Happy Birthday Mike --- Have a great day!

Nice new look. I will tour through to check it all out.

TIG - zeroing the registry entry brought the preference back - Thank you

(also the ruby console is now working)

and thank you DaveR - I think what TIG wrote was what you were getting at.

Charly2008 - thank you for sharing as well. If the preference goes away again, we now know what to do!

Thanks TIG I do switch from one to two monitors on occasion and that off screen issue has caused me a problem with material and component boxes. I will give your suggestiin a try and will post the results

I cannot open the window>preferences box. No dialog box opens and no other functions will work after I select preferences. If I click "escape" everything works again. I have not been able to open the ruby consol either, It is on my tool bar, but stays as a small box and will not list what is going on.

I seem to have no problem creating drawings, but have not tried anything too complex.

Searching on the forum, I did not come up with any example of this issue.

The only thing I have added new is the new Trimble maintenance fix. I have de-selected most of my tool bars to see if there is some conflict but still no preferences.

I just checked a lap top I use for traveling that has Version 8.0.14346 and preferences works.

---Any thoughts on this????

Thanks for the feed back guys.
As soon as I can get my hands on the slate I will give a report. Probably not until October.

Windows 8 is more or less here and will probably be gaining momentum in the near future since they have a very low upgrade cost and it is set up for touch screen use. I have been looking at buying a "Slate 7" by Sumsung to take into the field with me. It is the same size as an Ipad but is a full computer with 4GB ram and 128GB hard drive; much better than luggin' a lap top around. It comes with Window 7 but is set up to transition to V.8. I have checked the Microsoft compatability charts and 8 is okay with most of my software but there are no ratings for Sketchup. I pose two questions to the SketchUcation World: (Apple users of course, may now stand down and laugh heartily)

1. Has anyone tinkered with the preview versions of Windows 8 to see how it works and plays with SketchUp?

2. Has anyone bought or played with the Slate 7?? From my research, so far, it seems to be an expensive but really good little device for people out and about, more so than the Ipad or Ipad clones which run "Aps" but no real programs unless you connect wirelessly to your home computer. It has front and back cameras, but the back camera is only 3MP which I see as a weak point. Otherwise-it seems to be a better fit (for me) than any of the "Pads"

[quote="mra"]Its a very good plugin, but I'm not happy with the subscription. Plugins should be a one off purchase and if there are new features added, bug fixes and many updates then a subscription model would make sense, but to "rent" it out (ie one does not own the plugin under the current system) is a bit funny.

It also only works on one computer at a time, so if you work at home then you can't get the plugin working.

I agree the subscription thing and requiring an internet connection feature is limiting, quite unlike his other plug-ins which are really good. Maybe he will tune up the access feature or at least explain why it needs to be this way. The price is well worth it - returns cost on first use.

I found that you can use on more than one computer, but you need to deactivate on the work computer and re-activate on the home computer. Bit of a pain but makes it sort of portable.

Hope we hear more from Chuck

I think the SCF ads are relevant, tastefull and are not high pressure. I have even responded to some- which I do very seldom in other areas. I really hate the flashing lights and junky stuff peddled in most internet ads.

TIG, thank you for the update

Best wishes for the B.D. - hope it was a great day for you and yours..

The first time I hooked up an external monitor, I had the same trouble, I couldn't drag anything left to right from my lap top to the secondary. Then realized I had my laptop on the left and the secondary on the right, but in the control panel, I didn't notice that I had my secondary monitor on the left side and laptop on the right. Just identify and make sure they are oriented to match the 1--2 on the monitors and the control panel. Sounds elementary but sometimes the best answers to frustrating issues are the most obvious.

@unknownuser said:

I have a model that is too large (48.6Mbs) to upload to the warehouse but others want a copy. Can I use the .skb or .skp file as an info transfer to an on line forum? I have tried but nothing seems to work.

You can upload to one of the free services such as "dropbox" which will give you 2 gigs of memory. Once uploaded to your dropbox folder, you send an e-mail link to whom ever wants the file and they download. I use it all the time for large drawing files and photos.

Richard -- Belated Happy Birthday wishes from middle America!!

Take a look at this:

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=42978&p=382943&hilit=reverse+faces#p382943

Paul, thanks for the update

Very impressive - thank you for posting this.

Thanks Paul- I was just looking for some more windows. These will be a usefull addition to my collection! (the doors too)

Happy Birthday Pete

thanks TIG. I haven't tried it yet but have confidence it will be the answer to one of my SU-wish list items