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    The "Duh!" thread (aka the Doh! thread)

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    • brookefoxB Offline
      brookefox
      last edited by

      OK, thanks. I am not used to the command first -> selection second mode, which I should practice.

      Might it be nice if the VCB window showed the remembered value at first when the command is picked?

      ~ Brooke

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      • pilouP Offline
        pilou
        last edited by

        Thx I can't say better or I c'ant better say! โ˜€

        Frenchy Pilou
        Is beautiful that please without concept!
        My Little site :)

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        • Chris FullmerC Offline
          Chris Fullmer
          last edited by

          I would guess that most people when using the pushpull tool would select the push pull tool first, and then hover over the desired face to push pull it. Offset I often go either way. I generally use it without selecting anything first, unless I specfically need to make a selection. Move tool I find I make my selection forst almost always. Same thing with the scale tool. Just do whichever is faster for you.

          Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
          All my Plugins I've written

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          • broomstickB Offline
            broomstick
            last edited by

            Since I'm used to archicad i find it tedious to reactivate selection tool, select item, move it and repeat. So when things are still simple, I keep the move tool activated and select objects right clicking on them ๐Ÿ˜‰

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            • pyrolunaP Offline
              pyroluna
              last edited by

              don't forget the shortcut for selecting... it's spacebar, an extremely accessible key โ˜€ and the "m" for move is just above it!

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              • TIGT Offline
                TIG Moderator
                last edited by

                Using shortcuts is the single most effective way of speeding up your workflow... ๐Ÿค“

                TIG

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                • B Offline
                  Ben Ritter
                  last edited by

                  @thomthom said:

                  Some Duh! moments I've had:

                  Realising the Taper tool could be used to scale a model.

                  Realising that I could change the radius of a circle that's been extruded.

                  The taper tool? Is this my duh moment? OK, where? A plugin?

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                  • thomthomT Offline
                    thomthom
                    last edited by

                    I meant the Tape Measure tool.

                    Thomas Thomassen โ€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                    List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                    • thomthomT Offline
                      thomthom
                      last edited by

                      However, FredoScale does have a taper tool: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=17948

                      Thomas Thomassen โ€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                      List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                      • B Offline
                        Ben Ritter
                        last edited by

                        @unknownuser said:

                        One for me was when Gaieus was from Gaieus' talk at the Basecamp (I saw the video) and using the rotate tool.

                        When you click the rotate tool and click the rotation point, don't let go of the mouse button... drag it out to either red or green (or any other snap point you set up) then click to start. This relieves any need for a vertical plane to get your rotation set up.

                        See image for example.

                        [attachment=0:2b46kvl7]<!-- ia0 -->ClickHold.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:2b46kvl7]

                        I have been using SU since V2 and never knew that until last year.

                        Ooh, wow, that one hurts. In a good way.

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                        • U Offline
                          Ultimatez 32
                          last edited by

                          Hi Guys,

                          Just had a Duh! moment. I just noticed there is a 'show nested components' tick box in model info -> statistics. So that's why I can't see my polygon count when I create a group ๐Ÿ˜† (thanks thomthom)

                          ultimatez

                          Windows 7 64-bit, Intel Core i3 M350 @2.27GHz, nVidia GEFORCE 310M 512Mb with CUDA, 4gb RAM

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                          • D Offline
                            danbig
                            last edited by

                            @xrok1 said:

                            i think the biggest duh moment of all that everbody (hopfully) goes through is realizing that it matters which way the faces are oriented.

                            90% of the 3dwarehouse posters still havn't had that duh moment. ๐Ÿ˜†

                            ...ok, I'd better ask, because my mind is blank after reading this.

                            What do you mean, "it matters which way the faces are oriented"?

                            This is either something I know, in different terms, or something I don't know at all.

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                            • Rich O BrienR Offline
                              Rich O Brien Moderator
                              last edited by

                              Hi,

                              What Rocky is saying is the when you create geometry that your faces are all White not Blue.

                              If you draw a simple square on the ground plane you notice it's blue. It's basically the inside face of a yet to be push/pulled object. Once you pull it up the remaining faces are created with White faces out and blue in.

                              The problem with not orientating your faces correctly becomes apparent if you create a face within a face, and reverse one face so it's blue. Now if you pull one face then orbit you'll see the havoc it can cause!

                              Rule #1: always orientate your faces!

                              Rule #2: read rule #1

                              Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp ๐Ÿ“–

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                              • Chris FullmerC Offline
                                Chris Fullmer
                                last edited by

                                In 3d modeler's, traditionally faces have a front and a back side to them. Some modeler's have ignored the backsides of faces, so if the face was pointing away from the camera, the renderer would just ignore that face (it would not appear in your render, making for lots of holes in the model if you were not careful about getting faces oriented correctly).

