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Why is this not flat???

Discussion in 'Sketchup Help' started by jackosmeister, Jun 15, 2009.

  1. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Heya

    Im about to throw my toys! :twisted:

    For some reason these two parts are not coplanar, or sketchup thinks they are not co-planar..

    I cant see the problem with them? :? :oops:

    Any ideas?

    Thanks,

    Chris Attached files Coplanar.skp (33.4 KB)Â
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Don't give up :D
    Here you go



    I just used the flatten to 2D script and that fixed it right up
    You can find that script here
    http://www.smustard.com/script/Flatten
    It cost 10 bucks

    You could also use the FREE flatten parts menu item in that Phlatscript as well (right click)
    Hope this helps :)
    Mark Attached files Coplanar.skp (149.6 KB)Â
     
  3. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Awesome, Thanks!

    I was wondering if flatten to 2D would fix it, I dont know how it become 3D Actually!

    I dont see a flatten parts menu item? I get a Phlat Edge sub menu at the bottom of the right click menu?

    Thanks again!
     
  4. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    That's where it is
    Well I just realized that I have been working with the latest version of the Phlatscript almost ready for release and it has the flatten option built in. Looks like this from a right click


    [​IMG]


    It will be out soon,(sorry) but in the meantime I think there is a free flatten script out there that you could use I thought I could find it but I looked and could not this morning maybe someone else out there know about it?
    If you need it right away, just bite the bullet and get the flatten script, its worth it and saves a lot of time.
    For 10 bucks its worth it
    BTW what it that model your working on?(if you don't mind)
    Mark Attached files [​IMG]
     
  5. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Ahh OK That would explain it ;)

    Stop That Pidgeon! Attached files [​IMG]
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    Y'know, ONE time I wasted over an hour chasing tiny mismatches and weird tool-paths, then I finally remembered I had the Flatten script. I went back to the "before I messed it up" copy of my drawing and then used the Flatten script. Suddenly all the mismatches and goofiness wasn't there, and the script had paid for itself!
    That's a nice-looking model, by the way. It should be a lot of fun to fly. (Indoor?)
     
  7. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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  8. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    That is simply beautiful jackosmeister[/b I love it!
    Do you have plans to post this in the free plans section? :D
    Really nice work thank you for sharing
    Mark
     
  9. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Yup, It hasnt even been cut yet, too many projects! But yeah 100% when its done and flying Ill stick it in the free plans section.

    Busy playing with this monster now :mrgreen: Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  10. Evil-Tunes

    Evil-Tunes Moderator Staff Member

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    That plane looks sweet. :ugeek:


    Cheers
    E-T
     
  11. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Wow your designs are really incredible! Nice work jackosmeister :)
    Looking forward to trying these out!
    Mark
     
  12. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Bit of an update.. Nearly finsished the SU26... But my P4 is showing its age and Im down to about 5 FPS and havent finished it yet. Sketchup is very hard to use, and pretty unstable at the moment :mrgreen:

    Might have to wait until I feel like spending money on a new PC before it hits the phlatprinter.

    Ive had to cut it down to a profile fuse version in the meantime, far less parts and much more useable framerate!, My PA Addiction needs urgent replacement! :oops: Attached files [​IMG]
     
  13. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    That design looks great. The large stubby wings looks like they mean business.

    If you do purchase a new machine just for Sketchup remember that it is only capable of using one CPU core. Even if you picked up a 4 core (Core 2 Duo or similar) if the speed of each core is not more than your current P4 you will see a minuscule increase in performance.
     
  14. kyyu

    kyyu Active Member

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    It's probably just your video card. What are you using? I orginally had a gforce 5200, then my friend upgraded his and gave me his 5900. This was before I messed with sketchup, but what a difference in size between the two. I needs it's own power connector, and I can actually hear it spin up. 5900 is probably not that powerful by today's standard, but it can easily do that model in sketchup. When I turn off hardware acceleration, it's slow indeed. I'm also running a p4, 2.6gHz with 1gig ram. One problem is they stopped making the pci cards, and gone to pci express; otherwise it would be really cheap to upgrade. Maybe you can still fine something out there.

    -Kwok
     
  15. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Cheers, Its a radeon X800 256mb All-in-wonder (Only PCI slots on the MB) , Ive got 1.5GB ram on a P4 2.4ghz and she is stuggling hard with this thing! I think its a ram thing as I can hear the harddisk going mad as it slows down, I assume its trying to do it in virtual memory and cant keep up.

    Ive tried turning off everything (anit aliasing etc etc) on the video card, It gets uglier but no better frame rate with everything turned down :?

    As it is, Its struggle to draw a rectangle at this frame rate :roll:
     
  16. kyyu

    kyyu Active Member

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    I only got 1GB system ram and 128mb on my video card. When I reinstalled winxp sketchup was really slow. Finally, figure out I have to enable hardware acceleration in sketchup. Might want to check that. There is a check box in window/preferences/OpenGL

    How are you seeing your frame rate?

    -Kwok
     
  17. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    Hey hey!! Results!

    Seems like sketchup had unchecked itself!... I then rechecked it, and got the images below :roll: I exited sketchup and restarted, and it had disabled it hardware accleration again.. went through this 3 times before it seemed to stay checked.. No idea why!

