@measuredmove said:

Not sure if these links are still viable but I don't think a serial number will be needed.

Download Google SketchUp 8.0.4811 for Windows - OldVersion.com

OldVersion.com (www.oldversion.com)

Trimble SketchUp 8 Free Version Download | Sketchup 8 Free Download

Google just launched a new updated version of it's most intuitive 3D modeling software, Sketchup 8. Google sketchup 8 can be download for free.

(www.sketchup4architect.com)

Thanks, MM
I tried these, but only the non-pro version is available without a license number. So, I seem to have two options : use SU8 Pro on my old outdated PC, or use the few free hours in the Trimble version. Or option 3, hope I can stumble upon the install CDs from back in 2010, along with the license number info.

@pixero said:

I found a link here: https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup-pro-8-installer-download/43749

Thanks Pix

I downloaded the SU8 files from the site linked at • SketchUp Pro 8-EN 7.8k f. Windows XP/Vista/7. It installed without problems, and seems to work properly. But my old serial number didn't work for the license. And it asked for an authorization number that I don't have. Apparently Trimble has taken over from Google since I last used SU. Any ideas?

@dave r said:

SU8 is far from the latest version. Since you are using it just for "funsies" now, you could install SketchUp 2017 Make. You'll likely get better performance, problems related to toolbars have been fixed since then, and you'll be able to access and use models and components from the 3D Warehouse.
[/quote]

Thanks Dave. But I have Pro versions of SU 5&6, which would probably be more appropriate for my architectural funsie projects than SU Make. Besides, I'm most familiar with SU8, and some tools are missing in the older versions. I should have the SU8 install files around here somewhere, but so far haven't found them on old PC or CDs.

I've been retired for the last 8 years, and didn't have a need for SketchUp until lately. It's just for funsies -- no money involved.

I have SU version 8.0.4811 on my old computer. Now I want to install it on my new computer. Unfortunately, since I moved from my office to a home office years ago, I can't find a CD or the original installer files. I have CDs for versions 5 & 6, but I'd prefer to use the latest. I doubt that I could simply transfer the program files from Windows XP to Windows 10.

Is there a way to download install files for an old version of SketchUP? I have the serial number.

Thanks for the response. I googled TECLA, but didn't find anything related to sun angles for SketchUp. Can you provide a link?

I'm looking for a tool or script to set the sun angle (shadow setting) interactively. I'm not interested in the Time, Date, or Location. I want to be able to set the sun azimuth and altitude directly for presentation rendering of the model. I don't want photorealistic rendering, just more control over the sun position. I want to arrange the highlights, shades & shadows arbitrarily for the best lighting of the building regardless of the real world situation. I didn't find anything on the Plugin sites, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Off Topic :

FYI, for the benefit of anyone else struggling with a large background model, such as an urban area, here's a tip I learned the hard way.

The urban model in its own separate file was 6MB. After exploding most components in order to change the face material (manually & locally, as it turns out) the file size ballooned up to 11.5MB. When added to my own building model that produced a filesize apparently too large for my system to handle.

So I exported the urban model from SU8 to 3DS format. That step reduced the file size back down to 2.3MB. Unfortunately, it also undid most of my laborious material changes. So, next time I'll export the complex background to 3DS before I attempt to make material changes.

PS---The Global Material Changer script still didn't work on the 3DS file. Instead it caused a lockup & shut-down. Maybe even the reduced total file size is just too big for my system. 4MB of physical memory (plus 256MB of graphics card memory) should be enough for most SU models. But I noticed that my Task Manager showed almost no Virtual Memory in use, even when the CPU was maxed-out. The system Page File is set for Windows to automatically adjust to memory demands. But it doesn't seem to be taking much of the load off the physical memory.

Now that I have exploded almost all components in the Bondi Beach file, and laboriously changed the face colors one-by-one, I have a very large file size. Originally a 6MB file, it is now 12MB. The city blocks are grouped, but not made components. Every time I do anything to components the file locks up. I have used the Polyreduce script several times to reduce the total number of polygons. But I can't tell if it actually does anything. The script doesn't give you a before & after poly count. The SU8 Model Info shows 37, 906 faces. But that doesn't seem to translate into polygons, because as I exploded each of the many sub-components, some of them noted more than that many polys in one component.

