Getting it set up that way would be easy if you're using a low number of segments, you can easily see them and deal with them. But the whole point of me doing this is to use high segment numbers for a smooth finish, and with that many segments it's impossible to tell where one starts and another leaves off. At least with my limited knowledge. Is there a disadvantage to overlapping the components?

To get any more precise I would have to get down to the molecular level I know it was probably something I did, but I was very careful, or at least as careful as I'm capable of being considering how much sleep I've gotten lately. For now, overlapping them seems to work fine, so I'll settle for that. I'm gradually finding ways to get my file size down to reasonable levels, learning good stuff in the process. This first project of mine is taking forever, but it's just something to learn on. Between the internet, my books and you guys, I have an almost infinite source of help and information to draw from, so I'll get there.

Well, hiding the edges helped, but there was still a problem. There was a very small gap where the components joined together. Don't know why. I solved that by just not rotating the parts completely, let them overlap just a bit. Works like a champ. And I miscalculated on the file size - it's actually about 1/7 of what it would have been using the old method. Oh joy, oh joy!
I've always hated those blocky looking circles I plan on putting this to use in a number of ways in the model I'm working on.
You guys are the best!

@d12dozr said:

Delete the circular end faces that are hidden when the components join, and hide those edges (shift+eraser or select > rt click > hide)

Jeff beat me...

I'll try hiding the edges. Thanks

If this is what you mean, I tried that.

Ok, I've figured out how to get ring of the ring around the middle, but can't do anything with the lines where the components come together.

I have been attempting to reduce the size of my model file. I do not like the jagged look of using smaller number of circle segments, and one thing I'm trying is copying and rotating a component around a centerpoint. It works fine, gives me the smooth surface I want and gives me a file less than one quarter the size I would get if creating it normally. The only problem is the lines where the components touch. Also, there is the ring around the inside of the shape that occurs after I delete the disc used to form it. Nothing I do seems to get rid of them entirely, smoothing helps but as you can see by the third photo, they're still noticeable. Any suggestions?

When I used Radial Bending on this object, it did the bending just fine, but the colors changed. As you can see, the lower half of the front face is a different shade than the rest of it. I've tried repainting, it happens no matter what color I use. Any suggestions?

@tig said:

[ensure you haven't got adjusted axes by right-click over them and 'reset']

Oh crap !!!! That never occurred to me. That's because I are a noobie. Couldn't figure out how I could have moved and rotated the entire model "accidentally". Of course I also can't figure out how I managed to "accidentally" adjust the axes, but doing that would have been much easier to do. I normally turn off the axes unless I need them for something, guess I should stop doing that so I could maybe notice sooner if I screw them up again somehow.

I was anticipating having to redo all the changes, and all it took was two clicks of my mouse

Anyhow, that fixed it, all better now (picture here a smiley doing cartwheels, and fireworks, and smiling till his face splits in two). Thanks a million (the check is in the mail, really!)

I know, way too many smilie thingies , but hey, they're cheap and you've made me so happy with your words of wisdom.

I was working on my model tonite and somehow moved it all askew from where it was. The problem with that is that I have pasted in place many subcomponents and parts and pieces of the main model in other models (or whatever you call it when you open another new, empty instance of SU and paste something in place, do you call that a model, or what, yeah I spose you do) to be worked on and then copied and pasted in place back in the main model (and I know I'll be told that this is not the best way to do this but it works well for me). And tonite I got so carried away making some very involved and time consuming changes to the main model that I failed to frequently save versions as I normally do, and I really don't want to have to do those changes again on an earlier pre-screwed-up version.

Anyhow, what I need to do is find the exact location of a version of the model just before I screwed up the location and somehow move the screwed up model back to those coordinates. This might be made more difficult due to the fact that it also got rotated a bit, somehow.

I hope I'm making sense coz I'm really really tired and there's this high pitched buzzing in my ears and I think I need to get some sleep but I want to solve this problem first or I'll have nightmares. Thanks in advance.

Doing as he suggested restored only about 10% of my thumbnails. For whatever reason the only ones it did restore were for models that I had not yet opened with SU. So I uninstalled/reinstalled SU. No change. Thoroughly uninstalled with Revo Uninstaller, reinstalled. Nada. Finally, in desperation, I tried the Mystic Thumbnails mentioned in the post you referred me to. I now have thumbnails And I can even make them a bit larger, although they tend to get a little fuzzy when you do that. While I like Mystic Thumbnails and would probably use it anyway, it's still just a workaround for a problem that is still on my computer, and I don't like workarounds.

Oh well, it's about time for me to replace my C drive again, I do that once or twice a year to get a fresh start. A hassle, but it's worth it.

Has anyone posted a warning anywhere in the forums about the troubles they might encounter if they attempt to install a second version of SU on the same computer? At least they would be aware of the potential difficulties and could make an informed decision. I only installed SU 7 because I wanted to get around problems with the Zorro plugin. It's a really useful tool, at least to me, but definitely not worth all the trouble I've gone through. I'll just install SU 7 on another computer and use Zorro there, along with any other plugins I may need that seem to have a problem with SU 8. Maybe Google will get of it's butt and fix the problems with SU 8 someday. It's only fair, considering how much I paid for it

By the way, what about the second part of my original question, any insights there?

