Hello to you all.
In the marketplace almost all pipes are sold by the diameter.
…So…
Is it possible to add the following flexibility to the CIRCLE tool?
You start the circle
Select center (first mouse click)
{now Sketchup expects you to enter a radius}
You hit a modifier key to toggle between entering a radius or diameter
…
Thank you
…
This would be similar to having the flexibility with the rectangle tool:
Start a rectangle from a corner or a center point by hitting ctrl (Windows)
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Enter diameter/2
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Hello Mihai. If have ever looked at the “pipe size tables” with ID, OD I think you would not have made this comment. The idea is to avoid the need to use a calculator while working with Sketchup. I realized that it is not a full blown pipe network design tool. It is simply an architecture tool. But as simple but yet as sophisticated Sketchup is the designers should consider what you encounter in the “real world”. I don’t consider Sketchup as a “toy”, I take it seriously.
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A problem for imperial units if the diameter is, e.g., 1 3/4"!
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or 5.5/2
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It’s a common mistake. The measurements box inadvertently does some kinds of division as part of its support for entering fractions. But it does not implement a full arithmetic expression parser and will make a mess of statements that don’t make sense as fractions.
BTW: a more powerful arithmetic expression parser is a frequent Feature Request that so far hasn’t seen any action.
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I asked for this feature since a long time. As a mechanical engineer involved in piping design, I can understand Selim demand.
Why not add the possibility of using the letter d at the beginning or end of the number to be entered so that SketchUp (SU) use it as a diameter. Then SU would use diameter as default until I enter an r at the beginning or the end to switch back to radius. This would be a bit like specifying the number of sides for circle and polygons when you type s12 or 12s to get 12 segments for a circle. Also, the label at left of the Measurement Window (or VCB if you prefer) would indicates what SU expect (radius or diameter) as it shows sides immediately after you select the Circle Tool.
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Additionally, in the “Entity Info” it would be great if “diameter” is shown (instead of the radius) if I entered the circle based on diameter.
Until this feature is implemented, you can practice your division. It’s a good mental exercise. 
Hello Dave,… I consider mental exercise for effort to be spent for creative solutions which add value. Not for doing divisions or multiplications,… which may be good enough mental exercise for someone else (no offense).
…
BTW,… Did you ever shop for some pipe on line which is sold by the radius?
No but I don’t have any problem dividing by 2. I guess you could consider it another part of your hobby at least until they add diameter as an entry option. I wouldn’t mind seeing that added and it is a long standing feature request but what are you going to do? Are you going to stop using SketchUp until the feature is added?
Since I live in Canada, we use US pipe sizes.
The outside diameter (O.D.) of pipes are the same as the pipe size for 14 inches and up. For 12 inches and less, the O.D. is not the same as the nominal size. For example, the O.D. of an 8 in pipe is 8.625 in.
And, if you need in inside diameter, it changes depending on the pipe schedule and is rarely equal to a whole number.
Anyway, using the Engineering Toolbox plugin solves most of this problem.