Stretching dormers. A better way?
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Hello fellow SketchUp users! This is my first post here, so I figured the Newbie forum was a good place to start. If this question belongs in another section, please feel free to move it.
Ok, here's my problem. Frequently I'm asked to build models of our homes for clients. Initially the 3D model was done after all the CAD work was complete, so there were never any modifications. Now, however, due to the power and flexibility of Sketchup, it's become the design tool and changes are made all the time. My models are complex enough that some seemingly simple changes are very irritating to make.
For example, I'm told to "make that dormer 2 feet wider. Just stretch it to the left two feet." Easy, enough, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it without breaking or copying all the faces and then manually having to redraw them. See the pictures following for an example:
Original dormer:
"Just stretch it 2 feet to the left"
Now I get to perform surgery with the pencil/move tool, etc. *arg!&
Is there a plugin that would auto-calculate the modified ridge lines and appropriate geometry? It's particularly difficult because everything is connected and on slopes surfaces.
Anyone have any suggestions? I find it hard to believe that such a simple revision would require getting up and under all the surfaces and re-drawing/inference-locking multiple points.
Thank you so much in advance. This problem has been plaguing me for over a year now! It's very frustrating. Sorry for the long post
~Greg
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Just keep it grouped, separate from the roof. Remember: group, group, group.
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@ecuadorian said:
Just keep it grouped, separate from the roof. Remember: group, group, group.
Keeping the dormer itself grouped is no problem. It's more how the geometry doesn't scale in the fashion that I want when I need to make the dormer wider. The eaves must remain the same (12" in my case), but the actual ridge line will get higher, and rafters get longer, etc. If I scale the grouped dormer, or portions of it, parts will get scaled incorrectly.
Am I making any sense?
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how about moving the left side 1' ,then the right side 1' ,then move the whole thing 1' to the left ,then raise peak to get the slope back to your 4:12 or whatever it is (if necessary)?
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@xrok1 said:
how about moving the left side 1' ,then the right side 1' ,then move the whole thing 1' to the left ,then raise peak to get the slope back to your 4:12 or whatever it is (if necessary)?
Actually, you know what, this doesn't seem to be a bad solution! I like your thinking.
I run into a bit of a snag on the final step where I need to raise the ridge up back to it's original pitch (12:12 in this particular instance). When I try to move it vertically, it's locked in the left-right plane. I had to use auto-fold to get it to move vertically again, and when I did, it messed up the face surrounding my window-component (which is set to punch a hole in the wall). I guess I'm okay with that, but still it seems like quite a bit of work to just widen a dormer properly.
Here's pics of my process as I tried your suggestion. Am I doing it right?
Trying to move vertically but I'm locked to left and right only.
Forced to auto-fold and I get some sort of auto-fold face/component error. But it worked.
Still a little bit of cleanup, but it's much better than having to perform surgery on tiny edges and faces!
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once you move the sides you should be able to group the dormer then raise the ridge in the blue then explode and just redraw the back part to intersect the roof or move the vertices to intersect the roof.
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xrok1,
Thank you for your help. While I still yearn for the perfect "smart-scale" tool plugin, this is already a much better way of dealing with this problem. I tried it a couple times in a row, both widening and narrowing the dormer. It worked great with only a little bit of cleanup afterward.
Thanks so much!
If anyone else has a different way, I'd love to hear it, too. I can build these amazing homes, but for some reason, modifying them can be a major pain!
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@unknownuser said:
If anyone else has a different way, I'd love to hear it, too.
don't get greedy now!
@unknownuser said:
I can build these amazing homes, but for some reason, modifying them can be a major pain!
well if you start out your buildings with the intension to make it dynamic you can save yourself lots of head aches like this. for example if you would have created your dormers on (not attached to) your roof as components you could scale and move them to your hearts content.
take a lesson from your troubles.
hey, that would make a good signature; feel free to use it. 
anyway i too am usually too deep into a project before i realize i should have done it differently so if you can plan ahead you're one up on me!
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Another way that avoids 'stretching' is to make the dormer a group/compo and initially to have it as a simple gabled rood at both ends that stretches through the main roof plane. Especially useful on curved or odd angled roof/dormer combos...
Edit the dormer, switch the view settings to show only the edited item [hide rest of model] and now select all, pick intersect with model and then you should get the main slope's cut-lines appearing around the dormer's geometry. Erase the unwanted parts of the dormer and close the edit. You now have a dormer that fits neatly onto the roof...
Here's a tutorial...
If you have a half-made dormer with a wrong slope then in a similar way edit it and select all of the sloping edges etc and move them axially through the main roof plane, work with only the edit geometry showing - intersect them with the model and the cut-line of the roof plane will appear; erase the excess part - this way often easier than trying to stretch edges and vertices...
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@tig said:
Another way that avoids 'stretching' is to make the dormer a group/compo and initially to have it as a simple gabled rood at both ends that stretches through the main roof plane. Especially useful on curved or odd angled roof/dormer combos...
Edit the dormer, switch the view settings to show only the edited item [hide rest of model] and now select all, pick intersect with model and then you should get the main slope's cut-lines appearing around the dormer's geometry. Erase the unwanted parts of the dormer and close the edit. You now have a dormer that fits neatly onto the roof...
Here's a tutorial...
[attachment=0:1ewmyq3t]<!-- ia0 -->Intersecting Dormer.skp<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1ewmyq3t]
If you have a half-made dormer with a wrong slope then in a similar way edit it and select all of the sloping edges etc and move them axially through the main roof plane, work with only the edit geometry showing - intersect them with the model and the cut-line of the roof plane will appear; erase the excess part - this way often easier than trying to stretch edges and vertices...
Wow, between the original suggestion and now this, I think I've got a great new set of skills to tackle this problem.
You're right, the sloped faces are causing a significant portion of my headaches. I think making a grouped/component "double-dormer" and editing it as necessary will save me a lot of grief. I'm so hung-up on having perfect geometry that I get wiggy when I have "junk" floating on the inside of my houses, not realizing that it can actually save me a lot of time if used as a tool.
Thank you guys!
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