OK, I give up
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In spite of all the helpful advice from forum members, and several hours absorbing all the 'for dummies' videos (on top of the Google intro videos), I still can't see how to do what I want to do with Sketchup.
It's too bad. I needed something like this, and it would have been very useful if I'd been able to figure it out.
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Bungo, what is it you want to do?
Maybe start of with something simple. If you give us an idea then we will try our best to guide you and get you going. -
bungo,
If this is a cry out for help than at least include (a) questions in your post.
This is not the best way to quit. Realize that you have yet the best part ahead of you, to discover what great program SU is.
So I’m with Dylan, what is it that you want to do with SU and can not?Wo3Dan
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"I give up" and "I needed something like this" just don't fit together in my book...so "my butt" to the former, or the latter, as the case may be.
(And if you change your mind on the former then please do as the kinder/gentler potiential helpers have said.)
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I appreciate the generous offers of assistance. It actually wasn't intended as a cry for help, because when I describe what I'm trying to do simply enough to post a description, I can do it myself. But somehow when I do things in context the work crumbles.
[Incidentally, tomsdesk is right: "I give up" and "I needed something like this" don't fit. The second quote should have been "Something like this would have been valuable".]
It's not any particular thing that I'm trying to do... it's that SU never ceases to surprise me by doing something I don't expect and don't want. Things end up where I don't want them, refuse to be moved to places where I do want them, and are sloppily aligned (and I don't know how to line them up). I have tried unsuccessfully for hours to draw a particular polygon face. The symptoms range from incompletion (i.e. it doesn't turn blue) to overcompletion (it turns blue and so does a previously hidden wall). I have tried using guides (tape measure and protractor), axis shifting, image tracing, and freehand sketching followed by moving the vertices. For one glorious moment I had something that looked OK (this would be on perhaps attempt #13 out of 19) but it didn't last.
I've concluded that I just don't think like ST, despite two or three days of effort. There's no way to know whether it would take another three days, or three weeks, or three months to get the hang of it.
I tend to pick up software fairly quickly and exploit it more deeply than many of my colleagues, so I don't think raw candlepower is the problem. In fact I have no clue what the problem is--if I did, I'd try to address it.
There are lots of people doing terrific things with the product. I still look forward to joining the group someday when I'm able to devote a lot more time to it.
</whine>
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Bungo198, One,
I'm glad my "tough-love" didn't scare you off completely...now: please post your model (or just a portion if it's big), best if it is in the throws of screwing up so we can see, and ask your questions. You never know just what will flick that switch of understanding...or how many times you have to flick it. When I started I just spent a lot of time tearing components, then models I downloaded, apart to see how they were built (don't forget to turn on hidden geometry :`), then altering them to see how the tools worked.
And above all, first: do whatever you do to do that mental makeover thing...at 60 I can swear to the fact that anything that isn't at least a little fun isn't even a little worth it.
EDIT: (almost made it to bed without having a second thought :`)
"to overcompletion (it turns blue and so does a previously hidden wall"entities (faces and edges) always interact with each other unless the are separated by the confines of a group or component...whether hidden or not, even on different layers and turned off
so drawing an edge will for a face with hidden edges, and will pop visable so you'll know they are there
and this drove me nut too at first (still does when it won't let me intersect both faces, each in different groups) -
You know, Bungo, after playingg around with SU for a couple of weeks andunderstanding that "wow, I might be able to use this program one day" (lacking any 3D background myself), I decided to dedicate some time (and yes, it was another couple of weeks) to systematically go through the User's Guide and do what is said there step by step. I still go back at some times (true that mainly to provide links to those need further help) and find it very useful for myself. There are techniques you are aware of but rarely use (since you don't need them in your current workflow) but this keeps one's brain refreshed and updated.
So don't get frustrated when you are not successful at the first steps.
BTW - as for the VCB; you don't try to click in there to change the valuses but just start doing an operation and typing and hitting Enter when done, do you?
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Don't give up. Drawing a closed polygon face is not usually a frustrating experience so it would seem your unsuccessful techniques must be sharing at least one thing wrong.
First off I wonder if you are trying to draw something microscopic? How small is the polygon that is giving problems? SketchUp's inferencing engine was originally designed with architectural modeling in mind and such models tend not to have really tiny faces in them. Of course SketchUp can be used to model many things but if you are trying to model watch parts with real dimensions you may find problems. (Known problems - that have work-around techniques). Please advise.
