hi guys. i absolutely can not figure out a way to find the center of this tube. what i want to do is create another thinner tube inside it. and to do that, i need to first find the center of the tube, so i can create a circle the size of the inner tube and then use the follow me tool to make it a tube.

the problem im having is i cant find a way to find the center of the tube with out a flat backing circle face.
and with out a center, i cant make a circle backing face. another thing, i was able to a few times find a way to just click on the tube, and use the green inference like to find the center point, but i have no idea how i did that and i cant do it any more.

when i click on the move tool, the following 'red' whole protractor appears and does exactly what i want, but i can't make it draw any lines. only the half protractor draws lines and it doesn't designate a middle and center like the 'red' whole protractor does. i did get the half protractor to designate a center a couple times but i have no idea how i did it. please help

@alan fraser said:

If you have only got 1 instance of something, then there's no advantage in making it a component rather than a group. Components come into their own when there are multiple instances of them.

Generally speaking, the fewer groups and components the cpu has to open, the more efficient the model will be on screen....even though this might result in a slightly larger file size.
Quite often, I make groups to prevent geometry sticking together during construction...while manoeuvering one section up against another etc. However, if that geometry, when complete, forms part of a single section of the model which doesn't need any further editing, I'll probably then explode the constituent groups and regroup them into a single group or component. In that way I avoid having too many levels of unnecessary sub-groups.

that explained a lot

heres a screen shot of how my model is going so far. its my left studio monitor which is a m-audio bx5

ah ok. i thought there was some real advantage or reason why a modeler would want to build a model in component/group pieces verses making each piece a group/component and then adding onto the model as the build it.

thanx brodie i tried the scale too myself but it just made the ring smaller but didn't thin out the edges i think i spent 4 hours on this problem anyway, it was a matter of making a copy of the first ring, and then using inference to make a circle exactly the size of the next smaller ring. it was a really difficult problem because i could figure a way to create the bigger circle to measure the smaller one or something like that... anyway. solved

ive got the first ring, and now i need to create a second ring to attach to the speaker cabinet that will be smaller and thinner and will fit inside the first ring. i cant figure out a way to model the second smaller and thinner inner speaker ring. the problem im having is that i cant find a way to create an exact copy of the first ring but make it smaller and thinner. is there a way to do this? or do i need to do a new ring from scratch?

Silver Ring.skp

thanx james. people are very helpful here

hi guys. im building a model of a speaker. ive one component which is a cabinet, the second component which is the first ring of the speaker. and now im starting on the second ring, which is going to be the third component. my question is, i was watching aidan chopras video (Creating eaves for buildings with pitched roofs) explaining the component/group paste in place method.

so now that i have my two components, should i take all my single components and combine them into a master group/component and keep adding and bundling them together as i build my speaker? or instead of making all single components into a master group/master component, should i build my model in single components/groups piecing them together, and building them in a single piece by piece lego style project, and keeping all components/groups separate?

@johnsenior1973 said:

Is Tekkybot a real person, because I'm thinking that he actually is a Bot that's been created so he can spam this site to create a SU manual.

I'm pretty sure that sorgesu has explained this to it before, but I guess the programme is having difficulty with her answer so needs more input before moving on.

no im a real person i ask questions because i want to know answers. its really that simple without trying to have an attitude, its not very newbie friendly of you johnsenior1973 to complain when i ask too many questions.

you are aware that this is a sketchup message board right?
your comment makes me want to shy away from here... but im not going to do that or stop asking question just because you find it annoying. its obvious that not everybody shares your viewpoint.

in fact from all the great help ive gotten i don't know anybody else who does... i don't mean to be annoying. and im sorry that you find the questions that i ask annoying and a waste of your valuable time. and i certainly am not trying to "spam the board".

what i want to do is learn and get good at using sketchup. i also plan on spending the 495.00 for sketchpad pro 7 or however much it costs when it comes out. so you can see how dedicated i am to sketchup... you like me were a newbie once too...

ive been watching a lot of video tutorials. however, video tutorials wont tell me, or show me, how others see things or the way they use or do things. i feel your comment was undeserved and uncalled for

hi guys. was just wondering, is it bad to work in a theme other then the sketchup default one? i read that you should always use the default theme for your main work? is this true? i really like my theme.

ok, im exhausted! i had the day off today, so i spent from 9:30 am to 8:00 pm watching aidan chopra videos, i must have watched twenty videos or more! but now i think im ready to try my hand at some more modeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP2i_2VkLpQ this video just explained a lot

s-l-o-w-l-y im going thru all the tutorial videos. but i only have like 2-3 hours of time to myself a day. so id prefer to spend the majority of that time using sketchup and not watching videos. its not that im lazy, quite the contrary, its that 5 days a week i work 9 hours a day, and on the road for 4 hours...

which video do you suggest? ive gone through all the new user videos and some of the toolbar ones like follow me and such.

maybe i need to just spend the next few days looking at videos

@gaieus said:

What's wrong with the magenta inferencing? Though it's just one colour instead of the several ones, the tooltip tells you exactly where you are at.

that's what i thought you mean like when your in magenta, its not in green, blue, red, but it still says, endpoint/midpoint in group? so this is normal workflow? to work in magenta? i wasn't, sure. i just thought i was missing something.

thanx gaieus. im sure theres a very simple answer to this problem im trying what you suggested

hi guys. theirs this problem i keep coming across in sketchup, in regards to editing, and moving groups and components. (but i know groups, components have nothing to do with layers.) lets say i have a group/component that closed, now, i want to add on a new shape, while keeping the group/component closed, (say, an extruded cube).

now, because its closed, i don't have access to the normal green, blue, and red, inference points, so if i want to move my second grouped object (which is the extruded cube), precisely into place its very difficult with only magenta points, but at the same time, its solves the problems that i face with sticky geometry, when the first grouped shape was opened for editing.

but now i run into a third problem, i wanted to keep the original shape closed, but now, because group one is closed, and i don't have access to the original green, blue, and, red, inference points, i cant move group two into place, so, i reopen it, but cant edit the original shape due to the fact that group one attaches itself like jelly to group two. so, as a last ditch effort, i select, edit group one, that's stuck like jelly to group two. but once opened, group one turns back into sticky geometry, and because group one is attached like jelly to group two, once i save group one, its now saved along with group two, and will continue to save each group together as i go through my project. can you guys please tell me what in sketchup hell i am doing wrong

alright this time i think ill start with a much simpler model

@unknownuser said:

If you turn on hidden geometry you will see there are a number of coplanner surfaces. There are many ways that you can create these surfaces by mistake but this normally indicates that your model is not symetrical. As has been said you need to rebuild and straighten...maybe not all but start with the base.
The axis is always a good way to protect your symetry...always start with it...work with it....stay close to it.

Cheers!!!

alright. thanx modelhead

i understand bob. ill start again. its the only way ill learn

thanx pilou