Just one more quick question, is there a way to set things up so that I'm not notified when I post a reply to my own topic, just when someone else posts a reply?

Thanks, bye

Dang, had Toto for supper last nite. Tough times all around.

Now that's interesting. Will give it a try, thanks.

But what kind of click takes me to the land of Oz? I need to go there, badly

So if I use double click and accidentally get a component into the edit mode, there's no way to undo that without having to start over? Actually, what I think I'll start doing is first single click and make sure it's not a component, without going into the edit mode, then double click if it's ok. A bit more trouble and wear and tear on my poor overworked mouse, but that's the price you pay for having so much fun, right?

I've lost my thumbnails, and I don't mean I hit them with a hammer. All of my SKP files no longer have thumbnails. The problem started when I installed SU version 7 on my computer (in addition to version 8, not replacing it) to try to work around a problem with the Zorro plugin. Shortly thereafter some of my thumbnails went away, but only those for models I had downloaded from the warehouse, opened in SU, and then saved (ironically because many warehouse models have no thumbnails unless you do that). The thumbnails for warehouse models that I hadn't yet opened were still fine. Thought the problem might be SU7 co-habitating on my computer, so I uninstalled it. Then ALL of my thumbnails went away.

Another thumbnail question - why is it that sometimes a model downloaded from the warehouse has a huge thumbnail (well, not huge, but it fills up the space), but if you open that model and then save it again, the thumbnail gets smaller (they are sort of like a widescreen version, long and narrow and empty on the top and bottom)? Is there any way to have my model thumbnails fill up the space, to be easier to see? And sometimes the thumbnail has nothing to do with the actual model, how is that done? Thanks in advance.

@dave r said:

@unknownuser said:

If you double click while holding Shift on something that isn't a component/group, you end up selecting and immediately deselecting it.

Actually, when I double click on something it doesn't deselect it, it selects it with a dark blue border around it's edges. I was using that feature to better tell if an object has been selected, it's sometimes difficult to tell, depending on the color. Especially with tiny little parts and pieces. But I take your point. Thanks

Your info on checking the box when making a component solved that problem.
But as to problem of accidentally selecting the wrong object --

@dave r said:

If you inadvertently select something you don't want, hold the Shift key and click on it again.

@wo3dan said:

As to unselecting that unfortunately selected component:Holding down [Ctrl] adds to current selection
Holding down [Shift] subtract from/ adds tocurrent selection depending on if an entity is already selectedor not.

I'm already holding down the shift key as I make my selections, that's how I select all the faces I want for the component. I double click on each of them, and I know that if I accidentally double click on something I don't want I can just click on it again to deselect it. My problem arises if I accidentally double click on a component, then the whole model gets grayed out except for that component, and nothing that I have tried simply deselects that component and lets me continue from where I was. I have to start over.

@dave r said:

You would make your life easier if you make a component of the related geometry before moving on to draw something else. This will prevent you from missing geometry or accidentally including geometry you don't want included in the component.

@chris fullmer said:

One idea would be to lock the componennts ahead of time. The you could not get into edit mode and ruin your selection set.

I agree, and when I'm creating something that's what I do. But the situation I'm talking about is a model that I've gotten from the warehouse and want to select all parts of the chassis, or engine, or kitchen cabinets, and make it a component so I can drag it out of there and do whatever with it. That's where it gets tricky as far as selecting each face that I need. And of course it does happen with models I created before I discovered the wonderful world of components.

@chris fullmer said:

I generally use the selection window tool

If you mean using the selection tool to drag a window around things to select them all, I use that a lot, but it's useful only if those objects are by themselves, not buried in a model. You get all sorts of strange results if you try that, with other stuff around and behind what you are trying to select. That's why I have to go in and carefully select each part that I want.

Anyhow, thanks for all your help and suggestions. I have another question but I want to start a new topic with it so maybe if somebody else has a question about the same thing they can search for it and maybe get what they need.

This is a fun program. I'm getting gray hair, bleeding ulcers, and have developed several dozen facial tics

Sometimes, after I've gone thru and selected all the parts and pieces of something that I want to make a component, after I've made it a component when I click on it it just selects the face I've clicked on. I cannot select it as a component. But it is listed as a component, and when I make a copy of it from the components list it comes out as a component. Kinda frustrating, as sometimes it takes a while to carefully select everything within a model that I want to save as a component. Hopes this makes sense.
A second component question - I'm sure this has happened to everyone at some time or another, you're going thru carefully double clicking the faces for a component, when you accidentally double click on something that's already a component, or group, and then you have to go back and start all over again. Is there some sort of magic key, or command, or spell, that will let you undo that and continue from before you made the bad clicks? Probably not, but I've asked about things before that I assumed couldn't be done, only to find out it can!

How do you use more than one version of SU on the same computer? More importantly, is it possible to open an object created in version 8 with version 7?