Posts made by xennon

I can't believe that they STILL have not included the option to lock the toolbars - even in the very latest v2015 32 or 64 bit versions. They brag about all the "new features" but neglect to include the simplest and probably most convenient feature that ANY app can have - the ability to lock those damn toolbars!! WTF!?

I'm sure of that.

@unknownuser said:

[Edit] ok.. so you're most of the way there... ignore some of the following post

is this the result you're after? if so, that's from double-clicking all red faces then going plugins->cleanup->merge faces.
if this isn't the result you want, post a shot of what you're trying to accomplish.

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted and how I finally managed to get it to work by selecting the edges then applying CleanUp > Merge Faces.

Thanks for your input.

@thomthom said:

I'd rather not add too many check boxes and make the UI even more complicated.

I appreciate that and don't have a problem with it.

@thomthom said:

Do you really need to pre-select?

I'm not sure, perhaps not - once I get to know your plugin better it may yield a better workflow. I simply outlined what it was I was trying to do and the way I was doing it was to 1st select all the faces I wanted to merge then hit a magic button (CleanUp) and it would remove all the internal edges. I gave no consideration to materials or anything else.

@thomthom said:

Do you not get your result if you have nothing selected and let it merge faces while respecting material boundaries?

Yes, in this case having nothing selected worked perfectly as well but in a more complex model having nothing selected would make the plugin consider the entire scene - not something that I see doing all the time.

@thomthom said:

If that doesn't produce the desired result can you describe the scenario of why?

I think I need to play with CleanUp more so as to understand exactly what it can do and how I might need to alter my workflow to accommodate its abilities.

@thomthom said:

Also, how do you select? I can see two ways of making your selection:

1. Right click a face > Select > All with same material
2. Select > Bounding Edges
   or
   Double click the faces if you select them one by one - that includes the edges.

All of the above at different times.

Great plugin BTW ... much appreciated.

YAY! .. I managed to get CleanUp to do it. I was only selecting the faces and not their bounding edges as well consequently nothing was done.

Once I done a Select > Bounding Edges followed by a CleanUp it worked perfectly.

It would be nice if I could skip the bounding edge selection - is this possible?

@unknownuser said:

another option:

http://www.cad-addict.com/2009/07/sketchup-plugins-delete-coplanar-edges.html

.

This looked promising but it also fails .. seems to need edges as well as faces selected in order to delete anything and even then it deletes the wrong edges.

@thomthom said:

@xennon said:

@thomthom said:

CleanUp: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=22920

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears to me that this plugin is designed to "clean-up" the entire model so what it does applies to the whole model or maybe a group but not just selected faces.

Pick the scope you want to clean up. If you select something it clean up only the selection. If you are editing a group / component and have nothing selected it cleans up only what is in that open context.
But note that it digs into sub-groups/components.

Still does absolutely nothing when I have a path of connected faces selected. They don't get merged for me.

My settings attached + sample file. The RED bits are what I've been trying to merge as a test.

---

---

Untitled.skp

@unknownuser said:

There is an option to clean the selection only.

I don't see that option

Also, choosing CleanUp > Merge Faces with a set of selected faces does absolutely nothing noticeable)

@thomthom said:

CleanUp: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=22920

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears to me that this plugin is designed to "clean-up" the entire model so what it does applies to the whole model or maybe a group but not just selected faces.

I'll check it out and see if it does what I need, it may be handy to have in any case.

Thx

Hi, I've searched around but cannot find anything like I need. Essentially what I want to do is merge a selected set of adjacent faces into a single face. I know I can simply erase the connecting edges but when you select several faces that collectively form a complex path, it's extremely tedious to have to erase each and every crossing edge so as to make a single unbroken face.

Is there a plugin that already does this?

Much appreciated.

@mitcorb said:

Hi, xennon:
Have a look at this thread. Maybe some relevance?

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=31947#p281905

Thanks, that's a nice plugin that might be useful. What I'd like to be able to do is enter Long/Lat/Date/Time and have the plugin either (or both) point a face to the sun or show how light from the sun is travelling and intersecting with a chosen face and beyond to the ground plane. This will allow me to orient a window so as to control where and how far the sun penetrates into a room/building. I'm guessing that the plugin might generate construction type lines extending out from the selected face towards the sun and back the other way towards the ground in such a way that I can kinda see the sun's rays in my scene.

But i'll certainly be grabbing that plug u linked - looks handy.

Hi,

I am trying to work out how I can plot how the sun moves throughout the year. So far this is all i've been able to do: - Create a pole of arbitrary length at the origin then advance the time/date marking the end point of the shadow on the ground each time (picking that point is also only a guess since I get no snaps to the shadow). This is tedious and I only did it for monthly intervals and then I tried to plot a curve through those points manually so as to draw the shadow pattern/path on the ground.

