ooo...ooo...ooo...a new toy in Sketchup

[dadiOH]

I've been drawing a couple of vanities I'll be making as soon as I finish some tile work.

When I draw stuff I draw it in much the same manner as I'll build it. Start with fixed stuff - walls, floor,drains etc. - draw the plinths, cabinet bottoms & partitions, top support, face frame, doors and any cabinet built ins, etc.

I often want to view bits and pieces so I put like things on a layer. Works fine for me except when I get most all drawn and want to drill down to, say, the plinths...lots of layers to turn on/off. I guess groups could work but I've never much messed with them.

Enter "Scenes". I'm sure they are old hat to many of you but they are new to me and they are a godsend. Now I can have a scene with all doors closed, another with all (or some) open; I can have one with just the guts. It is WONDERFUL and all is right with the world :)

[Swingman]

Yep ... Layers, assigned to Scenes, are key to making "Presentations" in Sketchup, even if it's just for your benefit.

[Leon]

Scenes are pretty cool. I often will have a cabinet door opened to different positions and each position on a different scene.

[Leon]

Cool! I discovered making surfaces transparent on one dude and opaque on the other when designing our new entertainment nook in our home. I have a model of our whole house and seeing through some of the walls in certain instances is very helpful.

[Swingman]

I just use one for the entire wall, the "Translucent_Glass_Gray" in the "Translucent" Materials category:

[dadiOH]

Agreed. Here's another someone may find useful...

I often make fairly detailed notes/instructions about a project. Sketchup's built in text things are useful but aren't really up to what I need for the aforementioned. My solution is to use a document program to write what I want, format it as desired - complete with underlining, colors, etc - and make a screen shot of it, saving the SS as a jpeg. I then import that jpeg into SketchUp and use it as a "material" on a prepared surface, adjusting the fit either by scaling the surface or editing the length/width of the new material. Stick the surface into an "Instruction" layer and all is well :)

[Leon]

FWIW you can make "ANY" material transparent and to any degree of transparancy. You don't have to hunt down the transparent samples and use just those.

BYPAKT Whut?

[Leon]

Good to know!

[Swingman]

Yep, but I don't have to hunt down anything. I have a materials folder with materials I routinely use that shows up when I grab the paint brush. One click, I get the effect I want without having to adjust anything. ;)

[Leon]

BTW Sharp finally decided to replace the TV.