How to Keep Adjacent Elements from Fusing Together?
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Hi,
I've been working with SketchUp for about a week now and am starting to get the hang of it. I do have one question, however, the answer to which will remove a lot of headaches.
Sometimes, when I have abutted one element up next to another, I am able to work on each one independently for a while. But then, all of the sudden, the two elements become, for lack of a better word, fused together and start acting as a single unit.
When that happens, I can no longer reshape each element independently, without affecting the other one. My only recourse, not being familiar with all of SketchUp's ins and outs, is to keep clicking Undo until I reach the point where the two elements are again independent of each other. And then I start over.
One workaround has been to keep the elements from touching while I work on them, but that solution is less than perfect.
Is there a more elegant way to detach two elements from each other when they become "glued" together that way? Or to avoid it happening in the first place?
Thanks,
Bill -
I see.
Since a single piece cannot be grouped, does that mean that the only time the fusing occurs is when you have two pieces each of which is made up of parts that could be grouped together? And that single pieces--which cannot be grouped--will never fuse together?
Bill
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What do you mean by "piece?"
Any collection of edges and faces (even a single edge) can be made into a group or component and this will prevent it from sticking to other entities. It's a bit like wrapping entities in clear cling wrap. If you are drawing parts for you model and you don't want them to stick together, make the first one a component or group before moving on to the next. Get in the habit of doing that and you won't have any headaches. And if you want to change something in a component or group, don't make the newbie mistake of exploding it to gain access to the edges and faces. Simply open it for editing by either right clicking on it and choose the appropriate Edit option or double click on it with the Select tool. when you've finished editing, click in space or right click and choose Close...
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Thanks, Dave. That is very helpful. Yes, I have been making the "newbie" mistake of exploding a group to edit it. I'll remember that piece of advice in the future.
My other newbie mistake was that the reason I thought a group couldn't be made from a single element was that when I made a rectangle, for example, I didn't double click on it to select both the line and face. Duh!
Gradually, it's starting to come together. Very exciting.
Bill
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group each one separately, and they will not stick together
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Following up on my previous post, it dawned on me that a sticky list of 20 or so things every newbie should keep in mind would be helpful, with reasons why. Using groups is a good example--not just that it's a good idea, but why, such as the reason explained in this thread. Another suggestion I came across recently is using X-Ray to better see what's going on and to be able to grab hidden Scale handles.
I know there's a thread titled "What's Your Beginners Tip," and that's great, but it doesn't summarize in one, easy-to-read list many of the most important things to keep in mind when starting to use SketchUp.
Would one of the resident gurus be interested in tackling this, or maybe a few could collaborate?
Or does the list already exist somewhere? If so, please let me know.
Thanks for all your super support.
Bill -
The list is an interesting suggestion.
FWIW, I prefer to use only components, no groups. I know some folks prefer groups and some prefer a combination. I've never once in over 8 years of drawing with SketchUp (nearly every day) found a single case in my work where a group made more sense than a component. Yesterday I got an e-mail from a guy who is relatively new at using SketchUp. He had drawn a very large complex cabinet and made the mistake of exploding all of the components so his model was one big sticky lump. He discovered this too late to undo it. Fortunately he had taken my prior advice to use only components so every one of the parts he'd inadvertently exploded was still available in the In Model components library. Had he used groups instead, he would have had a whole lot more work to do to get back to the pre-exploded phase.
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Hi folks.
When creating groups or components with a single entity, the contextual menu will not contains the choice to do so. However, the Edit menualways contains the two choices Make Groupand Make componentand thus, can be used for that purpose.
Just ideas.
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@bsquared18 said:
My other newbie mistake was that the reason I thought a group couldn't be made from a single element was that when I made a rectangle, for example, I didn't double click on it to select both the line and face. Duh!
Gradually, it's starting to come together. Very exciting.
Bill
Keep in mind, too, that if your geometry is 3D, you'll use a triple click of the Select tool to select all of it. Or a selection box--usually left to right--will get you there, too.
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Yes, the triple-click is a good example of something that newbies (like me) should know about right away, that could be on a list. I came across that trick by happenstance while watching a YouTube SketchUp tutorial someone had created.
Bill
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You might want to read the Help files on the Select tool because there are a number of ways it can be used.
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and watch more of the videos, far more useful than a dry list.
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"and watch more of the videos, far more useful than a dry list."
Yes and no. Having a background in education and training, I've been reminded more than once (from my readings and experience) of the concept of learning styles--what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. In fact, I'm revealing my learning style by asking for a list, as someone else might by asking for a video or chat group or whatever.
One problem I've found with YouTube SketchUp videos is that some are really good, some so-so, and some simply awful, where the author rapidly goes through a hundred steps in one or two minutes with no narration, explanation, or even text.
Personally, I wouldn't find a concise, well-written list dry. It would be a useful tool, along with good videos and all the rest.
Whew, that's more than I've written in three days. Must be that third cup of coffee.
Cheers, all
Bill -
Hi BSquared18, hi folks.
Try the videos on SketchUp (SU) site at:
http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/training/videos.html
These are accessible from the help menu, directly from within SU.
They are well done and the pace is not too fast.
Just ideas.
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Thanks for reminding me about all the videos. I had already watched the getting started series but forgot about the others.
Bill
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