Snell's law will come into play and the result can be a function of the angle of incidence and of course the proprieties of the glass. So if you have two zero thickness faces with the typical SU nothing in between you may not see any thing

Much more than that is going on. If you want to see what is really going on run WireShark, Network Protocol Analyzer. I have not taken the time to track down all the IP addresses SU is communicating with but it will suprise you. One thing I noted it appears ,even though I have check for updates off, it still does ,but does not take any action.

keyon Check your use of the scale tool. As long there is no geometry perpendicular to the scale direction like you would encounter scaling the rail of a frame where the stile width will then change ( one reason for Fredos scale tool stretch function). You can make a cutting plane then use the move tool but then the 2x will become a unique component unless you what all to change. Component scaling does not change the component definition so it is not an edit operation and the others in you model will not change . For a simple 2x the bevel will stay the same unless your scaling across axis? Pay attention to the handels your using.

@pbacot said:

Sorry I don't mean to start some fight. "lacks behind most other nations" sort of got me going. Not meant to be jingoistic. Just seemed unfair (to those people in that control room at the least).

So many from all countries have been working towards these goals, and there have been many failures and accomplishments on all sides. Witness that if USA wants to send astronauts to the ISS these days, they go with the Russians. It's about collaboration now.

P.S. And I should note: USSR Mars 3 was the first successful landing on Mars(1971).

You are correct. Age and memory not what it used to be. We were trying to land Jul 4 76 but mapping of landing site delayed and we missed that date. VL_A presently at 22.46 Degs North, 48.01 degs West, the second VL-B is at 47.86 degs north , 225.77 degs West.
VL-A launch 252:18:32 75 Landed 5:12 AM PDT July 20 76 and VL-B Launched 232:18:39 75 Landed 3:58 PDT Sept 3 76
USSR many times had early faliures

Quick check of your model shows about 2871 cubic inches for the desk top alone . Oak density is in the range 37-56 lbs/cubic foot. You can do the math. ust that part of the desk will be very heavy( 60 => ~100 lbs). I am a big fan of torsion panels. They are strong, cheap, and light weight. I would recommend you consider that in your design.

@tig said:

Two thirds of the Mars missions have ended in disaster, so this one might work... even if only because it has some really 'bonkers engineering' - I still don't fully understand why if you can hover a spacecraft just a few tens of metres above the surface to lower a vehicle by crane... you couldn't just land and then lower it the last few metres onto the surface ? I'm sure there's a good reason
I will be watching...
If 'the Martians' switch this one off just after it lands we shouldn't blame them - it does have an on board nuclear reactor !

In the 70's we had two RTGs. They were tested at terminal velocity earth impacts to make sure possible contamination was avoided.

@pbacot said:

@martink said:

It would be nice if things like this got more sustained coverage in the mainstream media; it might help get the younger generation more interested in math and science, areas in which the USA lacks behind most other nations.

Yep, the USA have been having trouble keeping up with the rest of the countries who have gone to Mars...

Seriously I know what you mean in regards to education, but I think it would take a lot more than that. I am sure teachers hold up these examples all the time.

Is that so. I was on the engineering and flight teams that did very similar in the early 70's. In fact I still have in my possession the first pictures returned from the surface of MARS=> They are not what everyone thinks they are.

A simple approach;

1. Create a small say 24"x24" basic tile;
2. On that face draw the desired profiles. You can use an ARC, Bezier etc
3. Create the face on the surface using the suggestions above, TIGS extrude,ARC tools.
4. Make tha tile a component;
5. Using that component replicate it in a x y grid, circular array etc. or manually. SU has an native array( linear or circular) function you may find useful'
   The attached skp was made with the SU ARC tool and the Soap Skin AND Bubble plugin to create the 1/4 face
   Do not try and use the follow me tool if the profile needs to be adapative to follow the edge.
   Good Luck

3d wall panel.skp

BTW my profile is wrong I have , 7, 8. If you only have 6 SU is not upward comaptible so you may need to post the model and have someone change for you.

SU allows to save as SU 5 so hope you can open the SU file in SU8 If so just save your materials as a collection and the program will create a skm file for you. To open a particular skm file you can change the file extension to zip and open that way. The jpeg is still there and you can edit it if you want.

From your pic it does not look like you have formed an edge between the two objects to have a ref for follow me to follow. Intersect them to get edge ref??

@escapeartist said:

:thumb:

IMHO any of the tools mention rely on a fixed spacing to copy and in almost all cases you will have some boundary value issue wherein the spacing will not result in integer value number of " blocks", so you have have to setup the spacings to solve that problem unlesss that is ok to you?
Can you post( skp) of a small section of one of your problem areas. In one of the post I did some time ago using component stringer and poly line divide worked ok for tank tread but for yours ??

