@tfdesign said:

@jgb said:

MY desktop.... Where would you suggest???

When I usually say "Rapid Prototyping Machine", my friends think I'm talking about this;

How about burning some of those books? You could dump the 486 PC for starters!

Seriously; what is that? It looks like the intercostal ring for a heavy-lift rocket, but not quite.

I've seen Rapid Proto's and the small ones are usually about the size of a washing machine. The space frame machine in TFDESIGN's photo is new to me. But I don't think it would be suitable to make bits for most of my projects, even if I scaled them down a lot. And, if I could use a RPM for the few smaller projects, the problem becomes one of surface smoothness and fit tolerance for the assemblies.

Also, burning books (or better yet, recycling them) and dumping the 486 board (and others like it) would entail getting to them and/or finding them first. Too much like work for a lazy SOB like me. Besides, I've saved all my old PC boards and cards, even defunct harddrives, for sentimental reasons..... They cost me money.

But honestly, the real reason I saved them is I had long ago planned to make a wall "mural" of them in a chronological order, but there ain't no empty wall in my office now. Ceiling maybe.... now there's an idea.

@mpowell1234567890 said:

I like the Sphere tool and other cubical shapes added to Sketchup 9 free version.

Get the SketchyPhysics Ruby. It has several generic shapes with good detail, even if you don't use its animation capability.

Or, make a few versions of the shapes you want, and put them into your component library to be used as needed.

@gaieus said:

That's a neat place, Joel.

Mine is a bit similar (maybe more cigarette ash piled up everywhere) and I thought my girlfriend / fiancé would be understanding.

But ever since I got married (like two weeks ago), she has been vacuuuming all around.

What gives?

It's called "Bait & switch". Standard with every marriage certificate.

Before; they "love you for what you are".
After; that ain't good enough anymore.

As for my "filing system" its called stacks.
I know exactly which stack anything is in..... I just don't know how deep it is.

I keep everything. No BS here. On the far right, first shelf that you can barely see are boxes of 5inch floppies from my old Radio-Shack TRS-80 (circa 1978). I can't throw them out because I can't reach them, without moving 1/2 my office, and I have no place to put what I need to move out of the way.

And yes, I still have that machine as well. It won't work because the connectors are corroded.
In fact 6 weeks ago, I actually discarded its' old 110baud phone-line modem, that was in my way when I "cleaned up" my other workshop bench when the battle axe bitched about the "mess".

I still have the expanded 1.2mb memory cards from the old IBM PC that replaced it in 1984.
And my old 486 motherboard, and my old complete SCSI computer, also dead.

If the wife reads this, I'm dead.

This issue keeps coming up on a regular basis.

The solution is very simple.

When clipping occurs getting in close, first select a face or line adjacent to what you want to see.

Then, TURN OFF PERSPECTIVE.

The model will zoom away from you. Just find the selected object (as a target) and zoom in on it. Then zoom in as close as you want to your desired object.

Be careful with panning when in very close. Hyperzoom/pan can occur.

When done, turn Perspective back on, but expect the model to change its view point as well.

@tfdesign said:

@jgb said:

I thought about that, but I have no room in my basement for one.

It sits on your desktop.

MY desktop.... Where would you suggest???

@krisidious said:

there are a few "cures" I use

2. reduce the scale of the entire model, I find that large models don't allow you to work on minute details.

3. yell and rant at the clipping gods!!!!

The main problem with #2 is if any edge element becomes much less that about .005 inch (real measurement) it causes the bounded face to destabilize, and it cannot be reformed as a face due to "open loop" syndrome.

I used #5 a lot too, till I discovered the Perspective solution. Now, not so much.

@tfdesign said:

To be honest, I'd rather scale down a model, and get it rapid prototyped. There's nothing like holding an actual model. There's the RepRap, that fabulous replicating RPP designed by a bunch of uber-nerds from Bath University here in the UK. 500UKP only

I thought about that, but I have no room in my basement for one.

While we are on the subject of migrating pluggins to SU8, anybody have any thoughts/experience migrating Version 6 pluggins to SU8?

I am seriously considering the upgrade. Finally......

I can provide a list that I have loaded, and the list of "Can't live without" if you need it.

@unknownuser said:

You don't know? Holding shift while using the scroll allows PC users to engage or disengage 64bit mode. It's to make up for not having transparencies. Are you able to UV Map on macs yet? We can since v3.

I always thought it was the cause of "Hyperzoom" so I never use it anymore.

This used to drive me nuts, till someone (Catamountain as I recall) gave me the solution.

When you get in close and clipping starts, highlight a face or line adjacent to the location you are zeroing in on. (why in a moment)

Then turn OFF Perspective view. (Camera-Perspective)

Your object will zoom way away from you as you have now reversed the clipping to out field.
Then zoom right in on the highlighted elements as a target, and you can get so close as to actually see the screen jitter. Easy on the mouse when in very close, as it will "hyper-pan/zoom" with ease.

