Hi Guys: Making some progress on SketchUp, I now can manipulate objects and place them where I want without too much difficulty. Thanks to all who answered with my noob questions. Still drives me nuts in a few ways , though: 1. If I copy holes from one object to another, it seems to be a crapshoot whether they will end up as being holes or just circles on the surface. If they are circle, they don't seem to "penetrate" the surface, that is they don't split the surface into an "inside" and an "outside". I have to fratz with them forever to finally get it to be a hole. This seems to occur whether I copy them to a 3d surface or a plane before extruding. ***? 2. It is so annoying to be zooming out from something to get a better look and end up inside another object. It is excruciatingly slow to zoom back out again for some reason. The zoom seems to change from "high gear" when you have your cursor over an object to "low gear" when you have your cursor in free space or when it is inside a 3d object. Is there any way to make surfaces temporarily "impenetrable" so your zoom just stops when you hit something? 3. Components seem to be handy, but when you create a component and give it a name, does it go into a library somewhere? Can you select components from the library and import them into your drawing? So far the only way I have found to do this is to open another instance of SketchUp, load the component, then use Edit/Copy, switch back to my model, and use Edit/Paste. There has got to be a better way. If not, what the hell is the point of making components?
1. Once you have moved the holes, select all the holes and the surfaces you put them into (i.e. turn them blue) and then right click and select intersect|with model. They should now be one with the new plate. 2. Turn on the back up camera so you can see where you are going. You'll note a loud beeping when it is active. 3. In my version (2014) I drop down the Window menu and select Components. A box opens and if it is not what I was expecting I select "In Model" from the drop down next to the little dog house. Once you see what you are looking for it is simple drag and drop. Seriously on #2, I tend to move components clear of the active workspace to work on them and then move them back once the changes are made. 500mm out along an axis, make the changes, and 500mm back along an axis.
Hey Guys: Thanks Rick. That intersect with model tool should work. Justin, that's what I have been doing, usually for a hole I put a center reference in it and then place a new circle over top of the pasted circle. This may or may not work, definitely does not work with holes that have been exploded, ie a collection of line segments. Sometimes you get the separate face when you redraw the object, sometimes you don't. I've been using grouping instead of make component lately, it works ok. Rick, I have 2016 and there is no "component " selection in the window tab. There is "Component Attributes" and "Component Options" neither of which has anything relevant in it. One of them does list all the components, but does not have thumbnails so you can view them to tell what they are. In any case what you both are saying is that there is no "library" of components that I can pick something and import it into my drawing, components only exist in the current drawing and are more for convenience than anything else.
This is what I could get from the copy of 2016 I have on my tablet. (Sketchup is totally unusable on an 8" tablet so I can't go any deeper than this. I use it merely to re-save drawings down to 2014 format.) From the Window drop down, select Default Tray | Show Tray On the default tray at the right you should have a section called components. In the components section, there is a picture of a little doghouse with an arrow next to it. Drop down the arrow and select In Model. This should bring up an icon listing of all components in the model from where you can drag and drop.
Got it. Thanks Rick, that is going to be a huge time saver. However, this still only works for components already in the model. If I wanted to bring in a component from another drawing there is still no easy way to do it other than the open drawing/copy and then paste it back in to the current drawing. I suppose I could put the components into the warehouse, but then everyone has access to them.
I use "intersect with selection" as well. - First I draw for example the outside of a plate, - then I draw the holes on top of that surface, - use the "intersect with selection" after selecting the whole drawing, - select the main plate again, - cut that (CTRL-X) and paste (CTRL-V) it some where else, - erase the lines and circles left, - extrude the pasted main-plate to the thickness I want, - smooth it to 20º, - clean up any lines that should not be there any more (by hand, if they are there) - add a material or texture to it, - make group of it. I hate components when designing by the way... AND! if you get strange results, draw everything 100 times as big, when you are done scale it back to the size it should be . -Ronald
