pbacot, I like the squared look to your contours. I usually end up with a lot of triangulation after using sketchup's built in contour creator. Are you using an extension to make your contours look square?

Just discovered that ctrl+shift+V pastes in place. Didn't know that for 3 versions. I've made messes out of contour maps by being millimeters off.

It really is a bummer. I hate showing my boss a model I've obviously put a lot of time into, which works great in every way... until I need to get a ground floor view (through a window, for example).

Fixing the clipping plane is obviously a hard coded fact-of-life. But I wish I could temporarily disable it when standing still...

I'm hoping to add this extension to my toolset, but I'm having some issues (see attached image). It's very strange.

If I open up Sketchup2014 first, then click File > Open and find my model, it works just fine.
If I open the file directly from my windows explorer (locating sketchup\models\model.skp and double clicking it), I get the error shown.
For some reason, opening the file directly causes problems.

I found a way around it, though: if I open up Sketchup2014, then IMPORT my model.skp, it works fine. I can save it as model-2.skp, close sketchhup, then open model-2.skp directly, and it continues to work just fine. Very strange. This is SORT of a workaround, but if I try to open any of my other dozens of sketchup files directly, I get the error message. I've tried deleting the files from my Roaming folder, then reinstalling. No luck. Any advise?

Also as a secondary question, I'll have multiple people using this extension (if I can get it working). We'll be accessing the file from a shared server. If person A adds a Layers Panel group to the model, then saves and quits, can person B open up the model and find that group? Is Layers Panel adding metadata to the model or something?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to achieve, but if you want to view only a part of a model in i.e. a circular shape, then you can do it using a Clipping Masks...

Frederik, that worked perfectly. I guess I missed it while searching Google's tutorial list. Problem was, I was having a heck of a time finding what their definition of a View (or xref-ed inserted window thingy) was (never did find it), so searching was near impossible. I sometimes saw it referenced as the Model, but that's not right. My model is an .skp file, and kept in a seperate folder. What is the typical name of this viewy window thing?

That indeed does not only look like antialiasing problem (which could be easily fixed by using vector or hybrid rendering mode). It must be something in your SU file.

That... that fixed it. I don't understand why. From what I understand, antialiasing is the process by which lines are smoothed out for rendering/display purposes. I had no giant line besecting my model at a weird angle. Even if I had it on an invisible layer, it still wouldn't be visible in layout. I don't understand what this giant antialiased line is created from. Why would sketchup / layout do that?

Thank you for the solutions, they solved everything 100%. I just wish I understood the WHY of it...

Hey guys, long time sketchup user, complete layout newb.

I've been massing out a project in sketchup, but got stuck at the point where I wanted to print out a plan view at the appropriate scale. The alignment of the buildings puts it at a 45 degree angle, so it doesn't fit optimally onto an 11x17 sheet. I've put it into layout, which works great. I can rotate the view, set the appropriate scale, and hit print. Excellent.

Problem is, I get these weird jagged triangles across my image (see pic 2). I'm guessing here, but they seem to correspond to how the page would be split up if it were printed on 8.5x11s. After rotation. Or something.

Second issue is, how do I determine the shape of the view window in layout? A rectangle would be optimal, but what if I wanted, say, a circular view window?

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

I wrote this a few days ago :

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

@arail1 said:

1. Ability to zoom in to detail without clipping plane problems

I find it annoying too, but I believe it's a technical problem, inherent to the OpenGL technology, not SU itself. Plus, if it disappears, we wouldn't be able to zoom through geometry.

Yah, I saw this comment. Honestly, I was hoping there were perhaps some other discussions on this board, using different terminology that I'd missed while searching. Or perhaps there was a weird work-around that would work in this unique situation. I'm.. not feeling too hopeful about it.

In fact, my workaround for now is making a panoramic image, and applying it to a cylinder mass. That should reduce the 1000m model length to something considerably smaller.

Hey guys, I'm working on a project in the mountains. I've made a copy of the file with a bunch of pieces of google maps inserted, so I can figure out the views from the buildings. Problem is, the project bounding box is about a kilometer long. When I try to look out the windows of the house, it gets clipped pretty badly. This forum has had some good tips. I've turned the FOV down from 65 all the way to 10 degrees. It helps a bit, but not to a functional point yet. Are there any fixes to this problem yet? Any sneaky ruby scripts? Or are models with long extents doomed to always have camera clipping issues?

Secondary question - does this belong in the Newbies forum?

Thanks for keeping up with the video suggestion, Pbacot. I ended up going back to it, and was really impressed with the way the guy showed real world applications of the tools (as opposed to a single tool tutorial). I'm not a fan of most sketchup tutorials. This was excellent.

I tried out Instant Roads, and found mixed success.
Now that I'm reading your comment again, Chris, I'm wondering if I could have sped up my process by using your suggestions. Ah, well. Picture linked below, showing my latest challenges. Hopefully you can lend a hand...

http://i.imgur.com/K4J9Y.jpg

As a side note, I officially hate photobucket. Reducing image size automatically? Really?

Nailed it. Thanks Dave. Didn't realize axis worked that way.

Man, this is working so much better now.