If you really like black coffee and would like to cut back on sugar, try a little salt. the small amount of salt that will adhere to a dry finger tip will be all you need and give a much fuller coffee experience. They do this in germany quite a lot.

The problem is not the coffee itself, it is the dose of cafeine you take in every day from all sources.

WHile in the military in a unit medical facility I would work 48 hours and more straight and drink up to thirty cups of coffee every day. That level of consumption would wipe me out today. Chocolate is another source of cafeine as is tea, in fact there is more cafeine in tea in the equivalency stakes, it just takes more coffee to make a cup.

I reckon that cafeine tolerence is something affected by our exposure to the subtance and if you over indulge like I did, you will pay the price too. A little of what you fancy does you good.

Hi Steve,
There is a free version of renditioner which is the simplest render program I know of (drag and drop material changes), it still gives great results.

404 - Error: 404

IMSI Design is a leader in high performance, general-purpose 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) and home design desktop software, and a pioneer in mobile solutions for the AEC (Architectural, Engineering, and Construction) industry.

(imsidesign.com)

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help, it may be something to get you on the first step of learning. I know that getting something half decent is a good incentive and this might just be a decent first step.

Something that I can see happening is an extension of the idea that pro might be developed a lot further and free basically left as is with only a few changes. The potential development if they were to go for a 64 bit version would be for that to be the pro version with free left as a 32 bit app. It would enable a few more levels in there with different pricing and as long as something usable comes in at a reasonable price it might be a fair trade. It does depend on the cost benefit ratio.

How long are you expecting folk to remain in that position? Two adults AND ? children? Looking at the posture I would not expect more than a few minutes in the case of one adult. It just looks too small. I think your expectations are too high.

Thanks for the replies folks, I have been pondering this, perhaps it could be an option in some future version of sketchup. I very much appreciate the time taken to reply and there is a fair bit to think about that will make things easier. On it.

Proper craftsmanship in there, my hope is to get a workshop on retirement and build some of the things that interest me, mainly armoured vehicles that never made it to production. Someday perhaps. Thanks for the inspiration.

I find that the create component dialogue box, sometimes has this option ticked when opened, but other times not. Is there a way to have this selection always present?

So what I want to do is ALWAYS have the selection replaced by the component when I create a component in the same way whenever I create a group the selection becomes a group.

Just so I am clear.

Usual standard John, and something of a sight for sore eyes.

"I'm crap at snow!", something I can match you at at least.

Nice, looking forward to seeing more.

The reason I posted this missive is to start a 'conversation' and get folk to put their thoughts on the page. I know nothing is 'perfect' BUT, I have paid for numerous tutorials only to wonder what on earth I paid for, part of the problem is I find the points mentioned above distracting, and it is hard enough to learn something new without that as well. Putting the shoe on the other foot, if someone wants to help another learn something they got through sweat and frustration, surely the goal is for that person to have an easier path to learning.

If enough folk put on the page what they find irritating, difficult or even what they find helps learn better, tutorials will improve generally and we may even be able to set up a voluntary set of standards. I would like to see ALL tutorials on sketchucation scrutinised and assessed, allowing those that do not meet a standard, be improved with advice.

Not an avenging angel, more a 'confised of lichfield' apporach. I am not perfect but I hope those that have contact with me can feel comfortable enough to tell me where I go wrong so I can improve.

I really think we are ONLY strong or efficent if we are ALL on the same page and can help each other. The same goes for learning sketchup and being decent citizens.

I agree that perfection is unrealistic, I am not so why expect it from others? My point is that folk are trying to learn and others are trying to teach. While I was qualified to drive tanks, I was randomly tested to ensure I did not start bad driving habits. cutting corners in a 65 ton vehicle will tend to p155 off other road users and it will NOT polish out.

Video tutorials are something which could be of greater use for learning if they were made a bit better and with reguard to a few simple steps to check them against. The adage of being as fast as the slowest member of the group is not correct here but if more of us could get better results, is that not a worthy goal?

