Locking the move axis before starting
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I am using Sketchup to design manufacturing equipment and I am wasting a lot of time trying to get obects moved when fine tuning the design and fit of all the components.
I understand that when moving an object you can lock the axis once you start to move it but that isn't always possible. Is there a way to select the axis before you start to move the object?
For example, it wouold be great if I could select the object, select the axis by pressing a key (for example) then grab it and move it. Using the click on the object and click on the location dosen't always work out.
Thank you.
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Hi Doug,
With the Move tool, you indeed need to start the movement prior to being able to hit an arrow key to lock an axis but why is it so inconvenient? If it is so inconvenient,there are plugins to help these often repeated processes like RP Tools from Renderplus Systems and such.
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What follows is not uncommon. As I am adjusting the components realitive to each other in any of the three axis, I will select the object, start to move it in the direction I need, depress the shift key and the line becomes heavier and when I move the object, it takes off too far. If I release the shift key, it comes back to where I started. Working in close quarters it is often difficult to move the object in the direction you want so I can lock it in. It would be very handy if there were a key assigned to a direction.
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Well, pressing the Shift key is a general way to lock the movement in any custom direction. In this case you really have to start the move since otherwise SU wouldn't know what direction it should lock the move.
With particularly the three main axes, there is a special solution however: after you start the move (again), you can press (but don't need to keep pressed) any of the Up/Down, Left or Right keys to lock the move along a specific axis in the model (I used the respective colours above).
Would this be what you mean?
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That my friend may do the job. I'll give it a try and let you know.
Thank you very much.
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So how is it working, Doug?
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Here's something I found helpful when moving objects in crowded spaces. Select the object first, then move the cursor out into an open area where there is no geometry to trigger inference. Then click the move tool, followed by the arrow key that defines the axis of the movement. Then move the mouse...
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Thanks for that Gaieus and Teezer
For me this should go in the duh thread!
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@caddict said:
For me this should go in the duh thread!
Well, it hasn't always been there. It was introduced in the Free (Beta) version of SU 5 some 3 years ago then was made available in the Pro version as well in SU 6. Quite many "pro" users were not used to it at the beginning.
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Anyway, it's a very useful feature.
Blender has a similar axis-locking function. -
Good morning, sorry for the delay in replying, I was out of the office yesterday.
Dosen't seem to resolve my situation. It may work in the three major axis but I am moving the objects in non major axis. Specificlly I am working on a machine sloped front panel, moving objests in non major axis directions. One problem is placing objects on the surface so I draw temp alignment lines on the surface and click to place the item on the intersection of these lines and that works fine, however if I need to withdraw it from or place deeper in this sloped surface it becomes very time consuming to do.
I will try the withdraw and insert method for closely placed items.
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Doug,
You could try grouping those objects in the sloped face together, and then changing the orientation of the Axis inside the group: R-Click > Change Axes.
You can then align the group's axes to the sloped face and it will let you move the objects relative to that face. You may need to create construction lines to help you orient the axes (ie. a line normal to the sloped face to set Z-axis)
Hope that helps,
Fefo.
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Fefo, I will give that a try, thank you.
Construction lines do seem to work the best and zooming in as tight as possible seems to help also.
Weird things happen if I try the Press the Sift key, sometimes the object jumps to another part of the screen and sometimes it just dissapairs.
Sometimes I've found it very difficult to start the object moving in the desired direction hence it would be really nice if you could just select the desired axis (red, green or blue) with assigned keys.
Doug
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If you were adjusting the placement of a gauge on an instrument panel, you could select the gauge and then select the Move Tool. Then place the Move tool on an edge or surface of the panel, click and slide it around. The gauge will follow the lead of the Move tool in three dimensional space, though at a distance.
Best,
Jim
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Fifo & Jim.
Both your suggestions were very helpful regarding moving objects on the slanted surface. I was able to rotate the axis as well as slide it along the surface. Sliding didn't seem to work when I was using the Xray mode so I could see the hidden structure but with Xray turned off, did the job along with using construction lines for accuracy.
Thank you all.
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