Check the mouse setting in control panel or Setpoint if you have a Logitech.
Make sure that the wheel button is set to MIDDLE BUTTON.

Autodesk adopted a subscription system whereby you pay them ~£300/year/licence (after you've paid them ~£3000 for AutoCAD initially!) and you get yearly updated for life.
The problem is that Autodesk NOW have to bring out a new version very year to justify the user paying the ~£300.
What more can you add to CAD? We're still using 2002/2004 and have no intention of upgrading. So every year they bolt on more and more 'stuff', doesn't matter what the stuff is just as long as there is more of it to justify them charging the subscription.

+1 make it sticky and delete anything other than the examples.

Fantastic post, really makes it clear as to what they do. Thanks.

Moderator Edit: This thread was split from Plugins Visual Index in order to keep that topic neat.

I've just replaced the memory in my MacBook Pro (Late 2008) It came with 2Gb and I replaced the 2x1Gb with 2x2Gb from crucial. ~£57 inc delivery.

If you go to the crucial site - http://www.crucial.com you can pick your locale/make/model etc.

Very nice.
These are exactly the sort of trees I'm looking for. Personally I don't like 'real' trees, cars, people etc. in models as they look completely out of place against the 'unreal' building.
Yours fill the gap between the tree shaped faces I normally use and the above mentioned real ones.

Just an Idea:
How hard would it be to have 2 faces in the face me component, the first would be the trunk (and maybe branches) the second would be the canopy. I imagine that they would only need to be 10mm (~1/2") apart this way I could create a number of variations of the canopy material (Lighter/darker) without affecting the trunk, I could also make the canopy slightly transparent, again without affecting the trunk

I've been away from here for a while as I mentioned in this post:http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16779

So I've got a bit of catching up to do both with replying to your messages and posting some of my own, below you find a number of links to Picasa albums, I'm trying to produce some images (no matter how ropey) each day.

2009-01-30 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090130?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 11 Images
1 Image of a church we’re extending and a bunch of images showing the roof structure of another church (yes that one)

2009-02-02 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090202?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 4 Images
A building we’re converting to a nursing home, this is the existing building, I’m in the process of building the proposed interior.

2009-02-03 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090203?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 6 Images
Old school building in Dublin we’re converting to multi-use (class rooms, offices, bedrooms etc). This model will eventually be finished down to the plug sockets and light switches.

2009-02-04 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090204?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 5 images
The same project as above.

2009-02-06 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090206?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 9 Images
That church! This is the first attempt at a proposed stair to the choir gallery, it had too many problems and was redesigned (see later)

2009-02-09 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090209?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 21 Images
That church again! (This will be a reoccurring theme) Finally got the back of the exterior model started, I’ve also got some photos of the real thing in here.

2009-02-10 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090210?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 16 Images
TCA. More of the external model, the sanctuary this time.

2009-02-11 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090211?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 5 Images
TCA. The exterior is finished! Just the ground to do now.

2009-02-12 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090212?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 14 images
TCA. Ground, railings, walls etc. done.

2009-02-13 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090213?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 19 images
TCA. Back to the stairs, not quite there yet.

2009-02-16 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090216?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 39 images
TCA. Lots of small stuff today, so no real progress to show, so I thought I’d post a bunch of images of the whole model. Those of you that remember the model will notice that I’ve now got the whole interior done, no more massive opening in the model where the front door should be.
This is also the proposed design, you will only have seen the model of the church as is before.

2009-02-17 - [url=http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090217?feat=directlink:km6enn2g]Picasa Link[/url:km6enn2g] - 14 images
TCA. The stair AGAIN! This time its finished (well sort of) The stair lift is most definitely going, I think we’re going to propose a catapult instead.

Below is a link to a 280Mb QTVR of the interior of the church, there are around 50 clickable hotspots within the file, wherever you see a red figure you can click and jump to that POV, also there are ones high up that look like round arrowy things.

Forgive the initial hotspot, its not quite finished yet. I'm planning to add a load of hotsopts of the outside (planning anyway)

You'll be downloading this from my Dropbox so I have no idea how fast it'll download or how many can download it before Dropbox has a hissy fit.

I would recommend that you right-click and 'Save link as' otherwise you browser will almost definitely try and open the file in a new window.

Let me repeat - 280Mb, you've been warned!
[url:km6enn2g]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/373226/1287-QTVR-V2.mov[/url:km6enn2g]

I'm going to try and post something every day, If I haven't done anything! then I'll post some images of older projects.

What he said

As a quick note:
This is how I set about placing trees on a large site, bearing in mind that I'm not actually trying to create a planting plan, I'm just trying to enhance the model.