"....getting three email pop ups and a dog bark."

I can raise you there, got a huge screech while coming back from making a cup of tea and sitting down. There had been two cats taking advantage of a warm chair. Could have been really nasty with all those razor blades in one place.

A sample. http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/create-realistic-materials-with-cycles/

Hi Steve,

"Just curious, my experience was not with the US military but with the Australian, New Zealand, Brit's Etc, so I incorrectly made an assumption. But I am curious, In most domestic training environment we do have our weapons in our personal lockers with the breach block held in the armory so we can easily access the weapons for parade,training, cleaning, handling etc.
What state of readiness are your weapons in for these purposes? (breach block deficient)?
I am assuming that this difference is because unlike the US, components to activate such weapons are available trough civilian sources unlike most other advanced Nations. I am not making any particular point here just curious.[/size]"

I am not american, my experience is from the british army as a regular and a volunteer from civvy street for the first gulf outing. No situations existed where uk military personel had weapons in their possesion outside of deployment or specific need like ranges for qualification etc and this has not changed. Even when deployed to the gulf we had our personal weapons removed and held in an armoury, we would only have held them if we were going into imminent contact or an alert was announced.

The same point still applies, too many people have access to weapons of any kind and the escalation of an argument or greivance is too easy. I wonder how many of these killers would have done anything at all if they had to stand up and use their (bloody) fists. In my humble opinion, mass murder is the first point of call for the cowards among us.

Just to prevent folk jumping to conclusions, I am not having a rant, just pointing out why I cannot get on with video tutorials and perhaps helping those who make them improve and possibly become more comfortable/productive.

1. Lots of cursor movements, these attract the attention because as our descent is from hunter gatherers, movement attracts our attention - even on the periphery of our concerntration zone.

2. Hmms and hahs and lots of changing of mind when describing an action, usually with lots of cursor movements. This splits attention from the core subject and reduces the ability to properly take in information.

3. Going off topic, this does the same as the points above and frankly I get so fed up that I end up switching the thing off.

4. The point of the tut video is to enable someone who does not have a particular skill, to learn and become comfortable with it sometimes for a fee, not to enable the ego of the presenter. If you want to get your point across to a novice in a particular method, do it succinctly and preferably with some rehearsal.

5. The best tutorial or lesson will be;-
   Simple with little or no distraction or superfluous cursor movement.
   Verbalisation reduced to that required to get the point across.
   Know the subject, or remove parts of the video where you get commands or build technique wrong, nothing is gained by splitting the viewers attention and loads is lost by saying one thing and then changing your mind.

Like I said, not ment to be a rant, just an observation on many so called video tutorials which are a waste of money as a purchaser and the time taken to produce them.
Thanks for reading, just sotto voce please, I am not SHOUTING.

Mental health is a topic that could be pushed around the barn for a long time with no particular result. The majority of opinions seem to come the the mad book of statistics and we do seem to like our statistics.

The rational for carrying ANY kind of weapon has been torn to shreds on many occasions and STILL folk spout about a need and rights, the rights of the victims get mislaid. I do not know what problems that guy or any of those who use guns to thrash out a difference or supposed injustice have but if we were to get rid of the so called defensive weapons I for one would feel safer. Can it be done though, even with the NRA apparently being willing to agree concessions.

As for weapons on military bases, well that is easy. Most of the time soldiers do not carry weapons, the weapons are stored in the armoury, a very well protected site that would be impossible for the average soldier to break into. As for the block being absent, well that's a new one on me as we used to store weapons complete and ready to go for ranges etc.

As far as folk getting argumentative, well not a problem but I think we all could do with setting an example and cutting it back a notch or two. The debate needs to be a thorough one for proper resolution and I think it will only get hotter. Please think it through when contemplating flaming folk? Ta.

'...and we're all in Hell!'

Actually, no. They get MUCH better tax breaks there.

Really great renders mate, a sense of reality and being there.

Luck of the draw and a good eye more like, nice job.