When you switch on Perspective, again expect the object to jump away somewhat.

@unknownuser said:

@tig said:

Try EEbyRails or CurviLoft ???

Also, for starters, you might want to extrude the normal arcs the use the scale tool on the surface edges to squish and stretch the arcs.

That's the way I would do it.

A while back I needed to draw a drooped mesh roof between 2 curved joists. Think BigMac Arches or better yet, a saddle. (no time to create a pictorial, sorry)

I setup the 2 curved joists with the arc tool. (Saddle back & front edges) Then I ran a line between the apex points. From the 2 points I drew another arc downwards to the desired bulge. (the seat) That created a segment face.

I highlighted one of the joist 1/2 arcs. Then the followme tool pointed to the curve segment.
That gave me a flat cover on 1/2 the roof arc. I deleted the top flat and the 2 end segments faces, and what is left is 1/2 of a curved mesh roof surface. Just copy the surface and flip it into place to complete the roof. Make the join line soft&smooth.

You can do it in less time than it took to read this.

@tfdesign said:

The main problem I can see with this, is that you won't be able to see any rendering you have done, as everything will look blue and red.

Not really. All works and looks normal in draw or edit mode and glasses off. Then put on the glasses and click for 3D Visualization. Only then will the screen contain red and green lines, unintelligible to someone not wearing glasses.

I agree rendered textures and many colors would be crappola, but this is only to see the object in 3D, especially a complex shape. It is not really meant to be a presentation mode. Probably the 3D Vis should be in black & white for clarity.

@genma saotome said:

There are times where I take a component in a model and rotate it for use in another situation. Because the axis of the component instance also rotates. I have many situations where that's not acceptable, so I have to explode the new instance and make a new component under a new name. It would be far easier if there was a function I could use that reoriented the component axis to the same as the whole model -- the move axis feature is far too cumbersome... I simply want a single click - bang - it's done solution.

Absolutely dead on. In most cases I have to maintain a separate copy of a comp. on a development layer simply to preserve the axis alignment for editing.

==============================
In a similar vein, component scaling should be modified as well. When you copy a scaled comp, say a set of comps that taper, such as a flap linkage component of a wing, big at the root, small at the tip, the scale of the copy is at the original scale. If the intermediate comps scale at 1.78% per object, AND must maintain axis alignment (along a non axis guide line) then it becomes very difficult, as well as growing inaccurate to compound scale the original comp, rather than just applying a common scale factor to each subsequent copy.

If you need a copy at the original scale, then take it from the comp.library, or the original object.

Better yet, if copying a scaled comp, popup a d-box asking for "original scale", "last scale ratio" or "new scale ratio" and be done with it.

Last Scale Ratio would be especially useful where the scaling is different along the 3 axis, ie: not 2x all round, but 2x green, 2.5x red and 1.995X blue.

@gaieus said:

@jgb said:

...Is SU-8 out now?

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=30490

Yeah, all the good stuff (solids particularly) is $$$$$
At least V8-Pro is cheaper than V7-Pro was at introduction.
Still a major chunk of change for what is a retired old farts hobby.
But, I may give V8-Pro some very serious consideration.
I will most likely upload V8-Free for now, as I am truly fed up with V6's shortcomings, most of which are NOT FIXED in V8 still.

SU is a 3D drafting app, but in 2D presentation.
How's about a visual 3D presentation, using anaglyph red/green glasses.

Display only, you may not be able to draw in this mode.

This can be done with any PC monitor and video card. SU needs to be able to have 2 simultaneous camera angles (view ports) set about 3-6+ inches apart. That's the hard part. One camera sees red, the other green. The model is drawn in SU in a normal fashion, then with a mouse click into 3D-Vision mode, the model is viewed in red and green lines by the 2 cameras. Now you can see the model in a "true" 3D wearing the glasses. The pan & zoom functions must still be functional in 3D-Vision mode, or the real effect will be lost.

Note: This was a separate thread and I'm placing it here.
I am also transferring a few replies to it added to this reply below.

Postby tfdesign on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 7:10 am

solo wrote:Easy solution, export model to iClone and covert to 3D.

As seen at Basecamp.

But doesn't that still use that awful 1950's-like red and blue glasses thingie? I really dislike trying to make 3D using that. In my opinion, it's so tacky. And in many ways, although clever, so is the 3D effect, so popular with many new films lately. I went to see Toy Story 3 recently, and because of the print, the film was really dark- I could hardly see it! The technology isn't really here yet, but it is interesting to see the progress that it is making. I'm looking forward to what Unity does with "3D" (if any).

Tom

Postby jgb on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 8:54 am

solo wrote:Easy solution, export model to iClone and covert to 3D.

