@andybot said: @unknownuser said: This is what I have Tig and its still not doing right but thanks! Maybe I still have something set up wrong? It's right there in your screen-grab - bottom left - uncheck the box for "0 inches" Thanks andybot, just didn't realize that was the problem!

pressure washed Thanks for the reply Dave what you said sounds good. That was what I was thinking but wanted to ask around to make sure. Thanks Kurt

I think the perspective correction utilities in Photoshop and likely some other cheaper or free progs will approximate this for you.

The look of the model and the animations look more like they were made in Solidworks, ProE, or some other parametric modeler. Most of those types of CAD programs have basic mechanical animation abilities.

Years ago, I mean many, I worked for an engineering and architecture firm that designed the original "Inn of the Mountain God's" for the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico. The Tribal chairman's wife had some ideas she wanted incorporated into the window drapes. To mock up the design we wrapped a piece of 3/4" plywood with canvas and silk screened the design onto the canvas surface. The canvas shrank so tightly that the plywood broke. Admittedly, we were prototyping and experimenting, but consider shrinkage when the adhesive meets the material and don't underestimate the power of shrinking cloth.

@chrisglasier said: Have you seen Todd's table? Nice thanks for the link. His skill seems far beyond mind but I'll post pics when done.

Love it, Thanks a million!!!!!!!!!!!

I think like any finish, it really needs some upkeep. How much depends upon how the piece is treated and to what it is exposed. On my desk I have a letter opener I made in the summer of 1980. It is rosewood and maple finished with linseed oil and then paste wax. It looks as good if not better than it did when I made it and it has never had any update to the finish. I also have a roll top jewelry box made of padauk (you may have seen drawings of it) that was made in 1981. It has only linseed oil on it and is still beautiful. On the other hand, I've see some boat bright work that was finished with only oil which has turned black with age. It needs updating about every 12 months, too. As far as using tung oil for salad bowls, as long as it hasn't got anything toxic in it, it would be fine. It hardens nicely. Of course if you wash the bowl after using it, you'll need to refresh the oil once in awhile.

@trogluddite said: Though I'm new to SU, I have done a lot of photo comp'ing in the past. The key thing I learned is to analyse your source photo for perspective, lighting, and scale. In this respect, I would say that gistman's interpretation is the most convincing. There is a very definite horizon line in the photo where the sky and sea meet - the horizontals of the building should all converge to points along this line (extended beyond the picture edge if needs be). In a picture containing other buildings, you can find an imaginary 'horizon' by following the horizontal edges of a few different faces to find the line on which they would meet. The fact that the horizon is almost perfectly central in the photo, is usually a good sign that the camera is perfectly level - so your verticals ought to be pretty much straight up and down with no convergence. The detail in the grass in the foreground indicates that the camera is not particularly high up (unless it is very tall grass!) - probably about normal eye-height, so we should be able to see a fair amount of the underside of the roof (Assuming it is big enough to walk inside). For the lighting, the large tree is a very good guide. A significant amount of the right hand side is in shadow, so the light source is forward of the camera and to the left - If you imagine about 10 or 11 on a clock face, you shouldn't be too far out. Most of the top of the tree is lit, and the tree's shadow is pretty close underneath - so the sun is pretty high up too, maybe 60deg or more. Some very valuable tips there Steve!!!! It appears you guys are exporting nature SU with a photomatch background? Just on Photomatch, I hope in the future Photomatch allows the ability to fix the horizon line horizontal rather than try and tweak vanishing lines to get it right; afterall; not to many building are modeled / build on an incline....

Thanks alot Tig, thats what I needed! Sketchup for sure wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for masters like yourself! Thanks again Kurt

I think Poplar would be a good choice for the frames. It is tight pored and would take the paint very well. I recently made two hallway benches out of poplar and it is very easy to work with. I made the cases out of the poplar on these two pieces also because they were stained instead of painted but that can get a little pricy. If your cases are not going to be exposed, I would opt to use birch plywood probably. I personally don't like working with MDF. Clear select pine would also probably work well but has splitting tendencies sometimes. However, I recently made some raised panels for a couple of doors and frames for my brother to put in his new retirement cottage loft, and these worked really well. He was going to finish them natural instead of painting them though.

Thanks Dave I might try that once I get a little mote time.

@bryan k said: It may be "just a little TV shelf" but I like the technique. Tutorials? Now you've done it! (I'm still learning, but the more experienced here will direct you to some of the best there is) Thanks Bryan K This is the link to the tutorial I used if you were interested. http://www.sketchupartists.org/tutorials/sketchup-and-photoshop/soft-colored-pencil-line-technique/ I changed mine up here and there but I still think it done ok.

Good, you now have the image - now just add it to a new material and export as a SKM file as I explained...

A DC will work then - rather like a 'paling-fence' DC but instead of pales it uses Z-pm sections - you could simply have two sorts for the different sizes - input the spacing and they stretch in the length and repeat in the 'height' to maximum c/c. It'd work for Roof OR wall...

@unknownuser said: Gaieus you were right because they all show the 3D option now.... Did it just take a day to finalize or something?

Giving up for a while, nothing I've tried so far has done anything. The only way I can do it is to look more down at the model. It's very aggravating for me right now!

I think there is no API method to set any image file as thumbnail. Jim has a script that uses standard Ruby to extract a thumbnail, so it could be doable to write a script for replacing the thumbnail in the skp file, but manipulating binary files is a bit risky and errors could lead to corrupted skp files.

Sorry for not getting back sooner but got a little side tracked. Although there are a lot of helpful tips and tricks from everyone this all is a bit over my head right now but will still strive to do better renders. Thanks Kurt

Hi David, I know it's not much money and a midi wouldn't take up a lot of space but then there's all the tuning stock and the tools. My dream is to someday have a lathe big enough to use as a spar lathe. My shop isn't long enough for that at the moment.