Hey Beginner. Thanks. Problem is that the center must be where it was before scaling and the height should not be scaled.

Still didn't find a suitable way with the original scale function but as long as FredoScale works i'm happy.

Hi,

hmm didn't get that to work they way you described but i just found another way: Using fredo scale taking one of the outer handles in the middle (the ones red in the screenshot) you can just type alt once and release it again to switch to "scale around center" mode (instead of ctrl like the help text shows) and then start scaling and enter a scale factor easily. all you have to do is calculate the scale factor before.

And no, it's not a component. Does that make a difference in this case?

hmm that's what i tried but while pressing shift i cannot enter numbers - i enter brackets and stuff instead. As soon as i lift the shift key i can enter numbers but that won't work then.

Apart from the pushpulling up again is difficult as all connected faces go crazy when resizing the hole that way.

Hi,

i wonder which is the best and most effective way to scale a hole inside a solid to exact size.

Of course i know you can use default scale function and grip the right handle but scaling it right while keeping the center is kind of a crazy job, isn't it?

Here's my example hole: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/1cb53bc5-2688-4e6f-bde1-89672930fc17/b2ad1ae0276f68c4f04090f7e2f127bb

it's got a diameter of 5,2mm and i'd like to scale it down to 4,8mm diameter while keeping everything else.

Any idea? Probably a plugin that helps? I got FredoScale but i don't know if that helps here.

Thanks for your advice,

Frank

So the dxf plugin seems to work basically - thanks for pointing that out - i'll need that for other things, too.

Unfortunately it doesn't really work in this case but the reason seems to be with illustrator that can't export the shape like it looks but only a shape based on the lines with the curves rendered down to even more points. This basically works for this shape to but in some cases this doesn't work well so the form that comes out in the export doesn't look similar to the original.

Here's a shot of the left end of the log how it looks in sketchup:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/7cf51cc4-ef99-4721-aa75-a5cb4fcd280a/57347d6c657d19656f5ef04605e736e6

I already tried different export- and import settings but this is the best result i could get so far. Maybe anyone of you has good advice how things could go better. I'd also need to know how to combine all these party crossing paths to a closed shape/face.

Re: PDF - i can only see possibilities to import a pdf as an image - don't see anything else.

@DaveR: i need to have the outer shape (those are not lines now but shapes) of those "lines" to be able to push them into a body as a kind of cutout. Hope that's understandable (english isn't my maiden language, sorry)

@d12dozr thx will have a look at that.

I'm on free at the moment unfortunately - thinking about pro but it's a really hard price for just few improvements for me.

I corrected the image link to a normal link above - it should work this way...

Hi,

i got a a vector logo that i'd like to import into sketchup anyhow to cut it's silhouette out of an object i created in sketchup for 3d printing.

The Logo was originally strapped from a pdf - I've done that in illustrator CS 5.1. I tried importing it as a PDF in sketchup but it doesn't look like sketchup is handling that as a vector.

Can anyone help here? Think lots of you have done this several times.

Here's a screenshot of the logo so you have an idea what it's like: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/ff27929f-6b2e-41fe-a66e-ec6e134653f6/59e6146c27c2c2f04359617bb2865871

Thanks for helping,
Frank

For me it sounds like you buy the renderer for $299AUD and get 10 hours of time doing sessions like they do in the video where you can invite your customers to have a walk around your creations and show off your work. They don't write if the renderer itself locally works without any session hours but i would think so. Of course the primary goal of this is to show your work off to others in real time which is truely great.

If they advertised here maybe they should jump in and explain their product to the target customers

Edit: guess i was totally wrong. Their FAQ says:

@unknownuser said:

When you are not using the Bloom Unit service but still working with SketchUp, you can do everything except open the Bloom Unit window. So, you can use all normal SketchUp functionality, place objects and luminaires, assign library materials and create custom materials, you simply will not see the photorealistic results until you press the Bloom Unit button and start using the service.

@Hieru: Thanks a lot.

