Has somebody alredy done this?
-
Hi,
I am trying to do a project with sketchup in which i need to automate some drawing tasks.
- How do i add a shortcut for doing something customised? E.g. Ctrl+Shift+2 draws a circle of 20inches radius. Another Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P should Pull it to make a cylinder.
-also if its been implemented through a plugin or script. please point me to the same.
Its something like recording macros within Sketchup, could someone kindly tell me a way to do it?
thanks
-
@anirudh said:
Hi,
- How do i add a shortcut for doing something customised? E.g. Ctrl+Shift+2 draws a circle of 20inches radius. Another Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P should Pull it to make a cylinder.
I don't think you can assign short-cuts to a specific length or radius. Assuming you just want a shortcut to save time, try this instead. Hit "c" for circle and click where you want the center of the circle to be. Type in 20 and hit enter. Now hit "p" for push/pull. Click on the cylinder and bring it up however much you want. Then you can select that whole cylinder and right click "group". Then hit "m" for the move tool, hit "ctrl" to copy and move the copy where you want it. Repeat the move/copy for however many cylinders you need. I hope this answers your question.
-
Where is the center of the circle? How does the short-cut know the location and orientation of the circle?
-
jim,
its a part of my research. i am trying to understand other gestures that could help sketchup in future. thats why.
center could be 0,0 or arbitrary . I want to be able to draw using keyboard shortcuts. any ideas?
-
I model while using lotsof shortcuts. In your example it'd be
C (Circle tool)
Mouse to pick center and orientation
enter radius in VCB
P for PushPull tool
enter distance in VCBIf that is too much mouse interaction the only other alternative I can think of is using the Ruby API.
-
HI folks.
I suggest that you look at the video tutorials on the SketchUp (SU) site.
Read the help, at first especially about the tools that interest you the most.
Read about SU's inference engine and also about SU's interface, especially the Status bar on the bottom left of the model window.
After a little practice with the tools, you will see that they are more powerfull than you may think. Many of them use modifier keys that increase their capabilities.
For example, for multiple copies, you use the CTRL key to toggle the copy mode on. After that, once you have moved the first copy, you can specify the number of copies that you want. There are two variations on this. One as a multiplier. This uses the first movement as the base and then move each additional copy by the same amount. The other as a divider. This use the space between the first copy and the original and divides it into equal intervals to position each of the additional copies.
More than that, this trick also works with the Rotate Tool to create radial arrays instead of linear arrays.
If you read about the Measurement Window, shown on the bottom right of the model window, you will discover that you can specify precise measurements, displacements, angles, scale factors, etc for any action such as drawing, moving, rotating, scaling, etc.
To find the center of a circle already draw, use the inference engine. First, place the cursor over any endpoint and wait a split second for a pop-up stating "endpoint". Then, move the cursor where the center shall be and you shall get a snap and a pop-up stating "Center". If you prefer, you can use an extension that allows you to place a "point at center" by right clicking a circle. This extension must first be enabled in the Preferences (you do this only once).
Just ideas.
-
@anirudh said:
jim,
its a part of my research. i am trying to understand other gestures that could help sketchup in future. thats why.
center could be 0,0 or arbitrary . I want to be able to draw using keyboard shortcuts. any ideas?
learn ruby then.
i don't know it but i'm pretty sure what you're trying to accomplish should be relatively easy to do..
that said, what you're trying to accomplish (at least the examples in the op) is very easy with sketchup itself but hey, i won't try to talk you out of your quest
Advertisement