@stu said:

Thanks Glenn.

I'm trying to cover all options......how about partitioning the hard drive, loading XP and dual booting....with all the Vista problematic apps. on the XP side??

Or how about getting really serious......formating Vista from the very start and loading a legit OEM version of XP Pro....OK, that's spending $200 to get peace of mind

And all you Mac guys had just better keep quiet!
You can call M$ up and buy a downgrade for Vista to XP from them. But I dont know if it is Pro, or Home version of XP or if there is a choice.

I am getting the new card for a few reasons:
1: Mine is starting to have issues
2: I do not believe it can handle widescreen.
3: It doesnt have a DVI output.

Now three wouldnt be a problem, except I am also going to be hooking up my Xbox 360 to the screen. The only way to do that without using some strange backwards method of running through some odd adapters that I dont fully trust to even work, is to use the VGA for my Xbox.
That means the only free port is the DVI, unless I spend almost as much money as the card costs and buy a KVM switch. And considering I only have one computer, keyboard, and mouse, (in this room anyways) I dont see that as being practical.

On the other hand thank you SOOOOOOOO much for the comparison, I have been looking for that for a while now. And looking at the clock speeds on those cards doesnt have me thinking to low of the 6200. I have my 5500 overclocked to about 340 MHZ core clock speed (noticable difference), and I imagine I can go much higher on the 6200. I might be able to hit 400 with it still stable.

Thanks!

I think I am off to install XP pro on my other hard drive that I just found this morning...

Post your model for us to look at. You can upload it to the google warehouse by clicking File > 3D Warehouse > Share Model.

Then you can post a link for us to download it for you. I imagine the face issue would not have anything to do with your lines being off the way you describe.

@gaieus said:

Everything is OK, Masta, this is a community forum where people help each other and not the mods telling who can help...

We just don't really have the time for this at the moment, you see...

I know exactly how much of a hassle it is to move posts. I think I will start on this list of links to all the videos in a day or two if nobody gets to it first. Green friday (black friday according to any other store) is coming up and I have been blessed with 12+ hour shifts, so until next week I dont have much energy to start it.

I just didnt want to start posting all the links and then irritate someone like I have done before. It almost got me in a lot of trouble once.

@gaieus said:

I knew this technique but hadn't seen those videos yet (there's a bunch of really cool ones). I think after this transfer I'll start putting a "help links post" in the newbie forum. These come in really handy.

As for Eric's tutorial - it scrambles up my toolbars, too.

Odd, maybe his computer doesnt play nice with others.

And I was going to post a pile of links with a title of each video and a short description of what is explained, but then I found Aidan Chopra's website and figured if it was all up there and for his book that maybe I shouldnt post links. Could any of you maybe contact him and see if he is ok with it? I know they are on a public site, but being part of his book...

I actually had about half a page started on that post too. If that would be ok I would be more than happy to watch every one of those videos in my spare time and make that post.

@gaieus said:

@unknownuser said:

Hmm, I wonder how you found that video .

Well, everyone learns something new each day...
Agreed, personally if I dont learn something new every day, be it a useless bit of info or something life changing, its a waste of a day.

At least I can say I am not like other people my age who think learning anything is automatically uncool. I cant speak for other countries, but admitting that I enjoy reading to some people gets looks of disgust. Its a shame really.
.
..
...
....Wait, is that the first time I showed you something? Must...not...get...big...ego

Oh and take most of my comments with a grain of salt, its hard to tell using text, but i am a VERY sarcastic person. The problem being that I come off as arrogant pretty much all the time, even though I try not to.
Just a warning I give to everyone since I tend to be unpopular... Had I not done that at work the two new girls said they would probably hate me.
(In short sorry for sounding like a stuck up kid or however I may have come across. Assuming thats what the little roll-eyes guy was for)

Any thoughts on why my computer doesnt agree with your tuts though?

@tobobo said:

Zak,

Can you post your model and we can look at it and make some suggestions

@masta squidge said:

thats the first thing they told me. You might be able to reverse one then click orient faces on it, but sometimes that doesnt work and you have to do each one by hand.

Master Squidge,

(nice name by the way)

On Smustard there is a ruby script that speeds up the face reverse tool.

http://www.smustard.com/script/ReverseFaces

Save the file in your plugins folder
Then when you open SU it'll be in your tools menu.
Well, if he posts his model I might have time to reverse the faces for him. But I imagine all he needs to do is put on a ceiling, then use the method in that video to have himself a nice looking roof in just a few minutes.

Thank you for the link, but what is on there is pretty much either what I have, or far older.
Im not sure about a few of the brands, and I dont know what the conversion rates are, but £1,464.99 for the one video card is out of my budget I'm sure.

So far the best I can find is a Geforce 6200 card. And I already have a 5200, but the way my 5500 performs I sure dont want a downgrade. The search continues I suppose, but at the moment it looks like the 6200 is it.

That does remind me though, I should see what if my second dell here has anything good in it. I never really checked it out except to steal the RAM for the first dell.

@stu said:

Thanks mate,

mmmm it looks like Vista is more deplorable than I imagined.......problems with 2007 Acad, and I've got 2000...looks like I've got fat chance!
A faint hope is that the Vista SP1 is supposed to be due soon..and the presumption that MS must get their core business OS right pretty fast if they are to survive.

Stu
Vista is a considerable pain, and not at all worth it currently. I'm wondering though if I will be able to get REALLY old versions of autocad and stuff to run on XP. Like.... versions made for windows 95.

