# Bring This Bridge To Life **URL:** \ **Category:** SketchUp\ **Created:** [February 27, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137 "2016-02-27T06:47:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/264 "2016-04-28T20:18:51Z")
Apparently I’ve contracted cellulitis as a complication from edema. I have high blood pressure, and so I guess I scratched an itch recently and boom! Infection city. ---
**Author:** ![Gully\_Foyle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/gully_foyle/32/124_2.png) [@Gully\_Foyle](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Gully_Foyle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/265 "2016-04-28T20:50:22Z")
> [@MikeO](#): > > Apparently I’ve contracted cellulitis Hmm. My ex-mother-in-law had a pretty bad case of cellulite. -Gully ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/266 "2016-04-28T22:00:43Z")
I suspect that’s not the precise same thing. Basically I’m supposed to place myself in traction for a week, take my antibiotics, then go back next week and follow up with the doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Gully\_Foyle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/gully_foyle/32/124_2.png) [@Gully\_Foyle](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Gully_Foyle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/267 "2016-04-28T22:24:18Z")
What, no pain killers? Are you going to be able to operate your computer while in traction? You could kill a week on cleats and davits and street lights and so forth standing on your head, or hanging by the ankles, or whatever. -Gully ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/268 "2016-04-28T23:27:52Z")
I’m finding it impractical to put myself in traction, so I’m just gonna do my best to manually raise my leg. I’ll be at the computer.but taking breaks from it until the infection goes down. ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/269 "2016-04-30T14:43:25Z")
Okay, no word of a lie. I had a nightmare where I was inside of SketchUp, working on my model trying to build the ferry. The thing suddenly came to life (a la Transformers) and attacked me. I woke up screaming. Might take a bit more time off. These antibiotics are messing me up, man. ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/270 "2016-05-02T00:54:08Z")
Alright, back in action. ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/f/8/f811da9d8c85562dc1e2a4de5236e7acd38dd4bc.png) I realized the curved pole th- I mean, davits - were spaced much too far apart. So I moved them closer together and began giving shape to the lifeboat shell. ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/271 "2016-05-03T19:36:29Z")
Is this thing still on? [taps microphone] Was just wondering how to inscribe lettering onto a ring, a la life preserver? Would I put it on an extruded rectangle piece and then curve it somehow? ---
**Author:** ![TheOnlyAaron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/theonlyaaron/32/9436_2.png) [@TheOnlyAaron](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/TheOnlyAaron)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/272 "2016-05-03T20:43:01Z")
Check out @Box reply from another thread: > [@Bending text to conform to awning shape](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bending-text-to-conform-to-awning-shape/24481/17): > > Extruded 3d text is set to glue to a surface while actually being slightly above the face to help avoid z-fighting. (when two faces try to occupy the same point in 3d space). This stops it easily intersecting with the face it is glued to.It helps to set a negative value for the text so that it is already buried in the face, then unglue and pull,move or scale up just make a clean intersection. > > If you just want the outline of the letters, use intersect with model and delete the lettering.If you want cut in letters, set the correct negative depth, explode and intersect, then clean up. ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/273 "2016-05-03T21:07:46Z")
Not quite what I meant, or am I simply not bending my mind in the right direction? Imagine the ferry, be the ferry…there is no ferry. Hence, the bridge. What? Anyways, behold: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/3/f/3f25bb1092c1b5bd34957bdf15a8f53461a417de.jpg) The life rings, they have the words “ST JOSPEH ISLANDER TORONTO” on them, was just wondering how to accomplish this in SketchUp? ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/274 "2016-05-03T23:59:11Z")
> [@MikeO](#): > > Would I put it on an extruded rectangle piece and then curve it somehow? See this thread for more on how to do this: [2D Text around a circle?](http://forums.sketchup.com/t/2d-text-around-a-circle/8836) [added] I generally explode the text and then group each letter and then use @Geo’s approach to place the letters around the circle. I pick a size and then as I start putting them in place, I quickly see that they need to be larger or smaller to space things in order to come out evenly. In the case of your life rings, you can import an image (even if it’s fuzzy) to help get the size of the letters without too much trouble. ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/275 "2016-05-04T00:03:53Z")
I’m liking @Geo’s suggestion the best, but it looks like it’ll involve doing each letter/digit individually. ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/276 "2016-05-04T00:41:52Z")
> [@MikeO](#): > > it looks like it’ll involve doing each letter/digit individually It doesn’t really take that long … you might even be able to use this one from the warehouse: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/embed.html?mid=551b2689-f3ea-463d-803d-1040b0bba3da&width=580&height=326 ---
**Author:** ![john\_drivenupthewall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@john\_drivenupthewall](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/john_drivenupthewall)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/277 "2016-05-04T02:36:26Z")
to keep the file size down, I made an image from Jim’s and painted simple geometry… here’s a skp to show the concept… [lifering\_png.skp](https://forums.sketchup.com/uploads/short-url/vtKUNISn8bSTYLPsQbylocwtb0F.skp) (286.1 KB) john ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/278 "2016-05-04T02:52:06Z")
> [@john\_drivenupthewall](#): > > to keep the file size down Good idea … I can never seem to model anything with fewer than 10,000 polygons 😉 BTW, @MikeO, here’s one that’s getting away: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/b/1/b171d8bdad3705422bfc3d97422749fe025b56af.png) ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/279 "2016-05-04T03:04:49Z")
That’s probably the one that fell off the ferry. So should I import that one? ---
**Author:** ![MikeO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikeo/32/15918_2.png) [@MikeO](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeO)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/280 "2016-05-04T03:10:24Z")
Also, that moment where ultra-guru experts come along and do in 19 seconds what would probably take you 30 hours. ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/281 "2016-05-04T13:00:30Z")
> [@MikeO](#): > > So should I import that one? I think that @john_drivenupthewall has the right idea. Strangely enough, when searching the web for some way to generate curved text, I learned that my copy of Word already has the ability to do so. Using a screen capture from Word and importing it into SketchUp gives this: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/6/9/69fa974a8d6b3ec284e06767e146cb05467f3399.png) I think I would use this one instead: [life\_ring.skp](https://forums.sketchup.com/uploads/short-url/ndya1XdzCBoJUoMMS5I37B9G6gC.skp) (232.0 KB) ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/282 "2016-05-04T13:03:38Z")
> [@MikeO](#): > > Also, that moment where ultra-guru experts come along and do in 19 seconds what would probably take you 30 hours. I occasionally scroll back through the 278+ entries in this thread and will (once again) make the observation that you’ve come a long way in only 9 weeks. The more you play, the more you learn 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jimhami42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/jimhami42/32/1781_2.png) [@jimhami42](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/jimhami42)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137/283 "2016-05-04T15:00:00Z")
Looks like my last reply was the straw that broke the camel’s back 😉 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/6/4/644de6e77f935fbe3ddd3f627c7e0fcd4b75edc9.png) [Previous page](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137.md?page=13) [Next page](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/bring-this-bridge-to-life/21137.md?page=15)