@unknownuser said:

There's a good tut on the-blueprints.com that shiws how to model a train from the views you mention. It's a start!

@solo said:

@unknownuser said:

If you have not the Plug Booltoolsfrom Smustard by Dale Martens aka Whaat shown by Solo above, you must make the same by hand so Right Click/Intersection and some killing murders volumes, facets, segments

Thank you all!

Would one of you kind SCF folks please point me to some instructions on how to model from 2D images? I can't come up with a search term that is unique enough to bring a thread to the fore.

I have a top, side and end views of a 1963 VW Beetle that I want to model. I'm not trying for minute details, rather I'm going for shape and proportions so that I can translate it into a wooden toy model.

So far I've managed to import an image (plan view of the car) and then I'm sort of "now what?" What should I do to ensure that my side and end views register correctly and align with the plan view? I'm still playing with, and struggling with, bezier curves. I've used bezier tools in graphics programs, but SU bezier tools don't have the same behaviour. I have Fredo's bezierspline plugin, and I'm in the process of reading the documentation and practising with that, so I'm not worried about the bezier stuff, it's just a bit of a steep learning curve for the moment.

Anyway, if you could point me at some info on how to create a model from 2D images, I'd be grateful.
Thank you!
Craig.

This is specific to a contest, but the methodology is the same:
http://sketchup.google.com/competitions/modelyourtown/getstarted.html

Thought I would post a few more pictures of my monster truck project. I used a book by Les Neufeld as inspiration and I adapted the plan from there. I created all of the parts in Sketchup in full 3D, and printed 2D views of parts to use as cutting and drilling patterns.
The woods used are:
Cherry for the cab and box of the truck.
Bloodwood for the fenders and tailgate.
Black walnut for the wheels and bush bumper, as well as the axle housings.
Maple dowels for the bars on the bush bumper and the winch, as well as the rear bumper and driveshaft axles, as well as for the wheel axles.
Aspen for the frame on which the truck body sits.

Here's a couple of photos I took to document the process.

Band sawing the tread grooves:
(Don't worry, the saw was turned off!)
[attachment=1:1uyou4mh]<!-- ia1 -->Band%20sawing%20the%20wheel.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:1uyou4mh]

Finished cutting the grooves. View showing the 2D pattern created in SU:
[attachment=0:1uyou4mh]<!-- ia0 -->Finished%20band%20sawing%20-%20shows%20glued-on%20pattern.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1uyou4mh]

@dave r said:

Nice. How are you cutting the grooves? I assume you are doing it prior to gluing the halves? Do you have a method for indexing the wheel as you move to the next cut? How do you register the halves when you glue them together.

Dave,
The way I cut the grooves is with my band saw, but you could use a table saw. I tilt the band saw table to 15° for the cuts. Doing the cuts on a table saw would require a simple jig.

The way I index the location of the cuts is by printing out a 2D view directly from SU. I use a temporary spray adhesive and glue the "pattern" onto the wood. In this instance, I printed out eight copies of the tire for eight pieces of wood. Because I have this consistency, and am not worrying about errors introduced by tracing a design, so the grooves line up really well. I clean up the treads with a small flat hand file and sandpaper. The bevel on the outer edge of the tread is done with my sanding station where I tilt the bed on the vertical disk and simply sand them down. I drill out the holes as needed and then glue the parts together.

As a consumer of ruby-script goodness from all the good people here, I don't want to see ANY plugins posted into a forum. A forum is for discussion, not for distribution. I think that SCF really needs to look at a standalone repository for plugins. I've spoken before about how WordPress.org does this, and I think it's worth considering. Plugin developers get access to the WP repository for free, (they have a GPL-only rule). All previous versions of their work can be archived so that folks who may be on older software versions can still use an earlier plugin. Also, developers get statistics of how many downloads they are getting for each of their plugins.

I know it's a pain to have two setups, the forum and a repository, but in terms of value to both SCF users/members and the ruby developers, it's a worthwhile investment. Just from my short experience into SU, I've found myself that hunting down scripts can be a headache, and I've seen many comments from users as well.

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute my comments.
Craig.

@d12dozr said:

Craig, those are good, now take 10 seconds to run fredo6's Round Corner on them to make them great, just like the photo

I have Fredo's plugins, but haven't quite figured them out yet. I will give it a shot! Thanks for the idea.

If you have access to the woodworkers' forum here @ SCF, you can check out my final model of this tire and a photo of the wooden tires I made using the model as a pattern.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=183&t=24272

I decided to learn SU in order to model things for wooden toys. I'm not a craftsman when it comes to woodworking, but it's mostly a passion to enjoy the process and the beauty of the wood. That I can make something that I enjoy or others enjoy is simply gravy!

