I have SU Pro 2020 for PC. I am drawing a circle shape but it looks too angular (not enough segments). I tried changing the segments from 24 to 50 before drawing the shape but this did not smooth out the edges. I clicked on the shape (I tried clicking just the edges, the edges and the face, and just the face) but I cannot see the number of segments in the entity info to manually change it after the circle was created. Has this information been moved somewhere else in 2020? My shade structure looks horrible because I can’t draw a smooth circle.
Activate the circle tool. type 48 and hit enter/return, then draw your circle.
48 is a better number than 50 as it is divisible by 4,8,12 etc so the cardinal points remain correctly orientated.
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okay, that seemed to work when drawing the initial shape. If there are other circles that I drew in the model , it there a way to change the number of segments after they have been drawn? I saw a tutorial on youtube where someone did this but whenever I click on the shape, the entity info does not depict the number of segments like it did in the example.
The ability to change the circle in entity info is lost if the circle is ‘exploded’ in any way. So some can be others can’t be. You would have to show a specific example for me to give a specific answer.
Yes, sometimes.
If the circle doesn’t touch or intersect any other geometry in the same context, you can change the value in Entity Info for the number of segments. So a circle drawn on its own, and still that way, can be so edited, as can one in its own component or group that doesn’t intersect anything else inside that object.
If does intersect other geometry, then the Segments value will be greyed out and not changeable.
If the circle is part of some larger shape (for example, it’s the end of a cylinder or cone) you can change its radius, but NOT the number of segments.
If you start to draw a circle, and miss the first option to set the number of segments, before you finish drawing you can later type a number followed by the letter s to change it.
So for example, if you start to draw a circle (or an arc), move the mouse (normally along an axis) to set the radius, and realise you want to change the number of segments, just type (for example) 48s or 16s, or whatever number of segments you want. If you type a number without the s, you set the radius instead.
As Box said, it’s normally best to use a multiple of 12, 8 or 6 for the number of segments.
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you just need click the line of circle, not the area or both.
Hi, I am looking for some friendly help please. Like Ash before starting today " I cannot see the number of segments in the entity info to manually change it after the circle was created." I could yesterday. Now when I draw a circle the entity info box is restricted to the basics, layer, area, and toggles. Resizing the box doesn’t help, deleting the tray and starting over doesn’t help, changing screen resolutions doesn’t help. Also, I cannot do the manual setting of circle segments by typing in the number before making the circle. I can set the radius by typing in the number after making the circle. I have been modelling circular retaining walls for a while and making lots and lots of circles. Any ideas? I am running Sketchup 2018 Pro on windows 10. My update history says the last update was run 6 days ago on 5 April. Please let me know if you need a screen grab or some other info… Thank you.
Show a screen shot of Entity Info AND the selection.
Are you selecting the circle or the face or both? If you are selecting something other than the edge of the circle, the number of segments won’t be shown.
SketchUp 2018 hasn’t changed suddenly and this is not the sort of thing that would be impacted by a Windows update.
Oops, my bad! Thank you for pointing the difference between selecting the edge alone and double clicking the whole thing, face included! I guess I need more sleep. You have saved the day. Now I can calculate tomorrow’s concrete order! Thank you for your super quick reply! Have a great day!
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