Disable least likely axis?!

Brewer · 5 Aug 2015, 00:27

Perhaps I'm missing something, but after notching up many hours with Sketchup I STILL cannot seem to make it draw or move things along my desired axes without an awful lot of jumping around in the (least controllable) depth axis first.

It seems like it would be such a simple, even expected behaviour to simply assume that, because I'm working in 2 dimensions (screen, mouse) that I wish to work in the plane I am most perpendicular to. Just ignore whichever of the three axes is closest to front to back, unless I use some specific command to employ it.

Time and time again I rotate the view so that I have a pretty square view of the plane I want to work in, but Sketchup seems insistent on attaching things to the axis I can't see, or shifting an object off of the ground plane and into some random altitude - it's almost like Sketchup assumes the front-to-back axis is the one I most want to work in!

I know that there are all sorts of inference and shift controls that are supposed to control working axes, but I can't seem to figure them out at all and surely it shouldn't be so complicated.

Grrr...

Dave R · 5 Aug 2015, 01:19

I think the key thing is practice. You'll get used moving in the direction you want to go without trouble. It does take orbiting sometimes to get the camera positioned to reduce the chance of moving in the wrong direction, though. There are a couple of other alternatives. One is to switch to Parallel Projection and choose an appropriate standard view. If you only want to move in the red green plane, switch to the top view. Or, you could use the cursor keys to lock the direction and constrain it to only one axis direction.

pbacot · 5 Aug 2015, 01:24

Make a background face to define the plane. It can be a group so it doesn't interact with your edges.

Anyway it's funny how you'll get used to it eventually and gain more control. You'll forget how it was.

cotty · 5 Aug 2015, 05:22

And you should ALWAYS use an inference for all movements (Pbacots suggestion leads to the inference "on face" too). If necessary, you can lock and/or force a specific one.

If you want to move diagonal in one plane, use two movements along the axes instead.

ely862me · 5 Aug 2015, 07:46

Don't forget to hold ALT while moving to break some of the endpoints or lines bondage.(Autofold, Move + Alt (Move + Command on a Mac) to force the movement.)
Or to right click Unglue a component or a group that was created exactly over a face and is glued to it.

Brewer · 10 Aug 2015, 08:22

@dave r said:

practice
It does take orbiting sometimes
switch to Parallel Projection and choose an appropriate standard view
If you only want to move in the red green plane, switch to the top view
use the cursor keys to lock the direction and constrain it to only one axis direction.

@pbacot said:

Make a background face to define the plane

@cotty said:

ALWAYS use an inference for all movements
If necessary, you can lock and/or force a specific one
use two movements along the axes instead.

@ely862me said:

Don't forget to hold ALT while moving to break some of the endpoints or lines bondage
right click Unglue a component or a group that was created exactly over a face and is glued to it

OR... OR... simply disable moving/drawing on the third axis??!!

Seems to me it would render all of these 'options' unnecessary, and make Sketchup far faster and more intuitive to use for beginners like me that don't have everything in their model totally organised and defined and positioned and labelled, and all their secret handshakes and keyboard tai chi moves memorized. I just want to take that thing there and move it to the left, not towards me. I'm using a 2-dimensional interface, so predictable 2-dimensional behaviour would be a big plus.

Dave R · 10 Aug 2015, 09:03

It sounds to me as if you should be using a 2D drawing program instead.

pbacot · 10 Aug 2015, 15:38

So, are you drawing in Parallel Projection? I choose the "top" view from the menu and parallel projection and just draw edges. I don't see anything move off the ground plane.

Yes, there are free 2d drawing applications that are far advanced over what SU can do in 2d. I'd use them.

Edit: I see we're in "Feature Requests" section. Of course any ideas people have are good to hear. We always hope someone at Trimble looks at these.

Brewer · 13 Sept 2015, 08:04

Thanks for the "use a 2d program" tips. Helpful.

Parallel projection and standard views don't seem to help.

Here's an example. I'm laying out a picnic setting. Ground area done. Tree in the middle done. Table built. Trying to move the table towards the tree. Top view. I can select and move the table, but Sketchup assumes I wish to raise it off the ground and connect it to a branch of the tree.

I have NO wish to move it towards me (away from the ground) or away from me (towards the centre of the earth), I just want to move it north, south, east or west, so I can position it, rotate the model, look at it from different angles, move it again etc.

I could hide the tree, but then I can't see the tree.

This would be SO EASY if Sketchup could limit itself to working in the only two dimensions I can work in!