Basement Shop in SU

[Aaron Beaver]

Here is my basement shop I laid out in SU. If you look at some of the other tabs I input the overhead floor joists and steel beams. I originally did this for layout purposes to show where I could run duct work for a DC system when I got one. Just wanted to share it and say thanks to Dave R for all the help and adivce.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...d2470f4bfee550

[Dave Richards]

Aaron, it looks pretty good. I'm glad I was able to help.

I'm not trying to be critical but are you up for a few suggestions?

[Aaron Beaver]

Aaron, it looks pretty good. I'm glad I was able to help.

I'm not trying to be critical but are you up for a few suggestions?

Always up for suggestions, its the only way to get better.

[Jim Becker]

Great job, Aaron! I like how you used the views, too...'guess I have to learn how to do that now, LOL!

[Dave Richards]

Alright. Well here's a couple of things. These are mostly aimed at reducing file size.

First, I noticed that your screw drivers, hammers and cordless drills are groups instead of components. I don't know if you drew those or downloaded them but since there are multiples of the same tools, they should be components instead of groups.

There is an excellent script called applyto.rb available at http://www.smustard.com. It allows you to get and apply component definitions. In the case of your hammers, for example, you would select them individually, right click and choose Make component. Then select one of them, right click and choose Component Definitions>Get Definition. Select the others, right click and choose Component Definitions>Apply Definition. Repeat that for the screwdrivers and the drills. There are probably other places where that could be used.

Actually, for this sort of application you could reduce the number of segments in the arcs and circles that make up those components along with other elements in the model.

Next, play with Page settings and layers. You could make multiple pages looking at the same view of the basement. For each page you can turn off or on desired layers. You could put the joists on a layer called "Joists" and only have that turned on for the page in which you want to see them. this would allow you to eliminate the extra copies of everything that you now have.

these last things may or may not make any difference in your model but it's a good idea to do these steps with any model after you've been working it for awhile.

Go to the Materials Browser and click on the In Model tab. In the upper right corner is an arrowhead point to the right. Click there and if the Purge option is dark, click on it. This will remove unused materials from your model.

Now go to Window>Model Info>Statistics. Click on Fix Problems. Click OK. Then click on Purge Unused. This will get rid of unused junk in your model if there is any.

Keep up the good work.

Dave

[Aaron Beaver]

Alright. Well here's a couple of things. These are mostly aimed at reducing file size.

First, I noticed that your screw drivers, hammers and cordless drills are groups instead of components. I don't know if you drew those or downloaded them but since there are multiples of the same tools, they should be components instead of groups.

There is an excellent script called applyto.rb available at http://www.smustard.com. It allows you to get and apply component definitions. In the case of your hammers, for example, you would select them individually, right click and choose Make component. Then select one of them, right click and choose Component Definitions>Get Definition. Select the others, right click and choose Component Definitions>Apply Definition. Repeat that for the screwdrivers and the drills. There are probably other places where that could be used.

Actually, for this sort of application you could reduce the number of segments in the arcs and circles that make up those components along with other elements in the model.

I did download these pieces of the shop tools from that one site that has been mentioned on this forums before. I will have to play with scripts because I haven't used any yet.

Next, play with Page settings and layers. You could make multiple pages looking at the same view of the basement. For each page you can turn off or on desired layers. You could put the joists on a layer called "Joists" and only have that turned on for the page in which you want to see them. this would allow you to eliminate the extra copies of everything that you now have.

I think, not sure, that I have the joist on a layer but I thought when I turned them off, they turned off for each page because when I went back to another page they were not there, at least I thought so. I will have to look into that because that is why I made the multiple models so I could just erase the joist.

these last things may or may not make any difference in your model but it's a good idea to do these steps with any model after you've been working it for awhile.

Go to the Materials Browser and click on the In Model tab. In the upper right corner is an arrowhead point to the right. Click there and if the Purge option is dark, click on it. This will remove unused materials from your model.

Now go to Window>Model Info>Statistics. Click on Fix Problems. Click OK. Then click on Purge Unused. This will get rid of unused junk in your model if there is any.
Dave

Thanks for these tips I will have to try them out later.

[Art Mulder]

... it's a good idea to do these steps with any model after you've been working it for awhile.

Go to the Materials Browser and click on the In Model tab. In the upper right corner is an arrowhead point to the right. Click there and if the Purge option is dark, click on it. This will remove unused materials from your model.

Now go to Window>Model Info>Statistics. Click on Fix Problems. Click OK. Then click on Purge Unused. This will get rid of unused junk in your model if there is any.

Is that only in SU-Pro? I don't see a "matierals browser" in my Mac version of Google Sketch Up. But I did find the "purge unused" option under "model info".

Oh, and Aaron? for your sake, I hope that your joists aren't *really* positioned like that right over your stairs!

[Dave Richards]

While very handy to download those components, keep in mind that they may be improved with some simple editing. If you don't already do it this way, I would suggest that you open the downloaded components as new drawings, explore and edit them if needed, purge materials and purge from the Statistics window and then save them to use in your model.

As far as the pages go and hiding layers, go to the Page Manager (right click on a page tab to find it) and make sure to check the options you want to save when you create or update a page. If you have Layers checked it will save the currently displayed layers. I generally leave all the options checked and uncheck them when needed.

In SU5 the Page Manager looks like this:

[Dave Richards]

Sorry Art, I'm not sure what it is called on the Mac but I would think there is some way to purge unused textures/colors.