X Ray Specs

Hi,

I received a Sketchup model from a carpenter recently to do a quick review of the joints employed on his project and discovered the joys of using XRay view inside Sketchup.

The complete make up of joints can clearly be seen by orbiting the model and what once might have taken hours to figure out now only need take about 5 minutes to review provided of course the person drawing the joints knows what he or she is about.

Sketchup is a very powerful tool in the 21st century carpenters toolbox and will in due course I think become the defacto standard mechanism for the sharing of timber frame design and construction information between clients, carpenters, engineers and architects.

Regards

Ken Hume

Hi Ken. I share your enthusiasm for Sketchup. I'm especially looking forward to the day that I can send a sketchup model (with all the joinery) to my engineer for review, as it completely specifies everything I plan to do.

Try this trick: Map a shortcut key to toggle x-ray mode:

From the main menu, choose window | preferences.
In the list on the left, choose Shortcuts.
In the list on the right, scroll down and choose View/Face Style/X-ray.
Then click in the Add Shortcut box, and type a shortcut key or combo (I use Alt-X). Then hit the + button to add the shortcut. Then hit OK.
Alt-X (or whatever key you chose) will now instantly toggle x-ray mode. CB.