Length snapping - Can I get pros and cons from the community please?

[Zvonko]

While discussing another topic in this post, @DaveR mentioned that some of my issues might be related to length snapping.

I wasn’t familiar with that so I did some research. My understanding of how it works is:

1. Can be toggled off/on in Model Info dialog
2. Accepts any value > Precision value
3. Controls distance between snap points so that if value is set to 1" any line I draw won’t show up until I’ve drawn it at least 1" long. If I try to draw it 1 1/2" it just stays 1" long
4. I can still use inference to draw lines that aren’t multiples of 1"

So, I’m trying to think of good use cases for having the length snapping turned off/on and why you’d use smaller values vs larger values for it.

Ready, Set, GO! Let the feedback start.

Seriously, though, I love how helpful this community is. Thanks for any feedback.

[Box]

Turn it off, update any templates you use so it is off by default.
The Cons outweigh any pros. Personally I have yet to find a pro, some may disagree.

Some discussion can be found here

Enable Length Snapping... Why?

For the life of me I can’t understand why this feature (certainly in it’s current state) exists. Can anyone, user or developer explain to me a use case that is beneficial. All I see is a feature that appears to be set to On as the default that causes inaccuracy in geometry that wouldn’t occur if it was turned off. If there is a use case that I am unaware of I would still suggest it be Off by default and come with a warning when attempting to turn it on. Edit: I would appreciate @colin if you…

[Zvonko]

@Box

Some discussion can be found here

Thanks Box. I actually had found that thread and read it already. It clarified a few things, but didn’t really make me feel like I understood it enough to go one way or the other.

Developing features in software isn’t cheap and easy so there must have been some good reasons why it was included in the first place and still exists in SU21.

I looked through the SU help site, searched the community and the web in general. SU didn’t really explain any reasons for or against using it. Just explained how to use it. The web in general seems to agree with you.

[DaveR]

Length Snapping can be useful if you are using SketchUp for sketching where precise dimensions aren’t critical. It can make for faster sketching but as you’ve seen, it can lead to imprecise models when real dimensions are important.