    I rebooted and opened sketchup again and got the same weird things going on, checked "reverse face bug" box and it was fixed!... But the faces were selecting backwards! So unchecked it and it now seems to be All good :D Weeeeiirrd computer, but its MUCH better now!

    One odd thing still remains, the image doesnt look to have any antialiasing, sketchup reports my video card as having 0X antialiasing, video card says its 6X :?: I dont think Ill touch anything now that its working though!

    Thanks! Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  18. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

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    I thought I was the only one who had problem with SU being so slow. I too thought it was my computer, and I have a P4 3ghz with 2gig ram. I figured that it is not the video card since I had assigned it 256mg ram in windows.

    I changed the setting as Kwok said, the accelerating thing, and it became faster but now when I have the select tool and try to select something, the screen turns black and I have to guess where I want to end the selection. But it is faster. The 'screen getting black' problem disappears when I uncheck the accelerations thing.
     
  19. jackosmeister

    jackosmeister New Member

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    It does seem to be a select tool thing actually, The image looked like the upper one, and then I tried to select a part or move a part and I got the wobbbly scewed thing going on.

    Its probably an ATi driver thing.. They are terrible.
     
  20. kyyu

    kyyu Active Member

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    TigerPilot, if you got to assign system ram to video, I've got to assume its a pretty poor card. What card you got? I don't remember doing that recently. Maybe during my P1,P2 days.

    I never thought Sketchup was that graphics intensive, by today standards. So I did a test to show an older card and old pc would still work. I have a old Dell P4 1.7gHz with 512mb ram, with my old geforce fx 5200 (128mb) installed. And I will be running at 1680x1050 display resolution. FX5200 is an old card, probably bought it 6+ years ago for $100. No huge heat sink and power connector like today's cards. I am not a gamer, so I don't splurge on graphic cards. Here is a stock photo of the exact Asus FX 5200 card I own:


    I installed Sketchup 7. And then ran my most complicated file, a 3d model of the PP.
    When I tried to rotate it, nothing happened for a few seconds. Like sketchup was thinking about, how it could possibly do it. Then it was able to move it. There was about a second delay, but seemed usable. I notice both sides going transparent and other parts, during the move. Ok, lets see if we can do better, so I go check out the hardware acceleration setting. Well the "Use hardware acceleration" box and the "Correct reversed picking driver bug" box were greyed out. So it's not even available on my card? Can't be? The video card was using the generic driver installed by winxp, so I download the real driver (dated july 2008) from nvidia. Installed it. Reboot. And those boxes are now black and ok to use. So I check "Use hardware acceleration" and bam!! , sketchup is flying fast, just like with my regular desktop running the 5900 card. I've already posted the spec for my desktop.

    So what did I learn? 1) It's not the computer. So don't blame your computer or ram. 2) It's all about the video card and the driver. And the video card doesn't have to be exceptional.

    [addition]
    Here's what sketchup has to say about OpenGL & Hardware Acceleration. Most notable is this paragraph, "Many video card manufacturers have also built cards that support the OpenGL standard. These cards perform the rendering calculations using a specialized chip called the Graphics Processing Unit or GPU (instead of relying on the CPU). These chips significantly enhance OpenGL performance upward of 3000 percent. This performance enhancement is known as Hardware Acceleration."

    And this, "SketchUp will can take advantage of hardware acceleration if your computer has a 100% OpenGL compatible video card
    .
    Unfortunately, only some 3D drivers in the consumer video card market are 100% OpenGL compatible and can use this feature (though many cards claim to be 100% OpenGL compatible). Most 3d drivers are designed for games, and are often not tested using other 3D programs. Consequently, incompatibility problems can occur requiring a fix from the video card manufacturer."
    http://download.sketchup.com/OnlineDoc/ ... OpenGL.htm

    -Kwok Attached files [​IMG]
     
  21. Evil-Tunes

    Evil-Tunes Moderator Staff Member

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    Being a some what Gamer :ugeek: I would have to Agree with KYYU That having the newest Graphic Card Drivers will help out performance Greatly. The video cards are usuly rushed out the door before enough testing on differen't machines have been done IMO.


    Cheers
    E-T
     
  22. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

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    My video card is integrated in the motherboard. Also, ever since I installed windows 7 my computer is way slower. :( Maybe it's time to go back to XP.

    I tried to install a video card but my motherboard wouldn't recognize it. Must be a PCI card and the motherboard must have a AGP slot.
     
  23. Evil-Tunes

    Evil-Tunes Moderator Staff Member

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    You have to disable the integrated card in Bios and sometimes there is a jumper on the board also.

    :)
    Cheers
    E-T
     
  24. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

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    You must be kidding. Those darn 'expert' here on the island said it should recognize it automatically and switch off the integrated card and on the installed card.

    Before I read your post I already overwrote windows 7 with XP. Downloaded the latest driver for the integrated card and now SU runs like a baby. Everything seems to display much faster as it did with windows 7. Windows 7 must be very graphic intensive or something.
     
  25. Evil-Tunes

    Evil-Tunes Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm Glad that worked :D

    I know Vista is a resource hog. I don't know about Win 7.

    Cheers
    E-T
     

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