I have drawn a 17’ by 17’ square in both Make and the free Web version, then when I measure the diagonal from corner to corner I get 24.5, not 24. I saw some threads on diagonals, but I have created a new file from scratch to be sure I was not drawing in multiple planes. Any idea why this is not calculating correctly?
Thanks.
Well, per Pythagoras, the right value is 17*sqrt(2) = 24.04163056…
If I set the display units to decimal and max places, I get this, which is correct to within the displayed places:
If you can share an example model with the problem, we can no doubt tell you exactly what is wrong.
To be sure, always measure both diagonals, at least they should be the same.
Where we live, the carpenters who built the wooden houses always used the 3-4-5 method, to check if angles are square.
Pitch’s of the roofs are also 3:4, so the slope would be 5
Calculating square roots wasn’t everybody’s favorite activities.
I am using a construction template, 2-D, and tried the online version. Here is what I am seeing:
Not sure how to post a file, just attached it.
Thanks!
Basement v1.02.skp (232 KB)
SketchUp is creating the triangle correctly. 1/2 inch is equal to 0.48 feet.
I get the same thing you get.
But when I change the display precision to show the dimension more precisely I get.
Are you reading that dimension as twenty four and a half feet? It’s twenty four feet one half inch.
The dimension is right.
Is your question about displaying the distance in feet+inches versus decimal feet ??
Don’t confuse feet and inches.
The value of 24.041631 feet is correct.
0.041631 feet = 0.4996 inch or 1/2 inch if you prefer.
As @DaveR mentioned I am sure this comes down to unit setting being different in different versions of SU
One curious thing is that the trailing .4995667241114 doesn’t then put a tilde at the front. I wonder at what point it should have shown ~24’ 1/2".
Duh, I saw the decimal (0.041631) but forgot to convert it from feet to inches. I am redrawing the plans I purchased from an architect so I just assumed the rounded number (24’) he showed was correct and did not think about the conversion. I should have realized it was likely his math, as he rounded several values, and had errors (as much as 10’) in some of his measurements.
Thanks!
I did some experimenting and found that (at least in SU 2021 on Mac) in Architectural Units, things such as dimensions never show the ~ when feet are present, regardless of whether the inches are imprecise or rounded. With 1/2" precision set, you will get a display of 1’ 1/2" for anything in the range 1’ 1/4" to 1’ 47/64" (1/64" less than 1’ 3/4"). In this screenshot, one edge is exactly 1’ 1/4" and the other is exactly 1’ 47/64". Neither is 1’ 1/2"!
You can form your own opinion whether this is a bug or intentional, but if intentional the training certainly should point it out!
Edit: I didn’t go poking to find out how close to 1/4" would round up to 1/2" or below 3/4" would not round down. It seemed the point was made.
Edit 2: Here’s an amended screenshot that shows how absurd drawings can result:
Interesting observation.
It would explain something that puzzled me a couple of days ago. I selected several dimensions in feet, inches and fractions, not showing the ~ for ‘not exact’, but when I used TIG’s Dual Dimension plugin to show corresponding dimensions in mm along with ft-inch-fraction dimensions, those got a tilde.
I didn’t realise the native dimension was not exact.
Mmmmmmmmmm…I’ll stick with mm
