T.Nyland Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) For those who don't know, Google has a program "Sketchup" In Sketchup, you can create, modify, and publish models of whatever you like. We use it to create stage designs like these: | --- 50yd bay, originally made by DVCMarkR http://www.mediafire.com/?28uk34mtg7lm1m6 100yd bay, modified by T.Nyland http://www.mediafire.com/?xd7yv4uahh4nxn5 Download Google Sketchup http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/ More USPSA designs http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=USPSA&styp=m&btnG=Search&hl=en-GB&ct=lc&start=48 --- Any bugs, questions, or comments? Suggestions? Edited January 22, 2012 by T.Nyland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdphotoguy Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) Your DropBox links don't work. Sketchup is an awesome app, bit over complicated for stage design, but for lack of anything else, it's what I use. Edited January 21, 2012 by jdphotoguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoinHot Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Do you have props saved that can be accessed? If not does each user have to go in and draw each component? I guess I'm asking if you guys have something like "stage builder" that others could use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) And the nice thing about this models is that it lets us eyeball distance. On that note it looks like for the second picture above: Missing fault lines for steel plates. Steel looks to be closer than minimum distance. √(32 + 52) ≈ 5.8 yds < 26 ft. Edited January 21, 2012 by Skydiver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdphotoguy Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Do you have props saved that can be accessed? If not does each user have to go in and draw each component? I guess I'm asking if you guys have something like "stage builder" that others could use. There is a Template with all the various props: USPSA Template Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Been using this for about a year. I actually went and built our range to scale and have all the props we have in our barn sitting together behind a berm. It's pretty much made it so anyone in the club can just cut and paste a match together and best of all we know it fits. Very handy tool once you get used to it. There is a learning curve but stick with it and it becomes second nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Anybody figured out how to make the range surface "hard" in SketchUp so that you can't place props underground by accident ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I don't think you can. Instead of dragging I've gotten to where I just cut and paste. It helps to keep items where you want them instead of underground or 30 feet in the air. Just click the prop to highlight, hit shift+delete, put your cursor where you want the prop and hit ctrl+v to drop. In addition if you want to duplicate props quickly you can highlight item hit ctrl+c and this will copy the item then you just need to ctrl+v wherever you want the prop. If you do have to drag an item I've found the closer you get to the surface the more accurate it is. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdphotoguy Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) Anybody figured out how to make the range surface "hard" in SketchUp so that you can't place props underground by accident ? Yeah, that is a very annoying. Instead of dragging I've gotten to where I just cut and paste. It helps to keep items where you want them instead of underground or 30 feet in the air. Just click the prop to highlight, hit shift+delete, put your cursor where you want the prop and hit ctrl+v to drop. In addition if you want to duplicate props quickly you can highlight item hit ctrl+c and this will copy the item then you just need to ctrl+v wherever you want the prop. If you do have to drag an item I've found the closer you get to the surface the more accurate it is. Good luck. Thanks, I'll be sure to use the Cut & Paste method from now own. Edited January 21, 2012 by jdphotoguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 ( Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V was so much easier on a QWERTY keyboard versus the Dvorak keyboard I'm using now. ) It's the fine tuning movement that I end up getting items imbedded in the ground (or floating in the air). The only recourse has been to always make adjustments along the axes when fine tuning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Nyland Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) Fixed the links--seems like the dropbox links only work for me. The props are along the left and right berms. The stage design pictures were made several months ago, and were not drawn to scale (plates not being farther than 26 feet), as well as being drawn for a concept, rather than an actual stage. I can look into keeping models from falling through the floor, however, as far as I know, there are no ways of doing this. Edited January 22, 2012 by T.Nyland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 ( Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V was so much easier on a QWERTY keyboard versus the Dvorak keyboard I'm using now. ) It's the fine tuning movement that I end up getting items imbedded in the ground (or floating in the air). The only recourse has been to always make adjustments along the axes when fine tuning. Yeah the closer you get to the prop and the closer to ground level you get the less likely you are to stack or burry a prop during fine adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overwatcher Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Awesome! Thanks for the heads up on this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Nyland Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Awesome! Thanks for the heads up on this! No problem! Glad I could help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reichebrown Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Took me a while to get used to copying and pasting things. Took a while to get over the motion sick feeling like I was playing doom again... I look forward to spending some time paying around with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveT-NV Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Anybody figured out how to make the range surface "hard" in SketchUp so that you can't place props underground by accident ? This video on using Sketchup "Copy and Arrays" is helpful for minimizing this problem - http://youtu.be/Yk6ok7S8goA Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Anybody figured out how to make the range surface "hard" in SketchUp so that you can't place props underground by accident ? This video on using Sketchup "Copy and Arrays" is helpful for minimizing this problem - http://youtu.be/Yk6ok7S8goA Steve Thanks, but most of those copies and moves were done always on axis. The one time they copied off axis, there was a volume object (eg. the steps) for the copied object to snap to. It's the fine tuning moves that are off axis which seem to drive objects below the ground, or catapult them into the sky. My solution has always been to move on axis which makes me sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveT-NV Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) Anybody figured out how to make the range surface "hard" in SketchUp so that you can't place props underground by accident ? This video on using Sketchup "Copy and Arrays" is helpful for minimizing this problem - http://youtu.be/Yk6ok7S8goA Steve Thanks, but most of those copies and moves were done always on axis. The one time they copied off axis, there was a volume object (eg. the steps) for the copied object to snap to. It's the fine tuning moves that are off axis which seem to drive objects below the ground, or catapult them into the sky. My solution has always been to move on axis which makes me sad. I'm not sure this will help, but I believe the key is selecting the object you want to move by a bottom end point, before moving it. For example to move objects that are already on the "ground", select the object by a bottom "end point", then move it to the same plane, or move it first to an edge point of a different plane before fine tuning the position. I just tried it and purposely stayed off axis while moving it and it seemed to work for me. See the screen shots below. If an object gets off axis (hovering above ground or has gotten under ground), then try selecting the object using the move tool by a bottom end point, then dragging it to the "ground" and it should snap down to the surface. The first image -sketchup1 shows grabbing the object by an end point. The second image - sketchup2 shows moving it to a higher plane, but pausing first on the edge of the higher plane before moving it around. This SketchUp video also may help - http://youtu.be/ZwJntmJxi78 - fast forward to around the 13:00 minute mark. Hope this helps. Edited February 20, 2012 by SteveT-NV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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