I've always had cats, but I now share my life with a previously feral Portuguese mongrel. As a cat person I've never really understood dogs, but this fella was going to bite the bullet (literally) if I didn't fake his death (it's a long story) and bring him back to the UK.

He's only about seven, but he's struggling at the moment with the consequences of a parasitic infection fom his days living rough. It looks like he will pull through but it's been a tough couple of weeks.

I'll post some pictures when I'm at my PC tomorrow. He looks like a bit like a Maltese Shih Tzu cross mixed with Jock running down that 'Rocky Road' - all tong and ears flapping with an underbite that makes him look like something from Where the Wild Things Are.

That's right.

I think it's something that would be very useful when using QFT and you find that you need to change a texture or mesh after softening.

I'm pretty sure there isn't a native solution (other than manually softening) or a plugin.

Have you tried Component Stringer?

I did something similar with a simple curve here, but it should work for more complex paths.

Thanks Thomas. That thread/video was my starting point, but I ran into trouble because the profile wasn't made of quad faces.

On a related matter, at one point I found that I wanted to adjust the mesh after texturing and smoothing the profile. In the end I had to just undo back to the point where I had un-softened quad faces.

If I didn't have that option, does anyone know of a way to only soften triangulation?

That's fantastic - above and beyond!

I'm guessing that QFT didn't work before because the mesh wasn't made of quads and I hadn't thought of rebuilding the faces though......and you were right about the profile, so I swapped it out for a simple 6 edge arc.

I hadn't come across Edge Follow Me before. It didn't work in this case as the top and bottom paths arn't paralell (I used Extrude Edge by Rails instead) but it will definately come in handy in the future.

Thanks again.

That's great - I had completely forgotten about that video.

I think I'll try UU3D again and see if I can find an unwrap method that works. Otherwise I'll give UV Layout a whirl.

Thanks again.

That's awesome Rich.

Of course, now I want to know what programme you used for the UV mapping and how you did it .

OK, time for a pesky UV problem.

I'm trying to texture the profile of an organic model so that a plywood edging material runs parallel with the edge of the form. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way of doing this. I've tried Quad Face Tools (I might be using it incorrectly) and exporting the mesh/texture to Ultimate Unwrap 3D, but I haven't had much success.

Could someone please help me out and point me in the right direction?

I'm planning on sharing the model when it's complete, so here's what I've done already (12MB!):

Just a moment...

(www.box.com)

I was clearly over thinking this, but here's an alternative method using Artisan:

Skateboard1.skp
The main reason for the Artisan route is that I thought it would be more appropriate if someone were modelling an actual skateboard - with a slightly more complicated proxy shape you can add the concave you would get on a real deck:

Skateboard2.skp

That is very very cool. If they could take that and apply it to solids it would revolutionise 3D modelling.

For Mac I believe the plugins directory is located at:

/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins

See thomthom's installation guide for more information.

All really useful and often indespensible plugins. You might want to check out the plugins index to see the other available add ons.

The visual plugin index is also very handy for newbies.

Thanks for taking the time to dig out the old model. Looks pretty good considering you didn't use Artisan or SDS and it makes me wonder if I needed to bother with the bevel around the bulb-shaped recess.

The only suggestion I can come up with is redrawing each floor profile with a set number of evenly sized segments. You should then be able to do something like this:

StringerWindows.skp

I had a feeling it wasn't your model.

It's a pity you've lost it as I would have liked to have seen your approach to the modelling. Interesting render by the way - it shows quite a lot of potential for using the lamp in proper scenes.

I've only used the plugin for basic stuff so I'm not sure. I'll have a look when I'm back in the office tomorrow.

For that kind of thing I would create a window component and then try using Component Stringer to add them to each floor.

It's been on my radar for a while but I'd completely forgotten about it until Pete started the glass block challenge. I've fallen in love with it all over again and it's now on my 'must have' list.

@notareal said:

Did even modeled it years ago

It's not this one in the 3D Warehouse is it?

I'm not sure if it will help, but here are the profiles I used.

Profiles.skp

Thanks guys

Glad you like the model and render. It was equally fun and frustrating to work on. I thought I could just put it together quickly with a proxy and Artisan but the bevel I wanted between the recessed bulb shape and the block just wasn't happening. In the end I had to model the block and bulb recess separately and combine them together.

Not an ideal solution and a bit of a bodge job really . I suppose the main thing is that it works for the end result, but with a bit more experience I'd like to come back to this and find a way of producing a nicer mesh.

@ninopiamonte

Given the time invested in the project and the fact that I'm not 100% happy with the modelling I don't have any plans to share the model. Sorry.

I would however be happy to talk you through the modelling process if you are interested in having a go yourself.