Top view button question

TK0001 · 18 Jun 2013, 15:14

I've been using Sketchup off and on for a few years and I have a pretty firm grasp on the methodology such that I can create huge conveyor system models without much issue, packed full of lovely groups and components and whatnot (never any loose geometry, can't have that).

Anyway, one thing I have never been able to find a solution for is the following:

When I am focused in on a small part of a large model, and I want to see the top view of just that area, I would think that if I hit the "top" camera view button would do so. But when I hit that button, I'm sent off to a similar sized area in the middle of my model (hundreds of feet away). Then I have to scroll-zoom out and pan over like mad to get back to the area in which I was just working.

There has to be an easy solution to this. Is there?

Dave R · 18 Jun 2013, 15:58

The Top view is set up to put the model at the center of the drawing space unless you tell it otherwise. Before you select the top view, select something at the location you're working, switch to top view and the camera should center over the selection.

TK0001 · 18 Jun 2013, 16:38

@dave r said:

The Top view is set up to put the model at the center of the drawing space unless you tell it otherwise. Before you select the top view, select something at the location you're working, switch to top view and the camera should center over the selection.

That doesn't work for me. I highlight an object within my group, hit the top view button, and I get put in the middle of the model again. Sometimes it does actually work, though. I just can't replicate it. It seems totally sporadic.

Dave R · 18 Jun 2013, 17:47

Odd. It was working consistently on the model I had open at the time I wrote it. I opened a different one and the behavior is different.

So what I originally suggested and then deleted will work. Select something in the area you're looking at, switch to the Top view, right click on the selection and choose Zoom Extents from the Context menu. If nothing else it'll get you close.

TK0001 · 18 Jun 2013, 18:44

@dave r said:

Odd. It was working consistently on the model I had open at the time I wrote it. I opened a different one and the behavior is different.

So what I originally suggested and then deleted will work. Select something in the area you're looking at, switch to the Top view, right click on the selection and choose Zoom Extents from the Context menu. If nothing else it'll get you close.

Yah, it's weird and very sporadic. Seems the closer I am to the middle of the model, the better it works. Anything further out is a gamble.

Oh well, not a deal breaker. I just thought there was a parameter I was missing somewhere.

smicha · 19 Jun 2013, 21:54

Here is my solution - works prefect for me:

Define new shortcuts:
F5 - parallel view. Pressing F5 twice will switch from parallel to perspective.
Alt+1 - top view (I also have defined Alt+2 for bottom, and so on up to Alt+6)
Z - zoom extents - it is defined as ctr+shift+e by default, but I use this function too often. So simpler Z works perfect.
Now select your object among many in your model. Hit F5 for parallel view, then alt+1 for top view and finally Z for zooming on your selected object.

Hope it helps.

TK0001 · 21 Jun 2013, 18:37

@smicha said:

Here is my solution - works prefect for me:

Define new shortcuts:
F5 - parallel view. Pressing F5 twice will switch from parallel to perspective.
Alt+1 - top view (I also have defined Alt+2 for bottom, and so on up to Alt+6)
Z - zoom extents - it is defined as ctr+shift+e by default, but I use this function too often. So simpler Z works perfect.

Now select your object among many in your model. Hit F5 for parallel view, then alt+1 for top view and finally Z for zooming on your selected object.

Hope it helps.

smicha, using this method, the views are still intermittent, but I really like these shortcuts! Thanks! I will use these heavily!

Wo3Dan · 21 Jun 2013, 21:43

@tk0001 said:

@smicha said:

Here is my solution - works prefect for me:

Define new shortcuts:
F5 - parallel view. Pressing F5 twice will switch from parallel to perspective.
Alt+1 - top view (I also have defined Alt+2 for bottom, and so on up to Alt+6)
Z - zoom extents - it is defined as ctr+shift+e by default, but I use this function too often. So simpler Z works perfect.

Now select your object among many in your model. Hit F5 for parallel view, then alt+1 for top view and finally Z for zooming on your selected object.

Hope it helps.

smicha, using this method, the views are still intermittent, but I really like these shortcuts! Thanks! I will use these heavily!

They shouldn't be. The method described by smicha works if you apply the appropriate 'Zoom Extents'.
There are two different 'Zoom Extents'. One is the default Ctrl+Shift+Z or the icon.
The other 'Zoom Extents' is the one in the right click context menu. It is this one that you need to assign to a shortcut key.
It isn't displayed in the overalll shortcut list untill you have something selected.

So select something > then goto menu Window > Preferences > Shortcuts > assign 'Edit/item/Zoom Extents' to a key(-combination). Say you pick {Ctrl]+Z

With this shortcut key it always works.

Method (being in Parallel Projection):
select something you want to focus on in top view > hit Top View > hit [Ctrl]+Z

Dave R · 21 Jun 2013, 21:49

@unknownuser said:

The other 'Zoom Extents' is the one in the right click context menu. It is this one that you need to assign to a shortcut key.

That's the Zoom Extents I was recommending, too.

Wo3Dan · 21 Jun 2013, 22:03

@dave r said:

@unknownuser said:

The other 'Zoom Extents' is the one in the right click context menu. It is this one that you need to assign to a shortcut key.

That's the Zoom Extents I was recommending, too.

Credits for you Dave, but unfortunately Mark apparently missed it.

Dave R · 21 Jun 2013, 22:07

No credit to me, Gerrit. I just wanted to make sure the OP understands there are two different Zoom Extents.

You explained it better, I think.

TK0001 · 3 Jul 2013, 18:52

@wo3dan said:

@tk0001 said:

@smicha said:

Here is my solution - works prefect for me:

Define new shortcuts:
F5 - parallel view. Pressing F5 twice will switch from parallel to perspective.
Alt+1 - top view (I also have defined Alt+2 for bottom, and so on up to Alt+6)
Z - zoom extents - it is defined as ctr+shift+e by default, but I use this function too often. So simpler Z works perfect.

Now select your object among many in your model. Hit F5 for parallel view, then alt+1 for top view and finally Z for zooming on your selected object.

Hope it helps.

smicha, using this method, the views are still intermittent, but I really like these shortcuts! Thanks! I will use these heavily!

They shouldn't be. The method described by smicha works if you apply the appropriate 'Zoom Extents'.
There are two different 'Zoom Extents'. One is the default Ctrl+Shift+Z or the icon.
The other 'Zoom Extents' is the one in the right click context menu. It is this one that you need to assign to a shortcut key.
It isn't displayed in the overalll shortcut list untill you have something selected.

So select something > then goto menu Window > Preferences > Shortcuts > assign 'Edit/item/Zoom Extents' to a key(-combination). Say you pick {Ctrl]+Z

With this shortcut key it always works.

Method (being in Parallel Projection):
select something you want to focus on in top view > hit Top View > hit [Ctrl]+Z

THERE IT IS!

Thanks so much. This is something that has bugged me for awhile. Glad to know the solution wasn't as easy as I feared.