Accurate snaps tools

I’m replacing Autocad/Revit with layout since I design my projects in SU… but working in Layout sometimes is very difficult especially for the lack of tools in some areas like snap objects. I would like to see a more precise snapping system like Autocad.

There are already options for snapping to other entities and snapping to grid. What more do you need?

I think selecting the group and then the reference point would be great… right now you select it and move it by pushing the button hoping that they snap exactly where you want is not very productive… it works fine for very simple shapes but when you group a view of a complex model is not very good.

You’re right. If you use that method, it’s not very productive. You could use the precision point and move the group exactly where you want it. There’s no need to hope it ends up in the right place.

The problem with selecting an object to move in LO is that the scale arrows take over (the cursor changes from a four-way arrow to a two-way one). So the cursor is not placed at the point of alignment (say the corner of the shape) but somewhere inside, to preserve the “move” icon. This isn’t always a problem if the shape is a rectangle (like a view port) and “fits” the grid so you can use grid snap. The object snaps in LO are nearly useless. Especially compared to those in SU, or AutoCAD.

I am never sure which part of a shape snaps to the grid. Invariably, it isn’t the point I’ve chosen. So I fake it: I turn off ALL snaps, zoom in REALLY tight and visually align objects to others or the grid. This really needs some work.

If I’m missing something (entirely possible–I concentrate on design and documentation, not coding or work-arounds) then please, enlighten me.

Thanks.

if you move the rotation handle to a place, it will become an ‘active snapping’ point:

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for simple shapes works fine but when you select multiple objects I would like to pick a specific point or select a point and move them x amount and any direction

You know, I’ve noticed that, but I actually thought it was a fluke. I assume this is what DaveR meant by “precision point?” Still, it doesn’t make the “strength” of the snaps to underlying drawing more robust. I am forever frustrated by plunking down a thing (like a 2x6 symbol) onto another thing (such as a region with a fill to block out unwanted imagery) and have it snap not to the edge I want, or any other edge, but to the geometric center of the filled region. And it doesn’t allow you to pick a base point in a blank region of the drawing for a move and then type in a distance (as can be done in SU). The cursor MUST be on at least a part of the object or group.

So, feature request: implement a “move” command in LO on the order of the one in SU.

@flino One way you might consider is to collect the things you want to move, group them, then do as Mike suggests with the rotation handle. This assumes of course that your eyesight is better than mine and you can actually see that pale blue dot among all the other stuff of your group. After you have your things moved, you can just ungroup them, if you want.

Though this feature exists it’s very contra-intuitive and hard for users to find. I’d very much prefer the SketchUp way where you select the exact snapping point of the object you are moving when you start moving it.

Edit: Or why not both? The current Select Tool could be kept as a fast and crude dwiss army tool that does everything and there could be separate Move, Select and Roatte tools that function identically as the ones in SketchUp.

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It is hard to find, when you are not told it existed in the first place. The ‘intuitive’ part of SketchUp about moving objects is more difficult to explain then in LayOut, at least, that is my experience.
Especially move actions were you do not pick points on the object itself, but outside the object.
I sometimes wonder if learning LayOut first would actually change the supposed ‘intuitive’ behavior of SketchUp in the view of the user.
Intuitiveness is something that you can learn/have learned

I think the reason why some people easier understand the LO way of moving objects is because it is more similar to how e.g. PowerPoint and word does it. The SketchUp way is in my view in itself far more logical. Instead of defining moving anchor point (?) in a separate action you simply start move from where you start move.

One thing I DO like about the LO method of moving objects, and find missing when I return to SU, is the arrow key “nudge”.

Arrow key alone = small nudge (apparently 1/8 of grid spacing).
Arrow key + Shift key = bigger nudge (apparently 2X small nudge).

It would be nice to tweak the amount of “nudge” such as is implemented in CorelDraw! with an option in preferences, similar to how units are selected.

I guess the bottom line of all these feature requests is to make the program more intuitive, more efficient, and faster.

Thanks to all who work on these issues. 'Tis a wonderful suite of programs.
Thom

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Nudge

RT Tools has a move wizard (among many other tools).

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