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Just trying something.........

Stuart Ablett

Stuart Ablett

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Location
Tokyo Japan
I'll be doing some major reorginization of our Liqour shop in the coming months, at least 5 new pieces of casework, which will be a fair amount of work.....:rolleyes:

I have been fooling with SU, and I have done a fair rendering of the layout of our shop.

When I started this, I did not really think I would make it work, usually in SU, I get 10 or 20 minutes into it, and give up, as I've screwed it up so bad, it is not worth it :eek:

This one worked out :eek:

View attachment L_Shop3.skp

That is a SU model attachment, I was wondering if I could add the .skp extension to the list of extensions that can be uploaded, so this is a test............

If you run SU , try to download this and see if it works......?

Cheers!
 
Worked for me...and as proof, here are the JPGs Tod asked for:

L_Shop3a 800.jpg L_Shop3b 800.jpg

Looks like a good start, Stu. I can relate to the initial frustrations with SU, but once you start getting the hang of the basics, it gets a lot easier. I still have lots to learn, but I can use it as a tool now.
 
Yep, one finger at a time :rofl:

Dunno why, but the SU crashed...? Before that, I could not save the thing as a Jpeg....:dunno:

I'll give it another go.

Cheers!
 
First, thanks for chaning that. This is going to be handy to be able to upload SU files!

Now two suggestions. Make you walls transparent. It really makes looking at the Shop easier!

Second thing. Make all the shelving, cabinets ect. components. That will cut down on your frustration level!! Then you can't accidentally mess us as much. You can still mess it up though. :D

I have gotten to where I now draw the machine, cabinet, what ever outside my shop. Make it a component. Then drag it inside the shop. Works better for me.
 
Stu, you can make the walls transparent by applying a translucent material from the Materials browser. Before you bother with that however, delete the walls. Off to the side, redraw them and make the walls a group. Then you can put the stuff in the shop separately.

Those components and groups are a good idea.
 
Also, try this. Go to Window>Styles and click the Edit tab. Click on the wire frame cube. In the lower part of the dialog box you'll see a drop down menu called Color: In the meny, select By axis. Note that the lines in your drawing become red, green or blue. Well the ones that are parallel to an axis become the color of that axis. The angled display near the door and the cash register show some black lines on the diagonal faces. Notice however that the display rack near the back of the store also has some black lines. These are not parallel to an axis. I imagine they should be though. As you are getting started, you might want to set your line color to by Axis so you get immediate feedback. Much easier to fix if you catch it up front.
 
Thanks Dave, this is the first thing that I've done that really worked out, even near what I thought it should! :rolleyes:

I'll start over with the actual dimension of the L shop, I DO have the blueprints here :thumb:

Lots to learn, but I think I might be at a tipping point, where I'm not TOTALLY intimidated by it all!! :D

Cheers!
 
Stuart Ablett said:
Dunno why, but the SU crashed...? Before that, I could not save the thing as a Jpeg....
Click to expand...

On the mac you do not get a jpeg doing a "Save-As". You get a Jpeg by selecting "File -> Export -> 2D Graphic". Is it different on the Windows version?

Stuart Ablett said:
The component thing, yeah, I'm learning that!!
...
I'll start over with the actual dimension of the L shop, I DO have the blueprints here
...
Lots to learn, but I think I might be at a tipping point, where I'm not TOTALLY intimidated by it all!!
Click to expand...

Agree with the others: use Components.

But you also will be happy with learning about Layers. Right now your SU file is all on one layer, and you have no components. So if you triple-click on something, it selects EVERYTHING, which would certainly frustrate me.

I'm still in many ways a SU beginner, I think. However, to me the two things that I've learned that make SU much much more useful is to use components and layers.

I make everything a component. And I group things and put them in layers.

For instance, if I was doing your shop I'd start by drawing a floor. Then right-click on it, and make it a component, named FLOOR. Then I'd make a wall, and again make it a component, repeat for all the walls.

THEN, make a layer called "Walls" and select each of the wall components and put it on that layer. Later on if I'm working on something and the walls are in the way, I just open the layers window, and click the button that hides the ENTIRE layer. Now they aren't in the way when I want to work on something, but they're still there.

I agree with Jeff that making walls transparent is useful, but it is even more useful to put them on a layer so you can hide them as needed.

I'd repeat this for the various cabinets, making components, and grouping parts onto layers.

For your shop, if I'm mostly just doing this for layout and ideas, I would keep the cabinets as just simple boxes, maybe with some lines and indentations. I would NOT bother building them up out of individual components of sides, backs, shelves, doors, etc.

Also, since you're planning a rearrangement, a layer helps you out with that. For instance have a layer named "current checkout counter" with the current setup of checkout cabinets in it. Make another layer called "checkout option 1" and put together some new cabinets. Repeat with option 2 or option 3.

Then you can just hide and unhide different layers to see what different layouts would look like, without having to duplicate things.

Of course, using components, duplicating things opens up another world of options. Say you have 3 identical shelving units. Make one, make it a component, then duplicate it. (On the mac, if you hold the option key while moving an item with the move/copy tool, it duplicates it.) These duplicates are NOT unique. So if you change one of the shelving units, all 3 are automatically changed. This is great for a shop like this, as you probably have lots of near-identical storage units.

Well I've nattered on enough.

have fun, and keep posting ideas!
...art
 
I was hoping Dave would jump in. But the turning point for me in SU (I think) was when I learned about components. I had the basics but Super Dave cued me in on the rest. It made a HUGE difference for me when "it clicked".

Looks like you starting to near the hump and the learning curve gets much easier. I gave up several times on it. Now I love it.

I have a job today, but tonight if I have some time, I will try to make a few components to show you a little on that. But remember, Dave forgot more than I know!!
 
Thanks Art, that is a lot of info, and great advice.

Yeah it is coming, I have about 2+ hours most nights in the L shop that I'm just sitting there, not much to do but wait on business to walk, or stagger:rolleyes: through the front door.

I often cruise the auctions sites or such, but that often ends up costing money! :eek:

There is much, much more to learn here, I very much doubt I'll ever use it to design VERY intricate stuff, but for the cabinets etc, it is great, I will be able to show customers a 3D rendering as well, which is a good thing :thumb:

I'll keep plugging away at it!

Cheers!
 
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