Hi folks.

Once I showed to a client an jpgimage exported from a simple but clean 3D rendering of a piping assembly I did with SketchUp. I asked me if I used Catia to do it.

I told him that I used SketchUp. First he asked me what is SketchUp. I described it to him. Then he told me why I did not used Catia. I told him that for such a simple assembly, I was able to finish it in the same time that it took Catia to open. Finally, he said to me that he was able to get my idea very well and was pleasantly surprised that a free program was able to do that much in such a short time.

Notice that I do not despise Catia. It is a very powerfull piece of software but, IMHO, it is overkill for many simple jobs and also very expensive.

The conclusion is that as long as an idea is efficiently transmitted, the goal is acheived. The software used for that is of no real importance. Personnaly, I always seek efficiency in the tools that I use. Since SketchUp is efficient and inexpensive, I use it.

Just ideas.

Hi folks.

I already answered this kind of question. Click in sequence on the scenes tabs of this SU file for ideas:

Array of holes.skp
Notice that it covers both through holes as well as blind holes.

Bonjour.

Pour ajuster les couleurs du sol et/ou du mur et ou de la transition arrondie, tu peux rendre visible la géométrie cachée.

Ensuite, utilise un clic droit sur une face orientée correctement pour que les autre faces soient retournées, si requis.

Au besoin, fais un clic droit sur une face mal orientée pour ne retourner que celle là.

Il est possible de sélectionner plusieurs faces avec soit une fenêtre de sélection soit en appuyant sur la touche SHIFT pour ajouter des faces à une sélection déjà débutée. ensuite, un clic droit sur n'importe quelle face sélectionnée permettra de les retourner toutes en une seule opération.

Note que j'ai utilisé la segmentation par défaut pour les arcs, soit 12 segments. Il est possible d'augmenter ce nombre pour obtenir un meilleur rendu ou de le diminuer pour alléger le fichier (moins d'arêtes et de facettes). Dans le cas présent, comme cela ne concerna pas des centaines de composants complexes, l'impact est négilgeable.

Salutations.

Bonjour.

Un petit truc:

Pour transformer un composant en groupe ou vice-versa, après avoir explosé le composant ou le groupe, notez que la géométrie est encore sélectionné. Il suffi seulement de faire un clic avec le bouton de droite pour créer un groupe ou un composant à partir de cette sélection. Il n'y a donc pas besoin de resélectionner quoi que ce soit à moins d'avoir cliqué après avoir explosé et donc d'avoir perdu la sélection.

Salutations.

Bonjour.

Voir le fichier SU suivant:

Sol et surface courbe fusionnés.skp

Hi Hellnbak, hi folks.

If Autosave is set for, say ..., 5 minutes interval and you take close to that time to find the last autosaved file, there is a chance that SketchUp will autosave the defective file automatically, overwriting the previous one which might be correct.

Personnaly, I desabled AutoSave a long time ago and got the habit of saving often, sometimes using a different name to save a model on which I did an extensive modification. then, if something goes wrong, I can always recover.

As for your model, assuming that you have no stray geometry far away from the main model, I have the following idea for procedures:

Case 1, you have at least a group or a component in your model.

1 - Menu Edit --> Unhide --> All

2 - Show all layers.

3 - Open the Outliner window.

4 - Right click on any group or component that is in the model. This brings up a contextual menu.

5 - Choose Zoom Extend from this contextual menu. The group or component will be shown filling the model window.

6 - Immediately create a scene to memorize that view. Then you can get back there if you get lost again.

Case 2, you have no group or component in the model.

1 - Menu Edit --> Unhide --> All

2 - Show all layers.

3 - Select all.

4 - Create a group with selection.

5 - Continue from step 3 of previous procedure.

Just ideas.

Bonjour.

@patrick said:

Ben dans ce type d'ouvrage l'eau monte au milieu après fermeture des portes, bateau entre les deux, puis elle descend.
L'eau s'écoule toujours vers le bas , par gravité.

Au final c'est un ascenseur pour descendre... oui, je sais ... ascenseur ...descendre

Patrick

Une écluse est bi-directionnelle, le bateau peut monter aussi.

Il entre dans l'écluse à partir de la partie basse. Les portes sont fermées. Le ou les robinets permettant le transfert d'eau de la partie haute vers la section entre les portes sont ouverts. L'eau va monter entre les portes et le bateau va suivre. Lorsque le niveau entre les portes est le même que celui de la partie haute, les portes sont ouvertes et le bateau sort.

Salutations.

Hi folks.

keep in mind that SketchUp (SU) do not use layers as CAD softwares do.

In SU, layers are used to control the visibility of objects that are assigned to them.

To separate objects use groups or components.

Assign only groups or components to layers but leave their base geometry on Layer 0.

If you do not follow this advice, your model may become a nightmare. Immagine that you have a wall and all its geometry is assigned to the layer named "Wall". Now, you add a floor and you assign its geometry to the layer named "Floor". To which layer do you think will the edge that is common to the wall and the floor will be assigned ?

Of course, if you create the floor last, select all of its geometry and assign it to the "Floor" layer, this edge will be on the "Floor layer". Then, if you hide the "Floor" layer, one edge will be hidden on the wall. Problem !!!

