@cotty said:

You can add the skp directly as an attachement to your post (under the text-field).

I've cleaned up all the drawing and left on filter bank item that exhibits the problem. I'm preparing myself for a barrage of comments beginning with "you idiot, you had >insert setting here< active!"

Clipping Plane plus zoom in/out issues

@rich o brien said:

If you delete that large plane I see in the video does it help? You mention things are in meters, how large is that plane?

I've a feeling it is related to axis placement but we'd need a model to examine. Either PM or here depending on whether it can be shared or not.

I just recently added the plane there as I needed to rotate on one of the faces. I've done another tiny clip showing me scrolling in at a constant but SLOW rate, and it still plays up http://screencast.com/t/YJnEMrRy

I can get rid of this problem by using Parallel Projection, but I don't want to work like that, especially as I don't in my other drawings.

Would you mind tell me how I go about sharing a drawing? Do you just mean sharing via the 3D warehouse? If so then I'm afraid I can't do that presently due to the limiations of where I am at the moment. I might be able to do it tonight when I get home.

Thanks

@rich o brien said:

Can you Zoom to Extents(using the menu not the mouse) while in Perspective view

Then without orbiting go to Parallel mode(using the menu not the mouse) and Zoom to Extents(using the menu not the mouse)

Then back to Perspective view(using the menu not the mouse) then zoom in?

I did what you said but nothing has altered. The problem is definitely something to do with "Perspective" as "Parallel Projection" does seem to correct things (I previously thought that "Parallel Projection" setting would default back to "Perspective" as I didn't save my changes on closing the drawing. I now realise that this only affects the items that have been drawn and not the settings of SU )

@rich o brien said:

As a matter of interest....

When you go from Perspective to Parallel are you activating the Parallel view while the error is on screen? Likewise are you toggling back to Perspective while zoom in close?

I'm afraid I had jumped the gun in thinking the problem was solved. It isn't

Perspective is back on as standard, but I can't quite seem to fix this "clipping plane" thingy. It is literally only on the one drawing which is what baffles me, but it's one I use for reference and as a bit of a catalogue for components.

So far the possible solutions that have been eliminated are:

1- Field of View (which is the 35 degree standard)
2- Perspective (turned on)
3- Scale of model too large/small (several items on the drawing, each measuring approximately 1metre in length)
4- Distance from Origin Point (I always draw as close to them as possible and they are always on show)
5- .dwg import (not applicable as nothing imported)
6- Hidden geometry far from main drawing (I checked and this is not the case)

Back to you lot

Thanks TIG. Your suggestion re' extraneous bits of geometry that are "miles away" was the first (and only ) thing that entered my mind. Just about my only redeeming feature when it comes to using SU is my fastidiousness - I hate having untidy drawings so I'm usually OK when it comes to random fragments causing problems, oh and I'm forever clicking on "Zoom extents" to make sure .

I often import .dxf files, and though they can make things a bit messy, the drawing I had the issues with did not have anything imported into it at all.

@cotty said:

Some hints may be here: http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=36261

Thanks for that. I think I've sussed it, but it's a bit backwards. The guide states "Another situation that can cause clipping is when the Perspective camera mode is turned off." But I found that by turning "Perspective" off it eliminated the problem

At the level I'm presently using SU too I'm not presently aware of what the pros and cons are of having Perspective on/off, but at this moment all that seems to have changed is that my problem has stopped

This issue doesn't occur on every drawing, but it is a real problem for me. When I try to zoom in on a point it often shows a plane through the item, jumps straight past the item or zooms me out to a huge distance away. I've tried to show it on the short clip below (I used Jing and Screencast that I've just found out about - they seem like useful tools). Hopefully you can see that as I try to zoom in on a corner of an item it disappears!

I'm sure I must just accidentally have activated some setting somewhere that I don't know about, but if you could please point me in the right direction then it might stop me tearing my rapidly greying hair out

http://screencast.com/t/ZtujLBU3M5aj

tumbleweed

Hello again good people of the forum, I have a slightly different question for you this time:

My laptop struggles with some of the trickier processes. My most recent previous question on here about drawing some ribbed conduit that bends (http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=46680) led me to "Shape Bender" which is a great PlugIn, but to bend one length of conduit once through 90degrees took over 10 minutes! I'm no computer nerd so please don't get too detailed with your responses, but I can tell you that I have a 2GHz dual core processor and 3Gb of RAM. What would you suggest would be minimal and ideal specifications for laptops?

@unknownuser said:

You can also make something like this
On any curve
With Perpendicular Face Tool by Chris Fullmer
Put at each beginning of segment a face
Put at each middle of segment an another face
Select all
Explode
Select Only face
Erase
Select all
Use the Curviloft by Fredo 6
Et voilà

[attachment=1:tefqw103]<!-- ia1 -->tubess.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:tefqw103]

Thanks for replying, however I think that doing it the way you have shown might take a very long time gievn the amount of this stuff I will have to draw on a fairly regualr basis - so I'm really after a PlugIn to do the hard work for me

I've just tried using "Shape Bender", but it seems to struggle with bending into all 3 axes (see the middle section of the attached). I've really struggled using "Copy along path" too as it didn't seem to work correctly.

