Hi all

I was wondering if anyone has bumped into or noticed a problem with the shadow and time settings in SketchUp. This problem has been in SketchUp for as long as I can remember. Currently I'm working with SU19.
The thing is, the time (sunrise / noon / sunset) don't correspond with the given Geo-location and UTC-timezone. I have a model, Geo-located in Maastricht, the Netherlands, 50.846830N, 5.680646E. The model-info -> geolocation box gives a message that my model is Geo-located. Since the model is located in the Netherlands, I've put in UTC+1:00, since that's the correct time zone. I had to set UTC+1:00 manually. When I first entered the coordinates, SU automatically puts my model in UTC+3:00, which is incorrect. Once I've entered all the correct data, I notice that the light / timesettings don't correspond with the actual light / time of day. For example, according to real time data sunrise happens on 23rd of June on 5:19AM and sunset on 22:04PM. Yet SU gives the option of sunrise for 5:29AM and sunset 5:49PM. It's almost as if SU doesn't take the latitude into account, and will only count aprox. 12 hours between sunrise / sunset like it would be on the equator.
I was wondering if this is a known bug or thing in SU, I always worked around it and didn't pay much attention to it, but it's quite annoying in a model in which I need to know the correct shadows at certain times of the day.

Greets, Sjotcher

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone else ever experienced the same problem that I'm have been dealing with for a long time. I made my local collection of components. I added this folder to my favorites. But for some reason, some of the SketchUp files in the linked folder display incorrect names. For example: A component SketchUp file in my collection is named: Window 1x2m. This is it's saved filename on the pc. Yet for some reason when I'm in my component browser searching for the particular component in my favorite collection, it doesn't show this given name. Instead it's named Component#3 (like the standard name SU gives newly made components). Note that it only happens on some components. Others display the correct name that I've given them. Is there someone who's had the same problem and might know the solution? I'm working with SU pro 2016. One thing that might be important to mention is that I do know some components are made or edited from 'old' componentfiles. And by old I mean, components that were once made in SU 7 or earlier. Could this be related to the problem?

Sjotcher

srx: Very true, I often forget the color by axes option... Really should implement it in my brain to always use a default style with said setting.

JQL: I often find it handy to see the dimension I need to input, CAD files help alot in that. On a JPEG I can't see the dimension and have to guess them (when they are not given on the drawing).

I think I have found the problem! My complete file (with building design), is drawn from an imported CAD-drawing. And as with most CAD drawings, the two endpoints of the wall don't align on the red axes. There's a 0,1mm difference, which is invisible. This could explain the not cutting when through wall, when I copy it along the red axes for example. Blame those inconsisted CAD-lines / drawings! I hate it when someone doesn't draw precise enough and make those common mistakes (I did not make the CAD-drawing, since I know why it's so imported to draw along axes, at least when it comes to 90 degree corners). It's rather annoying for us as 3D-artists, when someone leaves those faults in a CAD.
So all-in-all I think this thread can be closed.

Sjotcher

Thanks for the replies. I attached my glued component in two different files, the 'original' (with the problems, and a 'new' one which has no errors in placing). As far as I can tell, I did everything right. The blue (cross) axe is perpendicular to the face i try to glue it to. I also made a loop of lines, so the component does cut through the wall.
I also made a new file to place on the thread (since I don't want to paste the original file with the building design on here). Now I'm gobsmacked. In the new file I drew a plane (wall) and copy/pasted my glued component into this new model as you can see. And guess what, the moving error I get in my 'original file' is gone! I can move / copy the glued window along both red and green axes. I can even move the vertical side of the wall on the green axe and it will move my glued component as well. Now this is something I cannot do in my original model. For some reason when I copy a window in that model, it will either not cut the face or I can't move it properly along the desired axe as written in my first post. I do know to paste it on a face, not a group or component. Also note that the 'original file' is a part of my building design to demonstrate the problem. I hope this clears things up a little.

