Hey. question about curves
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I found sketchup very intuitive and easier every time I use it but the thing that gets me is curves.
e.g. there's two faces connected like this: |_ and a curved slope between like a skateboard ramp: |_ . Where the flat faces and curved face meet, there are joints. How do I make them one piece? Smoothing edges or exploding curves don't seem to do anything...P: SnL
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when you first click the arc or circle command... look in the lower righthand corner of SU... see the little white box? don't click anywhere, just start typing a larger number than what you see in the box, like 24 or 48 or 96 and that will be the number of line segments that make up your curve.
any curve is a group of straight lines, offset however steeply, and shorter or longer... the more segments the more true the curve seems.
hope this helps, if not we can go further.
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Thanks for the reply but that's not what I meant. I meant where the curved face connects to a flat face. How can I make them one single face? Like a skateboard ramp is curved but the middle is flat. I just want one smooth curved shape.
P: SnL
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If I'm understanding (if not please post a model or at least a pic):
The curve will push pull as faces with smoothed edges between (hidden with hidden geometry and so acting like a single face). Smooth the edge between the curved face and the flat face and the flat face will become part of the curved face when hidden geometry is not visible.
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wow I feel so dumb. I got it. All I had to do was soften the edges. I was trying to select everything and "smooth" it out. haha
Anyway I was just trying to get rid of lines, nothing more. If you soften them, are they gone or just hidden? How do you get just those lines back?
One last question. Exploding a group or component means to break it up into what it originally was right? If I save and come back to it later, will I still be able to explode it?P: SnL
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Last question first: yes.
Now the first...but first: any question about smoothing is absolutely not dumb, I still think the amount of smoothing is something of a mystery. Anyway, the line/edge isn't gone...just go into the "view" pulldown menu and select "hidden geometry".
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Thanks!
The softening is weird. It only works when you click on only that one edge and "soften". If you take the whole thing and just do "soften/smooth edges" it doesn't do anything. Oh well, doesn't matter.P: SnL
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softening the edge does what I told you to do, only after wards. at a certain point GSU stops showing the corners as the face is extruded.
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@unknownuser said:
. . . The softening is weird. . . .
It is weird, but you can gain a lot of control by going to Window/Soften Edges and work with that box. With that open, you can select what you want to soften and how much.
That being said, it's still a little weird and unpredictable.
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And Erase+Ctrl (PC) is soften edge too. Look down at the status bar when tools like Erase are active for modifier key options.
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Softened edges are not the same as hidden edges.
If you soften an edge between two faces, the two faces will be "welded" into one, single (though often "curved") face. (Ctr+Eraser tool - as Gata said)If you hide an edge, the faces will not be welded (e.g you can still select them individually) though the lines will be invisible like softened edges. These faces won't show a smooth curve; you can always see the "break-line" between them. (Shift+Eraser for that matter).
If you want to "regain" either a softened of a hidden line, go to View > Hidden geometry and go through the lines you want to unhide/unsoften with the Ctrl+Shift+Eraser tool.
Note that certain operations (like Push/Pull, Texture positioning etc.) cannot be accomplished on curved surfaces (or on groups/components for that matter). You need to turn on hidden geometry (or edit the group/component) to be able to do so.
Edit:
Ah yes, and the best result with such a skateboard ramp you can get if the curve you are drawing attached to the flat surface is tangent to it - this gives the smoothest transition. -
Hi folks.
Dont forget that to edges, you must be able to select them. To be able to select them, you must be able to see them. To see them, make construction geometry visible with Menu View --> Hidden Geometry.
It is now possible to soften or unsoften all or selected edges.
After that, hide the geometry again to see the result.
Just ideas.
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If you want to "regain" either a softened of a hidden line, go to View > Hidden geometry and go through the lines you want to unhide/unsoften with the Ctrl+Shift+Eraser tool.
CTL+Shift+eraser will unsoften a line, but it will NOT unhide a hidden line. For that you need to select and "unhide". Pity there is no key combo just to unhide a line..
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