@chris fullmer said:

Interesting, I felt like US news was making it sound like it would cost like a million USD to buy a bachelor pad in Ireland. I guess they blew that out of proportion a bit....

I'll sell you my house for $1m!

@rich o brien said:

€180,000 semi-detached

€200,000 detached

unfurnished

you'd get somewhere way out in the sticks for a lot less though.

@bgtorque said:

Firstly, thanks very much for the information Brian, it's certainly very useful. Those Nick Sonder video's are really very good and he's produced them very well. He should consider doing a series, he could even charge a little bit for them, i'm sure there would be plenty of people who would be interested.

In answer to your question, i'm a an Aerospace/Mechanical Engineer by trade, but looking to design and build my own home on a plot I have. My intention is to do a lot of the design work to get to know my plot and understand the comprimises that I might have to make a long the way, based on practicality, cost, etc. Ultimately i'd like to pass something on to an architect as a package and have them take my design and assess it, make any alterations for regulations or code, plus change anything that might not be suitable.

I will send you a PM as you've kindly offered, as this is something i'd like to look into. I've currewntly got the free version of Sketchup, but am keen to upgrade to the full version to give me 2D capability, but would like to evolve a basic concept design first. This kind of takes me to my original question as to if any house model exists, like a Sonders model that is available to see and play around with the model setup?

I don't really do much on the 3d warehouse to be honest, but I'm sure others will point you in a good direction. You could start with some famous architectural houses, and start from there.

I can send you a project I'm currently working on, and you can take a look at it and see if you get anything out of it. Nick's videos are good, and they were a great motivator for me to make the change from cad to sketchup.

Hi,

check out these threads

construction & working drawings
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15911

Tips for drawing a floorplan
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=49952

or watch Nick Sonders videos
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=49295

are you a designer/architect, or just someone who wants to have a go at it?

I don't really go into much detail in my main model. I'd consider the detail to be similar to 1:100 or 1:50 scale in 2D autocad. I then have construction details, door & window schedules, mechanical & electrical layouts etc separate (or sometimes on the main model, but more detailed). If you try and detail every single thing in the one model it'll get very slow.

i generally have layers similar to what i use in autocad, plus additional ones to control visibility. e.g. walls, roof, external doors and windows, internal doors and windows, floors, ceilings, rainwater goods, furniture, kitchen units, sanitary ware. draw in layer 0, make a group or component and then change to the appropriate layer. so, for example, draw all your walls, group and then put on 'walls' layer. group or component everything, don't have loose geometry.

send me a pm if you want to discuss further. I'm in Ireland, so very similar construction methods to you.

good tip.

on my latest project I did something different from my normal method. All geometry below ground (incl. floor thickness's etc.) were in separate blocks/components and put on separate layers, e.g. "rising walls" as opposed to just "walls" above ground. took a little bit to set up initially, but it's a relatively small project.

@dave r said:

And in cases where I'm working on something small and might generate gaps due to very small faces, I can scale up the copy, edit it and know that the original is getting the same treatment. When finished, I close the scaled up instance and delete it.

ahh! great tip, never thought of that.

I find that the cutting and pasting into a new file is handy if you have a large file and the clipping thing is a problem.

@dave r said:

I don't bother copying the component to a separate SketchUp file because then I have to go through the gymnastics of replacing the original with the edited copy.

if you cut and paste (in place), rather than copy and paste, it's actually very easy & fast.

Anyone else following the 6 nations?

Very tough to call a winner this year, but I think England will win it , followed by Ireland, France, Wales, Italy & Scotland.

you could try cutting the component and pasting it (in place) in another, 'clean' sketchup file. make your changes, then cut and paste back into the original sketchup file.

what trouble making changes on the extracted component are you having exactly?

@tig said:

Now we get to it.
Your version of TT's layer-picking tool only works on faces and edges that are below the cursor - ignoring whether they are inside groups or not - the container's layer is simply ignored.
It's also prone to fail for some users when offset.rb redefines offset for array and point3d etc...

I suggest that Didier's Layer-Manager is more effective... http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rld/plugin_details.php?id=217 it has far more functions and works on any preselected object-type...

sorted, thanks again.

hold the phone. I got Didier's layer manager toolbar, and it's doing the job. thanks for the help anyways.

@tig said:

I suspect you are using a different version of the Layer-Manager from mine [or using the same one incorrectly].
My one only works on preselected objects [and does so faultlessly].

You speak of 'picked' - are you activating the tool then picking objects ?
With my installation: you preselect the objects and activate the tool - their layer[s] gets 'hidden'...

didn't know there was other layer managers out there!

I was activating the tool then selecting the object, but tried preselecting and then activating the tool, but to no avail.

I closed sketchup without saving the test so I had to draw it out again. but now that i have, it's not working for components any more. BUT... i have a feeling when i was messing around in the original test, i might have changed all the geometry in the component to layer "test", and that's why it was working for the component.

anyway, it's not working for either groups or components for me now. apologies if i'm missing something glaringly obvious.

hide layer by pick test.skp

all geometry was drawn on layer 0 (which is my current layer)

thanks for the reply.

I set up a test. i made to separate identical boxes, the geometry of one i made into a group, the geometry of the other i made into a component. i selected both, and through the entity info window, i changed them to layer "test". selected the 'hide layer by pick' tool from the tools menu, clicked on the group, nothing happened, clicked on the component, layer turned off.

Ok, I just tried it again, and got it to work, but it only works on components, not on groups.

@thomthom said:

Hide Layer by Pick
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36558

thanks, but it doesn't seem to work quite the way I'm looking for. Everything I draw is on layer 0, and reading through your plugin thread, it seems that it doesn't apply to groups or components which would be on the designated layer.

thanks anyway.

apologies if this has been mentioned before, but i'd like an option to turn off an objects layer without having to scroll down the little (i know i can make it as big as i want) layers window.

e.g. if i wanted to turn off the roof layer, i could just right click it and choose 'turn off objects layer'.

I'm working on a fairly complicated model with a lot of layers and it's starting to bug me.

@unknownuser said:

Super basic I know, but keep sub folders labeled by date in this fashion for order - (year, month date). So in my PDF or IMAGE folder, I keep sub folders that are labeled by date, such as 130118 = 2013, January, 18. This keeps everything sequential and simply records the process by date.

Yeah, try and keep things simple as possible, and find a system that works for you.

I find that trying to remember where the latest drawing is, and whether it was sent is a disaster. And worse, if you're trying to explain where the latest drawing is saved to someone over the phone while you're on holidays .

@dcauldwell said:

porch_unplugged - that is one sophisticated and comprehensive system you have developed - very impressive.
For my own work (domestic extensions etc), I like to keep it simple. I would be tripping myself up all the time with a complex system.

I export a pdf for each drawing needing issue, and print directly (if a print is required!) from the pdf or e-mail the pdf.
If there is a substantial revision to the scheme, then (if I remember) I make a copy ('save copy as') before proceeding with the amendments, but basically I keep the same SU file and the same Layout file throughout.
Having made a new pdf of a drawing which has been amended, I then move the superseded copy into a 'superseded' folder. This has worked so far (!), but it isn't infallible and I am sure your system (if meticulously maintained) is much more likely to call up earlier versions, should they be needed.

David

thanks for the compliments. I have fairly complicated projects (recent major project had almost 300 separate drawings just for the construction stage), so I need to keep good tabs on which drawings are the latest ones, who has a copy of what drawings, when were they issues etc.

I just like to keep on top of things in as simple a manner as possible, so that if someone else in the office needed to print off a drawing, they'd be able to find it easily enough, and know that it was the latest/correct drawing.