Sjotcher

file without problems

Hi all,

I've got a question regarding glued components. It's an option I've never really got the hang off I think. I made this window component to place in vertical walls. So naturally I set the glue option to 'vertical' and 'Cut opening'. Now when I place a new component or place a copy from an existing one, one of two things happen: 1. I place the component, but for some reason it won't cut through the wall. 2. I can place it and it will cut through the wall, but I can't properly move it in the horizontal plane of the wall (in this case green / red axes). Last point is rather annoying since I want to place windows along a certain dimension. I've tried to change to edit the component glue-options in the components tab. Yet setting it to horizontal, vertical, sloped or any, it won't make a difference. Though setting it to horizontal, I can only place windows on the roof, but this is not my intention.
I hope someone is able to help me out with this, I still find glued-components a complicated part of Sketch-Up.

Thanks in advance!

Sjotcher

I am using a Nvidia Quadro K620, Version 361.91. I looked it up on the Nvidia website, and it seems to be outdated. Yet this can't be the origin of the problem since my collegue has the exact same pc with the same graphics card and driver / version, yet he doesn't have this printing problem. Is it possible that the problem is extension related, just like you said on my 'Make Component crash' on another topic. I do use a lot of extensions. So perhaps I really need to check if it's related to the extensions.

Sjotcher

Hi,

I have a very disturbing problem that has occured out of nowhere. When I try to print some scenes in a model to PDF, for some reason it does not print the styles and colors correctly. For example it seems to ignore the textures and prints simply to plain colors. On some occasions even those colors are printed wrong and it will show the basic SU-colors (white/purplegray). Even though the I checked to see if the correct face is on top and colored. Another thing is that during printing, any possible linestyle (sketchy etc) and background effect (like paper or blueprint) are not printed as well. It totally seems to ignore all colors and effects. The result is a random colored PDF-file.
The weird thing about this bug / problem is, that I have no recollection of any possible action I did to make this bug appear. So for me it appeared out of nowhere. I have tried re-installing both my PDF printers (Acrobat and Cute-PDF writer), yet the problem remains. So this leaves me to conclude that the problem has got to do with something within SU.
Has anyone else come across this problem? I am using SU 2016 pro on Windows 10.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Sjotcher

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply! I do use a lot of extensions, and I will try to see if perhaps one of them is causing the problem. For one I don't think that it's a GPU or Graphics Driver related problem. I got a new pc, with a very good graphics card including memory. By the way, as I mentioned in my first post, I'm using SU 2016 pro, and I had the same problem with SU 2014. I would also like to reply to your point about the Create Component dialog. I know that in this dialog for example, you can choose on which plane you would like to glue the component, including the layer it needs to be in. Funny thing is due to my work around, I never see this dialog. So for me it would be nice to have the dialog pop-up when I convert a group to component.

Thanks for the help, I'm gonna try to find a solution!

Sjotcher

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this bug I'm having that causes Sketch-Up to crash. Each time I decide to make a component (right-click geometry - Make Component) 9/10 times it causes SU to crash into an unending loading screen, forcing me to close down the application. The Create Component task window doesn't even get the chance to pop up.
However! If I decide to make a group (right-click geometry - Make Group), and I then right-click this newly made group to Make Component, the crash doesn't occur. Of course by doing this step, the Create Component window does not pop up, which is common. I just rename the newly made component in the Entity Info tab. It's rather annoying I have to use this work-around 2 step solution to properly make a component.
I would also like to say the crash does not seem to apply to the Make Unique option. In my opinion this is not strange, since all SU does, is adding #1 to the existing component name.
The crash also occurs 9/10 times when I click the In-model component library in the Component tab. SU gets again stuck into and unending loading screen, again forcing me to shut it down. As well an annoying bug that limits my workflow.
I am using Sketch-Up Pro 2016 now, but I've had the problem in SU14 as well.

I really hope someone who has had the same problem is able to help me.

Best regards,

Sjotcher