I want to select one of the bricks on top of the cube. How can I achieve this?
- single click - selects the face
- double click - selects the face and edges
- triple click - selects… all three objects
Window selection from left to right. Loose geometry isn’t separate objects except in your brain.
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If you’d made the bricks groups or components you could select them one at a time. It sounds like they are loose geometry so they aren’t separate. You would have to go around and select the faces you want. Hold Ctrl while selecting them.
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To help achieve your goals, some time spent at the SketchUp Campus and at the SketchUp - YouTube channel will be very worthwhile. Both sites are from the SketchUp team. On the YouTube channel, pay attention to the Square One Series. It covers the basics for each tool.
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You might also have back edges turned on inadvertently (the dashed lines). If so and you want to turn them off press the k shortcut key.
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Window selection from left to right. Loose geometry isn’t separate objects except in your brain.
Window selection will unfortunately only work in your brain.
If you’d made the bricks groups or components you could select them one at a time.
Thank you. So I read a sketchup guide about this and it said:
Rule #1: If you are going to use something more than once in your model, make a Component of it.
and:
When you explode all of a component, it (they) turns back into basic geometry
and also:
Components can be made by selecting all of the edges and faces of an object, or a set of objects, and then right-clicking over the highlighted (i.e. selected) objects and selecting Make Component from the menu. Ensure that Replace Component with Selection is checked.
Right, sounds like a lot of faff. To ensure that you can move your objects in the future you have to repeat this process every time. Not only that, you also have to create them away from everything else otherwise you may be accidentally selecting other things. This is also suggested primarily for reusability rather than being able to move things later.
I suppose if you want to move something that is ‘basic geometry’ you could achieve this by destroying it and recreating at the desired location again but this sounds rather unsatisfactory. Maybe it’s the matter of getting used to the way things work in sketchup.
But given that components can so easily be turned back into ‘basic geometry’ by ‘exploding’ them and also be easily edited just as ‘basic geometry’ by simply double-clicking on them wouldn’t it make more sense to have components created by default? Why is having a bunch of ‘loose’ faces and edges a better default option?
Who said having a bunch of loose edges is a better option? SketchUp has no idea exactly what you are modeling. IT doesn’t know you want to create a brick shape as an object separate from other things. Like other software SketchUp can’t read your mind. You are in control of the model. If you want three separate objects like two bricks sitting on a larger block, you need to define which geometry belongs to which object. In SketchUp that is done by making groups or components to contain specific edges and faces.
That’s just one option. Personally I only make components even if there’s only one. It’s to you.
Yes. Exploding a group or component removes the container and throws it away.
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The sketchup devs must have said so given this is the default setting and making an object a component requires a number of manual steps, the most painful one being having to select the thing you want to make into a component.
Sketchup wouldn’t have to read my mind to by default turn whatever becomes a 3-dimensional object into a component. You have a 2d shape, you pull it, you get a component without any further actions required. Seems a better default to me. This would also make grouping things easier by simply clicking on them instead of using this awkward window selection. What I’m trying to establish is why wouldn’t one want it to work this way.
Thank you for making a visual demonstration. But it didn’t work, did it? The brick disintegrated in the process. Also nice page on FB, will make sure to check out the tips there!
Learn to use the tools rather than try to redesign how it works.
Right click and select make component or make group then start drawing.
I’m trying to but I discovered what seems like an unnecessary manual process and I’m looking for ways to have it automated (or reasons not to). If this cannot be done that’s ok, I’ll accept it as a limitation of the tool and move on.
So in your mind as sooon as a shape becomes 3D it should automatically become a component? That’s great if all you want is rectangular prisms but it would get in the way of creating more complex forms. Sounds like you want it to be like Minecraft.
It’s not a “limitation of the tool.”
it would get in the way of creating more complex forms
Please elaborate. That’s what I’m trying to understand.