SketchUp General Google Group

Re: Sketchup models in POV-Ray

gai...@gaieus.hu (Gaieus) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:35:08 UT

Sorry, I totally missed the point of your post, August and didn't
notice Joy's response because it was collapsed.

Here is general list of plugins:
[link]
and here is alist of renderer apps:
[link]

Re: Sketchup models in POV-Ray

gai...@gaieus.hu (Gaieus) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:31:32 UT

su2pov exporter was created by Didier Bur and can be downloaded from
his Ruby Library Depot here (scroll down - the plugins are in
alphabetical order):
[link]

Gai...

Re: Extruding curves. Is there a technique?

gai...@gaieus.hu (Gaieus) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:23:38 UT

Well, from the image I cannot really see if that is not an offset
instead of an extrusion.
You can only extrude 3D geometry (or 2D geometry into 3D) i.e. only
faces,not edges.

Gai...

Re: Aligning objects

gai...@gaieus.hu (Gaieus) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:19:13 UT

"Remembering" the last entry in length snapping in SU is actually a
good feature that you can override with a next entry.You can also turn
off length snapping altogether in the Window > Model info > Units tab.

Now for linear arrays (to make sure your objects are aligned along a
line/axi) you can use the move tool combined with the Ctrl (Option on

Re: Aligning objects

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:30:16 UT

If moving them one at a time will work for you, you can also use the
tape-measure tool to draw a guide line and then grab each piece by the
same corner when you move it to move that corner to the guide line.

Tools like Illustrator will align hundreds of pieces at once, so if
that's the level of your problem let us know.

Re: Extruding curves. Is there a technique?

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:26:13 UT

This is one of those error messages that doesn't mean what you think
it means until you know what it means.

SU will extrude flat surfaces that have curved edges. SU will not
extrude a surface where the surface itself is not flat but is curved.
However, there is Ruby script that will do this.

Re: Aligning to non-Ortho angles

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:22:38 UT

Speaking of "intuitively obvious", does that mean you got the answer
after it was pointed out or you didn't find the answers clear enough?

Re: Fancy Belt Buckles

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:19:51 UT

Hi Drako,

It looks to me like most of the design elements are 2D and SU is
really best at 3D. It's even a bit of trouble to force SU to stay in
anything like a 2D mode.

Your best bet is a good 2D drawing application like Adobe Illustrator
or Corel Draw. If you are looking for something free (and that's why

Re: Aligning objects

knicho...@mindspring.com (Lemastre) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:13:36 UT

I'm not sure what procedure you're describing, but apparently it works
for you. I expect that if you just abandon the move tool for another
one or press the Escape key, SU will stop snapping.

Re: Extruding curves. Is there a technique?

knicho...@mindspring.com (Lemastre) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:03:11 UT

It appears you pulled (extruded) a flat surface, not a curved surface,
of figure 2. But like you, I'm puzzled why you can't pull figure 1.
If you'll post an .skp file of it to the File, someone will tell you
why.

Re: Importing and then editing a pdf file in Sketchup

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:37:49 UT

Hi Mike,

Are you using Pro or Free? Other responses you have given imply to me
that you use Pro. If Pro will import a PDF directly, that's a useful
feature to know about and is another difference that Google has not
documented very well -- it's certainly not in their main pages that
list the differences.

Re: Sketchup models in POV-Ray

asm...@yahoo.com (August) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:34:24 UT

Since these kinds of export/import questions seem to come up a LOT, is
anyone, anywhere, maintaining a list of export/import tools like this
su2pov exporter?

Re: radiused cubes

berr...@sbcglobal.net (Ken Berry) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:27:28 UT

This is a very interesting problem because if there were an automating
script, either Zook's or my method could be made exact with respect to
the size of the faces. My algorithm is exact, but uses an interior
approximation to the circular arc.
Zook's uses the exterior approximation and increases the area of the

Re: radiused cubes

berr...@sbcglobal.net (Ken Berry) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:12:01 UT

Zook,
I did some further thinking, and your method MAY have a fatal flaw in
some situations. As you noted, it increases the size of the flat area
on the top and sides of the cube.
Your method increases the size of the flat area by r * sin( a ) where
a is the angle subtended by each segment into which the arc has been

Extruding curves. Is there a technique?

ameliab2...@gmail.com (amie) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:36:09 UT

I made a curve and I want to extrude it. Of course the reason I'm here
is because Sketchup has warned me that neither the follow-me tool or
the push/pull tool can extrude curves faces.

The funny question is that I managed to extrude a curved surface
except that it is not the shape I want to use.