Hi all! I’m looking for help on a better workflow in align scaffolding tube components of a similar length in 3d space so they form a feasible structure. My current workflow is to create a basic 3d guideline sketch and then drop in the tube components, aligning the centreline of the first end of the tube with one end of the line using the move tool, then using one or two rotations around that endpoint to get the other end to coincide with the guideline.
Is there a way to make the tube component simply ‘snap on’ or ‘glue on’ to align with the guideline, so that it is co-axial with it? Or some way of fixing one end of the component whlle moving the other?
I don’t know if the feature is available in the free version but in SketchUp Go (the paid web version) you can add Snaps to components to aid in making them align.
Ah. No, none of those are there. I’ll see if there are any deals available for Sketchup Go and if I can afford them. It’s only for hobby use. (We are designing a frame to cover a historic boat while we work on it out of the water)
You could do something like that by editing the style to include thick profile edges and use Color by Material but you’d still need at least Go to be able to edit the style for that.
Yes, it’s just a pain to rotate those tubes in two planes to get aligned. I will persist. BTW The Bow sheds look nice, but wouldn’t be big or strong enough for our purposes. We have all the tubes and clamps. The main purpose of the coloured 3D model is to give a team of constructors a set of clear instructions on how to assemble it safely. When built, we cover it over with plastic shrink wrap sheet.
I would consider buying Sketchup Go if I could also use it for modelling boat hulls. I’m not sure it’s suitable for that, unless there is some extra, free plugin that can help to render and ‘loft’ complex curves from a set of ship’s drawing lines?
The web based versions don’t have any facility to use extensions. The desktop version does and there are a number of extensions that can aid in creating the complex geometry. You could draw the half-breadths at their stations and create the surface over them. You could even use a table of offsets to generate a point cloud from which the surfaces can be created.
As @DaveR said, no extensions for SketchUp Go.
But since this is a nice project on a voluntary basis, there might be people here willing to do the “extensive” work on SketchUp Pro for you. I know I would..
Only downside of this pathway is that you’re missing out on part of the modelling fun!
