What game? Looks like it's for Counterstrike or something.

"If you increase the fremtion to 12 or so the THV will auto-adjust the kull weight of the spline. And cut your render time to half of that of what YEQ took."

There! Now you know how I felt while I was trying to read all that.
I'm sure it will slowly start to make sense to me though.

Thanks so much for posting the comparison shots. As someone who's just trying to get into rendering it's helpful to see the differences and hear (even approximately) the differences in render times.

@unknownuser said:

Send me the biggest picture you have. I will correct them for you and send them back with comments on how it was done.

To big for attaching to a PM. Want to PM me your e-mail address?

I keep hearing Nicolas Cage doing his Saturday Night Live skit as "Tiny Elvis"

"Look at that Pavilion! That's fricken huge!"

@unknownuser said:

the tail of the plane seems to be protruding past the back wall or is that my imagination.

It's an illusion due to the shape of the tail.

A little bonus with the buttons is... because you can have them have different functionality in different apps you can kinda sneak in a "3rd button"

The default setup is that the 2nd button launches the preferences panel for the navigator which is very handy for making adjustments while you're using it. As handy as that is, I wanted different functions in Sketchup so I had to "sacrifice" that functionality and switched the number 2 button to go to X-Ray view instead.

BUT if I click on the desktop and have the Finder currently active, pressing the 2nd button still brings up the preferences panel. So it's almost like having a 3rd button.

I don't know what that costs but I'm 90% certain I will be getting one. Wow!

On my PC I have two Nvidia 7900s in SLI. It worked great for SketchUp. Nice and fast. Anti-aliasing could cause problems sometimes (SU's fault) but when it worked it was a thing of beauty. It's the onlt thing I miss about my PC since my current Mac doesn't have ANY 3D acceleration.

@unknownuser said:

Do you find it troublesome moving your hand off the navigator for your hotkeyes? I have my left hand on the keyboard almost the entire time I am drawing in SU.

Well I don't know if you need to look at the keyboard when you're reaching for a key or not but if (like me) you do then imagine that time you spend looking down and moving your hand and finger(s) from one key/spot to another, spent instead moving from the controller to the key/spot.

It's not bad but you do notice it at first. Doesn't take long to get used to though.

The navigator has 2 buttons on it then you can assign to virtually anything. And if you want more buttons you could always spring for one of the higher end models but those seem a bit superfluous to me.

Myself I keep the navigator much closer to the keyboard than the distance between my mouse and keyboard. I actually have it touching the side of my keyboard almost as if it were connected to it. Kinda minimizes the distraction level.

Took me about 30 minutes to get the hang of it. It's super sensitive.

Since no-one believes me...

...your essential SketchUp add-ons.

Let's see your list of what YOU consider to be essential to you in your modeling.
Imagine you just installed SketchUp on a brand new computer.

Feel free to state why it's in your list or what it does. If it is a PC or Mac only item, don't forget to say which.

It can be a ruby script or a companion product like Podium or Kerkythea.

If you have trouble narrowing it down to a Top 5, then go ahead and make a Top 10 list.

This should make for an informative thread. Especially for newbies.

I found some useful stuff on youtube that actually taught me some new stuff. (Which is always good.)

Youtube: SketchUp + CAD videos

The lamps react to the wind but the plant leaves don't?

@unknownuser said:

I may just have to get me a navigator as well

http://www.ogleearth.com/2006/11/3dconnexions_sp.html
http://www.3dconnexion.com/solutions/sketchup.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7QQrr5AGEg

Very nice. That couch looks so un-sketchuplike. Is that a bump mapped texture? (I've never used Kerkythea)

@unknownuser said:

Why did you abandon the textures?...they are the best part of a good model.
Your model job is great though! I would just like to see the textures on it.

I was working from a single photo. When that model is rotated, or zoomed in on, believe me, the textures looked fugly.

@gaieus said:

Ah well, Jason, welcome! As Eric (Boofredlay) said - go to the galleries and just show off...

Ok well I added my first model to the galleries just now.

@unknownuser said:

The GE stuff is still a bit "sensitive" here but believe me; it will be cool as the old pros realise the advantages. Let's just altogether present them all those "unprecedented geographical detailes" we have been promised...

Not sure I followed your meaning there. GE means Google Earth right?

Just a pic of a model I made as practice. It was just an interesting looking building that was down the street from me.
Started with Photomatch but ended up abandoning the textures. It's not quite done yet but it's close enough to post.

Do they drain it when kids poop in it?

@solo said:

Trying to provoke a Mac vs PC debate?

No. I'm just saying that I think it's so bad that it converted a former Mac hater/PC fanboy (me) into the exact opposite. I used Windows for 15+ years and disliked Macs all that time.
Now that's saying something about Windows. I feel like an idiot for not switching sooner. Mind you XP isn't as bad as Vista.