Shouldn't SU make it easier to reduce the poly count of complex urban models that might go into Google Earth? I'd appreciate any suggestions, before I import this stripped-down backdrop into my original building model. Thanks.

Well, I finally just gave up on global changes, and started selecting blocks of sub-components within the major component. But this relatively small and simple urban model is like handling nitroglycerin : any slight mis-step and bam! It even locked up on a selection of 231 smaller components such as simple roof faces when I tried to explode them all at once, just to change the color.

I'll eventually get this thing done. But it's a good thing I'm unemployed. Because I could never bill for the spinning wheel time on this minor update from an old 2005 model done in SU5.

My Windows XP system is running on a Pentium 4 dual processor @ 2.8ghz, with 4MB of fast memory, and a Quadro FX graphics card with 256 MB memory. I suppose that SU8 is not set-up to use dual processors or a graphics card.

Thanks for your support in these trying times.

Unfortunately, I am now stuck in a rut. The original file with imported urban backdrop component, "Bondi Beach", has been hanging up since I first tried to use Global Material Changer. So I saved the component to a separate file, and again tried to use GMC, and again it hung up. So I deleted that file and opened a new one, then imported the same model into an empty file. It also hung up. I pasted a couple of the system error comments below.

The Bondi Beach component is perfect for my needs, and I haven't found anything else even close. All I want to do is change the default color. But that was hours ago, and I seem to be getting farther from that simple goal, down a series of branching side paths to nowhere. Has anybody else been there?

I'll try to go back to any earlier file, and start over again. Maybe the GMC will work this time.

Errors :
<< Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC80.DebugCRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.>>

<< Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.DebugCRT could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.>>

I saved the urban model as a separate SKP file. Then I opened it and edited the main component, then selected all sub-components. When I use the Global Material Changer to swap colors, SU8 Pro begins to use about 60% of CPU, and stops responding to further inputs until I shut it down. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks to all for the sage advice. I tried the Global Material Changer script, but it had the same partial effects. So now I'll try the "Save As" trick.

I'll also try the "Purge" materials & components trick. The first urban model I tried left behind hundreds of components & colors, but I couldn't figure out how to delete them, except one . . . at . . . a . . . time. It would be nice if SU had a button right there on the Materials & Components palettes for purging. As a naive novice, I would never have thought to look under Statistics for a Purge command.

SU8 on Windows XP

I have imported a small city model from 3D Warehouse. Since this is a background to my model, I want to change all default white surfaces to gray. The city consists of 1644 components. I selected the whole model, edit component, picked a color, and applied to the model. Only about a third of the surfaces changed. When I selected the 1644 components and applied the color, my computer hung at about 60% CPU usage for a long time, and is still Not Responding. I also tried the Quick Selection tool, but it refused to select all faces on the visible layer. So I'm stuck with some white faces and some gray faces.

There's got to be a way to make global changes to attributes of all edges, surfaces or components of the same kind, or on the same layer. Any suggestions?

Jeff, thanks for the semi-tutorial. I didn't know the Loft and Skin scripts were limited to four sided figures. That little piece of information may make the process much easier next time. Apparently, the Sandbox tool automatically divided the surface into four-sided sections. Which may be why it worked better than the other scripts.

I also wasn't aware that one corner was not connected. Because of the Loft selection glitch noted above, I used the "Weld" script repeatedly to combine all the selected edges into one entity. Apparently it didn't work as I imagined it would, to join all corners.

Anyway, now that I have---more or less successfully---used the Sandbox tool to create a skin, I still have some Artifact Edges to deal with. At certain angles the skin wrinkles display an edge as shown in the first image below. In the second image, the wrinkles seem to be on a single Face, so why does one have an Edge? (the grid on the face is an artifact of the screenshot and image compression)

My question now is, how can I get rid of (or hide) the Artifact Edge? I can see it, but I can't select it.

