Ok, my current system ...
Intel Core 2 Duo
2.7 GHz
4.0 ram
32 bit
Nvidia geforce GTS 250
two monitors

I use it for SU and some light-duty video editing and photoshopping.

Initially I was asking if there's already a sticky or page or post with hardware suggestions. Wouldn't that be a good idea? Of course, it would have to be updated often, but I think many people would use it. A page could list different setups: "Bare Minimum", "Good SketchUpping", "Good SU Plus Others", "Super Ideal"

The time is acoming! I'm thinking about getting a new desktop. I have 4G ram, which is good, but I know I can improve my cpu speed and graphics card lots. So I am wondering if I should get a new computer or improve my 3 year old machine.

Is there anywhere here a description of SU hardware needs? I know that there are suggestions scattered all over, but these get old really fast. Sometimes what's good today was unheard of last month.

      Joel

I am starting a new project and need to use a large cad file (190M), with the extension ".dwg.txt". I tried changing the extension to .dwg but (after an hour of working) SU crashes and gives this error message: "Failed to create dump file (error 183)"

How do I convert .dwg.txt to .skp? Is that a special Autocad extension? Is error 183 because of the extension?

Just finished another movie!! I am in this one, yes me, without animation, talking straight to the camera. Parts are animated with SU.

There's a message here, of course, that a core of peace is right inside each person. I think it's time for a grassroots healthy revolution! Like all the Treasure Inside movies, this video is part of it. "Peace starts in the hearts of every person." Please help by forwarding the link all over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq4FVTiwZRg

This is part of the Treasure Inside series of shorts, all at TreasureInside.net.

Restarting work with SU ... No suggestions out there in SUland?

      Joel

Not Photo Real - That's perfect for SketchUp, and exactly what I've been doing. Did you look at TreasureInside.net? My animations are a combination of 2d and 3d, with 2d jpg images of people inserted into 3d su models of sets and props. This gives a funky animation style that is just right for what I'm doing.

I create a model with scenes, change animation settings to 0 delay on each scene and 1 second between, and export avi. Then I edit the avi with a video editor. (I usually use Corel VideoStudio Pro, cause it is very user friendly.)

Let me know if you have more specific questions or need help.

  Joel

Paul I don't know what you mean by npr style. I've been creating movies for a few years with SU and they are definitely smooth enough for my uses. (TreasureInside.net)

Yes, I think it would be unnecessary to stitch together a zillion stills.

       Joel

Hi All! A few years ago I was SketchUping some pretty challenging projects (for entertainment fields). Not super-advanced but definitely complicated and creative. (My portfolio is JoelM3DM.com)

I love that kind of creative work, but there's something else I love even more - expressing my discovery of peace inside myself. I took a few years off to make some videos (animated shorts that used SU). You can watch them at TreasureInside.net

Now I want to return to SU. There are two things I need and I'm open to any suggestions:

• Get acquainted with SU again. I've been working a little with it the whole time, so I am not totally rusty, and I am not a newbie, but I want to become proficient with it again. I welcome any suggestions for restarting.

• Finding projects and paying work. I've lost my work contacts and I want to make new ones. I'd like to stay with the entertainment, theater, theme park, creative industry. I welcome any leads.

     Joel
  

Ahh, Shaded with Texture is the answer! Silly me. Thank you.

Hmmm, I am getting a greyed out image and no trimming. I have all the files parked in their correct places.

I'm not seeing it work. I select the image, choose Image Trimmer from Tools, but it does not trim off the transparent border pixels.

Thanks. One trick is to cut away all the border from a jpg and turn off transparency. That is what I want to do ... but the problem is cutting out the image from the background. It is possible and I have seen it done. Does anyone know how? - Joel

Easy enough...

Take a look at Mr. Transparent.

Mr. Transparent

If you've seen the animated movies I create with SU (at TreasureInside.net) then you know how I insert png images of the characters into models. I use simple models without styles.

However, when I use styles, some strange things happen. Instead of just the border being transparent, everything turns translucent. All the background details show through the people. So I need to turn off transparency.

However, I would like to use styles and make the edges sketchy ... but I need the faces to stay opaque. I tried cutting away the border, so transparency could remain off, but that's lots of work.

Anyone have advice?

It would be good if it said that. Instead of "Sorry, Charlie, no results", the results page could say "You entered only 3 letters so your search is going to be completely ignored. Sorry, Charlie."

I found my old posts, including the one about SKB icons:

Run Regedit
Find
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes.skb
and delete this entry, this don´t interfere with the .skp thumbs, so if you rename the >.skb to .skp the thumbnail will appear normally.

The problem here is the Forum Search function didn't find what I was looking for. I searched on "SKB" but it found nothing. Am I using it wrong? Or is not working?

I updated my graphics driver. SU is maybe a wee bit faster, but not easy.

No, let me change that. I rechecked Preferences and now I can choose Hardware Acceleration. I checked it and restarted SU. Yes!! Now it works great.

Thank you!

Chris, do you always wear a bowler when you surf??

Hardware acceleration is greyed out.
Max texture gives a warning - I haven't tried.
Fast feedback does not seem to make a difference whether it is checked or not.
Those are the only choices in Preferences>OpenGL.

Thanks Chris! Since I posted, I successfully retrieved my dialog boxes. I did this by going in Display Properties and temporarily reversing my 2 monitors -- "there they are!" -- and moved them onto the other monitor. (I'm on Windows 7.)

However I have another major problem. Since "upgrading" from XP to 7 (those quotes around upgrading have an angry complaint attached), my system will not run SU without molasses-slow response time.