Is there a way to disable the automatic rotation tool? I don’t want to rotate I want to move and this keeps getting in the way, even when I have the move tool selected.
No There’s no setting to disable that. You just need to move the cursor a little bit to get away from the Rotate handles.
I’ve always thought the rotate within the move tool should be removed. If I want to rotate, I’ll use the rotate tool.
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The ‘Rotate’ tool uses a base (first and second click) to then set the rotation angle. It can also be used to rotate a selection of several entities other than single group’s (or single component’s) selections.
The ‘Move’ tool in it functionality to rotate single groups or components uses the current drawing axes to determine the rotation from. You can easily return to a starting position of zero degrees from one of these axes.
Thereby they both serve different needs.
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Of course you can easily return to a starting position. I do that all the time when the move’s rotate function activates. To me it is more of an annoyance that serves absolutely no function in my process. The time it sometimes takes to zoom in to avoid this action is not worth its convenience. That of course, is just my opinion. I’ve directly forwarded my feelings on this function to the SU team when it first became available. While I’ve become used to dealing with this odd function over the years, I would not shed a tear if it were removed LOL!
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It’s a very personal thing, I love the move rotate option, and use it all the time. I love that it rotates on the center of the object whereas the rotate tool needs you to find the center.
And I like that it can be used on multiple groups all at the same time.
A very simple example of multiple groups.
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It was also much less confusing because I didn’t have to think about rotating on an axis… Which didn’t make sense to me at first. It always seemed to take me at least two false starts to get the direction that I wanted. I didn’t actually use the rotate tool as a first choice until I needed to rotate from the corner of an object.
I’m used to the axis now … But I still like the move rotate.
I’m afraid there is a combination of issues that put the user between a rock and a hard place.
The lack of basic tools such as a Gizmo/Widget to easily manipulate objects in 3D (rotate, scale and move) is at the core of this issue.
The alternative for rotating objects from center is really bad. But the need is there, for sure. Nothing personal about it really, we all need to rotate objects from center.
When working with big scenes constantly zooming in and out is very time consuming, specially when the viewport is a bit laggy from all the geometry. Sure hiding geometry works but sometimes you just want to move some small assets around without zooming in, and instead of moving you get the rotation tool…
Lastly, in most software there is the option to disable the Gizmo, so I don’t see why there shouldn’t be an option to disable the quasi gizmo in sketchup.
Agreed, PITA on complex framing models… I get that there is a use for it, and I do sometimes use it - but my use case is 95/100 rotate tool. I wish it were called up with a toggle, or could be disabled.
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This has been discussed at great length. It’s vitally useful for some and others never employ it. Fredo correctly pointed out that the rotate handles graphic scaling could be improved. There a a lot of opinions on both sides already expressed in this thread link below.
A feature request for a switch or off option has already been logged. The modifier key options are already pretty full for the move tool so the switch might be better placed as a global preference switch. The feature is indispensable to my work so please don’t remove it.
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100% agree with Nick & Mike on this one! There are solid arguments for and against… but the current functionality is not ideal (for both beginners, as well as advanced users). I also think it should be called up via a keyboard toggle, and not ever-present.
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As you might imagine, I disagree, I love the way it currently works. I would prefer to see it either present or not present by preference switch. I would like to have it present by default, rather than be constantly pressing a modifier key to call up the handles over and over. I respect that other might feel differently. So let’s make it adjustable so the toggle key either calls them or hides them depending on users set preferences. Win -win?
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I’ve always wished the ‘auto rotate’ would be removed from the Move tool. It’s always in my way. I use Rotate when I want to rotate, and Move when I want to move. Adding a toggle to disable ‘Auto-rotate within Move command’ somewhere in user preferences would be very welcome and would (should) make everyone happy whichever way you prefer.
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The rotate tool in the move command that can’t be turned off, has wasted more time than a crash and lost days. I don’t go but a min or two on small object, only to see it WAVING rotate that was just showing a move, like it’s happy it’s infuriating the process! Trying to move something from a midpoint for alignment is crazy stupid. I draw a line from the mid point then move then delete.
I don’t agree about the rotate handles of the move tool, I find them pretty useful. But in regards to aligning centers, you do know you can toggle the pickup handles for the move tool using the I think the Ctrl on PC? (it’s the command key on my Mac). ((I was wrong it’s ALT)) The default handles start at the corners, first toggle is center point of edges, then center point of faces, then center center, then back to corners again.
Alt on Windows. Not sure what it would be in SketchUp Free (web) 2021 on Ubuntu, though. Of course SketchUp Free 2021 hasn’t existed for better than a year and a half.
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Thanks for the conscientious reply.
Part of the implementation challenge is that you activate a move tool, and because of the implementation it applies a rotate tool.
The fact that there is this problem page highlights this. This answer is not pointed at you, nor at the one using the rotate feature rather, at (longshot) an admin who might find viewpoint of certain users who might be Sticks to build with.
that you would want to center on another point.
Draw a small board, trim rod, or column, now move it a significant distance.
Problem 0. Why would one need to rotate a column/rod. (I suppose it might have a feature below.)
Problem 1. They put the rotate handle right next to the center point handle to move in a x,y axis?
If one wanted to rotate something at it’s center, wouldn’t that be a nice place?
Problem 2. The active zone for the rotate handle is PREFERRED above midpoint handle.
Problem 3. To grab the midpoint handle, you must move outside of the rotate handle range (beyond the edge) and the midpoint handle doesn’t highlight. So your now grabbing exactly what. You can use the Alt key, but it doesn’t work regularly. Then when it does work and your not right over the midpoint handle, if you move the mouse, the rotate handle overrides again! So you hit the Alt again.
Problem 4. So you zoom in to be able to affirm you are grabbing the correct handle ref not just near it, but now you can only move it on a zoomed in screen, so not very far unless you can zoom while moving, unnecessary hassle!
Unless you know the exact dimension.
Problem 5. I can’t really figure out why one needs 4 Rotate handles each near a midpoint, NOT where the object will Rotate anyway.
The implementation is Two Rotate tools. One with a Move feature if it can’t find a rotate handle first!
My first inclination is why not use a rotate tool with an ALT for the center focus?
I will assume from the comments that this is untenable.
So, my strong next preference would be, The Move Tool would Prioritize Move Handles, then secondarily if you wait or enable the Rotate tool with the Alt key, and move the Rotate handle to the center of the object where the Rotate axis will be. If one moves the mouse again, the Move handle references should appear on top.
I use the rotate feature with the move tool very frequently but I agree that sometimes it could be a bit annoying when you’re trying to move something and it grabs the rotation handles, it may be solved with a toggle key to activate and deactivate the rotation handles.
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SketchUp should implement a gizmo which is industry standard in any professional 3d software. That would solve everything.
There’s a plugin called gizmo from Curic, it’s pretty useful it can be enabled and disabled from the overlays tray.
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