                                I SketchUp, the default material light color face is the front face, and the blue-ish purpley color is the back side of the face. So in some people's eyes, it is important to always model so that the white side of the face is pointing outward (like if you make a box, all walls should be white, and all blue walls should be facing the inside of the box).

                                Most renderers can deal with materials applied to the backside of faces now, so it is not as important as it was previously. But some people (most?, many?, I don't know) still argue that it is important to model that way. It could be cosidered a Best Modeling Practice to some degree.

                                Chris

                                Lately you've been tan, suspicious for the winter.
                                All my Plugins I've written

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                                • pilouP Offline
                                  pilou
                                  last edited by

                                  And hoppfully as soon as you Pull (in Sketchup) a simple rectangular blue surface (bad oriented) ๐Ÿ˜ฎ
                                  that's magic this blue surface becomes a "white volume"! (so well oriented) ๐Ÿ˜„
                                  And no problem* to the end of your session ๐Ÿ’š

                                  *If you have not some circonvoluted volumes! ๐Ÿ˜†

                                  http://www.poleditions.com/jeener/Gravures_sur_cuivre/Ecorch๏ฟฝ_de_la_surface_de_Boy.jpg

                                  Frenchy Pilou
                                  Is beautiful that please without concept!
                                  My Little site :)

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                                  • GaieusG Offline
                                    Gaieus
                                    last edited by

                                    You can also think this way; in the physical world everything has some thickness (even a sheet of paper). Now there are two kinds of 3D modellers; "solid" modellers and "surface" modellers (like SketchUp) where everything is made up of faces (and their bounding edges).

                                    Now a front face should always look "outward" of a (fake) "solid" while the back face should be oriented inwards thus indicating that in that direction there is just the "thickness" of the object.

                                    As said above, some 3rd party rendering software do not like back faces but neither do some other applications - for instance if you want to 3D print something, these back faces will drive some printers crazy.

                                    In SU itself it is really not too important nowadays. I still remember however that even Google Earth did not like back faces and rendered only black colours where they were exposed (this has been solved by more modern exporters ever since).

                                    Gai...

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                                    • thomthomT Offline
                                      thomthom
                                      last edited by

                                      It gets even more important when you start sending models through a render engines - many features there demand that your normals are oriented correctly.

                                      Thomas Thomassen โ€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                      List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                                      • S Offline
                                        SketchUpNoobie
                                        last edited by

                                        @broomstick said:

                                        @thomthom said:

                                        A more recent Duh I had:

                                        Being able to select only a few edges from a face and offset them instead of the whole face.

                                        I had this one today!!

                                        Wow. I didn't know that! I thought you had to offset the whole thing then erase unwanted lines and draw wanted lines. Duh! ๐Ÿ˜ณ

                                        --

                                        SketchUpNoobie: the complete noob in all things SketchUp.

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                                        • S Offline
                                          SketchUpNoobie
                                          last edited by

                                          @xrok1 said:

                                          the duh moment that turned out to just be a der! moment. ๐Ÿคฃ

                                          but seriously you can copy your construction lines with (ctrl) copy, and then say *10 or whatever so you get 10 equally spaced. if that helps?

                                          Duh! Wow again! I have such a hard time dividing stuff like 7 3/16" into 3 equal sections. This helps a lot! Thanks!

                                          --

                                          SketchUpNoobie: the complete noob in all things SketchUp.

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                                          • TIGT Offline
                                            TIG Moderator
                                            last edited by

                                            @unknownuser said:

                                            @xrok1 said:

                                            the duh moment that turned out to just be a der! moment. ๐Ÿคฃ

                                            but seriously you can copy your construction lines with (ctrl) copy, and then say *10 or whatever so you get 10 equally spaced. if that helps?

                                            Duh! Wow again! I have such a hard time dividing stuff like 7 3/16" into 3 equal sections. This helps a lot! Thanks!

                                            Move+ctrl to copy + typed 'dimension' + <enter> moves the copy by that 'dimension'.
                                            Immediately typing 10x [or 10* or x10 or *10 !] will copy 10 times, at that dimension each time.
                                            Alternatively immediately typing /10 will take the 'dimension' as the total distance and make 10 copies that are fitted into the distance, dividing the 'dimension' into 10 equal parts - as you say great if you want to subdivide 7 3/16" into 3 parts without worrying about the Math.

                                            TIG

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