ThomThom's Edge Tools might do what you need. I think there's another one, too. Ah yes, Fredo6's Curvizard.

Try changing its file-type from .kmz to a .zip Then extract it. Inside the resultant folder there should be a .dae file that can be imported into a SketchUp model... Obviously this workaround removes any geo-location data...

You might want to try going back to the contours before sandbox and hit them with Curvizard. This lets you cleanup and simplify the contours which can reduce the files size enormously, without losing too much detail.

Just came across your post and did a very quick test re: lighting. It can be done in Photoshop. Use the 'diffuse glow' setting and then add a new layer; fill it with a yellow shade and then choose a blending mode of 'overlay' so that it doesn't look too harsh. You can also play around with the opacity of the 'diffuse glow' and yellow layer depending on how much of the details of the original photo you still want visible. Hope this helps. Anita [image: IyF9_TestLighting.jpg]

Thanks! I tried the Inkscape method and it worked like a charm! I will also try the converter option as well to have another way to solve this problem. Thanks again! Matte

@matte said: First I learned, When I saved my SU rendered image in a PNG format….I get JUST got the central object image, The SU background comes in blank! So I exported in all JPEG form and I got the full Image (the one I am posting here.), But my quality level dropped ALOT! So is there a better way to save? Another option I am going to try is to use the higher quality PNG image only version and overlay it in Photoshop on top of the background image. I am guessing, if the back ground is Low res and your SU rendered image is Hi res, it will look “fake”, same in reverse as well. So I think In photo shop (I’m a beginner in as well), if the SL image is on one layer and the background is on another, you can individually raise and lower the contrast, brightness and quality (graininess) separately until they “match” before mixing them together onto one layer? Any advice greatly appreciated, otherwise I will keep you posted of what I learn so maybe it might help someone else down the road. Matte Hi Matte, Welcome to the rendering world! Couple questions: What rendering engine are you using? Some of the answers you seek will change based on what renderer type you're using. I usually render out to .TIFF to keep as much information as possible from the render as long as possible. They're much larger files, but they're also uncompressed and loss-less, so they're usually the file type of choice for me. In Photoshop, you can adjust the brightness and contrast (and many other properties) separately on each layer by using adjustments that are "clipped" to layers. Check it out here: Clipping Adjustments to Layers. The quality, though, as you said, is not something that you will want to adjust dynamically while working in a file. A general workflow is to render, post-process, then save down a separate, down-sampled version for posting or your final product. That's a very simplified version of course, but as a rule of thumb you never want to alter your quality until you're done, lest it introduce artifacts and quality loss issues. Hope that helps! Matt

Thanks Kim, Thats good advise, I'm just trying to help a frend out with an attachement he wants to make. I wish I had the time to model this for him. Like all things...we can model anything..if we just had the time! Thanks, Matte

Yes, that's te one I mentioned below that I found. It works great for the views TIG created. The styles I mentened are mor obscure and not used very much. Thanks for the input. matte

Do you not have the built in plugin bar "walk through"? It does this. Perhaps it's a Pro feature. I thought it was native to the free version though. If you find it. Click the foot print button then select a place you want to stand, it will automatically move you to that position at an eye level that you dictate in the info bar. Under the camera drop down menu at the top of Sketchup you'll find the Field of View tool, type in a field of view and it will reflect that in the window.

From what it looks like from searching the Nvidia website..It looks like the dual GTX 675M is the way to go? if I "understand" the specs well enough? Just not sure if the "gaming" claims have any value in the SU or Shaderlight world?

Thanks TIG, that was exactly what I was looking for. Krisidious, I downloaded the file hope to look at it tonight. Does it grab texture sets from web pages too? Or just from SU models? My posts are probably correct? Life has been a bit chaotic the past 6-7 years, and in survival mode I sometimes am off the internet for almost a year at a time before I get things moving again. But things can only get better from here! Thanks again guys Matte

Thanks Kristoff, I inserted them and got most of the colors, it just left out most of the 3000 series colors. But it worked well enough for the task at hand. Matte

@matte said: "Luckly" for me I have to probably wait another 2-3 months before I can pull this off anyway, ... If you will have to wait 2-3 months you maybe should wait one or two more and buy a Haswell based notebook... i think i would be worth it. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6355/intels-haswell-architecture And add a (good) SSD! It will speed up your whole work.

