Posts made by Mistro11

Thanks a million guys!!! Now back to modeling for me.

This is off topic but I just have to say your name "humpmetwice" made me LOL! I'm new here and your name expresses my feelings every time I discover a new cool plugin. OK back on topic.........

I went through a few tutorials about this tool (move tool) and I still have some trouble manipulating objects along the axes I want it to go. In one tutorial it shows that I have to "feel" around to get the axes then hold shift to constrain it to that axes. I would love it if there was a way to directly select the axes instead of "feeling" my way to it. It's one thing when I'm moving an object with a lot of space around it but it gets difficult for me when the scene begins to get more populated with walls and such. Is there way or plugin that makes this task easier with precision? Thanks in advance.

Ok...as I go deeper into this rabbit hole called SketchUcation as a new user, I am pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of Sketchup thanks in most part by the contributions of the community. Stumbling on the visual and this thread concerning plugins is making my head feel like it's about to explode. I sit here at my monitor feeling almost frozen to choose my first plugin to play with but I will get over it very soon after I finish typing this post of gratitude to all who contribute to this.

To SketchUcation and all plugin contributors....THANK YOU!

@d12dozr said:

1. Use the section tool to "cut" away a portion of the model so you can see inside,
2. When you get your camera to a good view inside the model, save a scene so that you can instantly bring back that view if you get lost.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for that. I also learned that I can use the walk through button (the little foot steps) to get better control.

BTW your signature is spoken like a true artist.

@gaieus said:

Here you go with some Gothic stuff - even if not a whole cathedral - it is actually really easy (use your mouse to look around):
http://gaieus.hu/TheaPanorama/Karmelita.swf

What do you call this sort of interactive presentation and how is it done? I would love to do that.

BTW welcome Whynoess, I'm new too. (can I even say welcome at this point....ain't been hear a week yet)

I pretty much have the outside done and want to start modeling the interior of the building I'm working on. What is the best way to manage the camera view in this case? I tried to zoom into the building but I get lost in the walls and end up zooming out.

Thanks for your replies!

@unknownuser said:

by Rich O'Brien on Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:23 pm
You could use SU's PhotoMatch feature to actually model the church itself then project the photo onto the model. Add your renovation model to it afterwards.

Yes, that's the method I used to begin with.

@unknownuser said:

by ledisnomad on Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:17 pm
If you are familiar with and have access to 3ds, that would be my suggestion. It can now import .skp files and it is a very good workflow. Otherwise, there are a number of threads on the forum about rendering plugins for SketchUp, some of the most mentioned being: Kerkythea, Twilight, Thea, and VRay, to mention only a few.

Would the faces imort into 3ds without the faces having triangles all over them? Nice and clean as it was created in Sketchup?

@Gaieus: Thanks for the details. I finally went through enough tutorials to build enough confidence in my using the app. that I can say it is now part of my creative arsenal and I will be using it for many projects to come.

@Booman: Thanks for the info....I have a lot of reading to do.

I successfully exported the building into Blender via dae. file. All seems to be intact. I know there's a bit of a learning curve in Blender but I seen some impressive results from that program in galleries. I love working with Sketchup and I am officially making it my base starting point for modeling non organic subjects and then use other programs for refining and post production for realistic renderings.

Hello again. I have some experience in rendering 3D scenes in Maya, Bryce and 3dS max but not with Sketchup. I notice this program is different when it comes to rendering a scene. I am working from a photograph of a church building. There is a house connected to the church that they want to turn into another smaller church (that's where the modifications to the attached building comes in).

In my final render, I want to show the modified building with proper lighting and mood to blend with the larger church in the background using the original photograph. It doesn't have to be super perfect but I don't want to present an blatant sketched looking building against the photograph, I want to get as close as I can. I thought of exporting the model into Maya with the photo as a back drop and taking it from there but before I go through that adventure, I just want to know if there is an easier or more "local to Sketchup" way of reaching my goal? I had bad experiences in the past with exporting models from one program to another, but I'm willing to learn. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

@gaieus said:

There is some performance improvement with each new release but there was some incredible improvement with SU 7.1. If that is an issue, I already suggest downloading at least the free version of SU 8.

As for features, there aren't any additional ones in the free version (compared to v. 5 Pro) except that outer shell tool but for the Pro version, if you are planning to use it more for professional work, there have been lots of things added ever since.

One more concern maybe; there are lots of newer plugins that are not backward compatible (and with some new, additional ruby stuff, some are expected to work even only SU 8 in the near future).

Make sure however that you check out the newer version before you consider upgrading your pro license. I see you (also) have XP which may mean that your computer is not the latest generation either. Every new version needs a little bit of newer OpenGL version so an older video card may not perform the best.

And of course, welcome to the forums!

Thank you Gaieus. I find that sometimes upgrading can be overrated. I may not have the latest hardware but my machine is no kitten (I run Flight Simulator X with no problem. Anyone who knows this sim knows it is a cpu and graphics hog) My full specs are:
Intel Core Quad CPU
Q6600 @ 2.40Ghz 2.39Ghz.
3.25Gb of RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT 512mb.
Windows XP pro with SP2

I will not upgrade until I really need to cross that bridge....or have extra money.....whatever comes first. Some upgrades are actually downgrades. So far my video card has not failed me yet.

I think I have it sorted. I selected one floor at a time (the bottom of each room) and did an offset. I then selected the middle sections and Push/pulled them up. I now have thick walls to work with.Thanks.

Is it possible to offset an existing wall? I have the exterior done and I also want to do some work in the interior but I did not offset the walls in the beginning because I used the match new photo method. The building has 2 stories and I want to create interior faces. Is it too late or is there a known method to solve this? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your replies. I downloaded SU 8 yesterday and I'm having a blast with it. What really helped me with the v8 free version over SU 5 is the ability to model from a photograph. It so happens that my current project is from a photo of a church building to be renovated and expanded in the front. The match new photo feature helped tremendously. I'm almost finished with the exterior. I also like the model of a person for scaling purposes. Looks like I'll be using v8 for now. When I can afford it, I will upgrade. In the meantime I will continue to learn more of the basics. Thanks again.

@unknownuser said:

Hi,

Why not download v8 Free. You'll find lots of new features!

Does this mean that the free v8 has more features than retail @Last Software v5? I'm doing a search for comparison info. If anyone have any links it would be appreciated.

I also would like to know if there's a student workbook like this one: http://www.tutorialspdf.com/sketch-up-5-0-tutorial/
This is such a great manual that really helped me a lot. If there's something like this for the newer version I would like to read it.
Thanks again.

Hello everyone. This seems like a great site for sketchup users and I want to thank the creators for this first off. I bought sketchup 5 years ago and never got deep into it. I just recently dusted it off as I was commissioned to do a rendering that is more architectural. What's the difference with version 5 verses the current version of Sketchup? I'm not looking to do anything too serious right now but I am just curious to know if upgrading is essential or if my 5 has more or less than the free download from Google. Thanks in advance.