I’m working inside a group and I change the Axis (inside the gorup) but it will for some reason reset itself. Am I accidently hitting a shortcut that resets it? one time it seemed to reset itself when I tried to lock to an axis when drawing a square.
Maybe you are activating a Scene that saves Axes
I don’t have any scenes set up
Can’t recreate this so far, can you describe the steps you take to set the axis inside a group. Of course when you close the group from editing the world axis is unchanged, but when you next re-open the group for editing the altered axis is reset to previous and is again aligned with world axis? Exactly how do you discover that it is reset?
- Start modelling a new element and group up all the pieces
- open the group and work within it
- realign the axis inside the group
- carry on working inside group
- and at some point the axis reverts back to its original position
- I usualy notice the axis has changed when I go to lock to an axis and its wrong compared to the rest of the group. I do of Arch Vis stuff and lots of square blocks of flats ect so most stuff is all at right angles.
I’m sure this is my fault and I’m fumbling some key but I’m just not sure what.
The only thing I can think of so far is I’m pressing CTRL-Z and undoing the change but then it changed when I was trying to lock to an axis when drawing a square.
Switch to components? Is there a reason you are using a group?
Iv always used groups if its a unique element and not being repeated (maybe this is bad practice?)
but my current project is a large city centre roughly 34,000+ Square meters and each building is a group, with further groups nested inside and then some components for repeating elements such as windows etc.
Components: set axis as you wish, ability to repeat if needed, ability to be unique if needed, and for me the best part - ability to copy way off to the side and work on it without distraction and sometimes I scale a copy up 10 or 100 times to avoid the small edge / small face issue - all the while the original (still in place) gets updated as I edit. And bonus, I use a plugin or two that will generate materials lists for me based on components.
I only use groups for temporary cutting blocks (solids tools) or for temporary collecting of assemblies. Otherwise it’s components components components.
Is it good or bad practice? Not sure… but it works without hassle for me.
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Hmmm.. can’t recreate still, you are using the axis tool to set a new axis while inside an open group? This should persist and not reset spontaneously. After you set a new axis with the axis tool and close the group from editing, does the blue bounding box around the group shift to reflect the groups new axis? The bounding box should align to the new axis when the group is selected but closed.
Question: What if instead of moving the axes in the group you move the geometry inside the group? Do the axes reset to the corner of the bounding box?
FWIW, I only use components in my models, even for temporary objects like cutters for Boolean operations. For me components have much to recommend them. The work flow is consistent. I never have to wonder if the thing I’ve selected is a group or component. Setting the axes is more straightforward. If I fat finger it and hit Erase instead of Hide in the Context menu it’s no big deal to drag a fresh instance of the component out to replace the missing one. Whether that is the right thing for you or not is really up to you, though.
yes using the Axis tool inside an open group to set the Axis for the group.
If the Axis doesn’t reset, the blue bounding box is correct when the group is closed.
When the Axis resets it moves to the centre of the group not to a corner or an edge.
I also use groups for anything that’s supposed to be a unique object. I don’t think components behave differently in this regard.
I’m wondering if there could be an extension changing the axes at some point.
Maybe if you use a screen recorder you could go back and pinpoint exactly when the axes change?
Thanks for the input everyone. I will keep monitoring it and see if I can get any repeatability and update if I can.
The default location of the group axes should be at the lower front left of the bounding box. Moving to the center as you describe suggests an extension is at work here like Christina mentioned. I wonder if you have an extension that does it and possibly a keyboard shortcut for it that you are hitting accidentally.
I have been suspecting a keyboard fumble.
These are my installed extensions. Though I do have more but they are part of Sketchup Labs and I cant post about them.
If it occurs again, maybe you can undo to the point the axes jump back, and see what you did just before and after. That could give a clue about nearby shortcut keys if you press one accidently, but it might also be an extension using observers triggered by other actions in the model.
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Note that a single click on the edit menu icon will generally tell you what it is planning to undo.
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I didn’t know that, thanks.
Do you have the autosave turned on?
I have the same issue, and I believe it comes from the autosave.
If I change an axis inside a group or component, and the autosave kicks-in before I leave the group, the axis quietly resets.
But closing the group once after setting the axis will definitely save the new axis location.
So in my case, the fix is : reset axis - close group - reenter group - keep working.
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