From SketchUp to SketchUp? You can do it manually. Open the file you want to import. Select all the Layers (except Layer 0). Delete. You will get an option to delete the geometry or move it to the default layer. Choose to move it to the default layer. Save the drawing. Open the other drawing, import the file. It should come in as a component. Place the component on the layer of your choice. If you want all the entities in the component on this same layer, edit the component, select all the geometry, move to the same layer. I use this process when working with AutoCAD imports. Bring it into SketchUp, clean it up, strip all the layers, views, excess components, etc. Get it all on Layer 0. Bring it into my working drawing.

The definitely looks like a case where the buildings are slightly lower than the groundplane. You can right click on the axis and choose "reset" if its an option. And that will show you where the true groundplane is. Two ways to fix it. Move all geometry up above the groundplane. OR open the shadows info dialog box and uncheck the box at the bottom for "On Ground". Then SU won't display shadows on the groundplane. Good luck, Chris

@unknownuser said: I haven't had any problems with the graying out of the context menu since I have re-installed my plugins. Removing what I don't need. The disabled plugins is most likely one of Fredo's plugins. It has been resolved with updates. If experience that issue it's most likely due to an older version.

TIG, Great explenation of x-refs in CAD. External References are one of the most powerfull features of all of the different AutoCAD flavors. Multi-discipline teams / offices could never survive without them. That being said - I have never seen a topic and concept that so confuses a typical CAD user more than x-refs, and their proper use. This 2 pages is a a good reminder of why I am so damn glad we migrated to Revit this past year! Dean

The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL has modelled London for precisely that purpose. Google wanted to incorporate it in GE, but Ordnance Survey, he say "No!" Crown Copyright and all that. Don't you just love freedom of information in dear old Blighty? I believe CASA have small chunks of it on their blog site.

Hi folks. I did a test: 1 - I selected only the two arcs. 2 - I used the Sandbox Tool "From Contours". 3 - I did some clean-up (less than 30 seconds). The result looks not too bad. Just ideas.

this is way above my concentration levels lol ... i just dont understand the language ... thanks anyway

@haynesc said: hi all i remember seeing a script to import multiple cad files at once but i cant sea mto find it ... See this http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=203630#p203630

@tig said: @haynesc said: hi all is there a way to create a shortcut to deselect and close all open groups and components ? i know you can select the model from the outliner dialog ... is there a way to create a keyboard shortcut for this or a little ruby? thanks First you need to be editing a group/component. Next you open Window > Preferences and click on Shortcuts Now in the filter window type close. You should see Edit/Close Group/Component. Select it and add you preferred shortcut to it - I use Alt+B. From now on pressing Alt+B will close the current edit session - if you are nested into edit a number of levels then repeat the key until you are back at the Model level... To assign a shortcut that is context specific first get that context, then filter to find it - e.g. hiding the rest of the model toggle on/off when editing is also very quick and useful as a shortcut... or you can select a face and then Reverse or Orient become available for shortcutting - these are both useful too... thanks thats what i need ... i used Alt+Q (Q for Quit)

that is a good workflow and i use it for when doing more complicated models ... but iam using SceneExporter plugin from smustard to export 30+ scenes from a single file, and if you do not save the shadow info in each one then no shadow will be present in that particular export ... so i have to update each scene with the new time/date etc... i have tried the first method ... worked perfectly ... i didnt know youcould update individual attributes like that with the double arrow icon ... very handy thanks

great answer TIG

cool ... thanks didnt realise this

... thanks guys

It maybe that in the import options, you do not uncheck "Preserve drawing origin" or even if you do, there is some (even small) stray geometry far away therefore SU will start its issue with a too extensive model (when you have geometry of the size of miles - or even small geometry miles away from the origin, it will do this. Try doing the following make sure that you do not preserve drawing origin so SU will import the cad file close to the origin Try to select all (Ctrl+A) then Zoom extent (Ctrl+Z) to see if there is something odd (far away from the origin). Delete this bit. OR it maybe something else, too, of course...

If you need to see the full resolution in SU, split the image into smaller tiles of max 1024x1024.

Thanks very much !

http://tranz.it/load.php?id=xILh8DHUlEG4pnW2433431

[image: 14821202.th.jpg] this is my problem i have a shortcut for showing/hiding dialogs like you have (D) but in the menu it says "Hide Dialogs" meaning they are already showing ... But the layers one isnt and i have no idea why ?

hi i fixed it ... i had removed the examples/utilities from plugins by mistake somehow ... idx requires them