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The Google SketchUp Thread

Started by marc_reusser, May 15, 2010, 11:24:21 PM

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eTraxx

I have some O scale wheels and tires I did that I need to get printed .. here's the wheels



I did some wheels and tires for a c. model A type truck a while back. they came out pretty well .. mostly messed up on where the model wire axle fit into the hub .. but worth the trouble for the learning experience of "what not to do next time"


I just dropped an order for parts for a deck girder bridge. This is the part where you wait .. and see if they get kicked back at the printer .. which happens sometimes. Here's a snapshot from MeshLab .. cross frames, splice plates and stiffeners in back

Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

eTraxx

#181
Quote from: Bexley on November 25, 2013, 02:51:37 PM
It still surprises me that Sketchup doesn't yet allow for simple mating/coincident relationships. That is the main thing keeping me from ever going back to that software. (To be fair, I used it extensively before moving up to Solidworks, and it's a great program, especially for the price.)
In Sketchup they call that inferencing. It's a system of object snaps, dynamic guidelines and enforced geometric relationships (e.g. tangency, perpendicularity). I still use the free version of SU .. yep .. great price!

Edit: WOWZIERS!! I was curious about the price .. found that as a US Military Veteran I can get the SolidWorks Student Edition for $20. Well .. heck! Says that it won't run on XP .. I keep saying I need a new computer ... hmmmm

https://store.solidworks.com/veteran/default.php
Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

mabloodhound

Just don't get a new PC with Win 8!   Get Win 7 so you can use most of your existing software and avoid all the "new" quirks with W8.
Dave Mason
D&GRR (Dunstead & Granford) in On30
"A people that values its privileges above its principles will soon lose both."~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Bexley

Keep in mind that the student license for SW is a yearly fee. Though, if you're a veteran, you'll always get that price, so it's not bad. I'd certainly pay that much to have it at home. If you're actually a student, though, the license is about $50-$100 depending on where you go. But you have to prove every year that you're a student, so once you're out of school, you don't get that price anymore. Unlike, say, student editions of Adobe CS, which is a one time purchase that never expires. Though, I'd happily pay $100 a year for SolidWorks at home too.

It's been a while since I used Sketchup. (Version 7 was just out around the last time I used it.) I recall that you could force a line along an axis, but I don't recall being able to say, pick two lines and force them to be parallel, collinear, etc., or pick two arcs and force them to be concentric. And I thought you couldn't really do tangent, since circles aren't really circles in SU.

[EDIT: I just installed it to make sure I wasn't talking nonsense, and it does sort of allow those things, but it won't force them, which I recall being annoying, because you'd often hover over something to get the inference to happen, but you'd occasionally lose the inference when you clicked/dragged, and there was no way to know for sure if they were close but not quite. I also really it being annoying that if you wanted an exact dimension, you needed to type it in as you made the shape- if you wanted to change it, you needed to delete it and redraw it. Though, I only played with the latest version for a few minutes, so I'm sure there's lots of functionality that requires more time with the program.]
CounterClockwise

Bexley Andrajack

eTraxx

Quote from: mabloodhound on November 25, 2013, 03:38:12 PM
Just don't get a new PC with Win 8!   Get Win 7 so you can use most of your existing software and avoid all the "new" quirks with W8.

When I got this computer I had them install XP on purpose instead whatever was the 'flavor of the month' at the time .. either Vista or 7. I swear .. Microsoft must be run by former Government Bureaucrats ..
Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

eTraxx

Quote from: Bexley on November 25, 2013, 04:09:48 PM
<snip>I also really it being annoying that if you wanted an exact dimension, you needed to type it in as you made the shape- if you wanted to change it, you needed to delete it and redraw it. <snip>
If you have a grouped object you can scale it. Normally the bar shows the scaling but .. you can force exact dimensions. Scale in the direction you wish .. arbitrarily .. then type the new dimensions. Example. You have a cube that is 10"x10"x10 .. and want to scale it so it is say .. 12" on a side. Scale .. pull on the handles and enter 12",12",12" in the units panel and hit enter. You can also use the Tape Measure tool .. in the previous example you tape along one edge .. it says .. 10" in the units panel .. enter 12 and hit enter and that will scale it too.
Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

finescalerr

Thank you very much for the tutorial, Ed. I've been doing similar things but not quite as well as you. Your explanation has saved me a week of trial and error.

A thought about SketchUp vs. SolidWorks and other high end programs: A couple of weeks ago a subscriber called. He does very sophisticated 3-D CAD for movies. He has taken some intensive courses in SketchUp and thinks very highly of it but ultimately chose a different program (not SolidWorks). The primary reason was how complicated SketchUp can become when you add a lot of plug-ins. Ultimately, for him, it was easier to have all those functions built in to a single program.