I'm wondering if there is a better more automated way to do this.

What I'm actually trying to do is determine the angle of the sun as it strikes the ground so that I can create windows that are perpendicular to the sun at each solstice and determine what that angle should be depending on geographical location.

I hope I explained this clear enough. The window positioning is dependant on the sun's angle so i need to be able to see and work with that angle somehow while placing the window/s. Is there a way to extract/get the elevation angle of the sun at any point in time?

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

ps: I have a scene attached that might clarify my technique at present.

---

Shadow Plot

@jbacus said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL_and_Direct3D

john
.

Very interesting read and certainly clarified and changed my perception of OpenGL. It's certainly NOT the dinosaur I thought it to be.

So I guess, to answer my own query - Probably not: I think OpenGL will most likely remain as the fundamental graphic API used in SU for quite some time.

@dave r said:

I hope you build one and will share the photos with us. Or at least with me.

LOL! - I'm the worlds worst procrastinator. Don't hold your breath. However I might actually manage to build a SU version which you're welcome to.

@tfdesign said:

@xennon said:

DirectX, which I assume is a superior technology.

......Steady!

My assumption is based on the glaring proliferation of 3D games (and apps) that seem to favor DirectX for their platform - even the crappy 2.5d platform games seem to favor it. I know of no new games that use OpenGL which is why I think it might be old-dayz stuff.

@dave r said:

Some folks build these little teardrops on manufactured utility trailers and I've wondered how they work out for towing.

Yeah, they're great (perfect as a weekender getaway unit) and (apparently) easy to make. My original idea was to do just that - build a box to fit into a standard manufactured utility trailer in a slide on/off approach. But - I then had the same thought as you regarding the load distribution's effect on towing and decided that building from scratch might prove a better option as well as avoiding a number of other design factors resulting from a combo approach.

I've always wanted to build one and now with SU I can mess around with all sorts of crazy ideas without spending any money and if it turns out cool, I might take it to the next level and build a real one (or sell the design/s). Building (designing) it in SU is just a ton of fun and offers so much freedom to try different things before picking up tools and spending a fortune on materials. It also helps (me) learn SU netter if I have an actual project to work on.

I've seen several mentions of issues with SketchUp which are quite often attributed to SU being an OpenGL application and the issues are predominantly OpenGL related graphic rendering idiosyncrasies. Such things like the clipping plane blotting out geometry at close zoom levels and seeing lines behind front faces when viewing your model from a distance and others like the shimmering effect when multiple faces overlap.

I don't know if OpenGL is actually an archaic technology or if there's a genuine reason for using it in preference to DirectX, which I assume is a superior technology.

I'm curious to know if (and when) goooooogle might ever consider dumping the OpenGL version in favor of DirectX (or the next BIG thing) or if DirectX might someday be a user selectable option.

Any thoughts, opions?

@gaieus said:

If I temporarily download something (like models from these forums), I usually save them on the desktop (and later delete). In such cases the skb file is of course created on my desktop.

I don't do that - I stipulate (without exception) where everything I download it placed. And I never (almost never) put any actual files on the desktop - only shortcuts.

Given that SU is the foreground app and I rarely minimize it while working, it's hard to know when it is happening since they are behind SU. I have even tried re-opening the last file to see if it would do it again with that file but invariably it doesn't. It's freaky - and I can't force SU to do it nor can I predict when it will do it.

I might try changing my default folders to yet another drive and see if that does anything.

I actually have a RAID controller with 2 drives hanging off it (don't know which ones) - perhaps my SU default paths are on one of those drives and for some reason SU occasionally dislikes writing to them. The RAID is not used as a RAID setup, only as extra IDE channels in order to support more HDDs. I'm only guessing here, but it could be related.

@gaieus said:

TIG has a Center of gravity plugin although of course it may not be as straightforward as it first seems since there may be different (real world) materials used, the load changes many things etc.

(I am not an engineer myself)

This is GREAT! - but the more I think about it, it's going to be a lot more complicated given the many real-world variables. I have no idea what the final structure would weigh or where the load is distributed etc etc. This further implies that placing the axle correctly can really only be done after the thing is build and sitting on the chassis.

Having said all that - it can still be used to draw something that will at least look reasonable.

Thank you for finding this plug!

@dave r said:

Baffle 'em with BS.
How big of a camper is this that you are designing? And what sort of accommodations will it have?

It's commonly called a Teardrop Camper - little more than a bed with a roof and a kitchenette type facility tucked away in the back end under a hinged lid.

Some examples:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=efcc22862987cdd57d6543d84affccd9&prevstart=84
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=11f01d9424bdd8ea9f3f9e8d9432a9f4&ct=mdrm&prevstart=84