I am gradually coming to grips with how to do rather complex models. I am finding it better to use many individual components, to keep any problems more localized. Working out how to split the model into which component parts has been a challenge.

I began doing separate components of individual buildings. Then I found it helpful to further differentiate by floor levels of the main building in a scene.

Trouble is, since I "switched horses" in midstream, I have instances of duplication of some parts. I am trying to salvage this model without individual removing faces from one component which are also part of another component -- this would get into issues of occasional misalignment.

I am now trying to render the whole scene with VRay. Where two identical parts, in different compoenents, overlap, both parts are given the same material.

I am sure that this will slow the render process, but I think it may otherwise work fine. Any opinions?

I looked into using a Cleanup plugin, but I don't think this will work unless I explode an merge components.

Hello, all. I have been using Sketchup for some time. I often have a particular problem when I am doing complicated models, and I wonder if this is familiar to anyone. I don't even know what words to use to do a search.

When I divide a face by using lines, so that I can manipulate, push-pull, or delete sections, sometimes I can't select just one section. For example let's say I would have a wall, and divide the wall into a grid 5 rectangles tall and 10 rectangles wide. I could select some of the squares with no problem, but then I might select one square, and instead of being able to choose that square only, the screen will show that a checkerboard arrangement of several squares would get selected. If I use additional lines to separate this checkerboard -- say, a couple of diagonals, I might be able to separate the whole checkerboard into smaller parts, but I can never separate it into individual squares.

I have gone to time-consuming lengths to work around this issue. I would love to be able to save time by solving the dilemma. Any thoughts?