Freehand > 3D polyline

[Box]

Draw an edge with the freehand tool but hold shift while doing it.
Then try to use that edge.

[GSTUDIOS]

I haven’t found any explanation for them in SketchUp help online, apart from this -

A polyline entity doesn’t generate inference snaps, create faces, or affect geometry in any way. You create a polyline entity only if you hold down the Shift key as you draw with the Freehand tool. Polyline entities are thinner than curve entities.

Could they have been created for 2D maps / terrain?

[Box]

I think it would be a useful tool if you could select a bunch of geometry and convert it to this style of polyline. The fact that you can only select them by a left to right fence around their end vertex means you have linework that is effectively locked and non inferencing. Using Fredo’s convert to Polyline doesn’t have the same basically inert properties that these have.

[g.h.hubers]

@Box

Ate you guys talking about polylines or just the freehand tool.

As the title says, it’s about that mysterious entity that you get when also holding down [Shift] when applying the ‘Freehand’ tool.
Yes, I should have explained the use of [Shift] to get a 3D Polyline, not just a series of edges in a curve.

[Box]

I didn’t mean you @g.h.hubers I knew what you were talking about.

[Mark]

Hi everybody,

I’m resuscitating this thread as we are investigating some improvements to the Freehand tool and are considering removing the [Shift] Polyline modifier altogether. Is anybody using the 3D Polylines created in their workflow: if so what for?

Thanks for indulging our curiosity!

Mark

[dezmo]

@Mark

created in their workflow:

When I’m just explaining to someone how to use the Freehand tool…I always tell them to stay away from the Shift key.

@Mark

if so what for?

Demonstrating what it is, and how amazingly very rarely it is needed.

@Mark

removing the [Shift] Polyline modifier altogether

Agree!

[Anssi]

What is actually the difference between a “curve” and a “3D Polyline”?
To me the latter looks smoother and I can select it only by enclosing it wholly in a selection window…
I don’t see the modifier listed on the status line when the tool is active so i wouldn’t have known about the feature without reading this thread.

[dezmo]

@Anssi

What is actually the difference between a “curve” and a “3D Polyline”?

Drawing freehand shapes

• A curve entity contains multiple line segments but can define and divide a face like a single line. Although you select all the segments in a curve entity at once, the SketchUp inference engine displays point and edge inferences for each segment in the entity.
• A polyline entity doesn’t generate inference snaps, create faces, or affect geometry in any way. You create a polyline entity only if you hold down the Shift key as you draw with the Freehand tool. Polyline entities are thinner than curve entities.

[TDahl]

@dezmo

A polyline entity doesn’t generate inference snaps, create faces, or affect geometry in any way. You create a polyline entity only if you hold down the Shift key as you draw with the Freehand tool.

Huh, who knew?

@dezmo

Polyline entities are thinner than curve entities.

Thinner in what sense, I wonder?

[monospaced]

@dezmo

A polyline entity doesn’t generate inference snaps, create faces, or affect geometry in any way.

Then what is it for?

[dezmo]

I quoted from official “help.” As far as I can remember from the very beginning it is described this way.
Of course, depending on what style you use, the appearance of “lines” can vary.

[dezmo]

@monospaced

Then what is it for?

Also I quoted from the official help.:
“decorate your model.”

[Mark]

@dezmo

“ decorate your model. ”

Now, that is an interesting notion: I can’t say ‘officially’ that we feel this entity is a good way to decorate the model. I’m still hopeful this thread will catch the eye of someone who has figured out a reason for this polyline.

[Anssi]

@TDahl

Thinner in what sense, I wonder?

To me it seems that the polyline doesn’t register as a “profile” while the “curve” does.

@Mark

someone who has figured out a reason for this polyline.

I don’t find a way to use the polyline to create faces or anything so, perhaps, it is only good for “decoration”. In that case I don’t see a reason for it.

[TDahl]

“decorate the model” as in draw chat bubbles or call-outs and highlights perhaps? Similar (in some ways) to 2D text labels.

[Box]

@Mark

I’m still hopeful this thread will catch the eye of someone who has figured out a reason for this polyline.

And I’m still hopeful I will wake up in the morning and leap out of bed feeling fresh and rejuvenated and ready for the day ahead.

[Anssi]

@Box

And I’m still hopeful I will wake up in the morning and leap out of bed feeling fresh and rejuvenated and ready for the day ahead.

Erm, it is a bit late for that even here in Finland. Isn’t the morning almost there already?

[Box]

It’s actually come and gone already here, and sure enough, much like the polylines, I flopped out of bed onto the floor and gradually dragged myself to the coffee machine with no coherent purpose other than existence.
9.30 am

[endlessfix]

Huh… learn something every day, just drew my first polyline ever. I guess maybe I might use this as a markup tool for notes on an existing model. Like sharpie circles around areas of a paper print but without the danger of altering the existing model, or confusing the inference engine. Not sure I really need that but… maybe in a collaborative team setting? Long stretch.

I am certainly now going to draw squiggles all over my colleagues models when they are not looking. Nice big scribbles that they can’t select and can’t erase… perfect.