Guide Planes?
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Hi- I expect that what I'm looking for exists, and I could find my answer if I knew what it is called!
I understand using Guide lines, but is there such a thing as a "guide plane"? I'm lazy and it's a PITA to chase a set of horizontal guide lines around a model in order to (for example) align window tops/bottoms, trim details, etc. throughout a structure. Plus the image gets very cluttered with all the dotted lines flying through the spaces. I'm envisioning a plane that would appear somehow (dotted line?) only where it intersects the model, and would work on those surfaces as a guide line does -- so a horizontal guide plane might resemble a waterline.
As I envision such a tool, one could set up a proportioned 3-D grid for one's design. Ideally elements keyed to these planes could move with them if one wanted to re-proportion?
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TIG's Workplane plugin?
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I would second Rich's suggestion but I would also suggest that you get familiar with the built in inferencing tools because they are very powerful for doing what it sounds like you want to do.
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Hi Rich & Dave-
I've checked your responses and re-read my original question, and I wasn't clear/precise regarding why I want what I'm asking for.
I'm familiar with inferencing, though toggling between x-ray and solid views in order to snap to something I can't "see" can be cumbersome, and tricky.
I looked at a YouTube on one of the workplane plugins this morning and while it was clear that it was an extremely powerful tool, it looked like another order of magnitude of learning curve, and I could not tell whether it would in fact do what I'm looking for.
What I'm after isn't so much a drawing tool as a composition tool. If you look at a Frank Lloyd Wright building (most obviously the Usonian block houses) it's clear that they're built to a three-dimensional grid, with the X, Y, and Z grid dimensions being proportional to but not identical to each other. Most of the notable 20th century architects did this to one extent or another (Mies, LeCorbusier, Venturi, Graves -- though he liked squares a lot, etc.). I don't want to design within a lattice, but it would be useful to be able to set up a series of geometries and to be able to see where the increments fall on (in) the model as I work on it.
I don't think that a large snap-to setting is the answer either, as the series of increments I might want to work to would probably be irregular (especially the vertical increments).
Does that clarify or muddy my question?
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Carl, that does clarify a great deal. And it is different from what I was thinking you were asking for.
So if the grid is any sort of geometry in the model, e.g. edges of guide lines, snapping can/will occur. I do have an alternative suggestion that might work. That is to use images of grids as watermarks and create styles including them. Those grids (they could just be a bunch of circles or other shapes, too, depending on what you want exactly) could even be drawn in SketchUp if you wanted. Basically the trick would be to create the grids and make images you can import into SketchUp as watermarks, These would really only work in 2D views because their orientation wouldn't change as you orbit.
If you chose to go this route, you would make a grid for each standard view. Perhaps you'd have a grid for front/back, another for left/right and a third for the top view. import those grids one at a time as watermarks to create three separate styles. Call them Top, Front and Side. Then, set up three scenes; Top, Front, Side using the corresponding watermark style for each one. you might want to flip the grid left to right for the side views and perhaps for the front and back views. In that case, create five styles and five scenes. That way you can quickly check to see how things are shaping up from each view.
Another alternative would be to create the grid as an image and apply it to a rectangular face you'd stand up in front of your model. You could create it as a PNG so the white areas are transparent. If it is placed between you and the camera, you wouldn't be able to work on the model easily but again, you could use them for checking. Assign the grids to layers that can be turned on and off as needed.
This is probably not as ideal as what you were asking for but one of these could possibly work anyway.
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Carl, thinking about my suggestion has given me some ideas about doing some new styles so it wasn't for naught.
As to layers, no matter what you should learn about them. You must understand that layers in SketchUp are only for controlling visibilty. they do nothing to separate entities. So draw your "guide plane" and make a component* of it. Then you can make a layer association for the component for, say, a layer called "Guide Planes". Then you can control whether or not the plane is shown or not.
*Make a component of your grid lines instead of a group so that you can save it into a library for future use.
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@unknownuser said:
I'm lazy and it's a PITA to chase a set of horizontal guide lines around a model in order to (for example) align window tops/bottoms, trim details, etc. throughout a structure.
Carim,
This statement made me think that you could try using an actual surface, a horizontal rectangle as reference, but your subsequent posts sound like you need something more complex. I have used faces as guides. Make them with a transparent material. Group so they don't stick to anything, lock etc., place the group on separate layer as needed. If you are placing components the intersection of the guide face to the walls needs to relate to the insertion point (axes) of the component.
Dave, can't wait to see your new styles!
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Hi Dave-
Thank you for your considered response. No, your watermark solution is not quite what I had in mind!
-- But it's a whole lot like how I'd have approached it back in the drafting table days: lay out grids/guides for the plan & 1 or 2 elevations, slap a piece of trace over the top and start drawing! Except if I understand correctly there's no using the lines in the watermark for inferences, right? So not exactly a step forward...From your 4th paragraph I'm thinking maybe I need to learn about layers -- which I know something about from 2D CAD and Photoshop but am barely aware of in SketchUp. Might I create a lattice of guide lines (x, y, z grids) or other geometry in a separate layer?
I'm in the weird place where I don't use the program enough to get fully on top of how to use it, and the more I use it the less I know...
Anyway, thank you for re-addressing my question. I think I'll look into layers and see where it gets me!
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