Lost ACAD User
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I'm a heavy ACAD user and I'm just discovering how easy SU is to use but I'm having trouble with some options that just aren't there....Does anyone know anything that would help me perform the same ACAD commands?
-Fillet
-Middle of two points (object snap)
-MirrorIs there anyway to manipulate the UCS....Sometimes I feel like I'm aimlessly trying to snap to the correct axis....
I've also heard that there are Ruby Scripts to help convert ACAD drawings like 'Close open lines' but I can't find that script anywhere.any help would be greatly appreciated....
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Hi Dinosaur,
Fillet is part of TIG's 2D Tools plugin and Mirror is also a TIG plugin.
Middle of 2pts? That I'm not sure about
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Every edge in SU have a midpoint that can be used for snapping/inferencing.
But if you meant the midpoint between 2 non-connected points I don't think there are any other ways than to draw a temporary line between them and snap to the midpoint. Or use some construction lines?Mirror can also be done by move/copy and scale with -1.0, or by using one of the Flip commands.
In the beginning with SU I always tried to fix and use the imported Acad files.
But now I never use them directly, because it is often much more work fixing all the problems than to start from scratch. I just make sure that any dwg/dxfs are grouped and put on layers, and then use them for inferencing/snapping.
But then I never made those Acad files myself, so when you have more control on how they are made you might have more luck? -
The 2dFillet tool in my 2dTool set works in 3d too, if also has a 'chamfer' toggle, if you fillet two lines with 0 radius it acts like trim/extend tool. There's also 2dAdjust that lets you pick several edges/arcs as targets and then several more to 'adjust' to the targets - either extending or trimming the line/arc as appropriate...
There are also several other 2dTools in the fill set that mimic CAD like 2dHatching, 2dLineStyle and 2dText...
My Mirror tool allows you to mirror a selection about any point/line/plane - it has some advantages over the Scale tool with '-1', or the flip-on-axis methods from the context-menu, as you can chose to make a copy as you Mirror - just like in ACAD.
To tidy messy edges/gaps etc 'OpenClosedLines' is available at Smustard.com [$?]
An alternative is to look at Thomthom's 'Cleanup' and 'Edge' tools ['free' - see Plugins Index link above...] which do various things that might also help... His 'guide_tools' also let you add cpoints in various ways. There are tools to add cpoints by picking points and of course there is a midpoint snap inference for any edge, so you can place a cpoint at the midpoint of any edge [if there's no connecting edge then draw a temporary line between the two points, snap to its center for the cpoint location and then erase the unwanted line]; however, if you must have this as a separate tool then http://www.smustard.com/script/Midpoint is a free download that adds this to the context-menu...You change the current axes using the Axes tool - this is equivalent to making another 'UCS' - you right-click context-menu over an axis to reset back to the 'world-axes'.
Sketchup isn't CAD so you need to appreciate the differences - the main one is that Layers do not separate geometry - they simply show/hide what's on them; so draw all connected geometry on Layer0, make a group or component and give that a different layer so that if is seen/unseen. Other non-connected geometry is made in a similar way so you get no unpleasant surprises - separating say a face and its edges by layer is very risky as erasing a visible edge can also erase an invisible that that needed the edge - because you can't see geometry on another layer doesn't mean it's not reliant on some geometry that you can see and will can be affected by your editing/erasing of that - unless you use group/component to somehow separate this geometry and you then use layers to control visibility of those...
You can also lock/unlock groups/instances so you can't accidentally edit, move or erase them - another usefu'
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