A while ago I posted questions in the newbie forum about my tire design and a component issue with the cab of the truck. I thought I would show you all the fruits of my SU labour. My plan is to use SU to design and build all kinds of wooden toys. I also have a WWI airplane in the works, a German Albatros DI to be specific.

Thanks for all of your help.

![Black Walnut - about 3 1/4" in diameter.](/uploads/imported_attachments/tHdu_MonsterTruckWheels.jpg "Black Walnut - about 3 1/4" in diameter.")

I've been on Wave for a while. I think I've had a total of three sets of invitations to hand out. Add me to your contacts if you like: nuclearmoose at googlewave dot com.

See you there!

There is a free application called Toucan which may serve such a purpose as well. In addition to synchronization, it can also encrypt your files. Even better, it's available as a PortableApp.

@tfdesign said:

Hey Nukie, one more thing, I can't recommend Aidan Chopra's tutorials on YouTube more highly, too! Aidan turned me into an 'expert' in only a couple of weeks!

Tom

Thanks for that, Tom. I've bookmarked them and watched a fair number of them. I also came across the Basecamp videos and I think Gaieus was a presenter at one of them I watched. Those videos are indeed an excellent resource.

Thanks, everyone for your tips and help. I'm thinking that what I will do is go through the model that Rich posted and once I understand that, I'll probably be in a position to return to this thread and explain exactly what I did wrong so that others will be able to learn from it.

I truly appreciate the time and effort you folks take to help others.

Tonight was very frustrating. I modeled what I considered to be a simple part of my wooden toy project. I did the elevations in 2D, then push/pulled them and then intersected them and erased all of the excess geometry. Trouble is, I had nothing but problems. I'm assuming it's my lack of experience, but SU seemed to randomly push a face across something but not leave the original face. I never did figure out what I was doing wrong, I simply played around until I got the result I wanted. Another BIG problem I had was with holes through the geometry. I would create the circle I wanted on the face, and push/pull it through, except that at times it didn't create the inner surfaces. When I intersected the elevations, I would sometimes see a faint outline of a circle, but I couldn't push/pull it through from one surface to another. Again, I was probably doing something wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I simply redid it over and over and over until I "accidentally" got it right. A third problem I had was zooming. At times, using the scroll button had no zoom effect at all. I would go from normal zooming in and out only to sit there and scroll with no zoom effect whatsoever. Again, I messed around with changing my POV in the 3D design cube until suddenly the zoom controls started to behave themselves.

I must say, that even though I finished more or less the way I wanted to, it was a most frustrating evening and I even started to doubt myself enough to the point where I thought I was wasting my time using SU.

I've done a lot of reading here at SCF, and received a lot of help. I've watched many, many videos and been to the SU Help forum as well as the SU Sages web site. I thought that I had the basics down, but there's something fundamental that I have missed. I don't know what it is at the moment.

Anyway, I'm attaching a graphic of my truck bumper for your comments and critiques. Thanks, everyone, for your time and patience.

@d12dozr said:

Just hide those lines...Right click > Hide, or Shift+Eraser tool

I knew it had to be that simple! Thank you, d12dozr. BTW, for other newbies like me, in order to hide the lines, I double-clicked on the component to put into into an editable state, then I selected the lines I wanted to be hidden et voilà!

I am modeling a wooden toy truck. I have modeled half of the cab (engine and passenger compartment)successfully. The question I have is this: once I have duplicated the component and mirrored it and brought the two pieces together, I now have a line (edge) along the entire length of where the two components join. If I delete an edge, I delete the component. To simplify the geometry, I deleted the face where the components will merge.

I think I'm missing something simple, but I'm stuck. How do I remove that line without deleting or editing the components?
Thanks for your help.

![Component edges I wish to "delete"](/uploads/imported_attachments/sFGb_MonsterTruckCab01.png "Component edges I wish to "delete"")

I use Google Chrome and get the same problem. My guess is that it's a CSS layout problem.

Merci, Pilou!

It took me a moment to understand why I had to move the faces, but now I see that if they are connected when you push-pull then it constrains itself to the limits of the existing geometry. When they don`t share an edge, they can be extruded all you want, and then, as you said, simply push-pull, intersect model, and erase!
It worked perfectly.

Thanks again!

Hi gang.
I'm working on modeling a monster truck that I will be making as a wooden toy. I have the various profiles set up for the sides, but I'm stuck. I've been trying to push/pull, follow me, etc. and similar to get all of the surfaces to intersect. Would you please have a look at the model and let me know what you think is the best course of action to follow? I've been working at this for nearly two hours now, with varying results. I've put the model back to just basic edges and faces and it should be obvious where I want the various angles.

This model is only the cab of the truck, and is reminiscent of an early 50's Ford. At least that's what I'm trying for!

Wooden Toy Model - Truck Cab