Select Tool Selecting Too Much Stuff
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I watched the videos, but I'm still confused.
So, if I zoom in to the window and put a box around the window (from left to right)....how do entire walls that are bigger than the window (thus bigger than the select rectangle) get selected?
Is this a bug within google sketchup?
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Let me guess. You're dragging the selection box from right to left?
A left to right selection box selects only those entities that fall fully within the box. Right to left selection boxes, on the other hand, select anything that falls even partially within the box. This is the way it's supposed to work. Not a bug.
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As Taylor mentioned, making a component of the window would be a good idea. Your house model has other issues as well.
I did a quick screen grab showing the difference between left to right and right to left selections using your model.
[flash=400,318:q75vtqsg]http://blip.tv/play/gYhbgovUXwA[/flash:q75vtqsg]
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@dave r said:
Let me guess. You're dragging the selection box from right to left?
A left to right selection box selects only those entities that fall fully within the box. Right to left selection boxes, on the other hand, select anything that falls even partially within the box. This is the way it's supposed to work. Not a bug.
No, I'm selecting from left to right. I saw the videos, I understand the difference. To be precise, it seems to be selecting the bottom edges of some of my walls as well. It does not make sense.
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@cmartin said:
No, I'm selecting from left to right. I saw the videos, I understand the difference. To be precise, it seems to be selecting the bottom edges of some of my walls as well. It does not make sense.
window selecting (doesn't matter which way) will go through walls etc.. it doesn't only select things that are visible on screen at the current view.. it selects everything behind the visible items as well.
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@cmartin said:
No, I'm selecting from left to right. I saw the videos, I understand the difference. To be precise, it seems to be selecting the bottom edges of some of my walls as well. It does not make sense.
Sketchup doesn't select only what is visible to you - it selects everything that is within the selection box you make. Some apps - like 3dMax ignores faces where the normals are pointing away from the camera - but even that selects things that might not be visible from the current camera position.
Sidenote - looking at your model.
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You'll find it much easier to work with a model - especially edit a model if you use Groups and Components to isolate geometry so that everything doesn't stick.
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It's worth paying attention to the front and back side of your faces. In your sample models you have lots of wall as well as the ground with their backside out. (By default SU display the frontside white and the backside blue/grey.)
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Are you referring to the bottom edges of the interior walls? Those are short enough that, given the right view point, they could be included in the selection box. As was said before, your view angle is important. If you orbit to a lower viewpoint so the bottom edges of the walls are not behind the window, you'll have better luck. Turn on X-ray so you can see those edges inside.
Normally, it would make sense to draw the walls and make a component or group of them and then add windows, doors, the roof, etc. Doing so will go a long way in making it easier to work with your model. It would also be a good idea not to draw the wall footprints on a face drawn on the ground plane as you've done. This results in missing face(s) on the bottom edge of the walls and the walls showing their back faces on the outsides.
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[add]
... and while it may seem 'wrong' to you in this case, there are plenty of cases where this is desirable..
[for a better understanding of how it acts, turn on x-ray view prior to selecting]
to me- both what you want and the way it currently functions should be possible..
maybe if it were set up that it would select deep if x-ray/back edges is on -or- only visible geometry when those view options are off
[but for now, you'll just have to work with the way it works..]
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Thomthom's Vertex Tools have a function to turn off this "select behind" option (more exactly to select back faces but if you model consistently, this should be okay)
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@unknownuser said:
[add]
to me- both what you want and the way it currently functions should be possible..Selecting only what is visible to the camera becomes very slow when you start to add geometry. I had such a features in Vertex Tools to begin with - but it didn't scale well - and that was only taking into account vertices.
"Ignore Backfaces" - where faces that points away from the camera is ignored is a nice compromise. Been tempted to make a selection tool alternative. -
Thank you very much for all the info and advice. I really appreciate it.
I teach middle school and I have my students build a house in sketchup. I don't expect the house to be perfect by any means, but the more I know, the more knowledge I can share with my students, the better and easier it will be for them and me.
Right now, I tell them to build a large rectangle and then start building a simple floor plan on top of that. And then I tell them to lift the walls all at the same time.
Should I set each wall as a component? And when we start the windows, should we draw the window on the wall where it will be located or is there a better way?
As far as having the backsides showing instead of the front sides; when I'm looking at the house from the outside (orbiting around) should all the sides be the front sides?
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@cmartin said:
Right now, I tell them to build a large rectangle and then start building a simple floor plan on top of that. And then I tell them to lift the walls all at the same time.
Should I set each wall as a component? And when we start the windows, should we draw the window on the wall where it will be located or is there a better way?
I'd separate the ground by itself, the walls, the roof. Then when adding doors and windows - draw a rectangle on the wall-face, select the face and it's edges (doubleclick) and then "Make Component". Then in the dialog you get ensure that "Replace Selection" is checked as well as cut opening. Now the window automatically sticks to the wall and cuts and opening. And since it's a component you can copy it around the house and when you open one for editing, you modify them all.
Using components is an essential SketchUp feature and absolutely worth looking up. Look at the Help section on components, search this forum and look at YouTube for tutorials.@cmartin said:
As far as having the backsides showing instead of the front sides; when I'm looking at the house from the outside (orbiting around) should all the sides be the front sides?
If you have "thick walls" - where you model the actual thickness of the wall then it all should face outwards. But if you use "thin walls" - where you just a single face as the whole wall then you can't - but it's beneficial to keep it consistently.
The advantage of keeping track of the direction of the face comes more into management of the model. For instance when you use the paintbucket to flood-fill a mesh (Hold Ctrl while using the PaintBucket) you will notice that front/backside direction of faces matter.
In general, SketchUp is a rare animal in the 3d world when it comes to face directions - other applications often doesn't display a material on the backside unless you explicitly tell it to.
For your teaching it might not be too important to highlight - but it's worth noting - as least for yourself as it some times makes a difference in SU. -
I don't think I'd start with a rectangle unless that represents the foot print of the house. Add the walls so it looks like a floor plan. Delete the "floors" and then Pull the walls up to height. Make all the walls a component or group. (I only use components but that's just the way I work.) I think drawing the windows and doors in place makes sense but, if there's more than one of the same, draw one, make it a component and copy it with Ctrl+Move to the other places. By making components or groups of things you keep them separated so that one thing can be edited without changing everything else. I would probably add the roof as another component so it can be hidden to see the interior.
As to what you make components, it depends on the level you're working to. For your application I think it's enough to make components of structures like all the walls, the windows, doors and then furniture, etc.
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Hi folks.
A simple trick that works well in some case: don't bother trying to select only what you want.
Instead, select what you want and, if only a few items are selected by mistake or because you cannot avoid it, unselect them. To "Unselect", you press and hold the SHIFT key to acticate the "Add/Subtract" mode to the Selection Tool. You will see a small ± sign near the cursor. Click on the selected items to deselect them. You can reselect a deselected item as well. Release the SHIFT key when done.
I doscovered that, sometimes, it is faster to use that method than to try zooming, panning and orbiting , trying to avoid selecting items. Of course, uing X-Ray mode is quite usefull to insure that nothing superfluous has been selected.
Just ideas.
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@thomthom said:
I'd separate the ground by itself,
would i do that by drawing a large rectangle and then making that rectangle a component? then I can start building on top of it?
@thomthom said:
draw a rectangle on the wall-face, select the face and it's edges (doubleclick) and then "Make Component". Then in the dialog you get ensure that "Replace Selection" is checked as well as cut opening.
so after I draw the window, do I cut out the opening and then make it a component?
thank you all for the info. I will definitely start to use components.
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