Take my 5,6,7 unique tree components and scale them to the size I want.

In plan view:

Make 2 or 3 copies and scale each set up or down a metre or so to get some variety in height.

Make 6 or 7 copies of the lot

Select half of them, rotate them through a random angle and place the copies over the top of the other half'

Keep doing the copy/select half/rotate until I have a load of them all jumbled up.

Randomly select trees from the pile and place them over the model in groups of 3 or more, along roads etc etc.

Use Drop.rb to drop them on to the surface.

Select them all and move them down a further 100mm to cover any occurrence of the flat bottomed trunk appearing over sloping ground.

You have a sale Mr Solo!
I assume that they are scaleable like all SU objects, I've found that by scaling some trees in only one direction (Up or Out) I can produce other tree types that look relativly convincing.

I'd buy that for a dollar! (or more)

How do they look low level?
In my images I've got the tree materials semi-transparent so that I can still see the buildings behind, how would your trees look semi-trans?

Hi Solo, Nice trees!

This is link to a Picasa album: http://tinyurl.com/aplypq
The images in here are typically how I use trees.
From our point of view getting a tree specifically right is not that important, just as long as it looks like a tree and looks like it would grow naturally in western europe.

Hope this helps.

I used the CubicPanOut ruby to generate the 6 images from each location
Moved all the images to my Mac
Used Cubic Converter to make the 50odd single QTVR's
Then Cubic Connector to link them (Dam laborious work) and export as 1 QTVR

Cubic Converter: http://www.clickheredesign.com.au/cubicconverter/
Cubic Connector: http://www.clickheredesign.com.au/cubicconnector/

Very nice, I love the sections

Thanks for the comments, its nice to be back.
Did anyone get the QTVR to work?

Here's todays IOTD
2009-02-18 - http://tinyurl.com/bj7o3c
A lot of work but not much to show today, I'm in the process of building and locating all the radiators, sockets, light switches, furniture etc. This is not what we'd normally do but its been 'deemed' necessary on this particular job.

Quick note regarding the colours.
I create materials as I go along, Circulation-Floor, Circulation-Walls, Office-Floor, Office-Walls, Toilet-Floor, Toilet-Walls etc etc. I give them bright contrasting colours so that if I accidentally paint a toilet wall with the office wall material it will stand out like a sore thumb. Its only near the end of the build will I adjust the materials to match the purpose of the model.

I now find myself with both PC's and a Mac, I look after 20ish PC's running XP at work and personally have a Macbook Pro (New Unibody thankyou very much).
I love my Mac, I love the way it looks, the way it works, the way software 'just works' etc etc etc.
But.....

I don't think I'd want them in the office, XP also 'Just works', OK it takes me half a day to get a new machine strip't of the junkware, AutoCAD, AV, Drivers etc installed and it setup to work with our network but after that it 'just works'. I/we get maybe one BSOD across the network about every 2 months and the server (2003) keeps going 24h a day.

It you made me choose then the person in me would choose the Mac and the IT manager in me would choose XP.

I've used Vista and all I can say (in a domestic environment) is mehh, and? but in a server based network environment its an absolute piece of bovine excrement. MS completely changed the way profiles work in Vista and to make them work with Server 2003 involves some hyper complex jumping through hoops on both the workstation and the server side. After 2 days!! of trying to get MS Vista to work with MS server I gave up and came very close to throwing the PC out a window. The PC is still sitting on a shelf doing nothing as you can't even install XP on it!!

Ironically the 1 piece of software that I love on the PC but find annoying on the Mac is our very own Sketchup! I hate the way the materials dialog works on the Mac, I hate it that on the PC the layers toolbar will change the selected object's layer but on the Mac it changes the current working layer. These 2 alone prevent me from doing anything other than displaying models I've previously created.

I think the nearest I can come to a comparison of Mac v PC is, say between a Landrover Discovery (LR3 in the US) and a RangeRover. They both do the same thing, both carry the same number of people, will both climb the same mountain etc. But... if you can justify the price difference you'll get more pleasure from driving/being in the RangeRover.

Thanks Guys, I've missed you (Gush)

I nearly forgot, this is a 280Mb QTVR of the interior of the church, there are around 50 clickable hotspots within the file, wherever you see a red figure you can click and jump to that POV, also there are ones high up that look like round arrowy things.

Forgive the initial hotspot, its not quite finished yet. I'm planning to add a load of hotsopts of the outside (planning anyway)

You'll be downloading this from my Dropbox so I have no idea how fast it'll download or how many can download it before Dropbox has a hissy fit.

