Is there a plug-in that enables an Axis for manipulating objects?

SketchUp Pro
1

I am trying to create environmental scenes and I have to constantly move assets around, up and down planes, water planes, rocks, trees, etc.

Most 3D software have a system like this that accommodates the basic functions as moving, copying and rotation in 3 axes.

Rhino has what is called a Gumball:

image
image1588×1207 103 KB

Cinema 4D:
image

Blender:

image
image1222×1160 89.1 KB

Unreal:

image
image1301×847 54.6 KB

I am honestly having a really hard time managing my assets in 3d space without this system. I think that it is so widely used because it works… Just select an object and click and drag.

Right now with Sketchup I have to:

  1. select object
  2. press E for move tool
  3. pick a point to move from
  4. press up arrow key to lock to z axis
  5. pick point to move to.

But what is worse, most times this does not work because the move tool is snapping like crazy to everything I can see… so I try to input a precise value… but I have to repeat the previous steps for each value…

So suppose I want to move a stone asset -3 meters below ground plane:

I have to:

  1. select object
  2. press E for move tool
  3. pick a point to move from
  4. press up arrow key to lock to z axis
  5. enter 3m and press enter

But now I realize that it does not look good, so I want to rise up by 1m now.

Repeat the whole process…

I mean how do people even work like this??

2

Type 2m to override the 3m input and [enter] again.
(This only works until another tool has been selected.)

3

Then click for the start of the move anywhere away from other assets that might create inferences to snap from, and use @Wo3Dan’s suggestion of not clicking a second time until you are happy with the alignment.

The move doesn’t have to start on the object you are moving. You could even draw a vertical or angled line for the direction you want to move, then constrain the move on the line, from the start of it, and move for a (typed or ‘moused’) distance along it.

There’s also an Eneroth plugin 3D rotate which makes rotation about an arbitrary axis much easier. Click once on the pivot point, a second time on the start vector/direction to move from, then a third time on the end of the ‘arc’ to move to.

4

JS MoveTool

mve-03
Not with a gimbal, just with arrow keys and modifiers (Alt, Ctrl).

1 Like
5

Hi,

Is this what you are looking for?
(I haven’t tried it but it’s seems nice indeed for manipulating objects)

1 Like
6

Plugin link : SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation
You must be able to set a shortcut for faster use.