Posts made by shawb

Thank you Bryan, now wondering where to go next! I have a notion for one particular model but it will depend on the available source material. I was looking at your excellent Blog page this very morning, you're range of transport covers a, somewhat, greater span of years than mine; 2000 year old Chinese tricycles to spaceships. I consider myself to be definitely stuck in the steam age!

No doubt about it, 3D viz is the way to go with most planning matters. Many people don't like change and the first reaction is to reject the new and different. Good visualisation can often head off planning objections at an early stage. ScottBold is certainly on the ball with this presentation.

I would suggest the following tweaks:

Turn off shadows in the Proposed Plan drawing, it can work in a perspective top view but maybe jars a little in what is still a 2D view. Same with the Proposed Block/Roof Plan.

In the Proposed Overhead View turn off the 2D tree symbols (use the 3D trees only) & fence lines etc. Also, show the 3D models of existing buildings rather than 2D footprints (resolution on my laptop is not good so I could be mistaken in what I see).

The section views are great and show the all important relationship to the existing buildings. For the Proposed Views (3D), again turn off any 2D symbols. If at all possible, consider re-composing the various views so that the height relationship to existing buildings is more favourable as is apparent in the Section views.

Thanks Mike, although I grew up with basic Meccano the steam engines and machines were definitely way out of my reach but I suppose I can have as many as I want now with a bit of Sketchup!

Impressive render which really shows off and describes the construction of the piece.

@daniel said:

….. I've never seen a theatre with the front of the balcony so close to the stage; I'm afraid if you looked at it in a section drawing, you might have a problem with sight lines. ...

As well as a section to check sight lines, as Daniel suggests, I would position the camera as if you were sitting in various balcony seats. Your balcony viewpoints are positioned a long way above the seats and so do not reflect a realistic view for a member of the audience. Apart from that, a very interesting project. I immediately thought of the Theatre Royal in Windsor, UK although it is probably almost sixty years since I was in it!

Thank you HornOxx. Also, a big 'thank you' to all the contributors to the Forum who provide so much inspiration and sharing of knowledge. I am often humbled by the shear excellence that they produce.

Some NPR images of a different engine model with line shaft, stamping press and trip hammer.

After yet another go at this I found the following. The Component Options and Component Attributes panels can be opened at any point in a modelling session including after selecting/deselecting existing components (not necessarily dynamic components) or creating new components. However, the Options panel must be opened first. Any component selected will now show up in the Options panel. Before the Attributes panel can be launched a component (any) must be selected. Once the Attribute panel is launched the selected component can be deselected without any inputs to either panel. Thereafter, components can be selected, attributes added etc. Both panels will work as expected. Both panels can be dismissed if not needed further but to relaunch them the same sequence must be observed.

Maybe this behaviour is a quirk of just my own setup but the procedure that I found (stumbled across) is certainly not in any way an explanation.

Looks like I posted in the wrong forum section. Apologies, can it be re-directed?

I have come up against an issue regarding the DC options panel. Clicking on a component will display it's attributes in the DC attribute panel but the Options panel indicates that no component has been selected. Searching online has shown that this behaviour has been seen before but I could not find a definitive solution.

To date I have tried the following:

Uninstalled the DC plugin and installed the latest version from the Extension Warehouse.
Ran the Sketchup 'Checkup' app to make sure my system is adequate.
Checked that my graphics card driver is up to date.
Downloaded the latest SU Installer and ran the repair option (Run as Administrator).
Disabled all my installed plugins in the Extension Manager and restarted SU.
Uninstalled SU and then installed afresh. (Run as Administrator)

Occasionally, in a new unsaved model, I can create a DCs both with and without user options and both panels will populate. However, on saving the Options panel reverts to not seeing a selected DC.

The Ruby Console returns the following when selecting a DC:

Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method deleted?' for #<Sketchup::Model:0x0001efeaf23df8>> c:/users/brian/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/su_dynamiccomponents/ruby/dcclass_overlays.rbe:212:in block in pull_attribute_tree'
c:/users/brian/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/su_dynamiccomponents/ruby/dcclass_overlays.rbe:212:in delete_if' c:/users/brian/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/su_dynamiccomponents/ruby/dcclass_overlays.rbe:212:in pull_attribute_tree'
c:/users/brian/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/su_dynamiccomponents/ruby/dcclass_v1.rbe:245:in block in show_dialog' SketchUp:1:in call'

Any ideas on fixing this would be greatly appreciated!

SU 2018 PRO, Windows 10

Just tried that, you're spot on!

Heading for the rabbit hole on this one I think! I added two new scenes to the SKP I posted earlier. Unchecked the 'Include in Animation' for both new scenes. The solar north then reverted to the same position in every scene. I made a fresh SKP and tried recreating the behaviour in the first one. Low and behold the new file worked okay with the 'Include in Animation' unchecked. I was doing this before DaveR posted so what is happening is still a mystery.

Solar north 3.skp

Had another look at this but can't see what is causing the problem. Maybe try uninstalling/re-installing the Solar North plugin? Attached SU file with Solar North set differently in a number of scenes just for comparison purposes.

Solar north.skp

Have to go out now but in the first instance take a look at the 'Properties to save' checklist in the Scenes tray. Make sure the Shadow Settings box is checked and then after setting solar north in the scene right click on the scene tab and Update.

Earlier, L i am suggested something 'Meccano' for the steam engine to drive. Here are some rough renders of the stamping press (what I would call it anyway) along with the engine. No driving band as yet or animation.

A Group of entities can have the same 'Instance' name as any other group of (different) entities. The Group instance name will not be unique unlike a Component. You can name your new spline instance with the same name as the original. Place the new version where you want and just delete the old one. That would be my take if you only need to replace a few instances. Not sure if there would be any other way to do it other than the Component option but of course that would not allow unique numbering/naming.

Hope I have interpreted your query correctly, I so often don't!

Thanks Mike but I have spent hours with rag and tin of 'Brasso' making it that clean and shiny!

A bit of dirt would be a good next step I agree and, to my mind, the harder look to achieve. I will give it a go when I can.

Taking on board Majid's suggestions I have done some work on the oil lamp and hope it shows some improvement!

Majid & Pilou, thank you both for your comments. Yes, the wood texture bump map was a bit too strong and I will try some experimentation with the chimney glass texture.

Thank you Bryan K, maybe this year's project should be improving my maths as well as SU.