Marc uses SketchUp Pro extensively in his business. That might suggest something. He feels the free version is essentially all we modelers need.

Finally, I spent about two hours yesterday trying to find a way to import AutoCAD drawings into the free version of SketchUp. Ultimately the only way to do that was to find SketchUp 7.1 and add a plug-in for importing AutoCAD *.dwg files. Version 7.1 is the only one allowing you to import AutoCAD drawings. The plug-in worked beautifully.

Since I'm currently on a Mac notebook, I run SU7 for the import, then do the rest of the work on SU for the Mac (although I could do everything in WinXP, also on the Mac). I've built all my PCs and have no strong preference for Windows vs. Mac but currently think the Mac OS is more elegant than Windows but I 'm waiting to see what Win 9 brings.

Russ

eTraxx

Russ,
About a year ago (?) Google sold Sketchup to Trimble. The free version of Sketchup is now called Sketchup Make. One of the cool things that was added is "Extension Warehouse". I did a search for DWF .. and found "Architect Tools" and installed it (much easier using this Extension Warehouse as it does everything for you here). I now have a - AutoCAD Files (*.dwg, *.dwf) under the Import Menu.
Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

Bexley

Huh. Either you couldn't use the measuring tape to resize before, or I didn't know you could do that. Still, you can't use it to make a rectangle longer without also changing the other dimension. At least, not that I found in the ten minutes I just spent messing around with it. I tried drawing a rectangle a few degrees off of perpendicular, and had problems with that as well. Eventually I remembered that you would have to draw it along an axis then rotate it to get it at the angel you wanted.


Anyway. My point was, I think one of the best improvements they could make is to add some simple relations. I often found myself finding workarounds for things I felt I should just be able to do. (Of course, it's entirely possible that there are extensions that do that.) But like I said, I used the hell out of the program before learning SolidWorks, and when I was still building models at work, I still used SU for quick mockups. Plus, unless I stay in this job until I retire, it's entirely possible that I may find myself without SolidWorks, and back to using SU for everything again. Which will be fine, after a brief unlearning curve.
CounterClockwise

Bexley Andrajack

finescalerr

Ed, I have both SketchUp 8 and 2013 "Make" on the Mac side of my computer along with 7.1 on the Windows side. I just downloaded and installed "Architect Tools" but, since my version of SU 2013 is still in the SU Pro trial stage it has DWG/DXF import capability until the trial period expires.

After installing "Architect Tools" I find its functions "dead". I'm starting to understand why Bexley prefers SolidWorks!

Russ

eTraxx

@Bexley .. like you said, there are ways to do a lot that work. Not sure if they are work arounds or just other ways to do stuff - don't get me wrong .. if I had Solid Works I would be using that!

-moving part of a rectangle: Click a single line that you want to move of the rectangle .. hit "M" on the keyboard to move .. hold down the arrow key to constrict movement in the direction you need .. move just that line in the direction .. let go and type in the distance and hit enter ..

- drawing off the perpendicular: use the Protractor. Click on the start .. click down any line (sets the base of the Protractor .. then swivel the cursor any direction you want .. get close and type in exact degrees you need. It draws a dashed line on that degree that you can construct off of.

Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

eTraxx

@Russ ..

Huh. I just imported both a .dxf and .dwg into my Sketchup Make using the Architect Tools plugin and everything worked fine.
Ed Traxler

Lugoff, Camden & Northern RR

Socrates: "I drank WHAT?"

Bexley

Ah, yes, I forgot you could grab a line with the move tool. It seems to me that it makes more sense to auto-constrain to a direction perpendicular to the line (I suspect you're far more likely to want to drag one side larger without altering the angles of the other sides far more than you'd ever want to turn a rectangle into a parallelogram) and use ctrl or alt to turn off constraint.
CounterClockwise

Bexley Andrajack

finescalerr

Just to prove I sometimes make productive use of my free time, I submit herewith a SketchUp drawing of the house my parents built between 1951 and 1952 at 4537 Libbit Avenue, Encino, California. (The Oscar winning actress, Sally Field, lived next door and we went to school, together.)

I figured out the dimensions from knowing the interior length and width of my bedroom and still remember the house vividly, inside and out. The colors are the originals; my parents had it repainted white in the late '60s.

I'm still far from expert, but SketchUp is coming along and I think it's going to be a very useful and fun tool.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Russ

Chuck Doan

You went to school with Gidget?! Zowee.

Your house looks good Russ. Nice to see your progress.
"They're most important to me. Most important. All the little details." -Joseph Cotten, Shadow of a Doubt





http://public.fotki.com/ChuckDoan/model_projects/