The "Duh!" thread (aka the Doh! thread)

DavidBoulder

Just stumbled across this. Take a 10' cube, use the scale tool to vertically stretch the cube, and just type a distance. This become the new height for your selected object. You don't need to give it a positive or negative number to say home much smaller or bigger you want it. Just type the size you want it to be. If it happens to be smaller than the existing size, then it will get smaller. This seems more useful on a single axis stretch, but it also works when scaling x,y & z at the same time.

Don't know how many times I had to divide 10'6 3/4" by 9'3" to figure out the proper scale for something. Actually a long time ago I realized I can snap the stretch to a guide or other geometry so I typically drew a dummy line to snap to, but now I don't even need to do that.

(update), so I guess it was right there in the online help, but I haven't read that in 5 years
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=94906

Other nice tidbits. you can type a negative distance to mirror the object, and if you do a non,uniform 2d or 3d scale, you can type multiple distances, to for example make whatever shape you have drawn, fit in a 20',30',50' bounding box.

pilou

@ DavidB
that works also for Move and Rotate

SketchUpNoobie

I used to think you had to click and drag whenever you push/pull, move, rectangle, circle, etc. I just found out a couple of months ago that you could just click, get it where you want it, and click again to finish. I was like, "Oh."

thomthom

@unknownuser said:

I used to think you had to click and drag whenever you push/pull, move, rectangle, circle, etc. I just found out a couple of months ago that you could just click, get it where you want it, and click again to finish. I was like, "Oh."

And double-clicking will repeat last operation.

SketchUpNoobie

I know that. Dunno' when I figured it out though. Probably while watching a tutorial or something. That's why I like watching tutorials even if they are on things I already know.

Roger

It seems that my Duh! moment was taking this long to find this discussion. I have always felt I was the lone idiot, but now I feel much better and much more informed.

Thanks DUHsters.

Chris Fullmer

That is the point of the thread - we all feel like the lone idiot...until you post your stupidity publicly and find that many many other people had done, or are doing, the exact same thing. It's very cathartic

david_h

Idiots are never alone.

They travel in herds. . . .most frequently seen on the great American Freeway system.

TIG

You should suffer fools gladly... one day you will be one of them!

I once invented my great new tool for the context-menu that would select all faces with the same material as the one highlighted... then RickW pointed out that it is already a standard built-in tool under Select...

pilou

Mine of the day (thx Regis)
I have found that was a good idea
Draw first the line then use

but...
you can also with only just enter in the VCB
(whatever unities in activity)
3.14cm
31.4mm
0.0314m
... (i am not very familiar with inch

pilou

Add to the previous thread
I reread the doc (that was written in small that you can enter measure in VCB with the Scale tool!

And also a cool one (in the same doc)!
You can Press in the SAME TIME SHIFT AND CTRL with the Scale tool !
For have a super scaling result!

Tobobo

One this week was more of a remembering than a Duh moment.

Using the Entity Ifon box you can increase the length of a line and No. of sides of a circle.

Gaieus

@tobobo said:

...No. of sides of a circle.

And a polygon and an arc...

pilou

@unknownuser said:

Using the Entity Ifon box you can increase the length of a line

In what side? Good or false?

spence

One of my many many "Duh" moments came when I found out that while using the Paint Bucket Tool you could hold down Shift to paint all that match or hold Ctrl to paint all connected. I use this often.

Boy I have learned a lot of new stuff from this thread

Tobobo

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

Using the Entity Ifon box you can increase the length of a line

In what side? Good or false?

The changes its length in the same direction it has been drawn. it has to be unattached at one end, and that is the end the lengthens or shortens.

Jim

Has any one here also thought of compiling/organizing this thread into a more readable format? Wiki? Print?

pyroluna

well... there's a sketchup-wiki in Dutch... so... yay! for Dutch people

Jim

Today I learned you can use the arrow keys to precisely move the selection in Paint.NET. (Holding Ctrl moves it by 10 pixels.)

Gaieus

I just realised it the other day myself, too.