Panic - my measures have changed

lene_iacobe · 14 May 2010, 06:20

I'm having a nervous breakdown over my sketchUp (Pro 7). I've put in carefully measured squares (with are laboratory stations for my clients). But this morning as I wish to continue my work, the measures have changed into mysterious 2000.8 mm x 1449,3 mm f.ex instead of 2000x800 which I typed. This is true for all my squares. I haven't done so much yet, but am afraid to move on before I know what caused the misere
Any ideas? I'm SO short of time, any ideas will be welcomed....
Txs, Lene
PS I attach the file if that's useful, maybe I have something on that shouldn't be...?

Geolab_updf.skp

Gaieus · 14 May 2010, 06:37

Well, I have to say I do not know what caused this. There are "inconsistencies" sometimes and something that is inside a group does not measure exactly the same when the group is measured as the same geometry inside that group but when I open thisgroup, it gives the same difference.

TIG · 14 May 2010, 08:36

Lene

Since I can't imagine that your client wants layouts to fractions of a mm, try changing your model's Model Info > Units to Precision =0mm, and Enable Snap length =1mm.
At least then you'll get whole numbers.
Did you copy groups and change their contents ? Sometimes groups accidentally act as if they are component instances and then changing one changes others unexpectedly...
When you make your rectangles do you type in the size in the VCB as 2000,800 (or perhaps 2000;800 if you have ',' as a decimal separator instead of '.') ?
There is nothing in your model to 'Fix' so we can't say what's the cause of this...
Try the above bits and keep saving and checking.
You could make these shapes as components and reuse them, and/or as they are 2D make one 1m x 1m and use Scale to set the l/w by adding the units suffix the the scaling factor - e.g. pull out the length you want to be 2000 and type 2000mm and you'll get it 2m long...

lene_iacobe · 14 May 2010, 08:55

Hi TIG
Thanks for your answers!
I haven't had the problem again, so I don't now what happened
Maybe it was my own mistake, it's been awhile. Though I can't see what I did...

Anyway, I changed prefs to your suggestions - and have a question about this
@tig said:

... if you have ',' as a decimal separator instead of '.'

where do I change that?? -Actually it's annoying that I have to use shift every time I make a forced rectangle...

Thanks again for your time!

TIG · 14 May 2010, 09:14

You are on a Mac so there are setting for the decimal separator*** - in your country [where?] I assume its 1,234m rather than 1.234m used in UK/USA etc that's why you have to use ';' instead of a ',' to separate lists of values in the VCB.
*** On a Mac you can adjust this using the Mac's International Preferences Pane - choose a country where they use a '.' etc.
Your language and keyboard settings can probably stay as is...
You need to play around to see what needs adjusting - I'm on a PC...

mac1 · 14 May 2010, 16:23

Make sure you use the rect.tool by extrude, click and enter in the vcb. I have hand cases I am convinced but cannot readily duplicate wherein I have extruded, entered in the vcb and the results is wrong and think this is related to the fact the mouse is still active but I could not see any visible changes in the rect. It maybe related to the precision and length snapping but

lene_iacobe · 15 May 2010, 12:29

Thanks a lot for all comments - i'll check and control everything
have a nice saturday, raining cats and dogs here in Copenhagen

Gaieus · 16 May 2010, 07:33

@lene_iacobe said:

...raining cats and dogs here in Copenhagen

Here in Hungary, too, for two days now. Temperature hasn't been so low for the last 70 years!

lene_iacobe · 16 May 2010, 07:41

Hi again
Since it's cold and we all stay inside close to the fire, maybe you (or somebody else) can give an answer to another measure-problem:
I want to export my SU to illustrator. But when I export to dxf and click 'option', my export options are in inches. I want them i mm. Where can I change this?
Hopefully this will solve my export-problem - when I open my dxf file in Illustrator it's not 1:100 but something close..... Which we all know is pretty nerve wrecking....

Any ideas about this? Or other ways to go about it?
I want Illustrator to make my 2D furniture nicer, put color on and generally make the plan more beautiful, but as I said, it's been a while since my last SU visit, so maybe I should spend some hours getting to know SU Layout in stead?

Thanks again for your time!
regards lene

Gaieus · 16 May 2010, 07:47

Hi Lene,

What format are you trying to export? 2D or 3D?
Also, what are your model units?

I only have units shown when I try to export in 2D dxf but there the units are shown in my model units format (centimetres in my case).

TIG · 16 May 2010, 12:57

When you export a 3D DXF it's created with the 'Units' that are currently set in 'Model Info'.
In your case 'cm' - so a line 10cm long has its length set in the 3D DXF as '10.0'
When you export a 2D DXF it's always made in 'inches' - you cannot change this.
So a line that was 10cm long in SUp now has its length in the 2D DXF as 3.937007874016 (inches) [1/2.54]
However, if you know it was in 'cm' and is now in 'inches' then you can easily apply a scaling factor to all of its contents, following the above guidance...