@unknownuser said:

the problem is that this shape that you're trying to fill has more than 4 sides.. 5+ sides just isn't going to work out (and your shape actually has 7 sides once you examine it a bit further..

probably the best tool for this job (well, the best tool as you have your curves set up right now) is soap skin bubble:
http://www.tensile-structures.de/sb_software.html
[/attachment]

The Tensile-Structure plug-in is one of the scripts I tried. I haven't found any detailed operating instructions for any of them. So my understanding of the theory and limitations is limited. The only video for CurviLoft demonstrated the Loft By Spline method. The Skinning method is the only approach that worked at all.

One thing that may cause the scripts to fail is the Jekyll/Hyde personality of the curved lines. They were drawn as ellipses, and then cut to fit the model. But when I edit the group and select the outline, Entity Info sometimes reports 48 edges, and other times reports one curve. Sometimes CurviLoft would select the whole outline with one click, and other times I had to select each major segment individually. What's up with that?

HD, as you can see in the first image above the skin was applied to a single non-coplanar outline. So all edges should be knife edges. I tried several of the lofting scripts, but only CurviLoft came close to a satisfactory rendering of the compound curved surface. All of the loft or skin plug-ins seem to be unfinished beta versions. So maybe that explains some of the glitches.

After many wasted man-hours, I was about to give-up, when I decided to try the built-in Sandbox tools for the first time. Voila! It produced a reasonable surface the first time. It still has a few wrinkles, but at this point I can't be too fussy.

I didn't know the Sandbox could be used for curved skins. I guess you live, and you learn . . . after much frustration. Anyway, here's an unfinished beta version of the model.

After a lot of fiddling and finagling, I finally got CurviLoft Skinning tool to add a compound curved face to the Loft Outline shown below. I still don't what I did differently, but I'll call it progress.

Now the problem is that CurviLoft bunched up the surface and made an unwanted crease as shown in the Loft Hidden Lines below. The script reported that the selected edges were All Continuous. So I don't know where the crease came from.

In the Remove Crease image, the original object has been mirrored, and should meet at a knife-edge. Instead there is a warped area that I can't account for. Any suggestions for avoiding or removing the crease will be appreciated.

@dave r said:

Is there any chance you could upload the SKP file with the imported DXF?

I gave up on the idea of directly projecting the DXF lines, and instead used the Circle tool to match the curves. Even the SU curves were difficult to work with. After I clipped off the part of an ellipse I wanted, I found that sometimes the Selection tool finds individual edges, and other times it finds the whole curve. What's up with that?

Anyway I'm past the imported curve hurdle, but now I'm having difficulty skinning the curves. The SU drawing file is linked in the Curviloft post dated 12/15/10. The original imported lines are on the None layer.

SketchUp8.0 on Windows XP using Curviloft script

I'm trying to add a compound curve face to edges in the attached file. Three edges are long curves and three are short straight lines. I edit the group and select all edges, then click the Curviloft icon for spline curves. After highlighting all edges and clicking the check mark, SU says "wait" and the dialog at bottom says "all connected". But nothing happens. However, if I draw a new straight line between two corners, a preview surface is drawn.

I'd appreciate any suggestions to get the tool to add a face to the whole perimeter. The outline to be filled is on the Loft layer of the attached SU file.

PS---Does anyone know where I can get some written instructions or a tutorial for Curviloft? I used it once before with no problem, but I still don't know all the requirements and limitations. Ruby Library didn't include or indicate anything except the script. The tutorial on this forum is way above my pay grade.

Surface to be lofted

@honoluludesktop said:

Btw, jhearcht, The segments need only touch, they do not have to be welded together. Did you try to create a face by drawing a diagonal line inside a loop?

HLD, Yes, I tried the diagonal trick, and also an "add face to edges" script. Apparently the curved lines were the problem, and the "Weld
script didn't work on them. So I punted on the DWG outlines, and just traced over them with SU ellipses and edges directly on the face of the box. The box is now taking shape, but now I'm struggling with one more curved line to form the edge of a compound-curved lofted surface.

Gaieus, thanks for the circle segment tip. I knew there had to be a way to adjust them, but the Help file didn't help. As it turns out, the Entity Info dialog box works as I thought it should, but not in the order I was clicking.