I'm on Windows XP and it works perfectly in versions 6.0 and 7.0.

The best for me is break edges. For what seems such a minor change saves a lot of time as I didn't realise how often I traced over edges to break them until using the new version.

See this thread but with no real conclusions. http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12349&p=89084&hilit=kenny#p89084

I also get frustrated with it. It's usually on large models printed at A1 or larger. Daniel is right however, Layout will print out ok without the texture issues.

If you do still use Sketchup directly I've found that Adobe Acrobat is the worst culprit. I also use Cute PDF and PDF Creator. They work more often than not. Also in Advanced Preferences print settings try ICM Method: handled by printer, ICM Intent: Graphics, Advanced printing Features: Disabled. I don't really know what these are meant to do but through trial and error have found they work more often.
Kenny

With the current thread on high poly models it got me thinking that if the issue wasn't addressed anytime soon (or even if it was) there may be more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.

Much of my work involves masterplanning. Drawing a basic site plan with buildings even on large sites is still fairly speedy. For me at least, the model only starts to become slow when I add 3d components, particularly landscaping and cars. This is at the stage when I want to share the model with the client and make it look presentable. I've previously toyed with the idea of only taking the model so far within Sketchup and then adding entourage within a third party application. The problem has been that it is an extra potentially time consuming step and that often geometry can become distorted when exporting. Furthermore I prefer to demonstrate the design within Sketchup as it is so user friendly to navigate. Also if changes are made to the model it would have to be reimported and the process started again. I also like the sketchy look achieveable within Sketchup. I previously looked at applications such as NavisWorks as well as rendering solutions such as Vue but they all appeared to have drawbacks.

The question is does anyone work as I've suggested and if so what third party application do you use to finish the model? From my point of view I'd want the following:

1. Seamless and fast export and import into the application with no distortion of geometry or materials
2. The facility to have some kind of Xref so updates in SketchUp would translate automatically into the third party application
3. Fast addition of entourage
4. Fast and easy navigation similar to Sketchup
5. A variety of outputs including similar sketchy appearance achievable within Sketchup

There's been a whole host of new and updated applications released in recent years so I'm hoping there might be something new out there that would achieve the above. Failing that, whether existing applications such as Podium, Indigo or Kerkythea could evolve to do this. I'd be interested in your views.

Kenny

Taff, you may be on to something. It seems to happen with large files with lots of materials widening the chance that one or more will afffect the export. I checked the browser and whilst they have only letters and digits, there are quite a few with spaces and capitals. It happened again today with another file, again with lots of textures. Also what often happens is while the PDF is saving the background and some of the textures change to different textures on the screen. Then when it is saved I get white components. I don't have time to investigate further but will do when I get a minute. In the meantime PDFCreator worked perfectly again so I'll stick with that until I can track down the cause.

Kenny

To answer my own question, I found a solution by using yet another PDF software package. I downloaded PDFCreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator)which was recommended previously on these boards and it worked fine. It's an unusual bug to have in two pieces of software including Adobe which I'd like to think would work perfectly, considering they invented the format!

Kenny

I'm tearing my hair out at the moment trying to print a Sketchup plan to a scaled PDF. Every time I try it, I get most of the components turning out white rather than coloured as they should be (see attached). It happens with both Adobe Acrobat and Cute PDF. I've had this before, but usually one or the other software would work in combination with changing the colour management settings in the 'advanced' menu. I usually find changing it to 'graphics' and colour handled by printer or host system will work.

Has anyone else had this issue? I'm on Windows XP and trying to print to AO at ultra high definition. I've tried draft quality and taken down the resolution in case it was too much for the memory to handle but it still didn't work. I've spent the last 4 hours on it and have a deadline looming. It's a large file and every time I try it, it takes about 10 mins to see the outcome, Very frustrating! Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Kenny

Chris, I probably didn't make it clear. I agree you can't use the eraser without editing the component first, but using the dropdown menu of 'Edit' and 'Delete Guides' will remove all construction lines in a file inside or outside of components.

I find construction lines essential to my workflow, I use them for a number of things such as aligning geometry such as building lines, drag out parallel distances such as kerbs, boundaries etc, and rough out layouts such as parking areas.

Kenny

As Chris states, it sounds like you have construction lines within your component. Edit-Delete Guides will remove them Incidentally you don't have to edit the component whilst doing so, as it acts globally. I think you'll also find that it will solve the multi-select issue. If you try and drag your selection window right to left (which only selects when you cross the entire object)it won't select the component as the construction line carries on infinitely. A left to right selection should work however as it selects anything it crosses including the construction line.

Kenny

When I started out with SketchUp back in V.1, I was always forgetting what layer I was on and ending up with the problems Chris identified. Since then I've ignored layers completely and draw on only one layer, but make extensive use of components and the outliner to hide/unhide geometry. Others may differ but I find it much simpler and haven't yet come across any situation where I miss the use of layers. It's worth considering if layers is confusing anyone.

Kenny

I had the older nVidia 6800 and changed it for an FX3500. There wasn't a huge difference in opening scenes, but I found it to be faster when actually drawing geometry within large files. I thought that was down to the processor, but I did a before and after test and there was a significant difference so the graphics card must have an influence too. I also had a bug that some people have found where the sky turns black when changing viewpoints. The FX3500 cured this.

