Working with Plywood
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Hello!
I just started using SU6, and I am amazed at what I see in the tutorials. I'm experimenting with a project, designing an outdoor playhouse for my kids. But I've run into a snag trying to simulate cutouts in plywood.
I've essentially created the basic materials (2x4, 2x6, 2x8x1/2" plywood) by creating a rectangle and using the push/pull tool to make it the proper length. Then I select all entities (faces and edges) of that piece as a group, so that I have a standard piece that I can then use to create a floor, wall frame, etc. (Please feel free to let me know if I'm going about this all wrong so far...)
Here's where I'm really having difficulty. I am taking a 4'x6' piece of plywood (1/4" thick). I want to cut a 2-1/2'x5' piece out of it, from the bottom up, to make a door. I've tried drawing the right sized rectangle for the door doing a push/pull on that shape, selecting that bit, and then the Erase button. Nothing seems to happen. I've also tried putting another piece of the plywood resized to the door size and placing it 'on' the bigger piece, but that does not seem to do what I want exactly either, even trying the 'intersect mode' function.
Any idea on what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks!
P: TxCelt
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Hi,
It seems that you have already "discovered" grouping (have you really grouped your pieces?).
If yes, you can only "modify" them (cut holes etc) when editing: double click on them and get within their context to be able to do so (or right click and "Edit" from the context menu).
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Hi TxCelt -
Csaba is correct. If you do not edit your group, anything that you draw will actually be on top of the group and not affect its surface planes.
It's difficult at first to notice that you have a group selected when the geometric object is a rectangle, because the group (and component) bounding box is also a rectangular shaped cube. To illustrate this more clearly, create a circle, then use the Push/Pull tool to create a cylinder. Now make that a group (or component). You'll now see that the group object will have a rectangular bounding box when you select it. Now double click on this object and you'll see that you are now editing INSIDE the group.
This is what you'll want to do with your plywood group objects.
One other note: components are similar to groups, but have a more powerful feature. When you create a component, and then copy that component a number of times within you model, editing any one of the components will affect all of the other instances in the same way. This is very powerful if you are modifying a number of repeating objects because you don't have to edit each one individually. If however, you would like to edit a component and not affect the other instances, you can right-click on the component and select "Make Unique". This will break the link to the other instances and allow you to edit it without causing the others to change.
I hope you find this information useful, and you share with us your successes and questions as you go! And thanks for using SketchUp, we hope you enjoy it!!
Cheers,
- CraigD
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