@seven.sides said:

The solution is once you have your toolbars how you like them, go to "view" menu, then "toolbars", scroll down until you see "save toolbar positions", click this. Once this is done, you can return to the same menu at any time to click "restore toolbar positions" if they become disordered.

Alas, it does not always work, especially after an SU crash that blows your toolboxes out of the water.
While I have not had it happen (a total blowup) since the SU8 update, it did a few times before.

So, after I do a major toolbar location revamp (usually after a pluggin that has an extensive toolbar layout) I commit to paper the locations. And I hit "save toolbars" on occasion, just in case, even with no changes.

@tig said:

Putting these numbers 'first' IS only necessary... IF you have set shortcuts that clash with those characters.
It's recommend that you avoid 'raw' shortcuts of numerals / X * S AND 0-9 - . , ; [ and <.
Then the position of that 'modifier' character becomes unimportant.
You are ready prevented form specifying 'raw' Ctrl/Shift/Alt key presses; and 'Tab' is flaky anyway - help yourself...
However, the use of " ' m c i f etc are all OK to use as shortcuts, because these will always occur after numerals in any dimensional inputs anyway.
Also remember - many 3rd party tools now use the four 'raw' arrow-keys [for example to 'nudge' textures], so it's also best to avoid shortcutting to those.

Good point; I never even thought about that.
In fact in reviewing what you said, the 'S' key is the only one of those mentioned I use as a direct shortcut (Solid Inspector), and that is the only one I recall having to put the ### first.

I use the 'X' as well, but right now, can't remember what for....

@thomthom said:

Really Pilou - a veteran like you didn't know that?
It also works with /12 and 12/.

In my experience you should put the numbers before the function. I have had problems with defining arc/circle segments and rotation multiples putting the function 'S' or 'X' first. So to be consistent, and remember it, for all these moves, rotates, arc and circles I put the numbers first.

@pherim said:

What I didn't mention is that I want to use it for a flat surface. With contours that would generate a bent surface it works for me, too. But I would like to use it to divide a flat surface in many small faces that match the contours. In the preview it looks just the way I want it but when trying to generate it doesn't work.

In my experience, CL does not handle perfectly flat surfaces very well. It will surface a "flat" plane if at least 1 vertex is at least .001 in out of planar, and may not show diagonal line(s), up to a point.

The latest version is much better, but the older versions resulted in an empty group when surfacing a very flat perimeter.

As far as dividing the surface into some sort of mesh, that would be a hit/or/miss depending on how "flat" the perimeter is.

I had that feeling as well. Thanks for the confirmation.

I have just been tasked with drawing a theme park concept in very low detail, in order to get an initial feel for size, ride placement and esthetics, not the actual design. The models main function is to easily move rides around the site and play with interfaces amongst some rides. That part is easy-peasy.

It's gonna be big! At least 1,000 ft by 1,500 ft based on the preferred site.

Now I know SU has difficulty with very small elements, (not the case here) and very large layouts.

My question is: based on your experience; Do I draw in full scale as is the norm, or at some smaller scale, ie: 12 to 1 or whatever??

The smallest drawn elements will be low poly 2D people. The largest, aside from the site layout, is a geodesic dome about 700 ft diameter by about 200 ft high. Almost all of the rides are under the dome.

BTW, the theme is a confabulation of mostly Star Trek, some Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and a few others. I've been trying to get on this project for a few years now. My "big airplane" project goes on Snooze Control for a while.

@unknownuser said:

Resize it like you would any other toolbar

or windows window for that matter. All toolbars can be resized horizontally or vertically

Thank you for the excellent guidance...

For some reason it did not work for me at first.
I reloaded SU and it is resizing as expected.

This is something I wanted for a long time, and in fact I d/l'd it last year, put it in my "2B installed" directory (off the "plugin" dir), and then.....
promptly forgot about it. An all to common occurrence with me.

So today, I got this thread notice, d/l'd it and got the XP warning about overwriting a file.

So, I installed it.

Rich, is there any way to set the toolbar in a vertical format?
I have no horizontal space top or bottom screen for more toolbars, but I have space on the left, 2 icons wide.
Can I edit the script (with your instructions) until you hopefully furnish an update?

@thomthom said:

@unknownuser said:

when handing out a cultist..

Yeah, I saw that too. You posted faster than I could.

Handing out cultists.... what a concept.

@arcad-uk said:

I hadn't realised until recently that if you set Model Info>Components>Fade rest of model to hide you can still edit a group/component, triple click to select all faces and then (rt-clk) "intersect with model" which you can then edit as required.

In some ways I prefer this over solid ops as it avoids creating a new group on layer zero .

A cupala tips on this.....

1. Use layers as well for each group/comp that you are working on, even if you assign them to temp layers. Assign the temp layer ONLY to the comp/group envelope, NOT to the entities inside which best remain on layer0.

Intersect with model intersects with visible layers (on) even if they are "hidden" within the edit mode. That way you avoid unwanted intersections with other groups/comps by simply turning ON only the layer(s) as appropriate. You can then turn on/off layers while in edit mode to better see what you are doing.

