Learning WIP

[Fletch]

...absolute hell for a beginner!

indeed! It is actually impossible as far as I know to build it in solids. I could have built it in about 2 days (at the time) in Microstation. Took months with ACAD. The cool part was they took our dwgs, and cut the formwork with lasers, somewhere in Minnesota?!, and shipped it to Milwaukee, put it together on site like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle... for a while I was like and then -whew- it fit together like a hand in a glove... but I had to carve it out of Clay too for the jobsite guys 'cause they could 'see' the 3D model, but couldn't understand what they were looking at.

...but it sure is lovely to look at

thanks, many many many hard hours by as many people to put that project together.

[d12dozr]

Oh wow, I didn't know you worked on the project itself I got to tour the whole building when I was in school at MSOE - that was a major engineering feat: below water level on Lake Michigan, tiny disfigured HVAC ducts, etc, etc...so you worked with Santiago Calatrava himself?

[Fletch]

yes, that was in 1998... he's probably forgotten my name by now... haven't seen him in a while...

[Bob James]

About the 4th iteration.

Used Fletch's great global background.
Re-colored the stucco per Ecuadorian's help.
Added cutout trees.
Textured the ground cover in the front yard.
Added fence and new flag from the Warehouse.

Now I need to fix the roof: it is not Spanish tile. I'm going to try to create the individual metal shapes instead and try to texture them with a bump map.
Also need to fix the flagpole texture and find some better low evergreen bushes (maybe create my own )

[Ecuadorian]

It's looking a lot better, Bob.

Have you tried these FaceMe plants?
http://www.forums.sketchucation.com/vie ... 40&t=21216

Solo's vegetation pack is also good, and it's 3D, meaning plants project the correct shadows:
http://solosplace.com/3Dgarden.aspx

[Bob James]

Have you tried these FaceMe plants?
http://www.forums.sketchucation.com/vie ... 40&t=21216

Many thanks for steering me to this. I downloaded all of them and the "Plant Collection Total" (the group of .skp files) work great.
I'm having some problem with the other two (SCF_Plant Collection and SCF_deciduous). When I import the .png file it is not "face-me". See attached.

[Ecuadorian]

Hi, make sure to only download these two files:

collections.png (15.11 KiB) Viewed 11444 times

Ignore everything else in that thread; they're duplicates. I guess you downloaded the raw PNG images; they have already been coverted to FaceMe components and they are ready for download in the two links in the image above.

To use the collections in SketchUp, unzip them to a folder, and then open that folder from your Components window using this option:

load.png (30.62 KiB) Viewed 11447 times

[Bob James]

I guess you downloaded the raw PNG images

The download from RapidShare (from the locations you indicated) included .png and bump maps: I opened the .png file.
I'm at work now, but I'll put all the files (.png and bump maps) in a new local collection. When I add them as a component in SU does the bump map get include automatically, or do I have to add it as a material in TL?

[Ecuadorian]

There were no bump maps in any of the downloads. There were alpha maps, and they are only needed if you use V-ray, because it does not automatically recognize the alpha channel in the transparent PNGs, as Twilight does.

The bottom line is that you only need what I showed in my previous post and you can safely erase all the rest, as they're duplicates. All you need to keep in the two downloads I linked to are the .skp files; you load them via the Component window. As you don't need the alpha maps (the black and white images in the same folder), you can safely erase them.

[Bob James]

It's so easy/obvious when you know how (and now I do)!! Thanks once again, Ecuadorian. I have no idea how I messed things up so completely, but all is now well.