@numbthumb Yeah you're probably right. I just gotta do some learning by doing - just thought there would be some tutorial about the basics to find the easier step into all that. I'm quit confident about what artisan and vertex tools are about to do but you always need the basic model and most of what i saw (e.g. under Hierus Link) places big question marks on my head about how to get to the basic model

But anyway... i'll try hard and i'll find out

Yeah i know both of them but i was looking for a more general approach like what is important on this way of modelling and really starting from the beginning.

I don't eve know how to bringt that lot of vertices on a volumetric body in sketchup... like.. you know... beginners section of this part.

All i did so far in sketch was simple extrusion and a bit of rounded corners with plugins

Hi,

I'm working with sketchup quite a while now and i'm used to the standard construction modelling sketchup offers. I'd like to take it to the next step now and do some advanced modelling. I've seen Artisan and Vertex Tools and instantly fell in love with both.

Now i'm looking for some tutorials that help me step into that. A video tutorial would be great - or an ebook. I'd love to pay some money for that but having a tutorial alway makes it easier to step in

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Frank

Hi,

yeah i know there's much on the market and all i have is the goal to have neat results - don't think i need a realtime one and don't even know what everything else means

One more thing: I'm on an iMac (ATI Radeon HD4850) so no special new, brilliant GPU Power is available but some CPU though (i7, 2.8Ghz). Also the Renderer shouldn't be Windows only - that wouldn't help much.

For the beginning i guess the easy one would be better than the multifunctional diggin-deep-into-it engine. Animation also isn't that important for the beginning. Maybe later.

I know blender but i also know why i like to use sketchup most A sketchup integrated solution would be nice i think.

Hi,

did anyone yet find a trick to have toolbars in the mac version of sketchup arranged in a more usable way than they work out of the box? These flying toolbars that don't care about your window size are annoying.

I thought there might be a way that i just didn't find so far...

Thanks,
Frank

Wow, Lumion is quite impressive But i guess it's way too expensive for me and as i'm not doing architectural stuff so far it would be way too much too probably

I'll have a look at all other stuff but i'd still like to see some definitive recommendations prior to complete lists containing all possible renderers

Thanks so much!

Hey all,

i'm quite used to sketchup for a while now. I primarly do part design for 3d printing and a bit of woodwork. I will also approach some machine construction design prior to building my next 3d printer with sketchup.

I've never dealed with rendering so far (well i did some 10 or 15 years ago with povray but that doesn't count i guess) but i'd like to jump into that topic to create some nice images from parts i design. I had a first look around and found that there must be a endless amount of renderers for sketchup and i have no clue where to begin.

Can anyone point me to a good location where to start? I'm ready to read tutorials or comparison articles or just try out some good renderers if there are any that would fit as a starting product? I'm willing to pay money for a renderer even though i thought there should be a usable one that doesn't cost 500$ or more?

Thanks for helping,

Frank

Hi,

the problem with guides is simply that things get cluttered as you say. On the other hand you may find a hand full of guides useful until the construction is finished but deleting all guides would remove them too. Deleting only the guides that can be deleted by hand from time to time is possible of course but it's anything else but a smart workflow.

As other apps have something like dynamic guides a bit more extended and relative positioning i thought there might be a way with sketchup that i don't yet know of.

Thanks for helping,

Frank

Hi,

i wonder if there's a way to use relative distances in sketechup without adding a guideline for everything.

Example: I've got a cube with 100x100x100mm and want to put a whole in every corner of one side with the distance of let's say 20mm from each edge. The way i do it now is by adding guidelines from every edge (4 at all).

Any chance to do this in another way? Any kind of dynamic guides or something maybe as a plugin or something?

Thanks for helping,

Frank

Thanks, TIG. Didn't notice that help menu item. Great work, thanks a lot!

Thanks for that great tool.

Still one question left: I can't seem to decode NNs/NNx/Rad with the 2D polygon and NNs or Rad with the circle. No matter what i enter there it doesn't seem to affect anything. I tried to rise the segments of the circle but can't seem to get it and couldn't find any docs for that?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!