2. If there is too much stuff around the group/comp you are working on, then make it a comp (even if temporarily) and pull a copy of it into free space. Do the edits on the copy, then delete it when finished. You can also pull copies of stuff surrounding the prime comp over to the working copy as needed for edit or intersect reference.

3. You can also hide (in edit mode) other copies of the same comp so they do not distract when editing. Sometimes you may have multiple copies quite close together and you cannot see what you are doing.

4. If you have a comp that intersects with stuff on multiple faces that are not involved with the actual "intersect w/Model" then only select the involved faces, rather than a triple click. And that is faster as well.

@unknownuser said:

@jgb said:

Let's keep in mind that it is called SKETCHup Not GoogleCAD.

so going off that train of thought, I should just buy AutoCad then all my drawings will be done automatically.

But only for drawing cars........

@mitcorb said:

This is a good piece of advice. But would placing the profile on the segment rather than the vertex on a specified radius change the radius of the extruded figure somewhat, and thereby possibly creating a misalignment somewhere else?

Yes, but that is a subjective "accuracy" syndrome.

SU creates arcs, curves and circles whose defined dimensions are at the endpoints of the segments, so anything dimensioned at the segments centerpoint will be not quite "accurate".

And until SU draws analog arc, curves and circles, rather than with digital segments, you can never get away without some inaccuracy of the extruded form.

The only way to avoid (minimize actually) this; is to create arcs, curves and circles with way more segments, which then creates a practicality problem.

Alternatively, create the extrusion face at a vertex/endpoint and then copy it to some position on the adjacent segment, keeping its origin point on the line.

@genma saotome said:

I do have a problem with the Followme tool not being able extrude a face that is actually congruent to that collection.

In the "DUH" thread this problem with Follow-me came up. Here is my (copied) reply.......

Re: The "Duh!" thread (aka the Doh! thread)

Postby jgb on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:03 pm

Another thing with Follow-Me I discovered a while back (and reported) is when you are defining a path that has curves, place the template face somewhere on a straight portion of any line segment, NOT at an endpoint.

If follow-me starts on an endpoint, the face template follows one of the subtended angles and royally screws up at the end, with an end face out of alignment. This is especially a major factor with closed loops.

However, if started on a straight section, it will end perpendicular to the last line of the path, and if the path is a closed loop, it will join properly.

Let's keep in mind that it is called SKETCHup Not GoogleCAD.

SU was originally designed for architectural concepts, not as an engineering CAD.
Accuracy and precision in those fields take on totally different definitions.

Yes, I use SU as a Pseudo-CAD because I cannot afford nor justify SOLIDWORKS for what I am doing.
It does the job real fine, but I wished it could do more, especially in the area of solids animation.

I have to keep reminding myself constantly when defining my airplane parts that I an NOT making shop drawings; I DON'T have to concern myself with parts micro-fitting and dimensional precision beyond making it look right.

If it came to really making that airplane, I would be using SOLIDWORKS or more likely; CATIA, using my SU model as a CONCEPTUAL MODEL.

I C

@gaieus said:

And here is the autofold description:
http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=94865

Read it, tried it and I still don't see any advantage.

If I want to go Z (blue) I press the UP arrow and it seems to do the same as the autofold, but with exact axis control.

It seems to me that autofold may hold an advantage if we had true 3D screens, but mine is standard 2D, and I cannot control, with any precision, where my object is moving to.

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

I use my index finger usually to press the middle mouse button

That is very curious, because with the medium you can rotate many more the Mouse wheel than with index!
So more speedy scolling!
For the simple reason that the Medium is biggest than the index!
So the medium is always on the whell, so click it is a formality!
Try it!

I have always used my mid finger on the wheel, with index on the left button. I also move my mid to the right button when needed as the ring finger has less control (which is why it is the "ring" finger ).

It shouldn't take long to adjust to that finger position.

And now I know why my "orbiting" suddenly goes into "panning" when my index finger twitches downward sometimes. Now that I know, I can exploit that feature. Thank you Broomstick.

And Pilou, I fail to see what you mean with Move+Alt. Could you please explain a bit more?

Another thing with Follow-Me I discovered a while back (and reported) is when you are defining a path that has curves, place the template face somewhere on a straight portion of any line segment, NOT at an endpoint.

If follow-me starts on an endpoint, the face template follows one of the subtended angles and royally screws up at the end, with an end face out of alignment. This is especially a major factor with closed loops.

However, if started on a straight section, it will end perpendicular to the last line of the path, and if the path is a closed loop, it will join properly.

@hussel hann said:

actually i have downloaded so many plugins after a few days exploring sketchup.
i think i need to do lot more exercise before playing with all the plugins.
its a loooooong way...

In fact I have a whole dir full of pluggins that looked useful, but I never loaded into SU. They are there if in fact I have a need for them, and most importantly, if I remember it is already there.

I also have a bunch of plugins loaded into SU that I have either never used, or used once or twice, again, if I remembered they are there.

But there are a few I use as much as the draw, or move tools, mainly Curviloft, Joint-PP, Pipe-along-path, and a few others I can't remember using; if the tool is indeed a plugin not an SU native tool.

The moral here is only load into SU the plugins that will help you effectively do a task common to what you normally draw. And have the memory to know they are there when you need them.

Very well said Jason.