I would recommend that you right-click and 'Save link as' otherwise you browser will almost definitely try and open the file in a new window.
Let me repeat - 280Mb, you've been warned!
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/373226/1287-QTVR-V2.mov

Hello peeps, long time no speake.
I’ve not posted here for quite some time, the reasons being varied and mostly rather pointless. Initially it was because I was ill with a batch of my cluster headaches, then it was because I didn’t have anything to post about and then it became weird.
I wanted to post but because I hadn’t for some time I didn’t! The longer I left it, the harder it became to post here, Odd don’t you think? I’m sure there’s a name psychologists give to such situations: ScaredaPostaPhobia sounds good.
I haven’t been avoiding the site completely as I visit regularly to see what’s happening and steal ideas (did I say that out loud?)

Recently I’ve been attempting to produce some images on a daily basis, finished or not.
I waited until I knew I would keep up the process before posting here. I’m very good at starting something only to abandon it having sated my need to have done it in the first place.

Below are some links to the Picasa albums I’ve knocked out already.

2009-01-30 - http://tinyurl.com/aw4v6p
1 Image of a church we’re extending and a bunch of images showing the roof structure of another church (yes that one)

2009-02-02 - http://tinyurl.com/dnkgpb
A building we’re converting to a nursing home, this is the existing building, I’m in the process of building the proposed interior.

2009-02-03 - http://tinyurl.com/c8unel
Old school building in Dublin we’re converting to multi-use (class rooms, offices, bedrooms etc). This model will eventually be finished down to the plug sockets and light switches.

2009-02-04 - http://tinyurl.com/dz858o
The same project as above.

2009-02-06 - http://tinyurl.com/cx56sp
That church! This is the first attempt at a proposed stair to the choir gallery, it had too many problems and was redesigned (see later)

2009-02-09 - http://tinyurl.com/bb3jyv
That church again! (This will be a reoccurring theme) Finally got the back of the exterior model started, I’ve also got some photos of the real thing in here.

2009-02-10 - http://tinyurl.com/bjtecv
TCA. More of the external model, the sanctuary this time.

2009-02-11 - http://tinyurl.com/cn5ha9
TCA. The exterior is finished! Just the ground to do now.

2009-02-12 - http://tinyurl.com/apdyk7
TCA. Ground, railings, walls etc. done.

2009-02-13 - http://tinyurl.com/dcvjyw
TCA. Back to the stairs, not quite there yet.

2009-02-16 - http://tinyurl.com/c4kmuk
TCA. Lots of small stuff today, so no real progress to show, so I thought I’d post a bunch of images of the whole model. Those of you that remember the model will notice that I’ve now got the whole interior done, no more massive opening in the model where the front door should be.
This is also the proposed design, you will only have seen the model of the church as is before.

2009-02-17 - http://tinyurl.com/ddtazp
TCA. The stair AGAIN! This time its finished (well sort of) The stair lift is most definitely going, I think we’re going to propose a catapult instead.

2009-02-18 – That’s today dam it, give me a chance!

Well that’s it then, hello again and if anybody’s using twitter I go by @Rollothecat
Lets see if I can keep this up this time and keep my ScaredaPostaPhobia at bay.

Hear's a thought about timing:
On Monday June 9th the Apple WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) starts in SanFran, a lot of OSX apps are currently releasing updates as one of the many things going on are Apple Design Awards......

Now maybe just maybe Google are hoping to win one (Of course they are stupid!) and for that they need a nice shiny new/updated application.......

Now they arnt going to want to announce on the day as the launch will be lost in a sea of other launches not to mention the cough iPhone 2.0 cough so.....

I think we'll hear soon, real soon

PS
I think this is what anglaret was hinting at.

OK gang, this is what 'I' think happened

Coen has been given info on V7, it could be no more than a release date or it could be a great big presentation of new features, I don't know.

Coen was told he could release this info on Saturday.

but....

Somebody as then contacted Coen and told him NOT to release the said info until (pick a date and time). Because of the obvious NDA (None disclosure agreement) that Coen (and others here) has signed he is unable to even tell us this.

If there is info on V7 and if its Coen that has failed to tell us on Saturday then don't you think that the Sketchup site (http://www.sketchup.com) would have putup info at the same time? but they haven't have they?, what does that tell you?, do you think that Google are waiting for Coen? I dont't think so.

So basically.....Lets lay off giving Coen a hard time, it must be killing him to have this info and for whatever reason not be able to give it to us.

This is, as I said, what 'I' think is happening. I may be completely wrong and before you ask - no, I don't have any inside info myself.