Thanks Solo and TIG, I will play around with both your suggestions. I know in my head how it will be done, I just needed a visual skin over the form as in the original clay study. And best of all I have a good reason to purchase artisan!!!! Thanks again for all your help. Matte

Hi Matte (and in fact anyone else at the beginning of the learning curve with advanced image editing tools), I found these explanations over CGTextures.com > Tutorials > Photoshop blendmodes explained***** (third from the top) very useful (still go back time to time as I do not use them routinely). This is where I learned multiply, too. *****The site is in a frameset so directly linking to that page will remove the sidebar and the navbar at the top. Here is the full site: http://www.cgtextures.com/

The interaction between SU and BIM applications has always been a mixed bag. In the stone age SU had import plugins for Archicad and Autodesk Architectural Desktop that attempted to translate SU models into the native objects of these applications, with not-that-impressing results. Vertical faces were translated into walls, horizontal into slabs and oblique ones into roofs, and hole-cutting components into doors and windows. Good idea, but the results were usually messy with many redundant objects etc. unless your SU model was very simple, preferably a clean outer shell of a building. Today SU models can be imported into Revit and Archicad either as imported objects or mass models. So SU can be used in a limited way to model things like furniture or other things that do not have to be parameter-driven. Also, I haven't found a way to smooth curved SU surfaces in either application, so in hidden-line 3D views SU-imported curved objects are fairly unusable. The same things apply largely to imported "mass models" too. As SU is a face-modeller, the usual massing tools don't work, but you can apply building elements to SU faces. I am now doing my first full project in Revit. On the whole I feel it is quite a powerful tool, but it works quite differently from traditional CAD. It is almost totally about modelling/managing the building database, and if you look to work in a traditional CAD way you should probably look elsewhere. I always say that my ideal BIM application would be a mixture of Revit and Archicad features, with the SketchUp interface. Anssi

Matte, I hope your fever has come down. Here's a quickie for the process I used to create the gradient. The pros probably know a better way but this works. The table is Christian Becksvoort's classic Shaker table. In this example I am just using exports direct from SU. One is textured with lines turned off and the other is Hidden Line using my Pencil MP1 style. Both images were exported at 3000 pixels wide because I wanted the pencil lines to be thin and light. [image: 5539777800_4e4981f295.jpg] Textured export [image: 5539198313_b92d1441f9.jpg] Hidden Line I used Photoshop Express but I guess the process would be similar in any image editor. I opened both images. In the textured one, I created an additional layer I called Lines and then copied and pasted the hidden line image to that layer. I put the textured layer on top. I could have copied the textured image to a new layer in the hidden line image and eliminated the step of rearranging layers but that's not a big deal. [image: 5539198377_b37d27166a.jpg] Layers Then I selected the Gradient tool and set it to go from transparent to white and made sure Transparency was selected. I used a linear gradient for this but there are other options. [image: 5539219095_2a8a0373f0.jpg] Gradient settings Then it was a simple matter of clicking and dragging to indicate where the gradient would be. The shorter the line, the steeper the gradient--the more quickly the image blends from one to the other. I played with different angles and directions to find something suitable. [image: 5539198559_228559ecaf.jpg] Christian Becksvoort's Shaker Classic textured and in pencil

Thanks Dave, That makes total sence! Now that I think of it a lower Res output would be better anyway as I was going for a rough look anyway. The other test Image you helped me with in the corner bar area has a bit too much "clean line feel" because I made the image large and reduced it, I'll export it much smaller next time for the "real" sketch. Thanks again for your advise a bit of enlightenment is always welcome.

Hi Matte, I have used Allway Sync http://allwaysync.com/ for a few years now and really have never had an issue. The pro version is only 20USD and I feel is well worth the cash!! All you do is map drives on each system, link them via Allway Sync and when you're ready to go home open Allway Sync, analyze the drives you want which shows you which files are newer on which system then hit synchronize and in a few seconds it's done...... Simple as that!