My grandfather is BADLY in need of a new computer, but unless he can use all his programs that he uses, and has used since he was on 95 (since "upgraded" to 98) he doesnt want anything to do with it.
Now, I can put him together a computer that will make him speechless compared to what he has, but I need to get all his software running on the thing or he wont be happy.
The guy is getting on in his years, but he is a regular genius when it comes to his software. The problem is that he doesnt see any need to get newer versions of the stuff because what he has does everything he needs. Mostly just laying out site plans and such for people.

@gaieus said:

Goggin,

Have a look at this vdeo. It will explain how to do that select all > intersect the model pretty well.

As for Eric's step 6; make very sure that you also accomplish step 5 before. That will tell the follow me tool what path it needs to follow. If you don't preselect the face (or the edges all around), the follow me tool will remain "manual"; you can drag the face all around but that's cumbersome.

Hmm, I wonder how you found that video .
I just hope Zak gets his model figured out. Took me ages to do the same thing without having the video or this forum. And as always a great tutorial that I wish I had before.

The only thing is that whenever I download a tut from you I wind up with every single tool bar all piled up vertically and aligned to the left. With one tool bar per row. I cant figure that one out for the life of me since I have all of the tool bars on by default to begin with, so I cant understand why your tuts (and only yours) mess up the alignment.

Well as a very novice woodworker I would be happy to hear any tips you might have.

And by novice I mean the last time I built anything was about two years ago. But I am hoping to start something one of these days.

@alan wood said:

Hi Gully
The chairs look nice and comfortable and the table would appear to extend. Did you make this yourself?

I'm tempted to ask Coen if the woodworkers on this site could maybe have a shed to play in, and maybe talk about methods of making etc.

Pass on a few tips etc.

Any views on that?
That would be really nice, because I might be soon to start a project, and i am all for any tips or suggestions that may alter my design to make it look better or be more useful.

I have the model and have only sort of started dimensioning out individual pieces in my rather unprofessional way so I know what I need to make.

You can go DVI to VGA just fine, but VGA to DVI requires the use of a VERY expensive converter, in the neighborhood of $200+ because you need to convert it from analog to digital. DVI already has proper pin-outs to convert to VGA, so all you need is the little adapter.
Like I said there are other workarounds that I have heard of that would work with my 360, but I am not certain they actually work. Plus I need a new video card anyways as mine is on its last legs. (Getting slight artifacts now and then, not related to heat)

The card is nice and cheap though, and only needs to last me about 6 months then it will more than likely be used in another computer. If I didnt use SU so much (whether I am good with it or not) I would use the fx5200 that is in my dell. That card has a DVI output... but that thing is terrible even compared to my 5500.

Hi, I just came in to say thanks for the nice script, and thus far I'm able to work it with very few errors.

But I was wondering will you be including an option to auto-smooth the lines as they are made? I know its rather early in the life of your script, but that would be a helpful addition.

Thanks again for the script, its a time saver and works alot better than the from contours tool in alot of cases.

A face is a single... well face.

One single rectangle made up of four lines and the flat part connecting them (the blueish part) is a face.

First thing is first. I did the same thing so I will help you if i can. The faces are all backwards. The front face is the white one. Im not sure what problems that would cause for you, but doing some more advanced things would be a problem. I came in here with a similar question and thats the first thing they told me. You might be able to reverse one then click orient faces on it, but sometimes that doesnt work and you have to do each one by hand.

As far as the roof goes, you can look here for a quick video on how to make a roof fairly easily. It is a bit advanced I guess you could say, but after some trial and error it shouldn't be too hard for you. After all you did get this far on your own right? Just make sure when you do it to select the face THEN select the follow me tool (the video will explain) then click the face.

When you triple click you will probably select the entire model, but dont worry about it.

Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=A6WxE6oO3JU You may have to watch it a few times, but this video sure did help me out a lot.

Be sure to look at all the videos by that user, Aidan Chopra. They are supposed to go with his book, Google Sketchup for Dummies, but you can find them just the same without it. (Ive read the book btw, its very good)

What if you just rotate the whole model like... 10 degrees.
Then the lines wont be so close to one axis or another. And if it HAS to be oriented in that direction, you can just rotate it back the same 10 degrees once finished.

See thats what everyone says... save the money and get a new system. But that wont be until next spring at the earliest, and im almost positive the 5500 wont run 1400x900 resolution. And I refuse to run anything less than native resolution on LCDs, it doesnt look right to me.
It does have two inputs, but the VGA will be used up by my xbox 360 since you cant output through DVI with it unless you use some pain in the rear work around. The card will only cost me like 60 dollars anyway, and then when new PC time rolls around I can put it in my Dell that I just got running for my uncle and his kids. So my question is will it be much better than the 5500, or is there another PCI card that is even better than that?

Also I forgot to mention that the video card I have is starting to crap out on me, so its really either a new card or no computer at all when it goes. The onboard video, along with the onboard ethernet, doesnt work anymore. This computer is reeeaaaaallly old .
I'm actually amazed every time it turns on that it still works, and is still as responsive (almost) as it was when it was new.

The other option would be to use a KVM switch, which costs almost as much as the video card would. That would allow me to connect two VGA sources to one input on my screen, but since the xbox doesnt use a keyboard or mouse I dont really need it.

You know, this isnt a bad hint for any new users, I spent about 2 months doing it in place before I realized that any change you make to any copy of a component changes all of them.

I really dont mean to hijack the thread but here is another image of it after i ran it through my little dell renderbox that I just got working today. Not much for realism, but I really only did it to get the reflections in there. Pretty much all of the materials are out of SU.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c241/MastaSquidge1/Deskrendermerged.png
The little mirror on the wall was just a test to figure out how to make a mirror, and has nothing to do with the model.