If you multiply the number of layers and objects, your model will soon be very difficult to use if you begin hiding layers.

Just ideas.

Hi webman, hi folks.

Click in sequence on the scenes tabs of this SU file for ideas:

Steps with comments.skp

Hi Luis, hi folks.

This is a really big file that may be pushing your system to its maximum and beyong. Saving such a big file may take more time than the delay you gave to Auto Save. Try disabling Auto Save to avoid waiting for the computer to save for 10 minutes every 5 minutes. You get the idea.

If this doesn't work, try cutting all the geometry from this model and pasting it in another new file. Select All, Copy, Open empty file, Paste and then save. Make sur to show all layers and unhide all geometry to avoid leaving stuff behind.

If this doesn't work, try copying items one at a time from this model to a new SketchUp file, saving each time after adding to the new file, just to be safe. Maybe you can also purge this new file after each addition to get rid of unneeded stuff.

Another possibility is to copy this huge model. Then, in one copy, delete half of it and in the other, delete the other half. You can even envision cutting in more than two parts. Smaller files migth prove easier to purge. Then, when all these parts are clean, assemble them in only one file.

Just ideas.

Hi Zamgiu, hi folks.

What is the format that Autodesk Inventor can open or import ?

If dwgis one of these, you can export a dwgfile from SketchUp but you need the Pro version for that.

I see that you posted twice with the same subject. Once is enough, be patient, a few of the persons answering these kind of posts are now in Bouldfer, Colorado, USA, taking part in the 2012 SketchUp BaseCamp. This means that they cannot be active as much as they usually do.

If you don't mind, I will delete the redundant post.

Best regards and welcome to SketchUcation.

Hi folks.

See this SU file for ideas.

Serie of planes to cut slices of a model.skp

Hi Mike, hi folks.

Two days late, darn. Better late than never.

Happy birthday+2.

Hi John, hi folks.

For this to work you need two things:

1 - That the two face defining your wall are perfectly parallel to each other. If the wall has been created by pulling up a rectangle with the Push/Pulltool, this should not be a problem.

2 - That you stop the pushing action exactly on the opposite wall. If you use an inference from any endpoint or edge or the face itself of this opposite wall, this should not be a problem either.

Remember that you can orbit, pan, zoom, change view, change rendering mode, change scene, etc. even in the midle of any drawing, moving, rotating, scaling, etc. operation.

In short, you can start pusing the rectangle for the opening on one face of the wall and then, while the pushing action is still in progress, orbit so that you are now seeing the opposite face of the wall and then complete the pushing operation using an inference from this face.

Just ideas.

Hi folks.

Sometimes I use a component containing simple cross made with 2 or 3 lines that cross each other by their midpoints. It is easy to get an intersection inference with that.

Why 3 lines ? Because it is nearly alway visible whatever the way I orbit the model.

Why a component ? Because I can use a lot without bloating the file and I can scale them if I need to zoom out so much that the cross is seen as a dot.

I also use a layer to which I assign these markers to control their visibility.

Just ideas.

Hi Chris, hi folks.

The point by which you grab the object to be moved is as important as the point unto which you want to move it.

When hovering the cursor on an endpoint on the leg, wait untill you get an endpointinference. Then, click the mouse left button to grab the leg.

Move the cursor on the point where you want the grabbed endpoint to be juxtaposed, wait for an endpointinference and then click the mouse left button to place the leg.

See attached SU file for illustration.

Precise moving.skp

Hi folks.

Lets pretend that we have a vertical cylinder to scale to a precise diameter or 4.8 millimeters.

This can be done with the Scaletool. However, the exact sequence of cation is critical. Follow these steps exactly as instructed:

1 - Select the object to scale using whatever method suits you.

2 - Select the Scaletool.

3 - Place the cursor on any one of the four scaling handles that are mid heigth on the corners of the scaling box. This will allows you to do a scaling along both the red and green axes at the same time. Dont bother using the SHIFTkey since it will allow only one number to be entered in the Measurement Window, that is a scale factor and not a precise measure in mm or whatever unit you are using.

4 - Press and keep pressed the CTRLkey. The CTRLkey is for uniform scale about the center.

5 - While still pressing on the CTRLkey, click on the handle to start the scaling operation. You will see two numbers in the Measurement Window. These are the scale factors along the red and the green axes. If they are different, the cylinder will be ovalised. Dont worry.

6 - Click to complete the scaling operation. The Measurement Window is still active and ready to accept input.

7 - Type 4.8mm,4.8mmin the Measurement Window. If you use the comma as the decimal separator and the semi-colon as the list separator, type 4,8mm;4,8mm.

8 - Press and release the RETURN key to validate the input. The cylinder shall now be:

 - round
 - of the exact diameter of 4.8 mm
 - centered where it was
 - of the same length as previously.

Just ideas.

Bonjour.

Astuce de sélection.

Voir ce fichier SU:

Astuce de sélection.skp

Hi Gaieus, hi folks.

Thanks and best regards.

Bonjour.

J'avais déjà proposé un fichier en Anglais.

Voir ce fichier SU:

Platonic solids.skp