My check box is tickable, but it does not have an effect even if turned off. I will try turning on and off in other modes, then switching to x-ray.

According to the research I've done, it's not possible to move the origin, at least as far as what SU recognizes as the ground plane, is that correct?

I think this is a bug - it tried searching for it but came up with nothing. When I am in a regular view mode with x-ray turned off, I can cycle between shadows on ground plane or not, no problem. If I go to x-ray mode, however, whether I have the box for ground plane checked or not, shadows are always displayed on the ground plane. anyone else have this issue, know how to work around it? I know I could just move my model up, but I have several saved views that would then be messed up.

Adam, thanks for this plugin. I think it will prove helpful in reducing my file sizes. I do have a question about the output, however. Can you explain to me what the higlighted numbers below mean? You interpreted the below graphic to mean that the plate had 38,000 faces - how did you know that? Did you just open that component and select them? Or do those numbers relate to that?

Thanks.

I also get no results. According to the OP, I should select my object(s), then context click and select "Flattening Script", then select the plane I wish to flatten to. Nothing happens when I do this, however.

@tig said:

PS: the site plan IS located reasonably near to the real origin, isn't it ?
You don't need to locate geometry in the 'real world' - unlike ACAD !
Having geometry zillions of miles away from the origin can cause issues...

Yes, all objects are relatively close to the real origin.

Here is the current status:

-I have a large site model, in which a building composed of three parts sits.

-Each part is a component, created by pasting in place a separate .skp file that has the same real origin.

-All editing of the building is done in the separate.skps.

-When I want to get my building updates into the site file, I Context click on the component and "Reload"

-Updated component comes in thousands of feet away, rotated, and at a different elevation.

This appears to be because upon paste-in-place a new origin is established for that component. Then upon reload it matches the component's real origin with that new origin, instead of the site file's real origin, thus locating it far off.

So far I have discovered a better method. Instead of pasting in place, I go to File>Import and select my .skp file. Then I snap it to the real origin (which match in the two files), and it loads in the correct place. Even after I make changes in the building file and "Reload", it still appears in the same place. Success!

Ok, I reset the axes in my base file, then made all my objects in that file into a component (so I can have different working axes inside it). I discovered that I CAN paste in place correctly (I thought they were not set up that way, but I was mistaken). However, when I change the base file and want to reload, it comes in completely different. How can I establish a good work flow for this?

@baz said:

Hi, sounds like you should be using 'Paste in Place' (ctrl V).
Another method is to make portions of the model 'Components'. Work on a component in another file, then back in base file, right click on outdated component and 'Reload', navigate to updated component and select. Voila!
Baz.

This is essentially what we have been doing. "Paste in Place" will not work because the "place" is not the same relative to world origin. If I paste in place my component shows up way off from where it should be. Therefore I have to move and/or rotate it as necessary to get in place. My problem is that once I've inserted a file as a component (or pasted in place) and positioned it correctly, it should not move upon reload, no matter what changes I make in its base file. However, it occasionally does for no obvious reason to me.

@tig said:

Check that the axes of all of the SKPs in question are all 'reset' to be the world axes.

The problem with resetting the axes is that my working axes (orthogonal to the building) are quite different than world axes (our building is rotated from true north). If I reset axes to world, then it makes it extremely difficult to work in the file.

@tig said:

If you edit that block and move it's contents the block appears to shift within the site_plan...

We do not edit the components once they are imported into the site file - if they need changing we only change them in the base models.

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to Sketchucation - I've been browsing the forum for a while now, but this is my first topic.

I did a search for this issue but didn't come up with anything. My problem concerns imported groups shifting position upon reload. Basically I am working on a large building that sits in a even larger site file. For ease of use (the combined file is too large to work easily in) and to allow multiple people to work at once, we have broken up the building into 3 separate files, which we then import into the site file. I often have the problem upon reload that the group is upside down, thousands of feet away, and/or rotated. Isn't there someway to establish a universal origin so these groups don't move? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Well, the intent is actually to just use this a s a diagram, with no walls. I will need to color the rooms separately, so it is necessary to have faces for each room.

Ok, I tried Add Faces, which didn't work any better the first time, then locked up SU the second time. The only solution I've found so far is to manually do it, as shown in my earlier post. Feel free to mess around with the file though.

test file

Ok, will do in the morning. I'll also look up Add Faces and try that. It's quittin' time for now. Thanks.

Ok, it actually seems to be a problem that I have a lot. When I bring in a large CAD file, for example one that has a long road or sidewalk, which should be a continuous face, SketchUP doesn't recognize it, even when I run Make Faces 1.4. I have to "remind" SU that there should be a face there, by gradually connecting it.

In this example, all I have to do is connect these two points, and then a face is created. Then I can delete the line I just drew, but the face remains. In general, the Make Faces tool works really well, just not on large or complex shapes. Anybody know of another tool that might work better than doing it manually?

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked it with Thom's EdgeTools, and everything is connected. They just won't intersect with the face. When you say projecting them to a plane, it was my understanding that that's what your plugin does. I did figure out that the reason FtP would not work is that I was trying to do it within a group. Once I exploded it, it flattened fine, but still did not intersect (I ended up with what I started with). I also tied the Sandbox>drape, but it doesn't recognize that plane as a mesh. I then drew a rectangle, deleted the face, then made a Sandbox from the remaining edges. That allowed me to drape my plan over it, but still it would not created the individual spaces of the rooms! What else can I try?

TIG, I seem to be having a problem with your script. I have installed it and WorkPlane, but when I select edges and faces and run Plugins>Flatten to Plane nothing happens whatsoever. I have reinstalled both plugins, with the same result.

I am importing a plan, but the lines somehow are not intersecting the plane. I tried selecting and Intersecting with Context, to no avail. I was hoping flattening them to a plane would eliminate the possibility of the lines not being co-planar, but I can't get Flatten to Plane to work. Thoughts?

@jean lemire said:

4 - Use File --> Import to import the model from file B. Place it where the previous model was. You may wait untill this is done before deleting the model from A to keep a positioning point.

i have experienced problems with this method that I could use some help on: I had model A, which my boss saved off a copy of (B) to start creating views for our presentation, while I continued to develop the original file (A). When it came time to merge the two, I deleted all the geometry from B, and then did File>Import>A. However, it did not import in the same location. Is there a way to specify the origin or something?

Aha, yes it worked! Thanks Thom.

I had thought something like that might be the issue, and so I selected everything and applied a uniform material. I even did Reverse Faces to make sure everything was the same. I also used cleanup to set everything to Level 0, but still couldn't get them to merge.

Ok, I sent you a cleaned up version of the file, with reduced geometry (I deleted a lot to reduce file size). Still getting the same problem.

I want to merge these two faces:

But when I select them, then go here:

I get nothing. But if I delete one edge, they become a single face, so you know they are co-planar:

Oops, I must have saved over the model that was having the problems. Sorry.