ohh! and especially this http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=23616&hilit=stringer

thanks! i'll give it a try and try to remember to report back. i have traditionally changed isolated parking stripes in autocad, convert to plines, give them a width, them wblock out for import to sketchup which works well enough. trying to avoid cadwork thought and streamline the process in SU. ALSO, Vali Architects, "Instant Road NUI" has great many features including "Striping" which will take SU lines, convert them to faces and drape them onto a surface mesh. thanks, bob

It does not need to be too exact, just need to export some renderings that show that the hourglass is filled... I guess I will try Sketchyphysics and see what happens. Thanks!

Hi Bob, you could also have a look at AdamB's interesting plugin.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Gaieus

Yep - shadow direction is wrong Also, in a desert environment, I'd expect the structures to have been coloured and stained by all the dust in the air - and generally look a bit more weathered. Try adjusting the colour to a more pinkish-orange hue, to integrate the buildings better into their environment. Hope this helps, Andy

A hovercraft was definitely the starting point for the model, but the "skirt" was reduced down to an inflatable bumper like that of a rigid inflateable... I think I will tackle a hovercraft as one of the next projects.

Simply Wow.... love your workflow. you can just use mediafire or any file sharing sites to host your file. then just provide the link. i would love to see a tutorial on how you this in Photoshop.

actually for the ropes and netting I just create a new layer and then set a stroke to the outside of the brush stroke and make that stroke dark gray and paint with white physically painting in the netting a ropes, the stroke adds to parallel edges that give the illusion of ropes or netting, the writing on the live bait sign is drawn by hand, and the Great white signage is done in photoshop text tool Bob

Coen - my client totally agrees with you and made similar comments. Tinanne - I agree that the palms need to be rotated, I started to do it on the left side of the image and failed to continue it to the right side. I did not use piranesi, just hand colored with a wacom tablet and Photoshop CS4. Bob

Let us not forget that some add-ons require activation in Window, Preferences, Extensions and tick the checkbox if the new ruby requires it. mitcorb

honoluludesktop - great tips and very good idea some light clouds would be very pleasing to the presentation. I am off to look for some sky images for the watermark. Thanks Bob

Ecuadorian - thanks for the links I will try these tips and let you know how it works. thanks for the help I think I can find a way to resolve the issue, real life saver. Bob

The last image gave me an idea: You should try ArtRage. The free version does not have layers, but you could just paint over the SketchUp linework and then re-apply the linework again in Photoshop using the Multiply blend mode or something like that. The full version is $25. You might also want to have a look at PD particle, which has "grass" brushes, for adding little details.