@scott216 said: I tried the same file on other computers and it's fine. Something is up this my one computer. I upgraded to Sketchup Make and it works fine with thiat. possibly a corrupted .plist (or whatever the windows equivalent may be called) ? you could maybe try a 'reset workspace' to see if it jars the entity info panel into proper behavior (preferences->workspace->reset workspace) ? does it do the same thing in the measurement box or with dimensions?

That (edit: scott's) is already almost ruby code. This should do it: module TDxSkp WIN = ( (Object;;RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mswin/i || Object;;RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mingw/i) unless defined?(WIN) OSX = ( Object;;RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /(darwin)/i ? true ; false ) unless defined?(OSX) if WIN require 'sketchup.rb' require '3DxSketchUp/3DxSketchUp.dll' file_loaded("3DxSketchUp.rb") elsif OSX require 'sketchup.rb' require '3DxSketchUp.bundle.plugin/Contents/MacOS/3DxSketchUp.bundle' file_loaded("3DxSketchUp.rb") end end # module http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=34631&p=305368 We use proper operating system names because we are not detecting hardware. I'm not sure if that's the namespace ( TDxSkp) that they use, but our constants should better not float in top level namespace. However note that 3DConnexion is a binary plugin and adds content to the Ruby environment that we can not check for errors (or we can find but not fix them).

Here's a tip to cover that situation. When you draw guidelines parallel to an edge that are supposed to lay "on face" start your guideline on the edge, move the cursor up/down a bit on the edge and then pull towards the direction you want. Nothing new here. But, instead of leaving the cursor on face where you want the line to be, move the cursor to some alternate perpendicular (or so) edge on the same face. This forces the guide line to stay on face. At that point you can enter the offset distance in the VCB or move along that edge to the desired offset location. To test if 2 perpendicular (or crossing non parallel) guidelines are actually intersecting, place the cursor on one GL and move it to the intersection. You should see a little red X. That indicates GL intersection. If all you see is a colored dot, the lines do not intersect. The dot means the point at the cursor lines up axially with both GL's. This works with GL's and edges as well.

Hi Scott, It is completely indifferent, what layer you place things on (unless you set to "Colour by Layer). The difference lies in whether you paint the group/component as a whole, from "outside" - or paint its geometry "inside" (while editing it). Incidentally, I have a little tutorial on this here: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/37-beginner/139-texturing-a-component-vs-its-faces-inside Now if you cannot see the grouped object receiving the material (if I understand you correctly), you may be modelling in monochrome mode. You should go to model in shaded or better shaded with textures mode (View menu > Face styles). If still no materials, there must be something wrong with your system.

Don't get me started on this!!!.... oh well, ok. Outliner should be merged with Layers to be able to 'nest' layer sets. If we continue to model on layer 0 and organise groups and components on layers then with each nested group or component would give a prefix of the parent layer. This way visually manipulating groups [or components] in part or in full would be all too easy!!! It can't be more simple than that IMO.