Trying to avoid inferencing can also be a fundamental problem. Inferencing is your friend! To model successfully in SketchUp you need to work with it not against it. SketchUp will inference to 'endpoint', 'midpoint', 'center','on edge', 'on line' (guides), 'parallel to edge', 'on face', and 'on axis'. Between these inferences it is quite possible to work in a single perspective view-port and get your geometries where you want them to be. Trying to avoid them will lead to wacky geometries that looked okay when they were drawn but upon orbiting it becomes apparent the lines were not what was intended. Same goes for trying to align things without using the inferencing systems help. You must also pay attention to the inferencing that is occurring because when you click, any inference will be applied whether you read the inferencing message or not.
In SketchUp there is generally not just one way to do things. The tool-set offers wonderful flexibility. A polygon can be drawn with just the line tool. It can be draw by starting with a rectangle or square using the rectangle tool and then modifying it. It can be drawn using the polygon tool - which draws regular polygons featuring any prespecified number of sides, all of equal lengths. Those polygons can then be edited if sides of unequal length are needed.
To draw a polygon with the line tool you must inference to something. The most basic way is to draw one on an existing face. Before you make edge click you make sure the 'on face' inference appears. Doing so makes sure all your edges are coplanar and drawing a five sided polygon is as easy as making the six clicks. In its most basic that would have been a free-form five-sided polygon -- all edges likely have different lengths and corner angles are likely all different. If you wanted particular lengths and particular angles (ie a "regular polygon"), that method would not be the way to go. If all your corner angles and edge lengths are to be consistent (a "regular polygon") then the polygon tool is the easy way. Upon selecting the polygon tool you can enter how many sides you want it to have. (You pick the tool and just type 5 on your keyboard and hit the enter key). So drawing a five-sided polygon with equal angles is as easy as a first click to locate the center and a second click to locate a corner.
It is also possible to construct a polygon going back to first principles and drawing all the geometries using guides created with the tape measure and protractor tools. It can of course then be a "regular polygon" or one with unequal sides/angles. Again this is easiest if you do it on an existing face so you can use the 'on face' inference to be sure guides are being created in a coplanar manner. If you do it off a face it will work you just need to be a little more careful to remain coplanar.
As has been noted -- if you can post an example (model or screenshot) of what you are trying to do it would be easier to offer more targeted advice. I really think there's probably just one little thing you are doing wrong that is messing you up. Let's figure out what that is, correct your technique, and you'll find that you can draw almost anything in SketchUp.
Regards, Ross
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Hi Bungo 198, hi folks.
To add to the already good advices already posted, I would simply add two things:
1 - Play with SU, drawing anything that comes to your mind. Start with a simple cube add add lines to it. Push and pull any new surface to see what happens. Try regular polygons first and then modify them, a little at first and then more boldly as you get the hang of it. Try starting in Top view or Face view. This will ensure that any polygon will be on the same plane and will close. Make sure you start with an empty file each time to avoid unwanted inference.
2 - Always read the line of text that appears on the left side at the bottom of the model window. It always guide you as to what SU is expecting you to do.
Just ideas.
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Bungo
If I may add to the above great advice.
In the beginning when I first found this amazing program I was frustrated to the point of giving up also, what made it worse was trying in vain to create a simple house with relative detail and finding the old forum (gone now) and seeing the “simple” models that were posted in the newbie section that made my attempts (hours of work) look like juvenile crap in comparison.
Coming from a Max background I did what all Max-elitists did and still do, blew the program off as an insult to the industry. I never touched it again for about three months. Started seeing lots of SU models everywhere and lots of chatter on every forum I frequented, eventually admitted quietly to myself that I had failed and it was not he software, so I gave myself a weekend to conquer this simple app or be conquered by it.
Well, as things stand today, three years later I am still trying to conquer this most brilliant program. Sure I am fluent with its basic tools, adequate with its advanced features and competent with many of its rubies, but SU is a living beast and everyday we learn new methods, faster processes, and our amazing coders give us new tools and rubies to advance our skills push this app even further.
So hang in there and do not be ashamed to ask for help, we all did and still do.
There is a saying, ‘to eat a mountain one starts with the first bite, then the next and so on..’ -
Thanks to everyone for the concern and advice. As it happens, I cannot afford to spend any more time on Sketchup at this point... I have already slighted some other activities that are more urgent.
I still hope to return to the tool at some point in the near or more-distant future when I can devote some time to it. Knowing there is such a supportive community will be a major motivator, and I will be trying all your suggestions then.
Thanks again.
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@bungo198 said:
I still hope to return to the tool at some point .
And when you do, post whatever it is you're playing with so that we will have something tangible (in a virtual sort of way
) to work and help you with.
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