Hi all. On the attached file, there are rectangles 2 thirds the way up my posts. I cannot push/pull these rectangles, or other rectangles drawn at that spot on the posts. Why not? Rectangles drawn elsewhere on the posts are push/pullable. Also, when zooming in, these rectangles and the guidelines that bound them disappear… Could be something simple, i’m new to SU
thanks!
Your attachment did not upload, so I’ll have to take a guess. Try the upload again and we’ll take a better informed look.
Your report about vanishing when you zoom suggests that the guidelines and rectangle are ever so slightly off the face of the post and/or also slightly askew from the face. It takes only a very tiny amount of misalignment to defeat pushpull.
The rectangles are drawn outside of the groups that the post geometry is in. You need to either explode the groups, or open the group (double-click) and draw the rectangles inside.
You have a few problems in the model.
The posts are indeed very slightly misaligned in the red direction. When you drew the guidelines from the one corner, this caused them to pass just below the surface. Likewise, the rectangles are just below the surface. But only very very slightly. As a result, at some zoom levels and view directions the guides and rectangles “bleed” through and become visible, while at other zooms and orientations they don’t. This is a known behavior of the OpenGL display library used by SketchUp when things would end up within a pixel of each other in depth on the display at some zooms.
I would suggest you use the move tool to align the posts more accurately. Activate the move tool, click a corner of a post, tap the right arrow key to lock movement to the red direction, and then click on the corresponding corner of a reference post to align with it. You may need to redraw the guides and rectangles once things are aligned. You should open each component for edit before drawing the rectangles so that they can merge with the rest of the geometry before pushpull.
There are also structural problems with the post end component that are likely to frustrate you. This component has a nested group that contains most of the geometry, but also some elements of loose geometry not in the group (three boxes hidden inside the post and the tenon on the top end). These look like they were an attempt to create a mortise with shoulders, but because they are outside the group and don’t align with its surface, they are hidden inside until you turn on xray mode. I would suggest that you explode the group (not clear to me it serves any purpose) and then try moving these interior structures out to the surface. You may then only need to delete some faces to get your mortise.
Sorted! Thanks for the help.
As for the post ends, this is my first model and I am still getting to grips with the whole nesting / heirarchies of groups , being in control of what group / component is selected at any one time and also, what are the best ways of building joints. Lots to learn…