@maverick83 said:

Is there a smart way to do this domino-like thing?
Thanks!!

in answer to the question; copy along path

Capture.JPG

Also, even if ou upgrade, you can go on with your old projects in SU 6 to make sure there is no problem.

Once its imported, you need to place it in the model by clicking somewhere. Try that and see if it helps.

Chris

Thanks for adding the person, Maverick. That really is going to be a beefy powerplant. I wish we could have plants like that over here in the UK. When I see all the huge expanses of wasted rooftops out there it just saddens me that we don't utilise them and help our environment.

I've only ever used Podium as a renderer so I can't comment on the others like Kerkythea but I've seen its output and they have been impressive. Altho the free version of Podium does have a limit to the resolution size, it isn't an expensive programme to buy and it is incredibly easy to use and learn. In my opinion it is well worth the money.

Antics will probably do the job. As for animating within SU itself, I have posted some ideas in the tutorials section, utilising workarounds with layers and Face Me components.
Such methods are probably nearing their sell-by date.

Maverick,

Without seeing the actual model, it's hard to say why you model is so big. But looking at the pictures I'd guess that you're not using components as much as you could. It looks like there are mostly repetitive features in the model. You should bundle these up into a small number of Components and repeat them.

The second thing is your use of textures. It appears that these textures are highly detailed in the pictures. For optomized SU models textures like these should probably be less than 10 KB. I'd use your photo editor to fix you textures for good tiling, i.e. set a big horizontal overlap and maybe tinker with the image to improve tiling. then import them into SU once and let them tile in the model.

The third idea (and again I can't tell from the pictures) are all the framing/support structures built as elements in SU? A way to cut down on the size of the model; is to set these up in your photo editor as a picture with a transparent background. Then save as a PNG file. In SU just make a face where the structure would be and import the PNG image.

good luck,
Tom

Sorry but your model is full od double-side,uneded faces,maybe there are a easyer way how to made this is mine,or how I would do it.

Video:http://rapidshare.com/files/130332251/making.rar

@ modelhead
Thanks for your support and your tips, i appreciate them a lot. 👍
Bye

@remus said:

Id like to particularly recommend CGtextures, from that list. Its a very comprehensive site, although there is a download limit (unless you fork out some cash, of course.)

Thank you all for those links!
I think that CGtextures is one of the best free textures sites!
Bye

@maverick83 said:

Hi all
Thank you all for helping me.
I don't know... i have done exactly as lewiswadsworth said and actually i got my design imported in SU with only a few mesh lines that i successfully erased, but after that i've tried to import a little more complex item in SU and the result wasn't as good as the previous one...

There are always too many meshes... It will take a hour to get rid of all those lines... 😮
And i've even selected the merge faces option in SU...
Isn't there a way to send all those lines to hell without spending half the day? 😛
Thanks a lot!!

No, curving surfaces in SU will always be composed of multiple polygons, unlike what you see in Rhino or Solidworks (which have different methods of describing geometry). Your best bet is to completely select one of the screws (every part of it) and then Right-Click. In the context menu, choose "Soften/Smooth Edges"; when the window pops up, move the slider until the edges you want hidden are gone.Make sure you check the "Soften Coplanar" box.

They're not really gone, of course; they've been hidden and the face-normal spread between multiple polygons so that the multiple-surfaces look like one surface on your monitor. If you turn on View menu> hidden geometry, you can see and select the smoothed edges and individual polygon faces.

@maverick83 said:

Hi all
The title says it all... I haven't figured out how i can import a 3D solidWorks design in SU... Is it possible? Do I need a third party software to achieve my goal?
Thanks a lot!!

p.s. i can save SolidWorks designs in these file format (i don't mention photograph format like .jpg ecc..):
.prt
.cgr
.xaml
.3dxml
.u3d
.eprt
.stl
.wrl
.vda
.sat
.step
.igs
.x_b
.x_t
.sldftp
.prtdot
.sldprt

Save to an acis file. Open DWGEditor. Import ACIS file. Save as a dwg. Import in Sketchup.

Works great.

Oh thank you!!
What a quick reply! 👍
bye

Oh thanks a lot!
I've done it correctly!
Bye

Ok thanks!
Bye

Oh thanks!
It sounds interesting! I'm gonna have a look at it!
Bye

Oh thanks, you are very kind, everything works! 👍
Bye

Hell yeah!
It does work!
Thanks!! 👍