Every time I open SketchUp I get a fresh template with a human figure already positioned near the origin point. Is there a way to have the template open completely blank?
I tried searching the knowledge base and found no hit.
Easy! Open a template with overall settings you like (or change settings to how you like), delete the human figure, and Save As template, telling SketchUp to make this your default template.
or go to Preferences >> Template and choose a different one without the figure…
john
After you delete the figure from the model space, you’ll probably want to purge the unused component and unused materials from the file before saving as your new template. Go to Window>Model Info>Statistics and click on Purge Unused.
If there are other things you want to change such as dimension units and precision or the style (background color, edges style, back face color, etc. Make those changes and update the style before saving the template.
Thank you, all!
What great response from this group!!!
I followed the instructions given by slbaumgartner and DaveR and saved my customized template. After purging components I notice that the component tray listed 6 components (shelving unit, cafe table, fence, frame, Pie, Title Grid). However, under statistics there are 0 components. Since I have no plans to use the listed components is there a way to remove them from the component tray?
Mike
These components?
Those are not in your template or your model . If you notice, they are in the Dynamic Components Training library. Look at the bottom of the window.
You can delete them if you want but leaving them has no impact on your template or future models.
If you don’t want to see them in the Components window, change to a different library in the drop down list that shows 3D Warehouse. Or just click on the house icon to the left of the drop down list to go to the In Model library.
Thank you DaveR. Very quick response time.
Mike
hi,
now a new template after removing the scale figure and “purge unused” produces a strange new file (without the figure as expected), where horizon and precision of zooming and orbiting disappears, drawing is not allowed either except in parallel projection view. however, changing back to perspective brings back the mentioned problems.
the default templates are not affected.
this might have happened after upgrading to vray 7.0 but i can t see the connection, as i tested it after uninstalling vray as well.
luckily, i ve found a well funciontning custom .skb i ve generated earlier, but saving this as a template takes me back to the same point.
best
b-test.skp (132.3 KB)
Share your template file so we can see exactly what you have set up.
You need to draw a rectangle of a suitable size for what you are modeling and then press Zoom Extents.
When I create a new template I draw a box about the size of the sort of things I would typically model and use Zoom Extents to set the camera location. Then I delete the box and save as a template.
i ve found a method to make it work, of course this is not productive but it may help understanding the problem. 
1 open the file
2 do not orbit!
3 R for rectangle
4 1st attempt brings the horizon back
5 draw
If the b-test.skp you shared is your new template, I notice a couple of unusual things in the saved style that may be causing your problems: You have the background, sky, , ground and default back side color all set to the same light gray color. That makes it impossible to view the horizon and causes some issues with orbiting. Either turn off sky or edit it to a different color.
After that change, I had no trouble maneuvering or drawing in the model.
Sorry Dave, I meant to reply to the OP not you and must have clicked in the wrong spot!
If you do what I described in my previous post you won’t have to do those steps.
I would also suggest that you turn off Length Snapping in Model Info>Units and set Display Precision higher than you actually need in the finished model so you can see small discrepancies and errors if they occur.
This how you have that set currently.
thank you DaveR, slbaumgartner!
@slbaumgartner the unusual things you have noticed are actually the very result of the problematic template, which i derived from SU default, “architectural” without changing the original colors of gound, sky, etc.
@DaveR i was counting myself technically competent, but apparently…
following the steps you have described, i understand, that it didn t work by looking at the horizon (not metaphorically) as it turns gray immediately after saving as a template.
horizon_gone.pdf (1.2 MB)
Yeah, I had the same issue. To fix it, go to File > New, and then under the template selection, you should be able to choose a “Blank” template instead of the default one. That should start you off with an empty workspace.
thanks cfeldman, but is it then not a system default instead of a custom one?
Hmmm… It shouldn’t turn gray when saving as a template. If the camera position is high enough and you’re looking down on the model space you wouldn’t see the horizon, though.
it is more like, someone has to remind it, that the horizon is actually there… once orbited or zoomed there is no recovery, but R for rectangle (a non resizable tiny one appears on 0/0/0), then another rectangle et voila, the horizon…
horizon_back.pdf (329.9 KB)
Share the .skp file again.
What kind of things are you modeling?