As seen at Basecamp.

That would take away the ability to draw/edit then immediately review. In fact it would be best if SU could draw IN visual 3D, but that technology may be some distance away yet.

As for using Anaglyph (red/green) glasses, there are other colors that can be used, but yes, they all suffer from the "crappy factor". Probably the best way (and there are several methods) is to use the video interlacing coupled with synchronous glasses, but that is a hardware solution. I suggested a relatively simple software solution.

There is also a new technology that is being introduced for consumer TV that needs no eye ware at all. It remains to be seen (no pun intended) how well this will actually work. I suspect it uses a linear lensatic filter overlay so each eye sees a separate view. I've seen that before and it does not work well at longer viewing distances of over a few feet. Maybe ideal for monitors, iffy for home theaters.

@bmike said:

You can nest layers?

Or are you nesting groups / components that have other groups / components within them on separate layers?

You cannot truly nest layers in SU, unless you use a plugin layer manager. I have but don't use a plugin manager as it is not tied into SU's layer manager, forcing me to maintain separate lists.

So, I number all my layers to maintain hierarchical order.
Ie: 1.00, 1.10, 1.15, 2.0.........

And yes, I nest groups/comps and assign each to specific layers within the layer hierarchy.
As long as all raw geometry is always on layer 0, I can control the visibility with some finesse.

@tfdesign said:

My wish for 9 is that the mouse zooming is just as effective over blank space as it is over a space that contains vector information (solid). It drives me crazy sometimes trying to zoom like mad, and just not to get very far.

Anyone else suffer from this? (Or has TIG made a plugin to remedy the situation?)

I've been bitching about this for 3 years now and nary a step has been taken in V7, V8 and probably in V15 to correct it. This hyperzoom drives me nuts when I am in close and working on lines rather than faces. It ain't easy to keep the cursor on a line while wheeling in or out or panning. Then it's "To the moon, Alice!" and the air around me turns blue.

There is an easy fix to the zoom s/w module. While panning/zooming ON an object is immediately followed by a pan/zoom OFF the same object but still "nearby"; MAINTAIN THE SAME PAN/ZOOM RATE. The pan/zoom rate hold is released if the cursor is placed over any other object, or is moved some distance away from the held object, or (say) 2 seconds pass between zoom actions.

But the SU devel.team seems far more consumed with new bells and whistles than fixing problems bitched about by solid users.

@tfdesign said:

Oh yes, fix the bl**dy layers management!! Why is it that within a grouped object, several entities can co-exist on different layers all at the same time? This is utterly crazy! I can understand for whole objects, but single little things? It's silly. Perhaps I'm missing something here?

You ARE missing something here. I use the ability to assign multiple objects (groups or comps) to separate layers all within a grouping on a top level. That way I can control the visibility of any one object, or ALL the objects at once by turning on/off any specific layer. As long as all the raw geometry of any object remains on layer 0, this is an effective tool.

For example; my big airplane project has an internal elevator that uses a pair of telescoping control arms rather than rails to get around some immovable structures. In order to see the various positions and fix any interferences, I have a top layer assigned to the overall elevator (see layer list below). That way I can turn on or off the entire elevator as needed. Then I have a sub layer at the top, a few interim layers for transitional positions and a layer at the bottom. Now I can see the elevator descend/ascend at each transition position, comparatively or independently, or in a scene animation.

Layer management......
6.00 Elevator (note: All layers below are within this master group)
6.01___At Top (note: Each transition group contains 1 copy of all the elevators components)
6.02___Trans 1
6.03___Trans 2
:
:
:
6.09___Trans 9
6.10___At Bottom
6.20 Elevator box (note: There are 10 copies of these comps positioned at their respective transition points and within a transition group)
6.30 Control Arms
6.40 Drive Mechanism
etc......

This may seem cumbersome, and at times it really is, but since SU does not have a native animation capability (joint linkage, fine control and positioning) this is the only workable simple solution I can come up with.

@solo said:

Easy solution, export model to iClone and covert to 3D.

As seen at Basecamp.

That would take away the ability to draw/edit then immediately review. In fact it would be best if SU could draw IN visual 3D, but that technology may be some distance away yet.

As for using Anaglyph (red/green) glasses, there are other colors that can be used, but yes, they all suffer from the "crappy factor". Probably the best way (and there are several methods) is to use the video interlacing coupled with synchronous glasses, but that is a hardware solution. I suggested a relatively simple software solution.

There is also a new technology that is being introduced for consumer TV that needs no eye ware at all. It remains to be seen (no pun intended) how well this will actually work. I suspect it uses a linear lensatic filter overlay so each eye sees a separate view. I've seen that before and it does not work well at longer viewing distances of over a few feet. Maybe ideal for monitors, iffy for home theaters.