Kenny

Steve

Pagan has correctly explained what's required as far as I understand your query but possibly I'm missing something. Am I right in saying when you double click a JPEG, you get the message "this does not appear to be a Sketchup model"? A JPEG of course isn't a Sketchup model but for some reason it is treating it as such but not opening it. It may possibly be due to you originally saving the JPEG's in your Sketchup components file.

If you want to open a JPEG however you have to open it with some form of JPEG viewer whether that's the picture and fax viewer, Photoshop, Irfanview etc etc. You have to change your file association to a programme that you want to use. If it's not the picture and fax viewer then something else. Pagan did explain this but for a full explanation go to:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859

Hopefully that should address your problem. If you want to use a JPEG in SketchUp you should import it as an image from within SketchUp. I hope that helps.

Kenny

Rudbeckia, Sketchup is well known to struggle with heavy geometry and I hope Google address that as their number one priority in Version 7. They've had enough people telling them, so I'd like to think it will be addressed!

I've had a look at the model and would make the following observations:

1. Daniel is spot on, you could have modelled the building with components and saved yourself a lot of time and crucially it would speed up performance. Next time, instead of modelling each window/door individually, do it once, make it a component and then copy and paste.

2. Choice of components. This has been correctly highlighted by a number of people. The silver birch is very slow to manipulate. There are other components that actually look better and are much faster. I doubt silver birch would be used as a species anyway on top of a tower block. Also I never use 3d people. They look like robots and can slow down your model. Use the 2d people components.

3. Be disciplined with your modelling/placement. There was some unnecessary hidden geometry present which I deleted. Also some of the 'ske 122' components were placed twice on top of each other.

4. I think you're doing it anyway but purging components/models/layers keeps the model lean.

5. Think about the scale your model will be viewed at. If you are designing a tower block with a roof garden you could have 2 versions of the roof garden. Firstly a simplistic model for distant views with just the bare bones and principally 2d components. You won't need the small detailed 3d components like the inside of the fridge, small plants, rocks etc which won't be seen when viewing it from a distance. Secondly a detailed model for close ups. It may even be the case that all the close ups can be done in a separate file with no need to even show the tower block.

6. Think about using 'proxy' files i.e. instead of putting in detailed trees from the start, put in a single line 'stick' component as a marker. Then when your model is complete you can right click and reload choosing the detailed component required as a replacement.

7. It's also been mentioned, but hide the components that are not required whilst modelling. The outliner can be used to keep track of what is present and visible/invisible. Don't keep it visible all the time however as it can also slow down your model.

Simply deleting the duplicate components, hidden geometry and the 3D person speeded things up. Replacing the silver birch made it much faster. Also it's a personal thing, but when modelling turn off the sky and ground and use a white background. It may speed things up a little and is much less distracting.

Don't give up on SketchUp, you just have to work smarter within its current limitations. Any advantage in file handling you may get with other programmes, will be lost through longer modelling times. For the type of example you're working on Sketchup is unbeatable.

Kenny

Bugsplat here too.

Kenny

Shortcuts. They can really speed things up but I prefer to use icons and menus through force of habit and laziness to learn the shortcuts.

I do use the outliner however. It's great for selecting/hiding/unhiding individual components particularly in larger models where there are lots of components. I also use it in conjunction with entity information where you can then find out the details of each such as the amount. That's useful for example if I've got a target number of houses to meet on a site etc. One tip though, is not to leave the outliner open all the time, as it slows larger models down considerably.

Kenny

Thanks for your patience on this Todd. On closer examination, when I run it, it will join 2 lines together, but only 2 whether I select 2 lines or 200. My steps are as follows:

1. Select all the required lines
2. Go to plug ins and select Close Opens
3. Answer yes or no to saving it (makes no difference)
4. Click Ok

It will then join 2 dashed lines only and that's it. I've also tried it on my laptop with the same result. I've also attached screen captures of the above steps

Kenny

Close Opens Screen capture.zip

Thanks for taking a look Remus. I'll try your suggestions when I get a minute. Thanks also for pointing out the reversed faces. I'm normally quite careful about that, but I forgot that I created the house models in another application (Arcon) which has a tendency to reverse faces after exporting.

By the way I thought that the other application could be the issue but I tried the scene without the houses with the same result. I might try a process of elimination and reneder it without various components until I track down the culprit.

Kenny

Todd, Yes it is part of a larger model but I'm not sure what difference that would make. I've tried running the script on all the dashed lines in the whole model but still no success.

I've attached the model here. One file is my working model, the other is the original survey. You'll see the original survey has the dashed line as a block. Before importing it into my working file I saved it as a 2D DWG to ensure it was flattened. I also deleted the small lines running at right angles between the dashes.

Thanks

Kenny

Dashed line models.zip

Thanks for the reply Remus. I can't actually find 'image 10' in my materials. It's also not just this model but quite a few of the larger files I have that crashes it. Possible it's a component common to them all.

If you want to view the file you can download it from here:

Indigo render test

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

MediaFire (www.mediafire.com)

Kenny

Thanks for the reply Todd. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but when I run CloseOpens only one or two lines join, the majority refuse to join together. I've tried it with and without the option of saving. I also have 'progress bar' installed and it doesn't show either.

Kenny