One of the few things I can do in Sketchup is make a ‘washer’… And to make the hole, I learned to use the “push/pull” tool and then drag the inner circle down until it looked ‘funny’. Too far and it extrudes the wrong way… But there is a spot where the surface texture looks different… And at this point, if you let go of mouse button, you have a hole.
But in 2015 things have changed. .This no longer works… I have now found that you push/pull in the same way as before, but you have to move to the edge of the model to get the same result… But its much harder to do and is inconsistent.
Have the really changed this behavour? And if so, why? Is there another way to achieve this?
What exactly is the correct way to make a ‘hole’ in 2015?
Nothing changed in how SketchUp 2015 behaves in respect to Push/Pull to creating holes directly by inferencing ‘On Face’ with two parallel faces.
In your example:
The inner circular face can be pushed to ‘On Face’ on the other side of the washer.
The ‘funny’ looking view is most likely when this ‘On Face’ occures: a front face (white) coplanar with the back face (blueish/grey) on the other side of the washer. It still happens in SketchUp 2015. That is the time to let go of the mouse button. Both inner circular faces will vanish.
If you do have problems finding the ‘On Face’ inference, then orbit to look more down onto the washer. You should be able to see right through the hole after it would be created.
If you have problems creating the hole this way, inference on an edpoint in the plane on the other side. If there aren’t any in the current view, then orbit or turn on X-Ray face style.
Incorrect use of the mouse.
Do not drag by holding down the left mouse button.
Simply click once on the face to begin the P/P operation. The P/P face is ‘attached’ to the tool cursor.
Move the mouse and click a second time to complete the P/P operation.
You can infer to the opposite face or an edge as you describe.
Either way works; which way is best depends upon the modeling situation and what you can see.
Be aware you can orbit at anytime to get a better view, even after you’ve begun the P/P operation.
Tip:
Most operations in SU work that way. Click once to begin … Click a second time to complete the operation.
A few operations do involve holding down the mouse button and dragging … very few.