SketchUp 101

[charlese]

Very impressive, Heath!!!:D Sorry, don't have an answer to your round off question. IMHO the drawing doesn't need to show the round off anyway. Looks perfect the way it is!!

[heathicus]

I went through lesson 5, making the raised panel. Everything went great until I applied the edge to the panel. After using the "Follow Me" tool, it "routed" the edge, but left a little tab on the corner where I started.

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If I use the eraser and delete the lines around that tab, it also deletes the surface on top of the ridge going all the way down the top.

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The back side is perfect. I guess something is out of alignment somewhere. I completely rebuilt the molding shape for the raised panel, but the same thing happened. Any idea where the problem is?

Using what I learned from this lesson, I was also able to apply a chamfer on the fingers of my display case. But a round over edge still had strange results.

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Thank you so much for conducting this "class", Tom!

[tom_k/mo]

One thing I couldn't figure out how to do was to round over the edges of the fingers and the square plugs. Using the "Follow Me" tool resulted in some really weird things happening.

Heathicus, Sorry it took a little time to reply to your questions. Yesterday was spent in preparing for Turkey-Day... Are you trying to do something like this?
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If so, just construct a 90-degree arc in the corner of one of the sides, then pick the end surface (which defines the 4 lines to follow) and then using the follow-me tool click on the segment of the side surface created by the arc.

If you're looking for something different, give me a little more info...

[tom_k/mo]

I went through lesson 5, making the raised panel. Everything went great until I applied the edge to the panel. After using the "Follow Me" tool, it "routed" the edge, but left a little tab on the corner where I started.
...
If I use the eraser and delete the lines around that tab, it also deletes the surface on top of the ridge going all the way down the top.
...
The back side is perfect. I guess something is out of alignment somewhere. I completely rebuilt the molding shape for the raised panel, but the same thing happened. Any idea where the problem is?
...
Using what I learned from this lesson, I was also able to apply a chamfer on the fingers of my display case. But a round over edge still had strange results.

Heathicus, I THINK your problems all are inter-related, and involve careful and accurate construction. The follow-me problem you had on the 3rd lesson producing a round-over with multiple lines in it and not "smooth" like mine I believe is due to the fact that the round-over you defined is not exactly a 90-degree arc and the ends of the arc are no TANGENT to the edges. This would cause the problem you described. If you have problems constructing a good 90-degree arc, construct 2 intersecting guidelines from the edges of the part to be rounded at the correct distance to define the center of the arc. Then construct a circle from the intersection of the guidelines to the intersection of one of the guidelines and the edge of the part. The circle should be segmented at the intersections on both sides. You should be able to use the eraser tool to delete the 270 degree portion of the cirle not needed, then use the remainder for the follow-me function.

Before using the Follow-Me function, be sure that the geometry you want to use for the Follow-Me actually is on the surface and breaks the surface into 2 separate surfaces. Using the select tool, you should be able to select each section independantly. I've demonstrated that on a couple of the videos when using components. If the component you merged in for the follow-me is not on the surface, or has not been exploded, so that the geometry actually segments the surface to be "followed", it will produce results like your panel door problem.

[tom_k/mo]

Are there any more lessons coming? Are you going to talk about components in any future lesson?

Lessons 4 and 5 discuss creating and using components. As far as any future lessons, I'm more than willing to do more... How about some feedback from the community as to what you'd like covered from this point?

[heathicus]

Heathicus, Sorry it took a little time to reply to your questions. Yesterday was spent in preparing for Turkey-Day... Are you trying to do something like this?
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That is exactly what I'm trying to do. But this is the kind of results I'm getting.

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Do you mind if I send you my .skp file for you to look at?

[heathicus]

Regarding future lessons, you mentioned you had plans to discuss CutList. I'd really like to see that. My previous trials with it have been disappointing to say the least.

[heathicus]

Tom, a couple more questions.

I've been trying to get caught up on the videos at TheWoodWhisperer.com and recently watched the series he (or more accurately, a friend of his) did on Sketchup. He did things a little different than you. I imagine that is just fine and it comes down to personal preference, but I was wondering if you could give me some pros and cons over your methods compared to his.

For instance, instead of making parts into "groups," he made them into "components." He then copied the components and as he made changes to one of them (such as applying a rabbet), all of the copies of that component were changed. Have you used components in that manner before?

I will say that I VERY MUCH like your organization methods better. I like having each group/component on its own layer, a matching "text" layer for each "group" layer, and having several scenes.

You can find the videos here:
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/category/vi ... hup-video/

The guy that did those videos also has a web site called Sketchup For Woodworkers. I have NOT watched any of the videos there yet, so I can't speak to their quality or usefulness.

While I'm posting, I'd also like to give Tom a public shout of thanks for helping me with a Sketchup issue recently. He even made a video demonstration to assist me with my problem! Thanks a lot, Tom! I hope you have more lessons coming.

[osx-addict]

Tom-

In reading through lesson 1, I've got a few questions I'm hoping you can answer when you get a chance and perhaps update the lesson file to indicate for future readers possibly..

1. About 1/4 of the way in where you're talking about scenes and layers.. Just below that you indicate that you turn on shading and remove the default framing square.. Where can I find the options for shading and removing the framing square? I didn't see them in the preferences or other window settings.. Is the shading option under Window->Shadow Settings->"Use sun for shading"?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go...

[tom_k/mo]

Rick, yes you're correct, it is the shadows, not shading... As far as the framing square, depending upon what default template you start off with, there can be a framing square or a 3D human model close to the axis origin. There's no need to delete these items on every model you start, so if you create a template without them, it's one less step. I'll update the lesson 1 text to correct the nomenclature. Thanks.

BTW, there's a link to an already updated template to work with the lessons and woodworking that you can download rather than doing all the work again.