I'm having trouble eliminating the little spotlight refractions from the water - it shoots little blue spots up above and around. Anyone have suggestions as to how to reduce this effect?

Also, the jagginess in the water is undesirable. I could fix it quickly in Photoshop, but it woul dbe nice to be able to render it smoothly. the water surface is physically bumpy. I used K to smooth the surface - could it be helpful to smooth the surface before exporting from SketchUp? (I didn't soften the edges).

ps - thanks to OzKid for the boat. Is it standard professional practice to not use other people's components in your models? Or just to ask permission first? Sorry I'm not familiar with etiquette.

very cool. nice design and presentation. thanks for sharing.

I like the look. How did you achieve the splotchy colored effect?

Gidon, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. A profound holiday indeed. I agree wholeheartedly with the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. As a Christian, I believe it is very important to keep a "short list" with God - we're never going to be perfect in this world, but the sooner you repent and receive forgiveness the sooner you are free from the burden of your sin.

Some thoughts on fasting: In my experience, the power of fasting comes not by the physical feat, but by the constant reminder of why you do it. One could also, for example, fast from media, internet, tv, radio, etc. The idea being that I will sacrifice the comfort that I get from this thing and intentionally turn my focus toward God during this time. Practically speaking, in the midst of a very busy world, simply taking the time I would normally spend eating and instead focusing on God (praying, etc.) can have a profound effect on my day. You're right, Gidon, going without food is not that hard. But if all I've accomplished is to not eat, my fast is pointless.

I became enthralled with this community as I read the enirety of the fourth longest thread on the old forum (246 Replies - Offence as a defensive strategy - a discussion surrounding the events in the middle east (Israel/Palestine) last fall) and then found out about this site through the old forum. Never got around to signing up there as I saw they were "lowering the boom" on that site. I'm "new".

James, I'm curious how you knew it was my birthday. Is there a way to view a listing of members' personal info? ...did you just happen to come across it? ...are you stalking me? Whatever the case (maybe not the latter), it's fun to receive birthday greetings from a friend in another part of our world.

Peace!
Nick

Thanks James. I will be enjoying my traditional birthday beast this evening (basically, a big piece of meat - this year, a beef roast with seasoned potatoes and vegetables... mmm, can I go home now?). It's a relatively new tradition - my loving wife started making it for me last year.

Fascinating... thanks for sharing your stories, Kristoff, Juan, Phil, Jimmy, Tod, and Alan.

Thank you all for stirring my imagination for the things I could do. I fully intend to follow my dreams... no, Eric, I haven't had any about being naked at work...
@unknownuser said:

Follow your dreams, except for that one where you're naked at work.

Thanks for sharing, Edson.

That's cool that you enjoy your work so much. Not everyone gets that. I think I would enjoy the small practice scene. I would like freedom and variety in my work.

Friends,

I am interested to hear what you do and how you got started in your profession.

To answer my own question first, I worked as a Drafstman at a paper mill for a span of five years during college (I studied Mechanical Engineering for 3.5 years, then got a BS degree in English! I'm kind of both left and right brained:) Currently, I am technically an Executive Assistant to a small business owner. I primarily work for his vinyl railing & fence manufacturing company, and occasionally do work for his construction/development company. I got this job a year out of college, after doing campus ministry at the UW and in Sao Paulo, Brazil for 2 months. To more accurately describe my work (it really has nothing to do with executive assistant), I do product development and design in AutoCAD (transitioning more to SketchUp), graphic design and advertising with Photoshop, documentation/instructions/advertising/writing in Publisher, et al. I'm also the on-site IT Administrator, Web designer, resident grammar geek, and enjoy getting my hands dirty in the shop once in a while when my brain needs a break. I've always been a bit of a jack of all trades.

Which brings me to my current inquiry. I would like to do more SketchUp work, but I'm not sure how to get into it professionally. I see some potential opportunities with my boss's construction company (it seems to me the architectural realm is the greatest market for such work). This is a skill I enjoy very much and would like to master (incidentally, addressing the omitted portion of the aforementioned cliche, "...master of none").

Thanks for hearing me out, and I look forward to hearing any thoughts or experience you may have to share on the subject.

Peace,
Nick

Congratulations on bringing life into this world Shaun! How wonderfully exciting

I missed your Jack Handey quote birthday wishes and witty insights. Good to have you back (albeit like an assassin). And it will make transferring your posts easier too.

lata

cool render Roger. I like the blasting color.

since you're asking for ideas:
-blurry tree in foreground is a bit distracting, maybe even more than it would be in focus...
-same with blurry foreground grass - the pattern looks smudged next to the sharp tree trunk.

• and the foreground curb looks a little unrealistic and overblown in contrast to the nicely balanced subject (the building).
  -is the foreground water? if not, it's too reflective. either way it's a bit vague. and at a glance I feel a black hole at bottom left - it's sucking my eyes in!
• I like what you did with the sky. but the bright orange is a bit too paradoxical in a semi-real world context. maybe keep the orange glow, temper the orange flash.

Great work Spence. Congratulations!

Thank you for sharing your trees.

Thanks Gidon. Nice books, yo.

Thanks, that's helpful.

I noticed a series of tools at Smustard
http://www.smustard.com/script/PresentationBundle
http://www.smustard.com/script/PageUtilities
The pagesmoother looks intriguing (along with the others). Does anyone know of animations/videos that have been created using these tools. I'm curious to see the actual effect of the smoothing.

how 'bout that. it's right there. just one little folder away.

thanks Gai

I came across the flightpathtool ruby here: http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/em_cam_page.htm

It seems like a good tool and I'd like to try it out, but it says that it requires linetool.rb and I can't find that anywhere.

Am I missing something here, or is there a better way to achieve the effect?

Thanks in advance to someone who knows more about this than I.

I have imported a complex and large building footprint and would like to make a simple extrusion to represent the building. However, when I try to make a face using the "create face" ruby, it says that the "selected edges do not form a closed loop". I presume that there is a tiny gap somewhere and would like to avoid scouring the whole perimeter to find that gap.

I thought that I had come across a discussion on this forum about a ruby that would "clean up" an imported CAD drawing. I have one called D.B. Tools (Didier's, I presume) that has a "clean selection" function, but this just deletes my whole selection.

Am I not understanding how to use this tool, or am I using the wrong tool?