Has there been a change in this version with regards to how switching between tools works? It feels extremely inconsistent now, like the timing has changed.
For example, with the Paint Bucket I used to be able to hold ALT to switch to the eyedropper tool, then let go to switch back to paint bucket.
Now I feel like I have to press Alt to get the eye dropper, press it again to get the bucket again, and even then there’s like a 50% chance it works properly.
Kind of hard to show it in action, but the extreme inconsistency is throwing me off. I can even break it to where ALT isn’t working at all, until I click off the modeling area (IE to a blank space on the toolbar at the top), then it returns to normal function until it decides to go inconsistent again and then break until I repeat the process again.
(As a side note, am I also the only one annoyed that for the Soften Edges tool, I have to manually drag the slider instead of clicking anywhere on the bar to jump to the desired degrees of softness? This has been a thing since the UI change a year or two back)
After SketchUp 2020 there was a dual behavior added. If you like to press and hold the Alt, do the sample, let go of Alt (like it would have been in 2021), you can still do that. If you would rather tap the Alt key, point around the model thinking about what you want, and then click, that works as well.
In either case you’re back in the paint bucket tool. The combination that can fail is if you are very fast at Alt-press-click-release Alt, that may end up looking like you had tapped the Alt key, and so the sample mode may stay on.
You could continue to work the old way, and for the times when it gets stuck in sample mode, tap the Alt key to get back to the pain bucket. Or give the new way a try, and always briefly tap Alt before then clicking somewhere.
Some other tools also had that change. The Scale tool for example lets you stay in scale around center mode if you have briefly tapped the modifier key, no need to hold it down.
All of those changes were in 2021, but some of the timing may have been tweaked in later versions.
Apologies, forgot to update my profile back when I got 2025 a week or two ago. Updated accordingly.
I have both 2021 and 2025 on this system, and switching between the two, I don’t seem to have the same problem with 2021.
But, I’ve noticed since I’ve made my post I just had to adjust my speed accordingly, now it’s not happening as frequently. Don’t remember having the same kind of problem back when I was subscribed with 2024, but it’s all good now!
Just one quick question. Is there some kind of button combination that toggles between the two, that one might inadvertantly set off?
Because it’s acting wonky again all of the sudden when it was perfectly fine for a bit, and no matter how I adjust it’s not functioning properly again.
Like, I can press ALT all I want with the Paint Bucket selected, and it’s not switching to the eyedropper, at all, until I click off the screen and then back on, and if I try to undo a change “CTRL + Z,” it just changes the type of paint bucket in use.
I’d like to think I’m not crazy using Sketchup since 2007 and all of the sudden I’m just not using a tool correctly I’ve used for years lol.
Check to see if the menu bar items are showing underscores under any of the letters. If they are, Alt has been redirected by the system to trigger a menu action. SketchUp isn’t supposed to let through Alt for tools that use it as a modifier key, but if you had another panel selected, and not the model window, it could be that Alt is going straight to the menu.