession with layers. (jpg below) I think that bad habit got hardwired into my old brain when I used that old drawing software in Cartography class. Until I 'un learn' I will avoid using layers for a while. Anyways I desperately need to learn some actual modeling skills.

I find using the Outliner Window to select and move objects around is easier than double-clicking to open endless nested groups/components. Since the active thing is highlighted in the Outliner Window, I can also keep track of 'where' I am. (I often get lost...still )

I do have one layer that I made and use called Furniture. The rest of the layers came with downloads. I keep all stuff from 3D Warehouse here and turn it off to save my little laptop from over heating. Helps me size my rooms. The Google 3D Man models are great for making sure there is enough headroom under staircases, or space for movement around furniture. Also use them to scale stuff I get from 3D Warehouse. Some of those toilets were HUGE!

One question about the hidden furniture layer. Saving, moving around, etc. is still a bit slower even with all that turned off. The file is bigger even if I can't see the furniture and this still slows down my little laptop, correct?

Sincerely, Greenbelt

P.S. in case you're wondering my 'name' is referring to an urban planning concept not to martial arts. The first forum I ever joined was a SimCity fan site and I've kept the name ever since. BTW has anyone modeled stuff for SC4 using Sketchup???

Thank you. I was wondering the same thing. A GLOBAL THANK YOU to Gaius, Dav R., Solo, mitcorb, and many others I'm still getting to know, for all the time and effort taken to give advice and help. My daily routine nowadays is to read the Newbie Forums.

My 2 cents...

Using the Move Tool, I've found that I can press the Arrow Keys after clicking , but before dragging with the mouse/touchpad, to keep movement to one axis.

So basically for the professionals out there it would not be a good idea to use a form fonts model in professional work unless the modeler intends to keep a lifetime subscription. Of course I guess a professional modeler would only use his/her own content. Sounds like a lousey deal to me!!

Thank you for the helpful tips. I agree that I need to work on my workflow. In these pictures I've gone back to the default style of a newly opened .skp file and minimal texture on window frames. You are right, Gaius, it is much easier to work with a clean model.



I will continue to add details to this model, but won't bore you with the details until I have a rendered version. I plan to model all structural details but will import furniture, light fixtures and other decorating details.
Things I learned...

1. Grouping each floor as soon as the first entity is drawn and placing on a separate level.
2. Hiding other layers while editing one layer/floor at a time. (This was especially helpful while working on the stair well.)
3. Using the colour feature in Layers Window to keep aware of which layer I was editing. Also I kept the Entity Window in the bottom left corner to stay aware that each entity was on the correct layer.
4. Occasionally I forgot to double-click a group to work on it and new entities ended up outside the group and the layer.
   Thank you Dave and Gaius for the helpful advice. I think I'll start another house to practice keeping my workflow organize. Later I'll go back and add details to the first house model.

Hi. Decided to spend this morning re-reading some forums and tutorials. I was having trouble with finding Materials/Textures and am still learning. Found an old link in this post %(#0000FF)[**
@unknownuser said:

**.] - here is the new link.

http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94956
Sketchup User's Guide - Paint Bucket Tool

Hope this helps other Newbies like me. Could a forum member (me?) edit someone else's post to add the updated link? Is that allowed? Or is this way better?

P.S. Answered my own question. Cannot edit other posts. Here is a link to a list of textures elsewhere on the forums.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=486
I am still a little confused about adding my own textures.

1. One way is to go on-line and copy images from the web (mindful of copyrights, etc.). I use IrfanView. I save these jpgs in an organized set of folders with my other Sketchup Stuff. Then using File -> Import dialogue window, I browse over to my previously saved jpg file and open it. In Sketchup, my curser becomes a paintbucket and I'd better have a face ready to paint or I have to do it again. (annoying)

2. Second way that sometimes works is to use the Window -> Materials dialogue -> Open or Create Collection. Again I browse to where I keep my collection of textures. But this time I can only open a folder/directory containing .skp files. I cannot go to one specific jpg file nor can I successfully open a folder containing jpg files.

So more experienced users out there... am I doing this correctly. Is there a better way?

FYI: Learned something new at one of the about listed sites for textures. Creating textures to be used on models is an art in itself. hoo neeoow (who knew?) (my old Wisconsin accent) There are issues regarding tiling etc. Amazing!

Thanks for reading and answering my doubts.