Hi, thanks that imported fine.

I'm using a Mac too. Should i try saving my CAD drawing as something else?

I have several options to choose from in the CAD software i am using.

Hi,

I am trying to import a cad drawing but SU keeps crashing.

I've stripped everything out of the CAD drawing that is not needed in order to make the file smaller etc, but it just crashed every time i try import it.

I've also converted the DWG to DWF but that crashes too. Has anyone else experienced this, or can anyone recommend anything to try, thanks in advance.

Ok great, thanks.

Hi,

Is it ok to Group groups?

I've just tried it out and it seems to work fine.

How many sub groups can you create.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi, i need to draw a carpark that has 2 levels with 300 spaces on each level (600 in total).

My client (friend) needs to carry out resurfacing work on the carpark, so his work needs to be carried out in phase... and he wants to show this to his client, so his client will see the availability of car parking spaces through the resurfacing works.

My friends wants to mark the available spaces in green and the unavailable spaces (which he'll be working on) in red.

The spaces will need to change colour throughout the phases of the works, and this is ultimately what my friend wants to show his client.

QUESTION

What is the best way to show the colour of the car park spaces through the different phases of the work. I will be using Scene Animation to showcase the phases, but i don't want to have to create a scene each time each of the 600 spaces changes colour. What is the best way to show 10-20 spaces changing colour at the time?

Thanks in advance for your help, it's much appreciated.

Great, thanks... i turned on 'use maximum texture size' in the Open GL preference so now i am able to import a large png image, however i haven't even drawn a line yet and my file is 7mb.

I plan on deleting the imported image plan as soon as i have the base of the model drawn on top if it.

Haha, thanks Dave, much appreciated.

Great, thanks i'll start reading.

Yeah i see what you mean... good example.

I can see the difference but i actually can't tell the difference between the 180 and 96

Hi,

I need to create a large model for a friend (my first official project

The building is 210 meters long and 120 meters wide.

He has given me both CAD and PDF drawings of the building.

I've tried importing the files into the SketchUp and here is what has happend:

• SU crashes as soon as i try import the CAD drawing (Macbook: 1.7ghz with 4GB ram)
• the PDF import is very poor quality when i scale it to size, so it is impossible to trace
• i've tried ourputting the CAD drawing at 300dpi in .jpeg and .png but they also loose quality when i try scale them to size

I read somewhere that SU automatically reduces images to 1024 regardless of the size you import... is this true.

Can anyone recommend a way to get the plan into SU so i can start tracing at the real scale size (210m X 120m)

Thanks in advance for your help

Hi, thanks for the detaled reply, it is much appreciated.

Some of my corners and where other lines meet each other look a little blocky. Is it possible to create full on smooth models, or does the word Sketch mean it is not intended for high fidelity (sorry if this is a stupid question)

Hi,

I've watched over 20 tutorials now and i'm finding SketchUp really really useful.

I have 3 newbie questions which i hope someone can help me with. I thought it would best to post my 3 questions as one post, so thanks in advance if you can answer any of the following questions:

QUESTION 01
Is there a group / component window where by you can see all of your groups and components within your model, so you could choose to hide and unhide each group /component.

QUESTION 02
Is it possible to draw objects beside each other and then stack and snap them on top of each other.

For example, if i wanted to draw a building that had 3 floors, which were supported but steel columns, would it be possible to draw each floor independently as a group beside each other and then when i am finished drawing everything i'd like to be able to stack the groups on top of each other, where they would snap into place.

Is this possible? I'd much rather be able to build various parts of a model independently and then snap them all together in the end.

QUESTION 03

• is there a setting to choose to make your models less jagedy / rough edges… so that your models look more smooth

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi,

What is the best way to start creating / building a model from a flat plan drawing.

For example, my friend has given me a drawing of his house and i'd love to give him back a 3D model of his house.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Wow, great, thank you for all of this information

Hi, i have been using SketchUp for a week now, and i absolutely love it.

I've watched so many tutorials and i am very happy with the progress i have made in 7 days.

However, i'd like to make sure that i am doing things the 'right way', so i'd like to follow some well thought of or highly regarded tutorials for beginners.

There seems to be so many people creating tutorials and a lot of them seem a little old.

Can anyone recommend a good set of tutorials to follow? Thanks in advance for your help.

Cool, thanks for your help.

Hi,

This is my first post so apologies if i am posting this in the wrong section.

I have spent the last two weeks praising and learning how to use SketchUp, it's a great program.

I will mainly be using the program to create animated construction phases, so that i can show clients the different phases of construction via an animation / video.

Does anyone have any good links to some good animated construction phased videos, as i'd like to show various examples to some of my colleagues and friends.

Thanks in advance for your help.