I think that file will be difficult to vectorize. There are lots of overlapping lines that are typically difficult for PDF-to-CAD programs to handle. You could try Scan-2-CAD http://www.scan2cad.com. They have a free trial (14 days I think) with full features enabled. I've had good luck vectorizing sketches, grading plans, contour maps, etc. When drawings get complex though, the program has had difficulty distinguishing which lines should be connected.

Do you have any kind of image editing program? If you open the PDF in something like photoshop, gimp, or corel, you should be able to save it as a higher quality image. Taking a snapshot captures the image at screen resolution and will thus be lower quality than you can get from other programs.

Great stuff. Thanks!

This works perfectly, and even the curves stayed oriented the right way. Compensating for stopping distance was brilliant. This was more complicated than the one line of code I was trying to change. Thanks so much!

The one thing I don't understand is the second line below:

dir=position.vector_to(evalCurveAbs("camera3", @new_distance1))
dir.length/=5
setVelocity(dir.to_a)

The first line sets the direction of the object to follow the path named camera3 for a set distance. The third line sets the speed. What does "dir.length/=5" do?

Mr. K, here is the model with some more detail on what I'd like to do and what I've tried.

SP_DelayAnimation.skp

Dave: Thank you for the detailed explanation and examples. That is very helpful.

Broomstick: Thank you for sharing the file. I'm not using Vray, but I am sure I can modify the file if necessary to work for my purposes.

Thanks, Rich. That's exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.

Rich: Thanks, I'll search the forums a little more using those terms. I did search before I posted but wasn't quite sure what I was looking for.

Dave: Great tips; thanks. What are softboxes? When adding lights around the model, would you use spot lights, or does the type of light depend on the render engine being used?

I am curious what others have done to set up rendering for products, furniture, etc - basically anything that is rendered in what I would call a studio environment. I'm using Shaderlight and can post this question on their forum as well, but I think there might be some universally applicable rules of thumb for setting up the scene. For instance would you use several spot lights or global illumination to light the product? Would you render with shadows on or off? Is there some type of stage/surround/background that is most suitable? Are there other considerations that make these type of renders unique compared to complete scenes with a room and other furnishings? Thanks for the help.

You could also try using Sketchyphysics. The learning curve is high and in my limited experience things that I think are simple require more work and knowledge of ruby than I think they should. I know that sounds like a total downer, but if you can get past those things it might be perfect for you.

That model is on my computer at work, but I'll stop by there later and post part of it. The code I have is all probably your stuff anyway, ha! Thanks.

Any help from SP users? Is delaying part of simulation possible?

Our office blocks content, not websites. One of the content categories is "streaming," so it doesn't matter what site a video is hosted on, we can't watch it. Fortunately, as of late, I've needed to "create a company presence on Youtube and develop a place for our clients to see animations that our firm creates."

I have created a scene with multiple SP animations. I need two objects to begin moving at the start of the animation. I would like the third object to begin at a specified frame #. If I set everything to run from the beginning, the file works fine. If I change Object 3 to start on a delay (I have tried using "if frame>200" and also tried "if frame==200"), Objects 1 and 2 start to move, but after Object 3 starts, the file crashes. I'm using ontick for all 3 objects. Is there a different set of commands I should be using?

I'm familiar with bump maps. This is raw SU output though, so that's not an option for this project.

Todd, you shouldn't need a survey to get the lot dimensions. See if you can get a copy of the plat from the developer or your county courthouse. You may need to pay the county for the privilege and you'll still need a survey before you start building, but the plat should help you out a lot...pun not intended. Congrats, BTW, on this new adventure. I wish you all the best!

Thanks guys. Both of those look really good.

Good idea, Tom. I'll see if something like that would work for this.

Here's a pic of the existing intersection. The pavement doesn't appear too torn up; cracking, but not terribly pot-holed. At first I was thinking I needed to do something more complex, like manipulate the mesh to get a rougher looking surface. The model is mostly made w/ solid colors because I didn't want to get too detailed with materials, but maybe a texture in this instance would work best.

I have a client who has requested my NPR render be a little more realistic. The attached is the beginning view of an animation I've created. The dark pavement in the foreground is existing, broken up asphalt. Our project starts a little further up the road where the yellow pavement stripes are. Does anyone have recommendations for making the asphalt look old and crappy while still maintaining the NPR style of the scene?

You need to unzip the contents of the clf_perpendicular_face_tools_v1_2.zip file found at the bottom of Chris's post into your Sketchup/Plugins folder. Restart Sketchup (if it was open when you did this) and the new menu item "Chris Fullmer Tools" should appear near the top of your Plugins menu. You can also activate the toolbar at View/Toolbars/Perpendicular Face Tools. I am not familiar with Linux so it's possible you'll need to tweak the steps to make it work, but generally this should get you going.