At this stage my problems are likely to be a result of my own incompetence, so if I'm making any obvious errors please let me know as I'm determined to one day catch up to you lot - I just hope I live that long!

@tobobo said:

I think Grizzler is looking for a way to have a repeat pattern of a pipe that has a ribbed effect. [That's exactly how I should've put it in the first place instead of waffling on - oops]

Grizzler,

I can think of three ways to try.

1. Create a straight version the then use the 'Shape Bender' plugin to bend it into shape.

2. Create component of a short section and use the 'Copy Along a Path' plugin to get it to go along the path you have drawn.

3. Use the 'follow me' tool in the opposite direction, create the profile along the bent path and then 'follow' the profile around a perpendicular circle.

If any take your fancy let me know i can go into more detail as to my idea.

1- Shape Bender is probably a very good way to achieve my goal. I've not presently got it but will look into it when I return to work.
2- "Copy along a path" is another new one to me and it sounds simpler than the 1st one you mentioned. I worry that when I go hunting for the Plugins you lot mention that I'll download an old bug-ridden version. Are they all only available from one particular source (ie, their creator)? Admittedly I'm still very intimidated by the squillions of Plugins, so I'm more than happy to use any links that you fine folks suggest.
3- I can see where you're coming from with this suggestion, but now I think about it I suspect it will cause problems where edges interfere with each other.

Feel free to educate me using method 2.

Thanks for your help you kind folk you

I need to draw some flexible metallic ventilation conduit, essentially it's just a larger, shinier version of the ventilation pipe that most tumbledryers use to vent out through windows. I way thinking there might be a way to use "follow me" to follow a bending line, but not with a smooth pipe finish? If you think about how these pipes look, they have lots of solid circular bands with soft, flexible material between which allow them to be collapsed for storage/transport and then extended for use. I need some way to illustrate that this is the kind of item I plan to use other than just labelling it as such.

Can you suggest anything please?

Thanks

It would be fantastic if I could just send my designs directly to the phones of the chaps on the factory floor. I don't need anything other than for them to be able to view each of the "scenes" that I create, but a cursory search of Google has yielded nothing but disappointment so far.

May I just add that though us newbies ask some very stupid questions sometimes, we still appreciate you more learned SU practitioners taking the time to nudge us in the right direction

I work with sheet metal mostly with 9mm thickness, so I don't need to show this thickness, plus it would take a long and unneccessary amount of time to do. So am I correct in thinking that when one sheet's edge is welded to the surface of another sheet (in my drawings), I have no choice but to put up with visible lines on the opposite side of the "sheet" where they join?

Thanks for your assistance either way.

I'm getting lots of unsightly lines in my drawings when I place components on a surface and then view that surface from the opposite side. Every solution I've looked up so far relies on "Layout" feature available in SU Pro, isn't there a really simple way to send something to the back/front in basic SU8?

Once again I offer my apologies for the simplistic nature of my query to you wizened sages of SketchUp

I've been having bother filling irregular shapes so I'm trying to come up with ways of drawing that solve the problem for me. The straight forward example I've been attempting this morning is an arrow curved in 3d space which originates from a single point. The body and head are to be different colours so there is a line seperating them (see first pic). The way I thought of was to draw the arrow on the surface of a sphere using the 'arc' tool, but when I completed the arrow it failed to infil the body of the arrow, yet when I deleted the infil on the sphere and arrowhead the body became infilled automatically.

I hope I've explained myself clearly.

I'm more than happy to abandon this technique if you wise bunch can suggest a better method. I've not even got to the point where I show the arrow increasing in thickness from the origin to the point of the arrowhead

@dave r said:

It would also be helpful if you could specify exactly what it is you've downloaded. Did you download Kerkythea or SU2KT (the plugin for SketchUp) or both?

To be honest, it sounds as if you're trying to run a marathon before you've learned to walk.

I get the feeling you're right Dave

It looks like I've only downloaded the SU2KT so I'll go back and get the missing stuff now. Thanks again gents.

Thank you for the advice chaps. I must admit that I'm truly out of my depth here with the terminology and level of knowledge that is taken for granted by the vastly more proficient users. Kerkythea is only the 2nd plugin I've downloaded and it already differs from the first, "DXFin", which appeared in my File dropdown immediately. I'm sorry to report that I don't actually know how to use KT now that I've got it

I can almost hear the fluid sound of the collective rolling their eyes

@dave r said:

Could you explain more about what you're looking for? Perhaps show an example of what you are trying to achieve? What rendering program are you using?

I'm trying to teach myself how to use SU so I can design rooms for medical use, basically steel cabinets with Corian worktops. Until now all the drawings I've done or seen by others have been very dull 2d AutoCAD dwgs and I want to offer something different.

Ta

Hello again

I'm finding it very difficult to find what I need amongst the enormous number of available plugins. Can anyone advise of one or two that would expand on the basic renders available to include stainless steel finishes and Corian as these are the two materials I work with.

Many thanks (once again) for you patience.