Rotation

simonburrows

I bet this has been asked before:

I'm trying to rotate an awkward shape, I can't get the rotate tool to lie flat on any axis.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Simon

TIG

The rotate tool chooses the plane of whatever 'empty' axial space OR face it is over...
Hover the tool over something that is on the right axis OR even the sky or ground [by changing your viewpoint]... now hold down the shift-key. That locks the tool to that plane... click somewhere and start rotating.

simonburrows

Oh yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks

cotty

Or you can define the rotational axis with the not-so-basic method of using Rotate (The right way to use that tool!)

Gaieus

Incidentally, I have also written a little tutorial on this topic (as it seems to be "hot" for relatively inexperienced users of SketchUp):
http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/37-beginner/136-aligning-the-rotate-and-protractor-tools