@cheneymax said:

I like the rectangle idea very much...it makes sense. The only problem I can see with it, is that I am using it to tweak every wireframe on the plane (there are about 40) then again, I've got all summer, right? Either way, I found a new method that worked wonders because the other way was the incorrect way of doing it.

While I'm here, does anyone know of a plugin that will fill in between a to arcs to create triangular planes? Following is an example of what I am currently doing (the slow way) with the line tool...

-Max

If you wnat a really good closed form solution, Post the model; post the model, post the model,etc. If you cannot not then at least the model of the problem area

Seven Stages of a Project;
Wild Enthusiasm;
Well Take It Form Here;
Total Confusion;
Disillusionment;
The Search For The Guilty;
Punishment Of The Innocent;
Promotion Of The Non-PArticipants

Dropout covered all but here are some other thoughts for you:
Consider making the face frame with pocket screws then you do no have to have a mortise set up;
I would be a little concerned about racking and maybe consider a top rabbit for some say 1/8" plywood and the you have much more surface area to bond the top too. You can do that on the bottom also;
If you make a base then consider a toe kick. You must secure to floor with the top load you will have. If you have children they will prrobably climb on it?? I have not looked up the guide line for that( toe kick) however;
I do not think you need the shelf supports so wide slim then down. If push comes to shove you can always build shelf as a torsion panel and they will resist bending much better and it is easy to do. There are rules for load vs support distance , material type and design bending. Do some search.
BTW watch nominal thickness vs what you actually buy.

8GB RAM or 4 more. If may gusee is correct your SKU version of w7 64 bit will not address 12GB total. Ask your tech guy.
Make sure you readthe links I posted above. The W64 memory management is different vs what you are use to and you may what to change some of the BIOS settings. Again ask your tech. guy.

1. "previously i reset my pc and of course installed sketchup.' This appears to be the failure point?
   Have you tried removing the clean-up plugin and see if rest load?
   Can you regress to a restore point before 1 above?
   Have you tried making a new template and reloading?
   If you use the native plugins installed with SU8 M3 does loading work ok?
   Just some wild TS thoughts:)

So the problem is w64 bit the best you know. Did the tech guy ask you what the sku version of w64 you have. Microsoft limits the amount of RAM based on that. See this link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx. I assume you have home basic so you can install an additional 4GB. Photo shop should not be running. If it is you should see that in the task manager processes and can stop it??

I can not give you a back and white answer of CPU vs graphics card. Maybe someone can. They are both in the pipe line for rendering although the graphics card is the usually main contributor to slowness. However, floks have made complex models with primitive geo that will also cause the CPU to become very slow For Su 7 or maybe 8( can't remember which now) Google made a change to go to the wireframe rendering during orbit to help keep speed up. Have you tried to turn hardware accel. off and see what performance is. It should get slower because the job now is handled by the CPU. Save a copy of one of the problem files, remove all material and see if you then have the same problem. Windows 7 64 bit requires 64 bit drivers so check to make sure you have the latest ones.

Can you take a screen shot of you task manager and post here.
If you run dxdiag then you can run some test to check graphics ( not opengl but direct draw) and if fried then I would think that would fail.
See these links for some other thoughts http://www.tomstricks.com/how-to-test-your-ram-or-memory-with-windows-memory-diagnostic-tool-in-windows-7/ and http://www.thenetworkadministrator.net/index.php/2010/02/64-bit-version-of-windows-7-the-usable-memory-is-less-than-the-installed-memory/
When you state you PC was running hot do you have specific numbers. Many solid state parts are rated at 200 deg c max junction temp, but there is a thermal resistance from there to case to board to box( which inhibits the heat transfeer to the PC base, edge connectors etc.) etc. and the supplier of ,say your mother board, will the spec the allowed temp .Usually excessive high temps( unless really high) will not cause catastrophic failure but degradation in performance. I would think the test run at boot would catch a fried CPU but may not. Check the CPU+ mother board specs.
Good luck

Sorry, but I get very skeptical when someone states they have the same system for that period of time.
As part of the boot process there are system checks made and a look at the log files could give a clue about possible problems. It sounds like you are running low on system resources. I note you state you can dual boot with XP or W 64. Does this happen with both OSs? Have you look at the task manager and the processes running? You can end many of those ( non system type) and see if the performance improves. They will come back when you re-boot however. Can you restore your system to a point before the problem started? Your tech person should look at the task manager and also the performance monitors in the admin tool box. There are numerous plots one can make to understand what is going on.
Don't let the "hot" issue lead you down the wrong path? Have you run an anti virus scan lately?? For your W64 check the BIOS settings. There may be some possible options on memory re-mapping and how the OS uses memory? Your tech person should have a number of system utilities he can run to look for memory laeks, virus etc. Discuss with them what they plan. You should not have to " lead' the effort except for a good explanation of problem, when, how etc. and changes you have made.