Mouse wheel won't zoom

Half the time, I go to roll the mouse wheel and it won’t zoom or does so minutely it’s as if it did nothing. So I end up using the zoom extents or the magnifying glass to get it to function. It’s a dell generic mouse What gives? G

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The zoom rate is tied to what’s under the mouse pointer. If the pointer is over something, you zoom much faster. If the pointer is over empty space, you hardly zoom at all.

-Gully

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god! it can’t be that simple, can it? G

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How long did you say you’ve been using it?!

Some times it can be handy to put some background or floor in place when working on small pieces so you don’t keep zooming on empty space.

I never noticed it had to do with where the mouse pointer was - I was too pissed at it not working to be objective, scientific, or achieve a zen-like plane of geekyness to grok the subtle nuances of why the durn thing was misbehaving. Now, if I can get the move tool to be civil I’ll be a happy camper.

G

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What problem are you having with the move tool, the most common is trying to click and drag rather than click release move click. Also clicking on an appropriate point of the thing you want to move.

Getting the object where I want it. Invariably it turns into a orbit-fest, moving it up, down, in and out from a thousand and one different viewpoints before it’s correct or I give up.

G

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Share a SKP file of something you are trying to move for specific advice.

You can position objects quite accurately on the first try every time, but first you must understand how both snapping and the Move tool in SU work.

Snapping operates on the mouse pointer, not on the geometry. When the pointer is within a certain radius of a snap point, it’ll snap to the point. SU’s inferencing engine will light up the point and label it with a tooltip.

So what you do is this: designate (in your mind) a particular snappable point on an object that you would like to use to position the entire object–the index–and designate another point you’d like it to be snapped to at the end of the move–the target.

So do the following with the Move tool active:

Hover the mouse pointer in the near proximity of the index point. The pointer will snap to it and SU will display the visual cues. Now click the point and move the mouse pointer to the near proximity of the target point, and when you see the inferencing feedback, click the point. The move will be accomplished with speed and exactitude. Just be sure to pick your points thoughtfully.

Now, notice. The index and the taget form a vector in space: a direction and an extent. As long as you identify that direction and extent with your two mouse clicks, the Move will proceed as expected, whether you click the actual index and target or another pair of points describing the same vector in space, although perhaps in a more convenient or more accessible location.

-Gully

A couple more tips with regards to moving; after you select the “from” point to move the selected geometry it attaches to the mouse and a thin, black dotted line is shown from the clicked point to the current cursor position:

  • If you move the mouse in the direction of one of the axis, then the dotted line changes colour to match that direction.

  • If the start point was on a line that does not follow one of the axis and you trace it with the mouse, the dotted line goes pink.

  • If the [shift] key is held down while the dotted line is a different colour, the movement of the geometry is constrained to that axis, no matter where you move the mouse to (and the line goes bold).

  • You can hit the up/down to constrain the movement to only move along the blue axis, right to red and left to green. Hitting the same arrow again will release the constraint.

  • If you hover over an end point or midpoint until you see the tool-tip, then it creates a temporary guideline that your geometry is magnetised to.

  • If you place geometry in the correct direction with a second click, you can simply type in a value (or negative value) to position it with more accuracy. As long as the current geometry is still selected and you don’t change tools, you can type in a different value and it will superseded the previous value typed in.

  • If you have previously moved geometry a specific distance (by typing in a value) then there will be an invisible snap point on every axis at that same distance (if you move the mouse to roughly the right distance, it will snap to the exact distance)

The mouse position/movement just before the first click (either to move existing geometry or create new geometry) follows almost identical rules to the above tips, except that you can see the inference guidelines as faint dotted lines - they are created when you hover over point.

I was having the same problem when I was trying to create an array of circles across a woodworking bench top I was creating. What worked for me was to create a couple of guide lines that crossed where I wanted the last circle to be, then draw two lines that crossed where the guide lines intersected, moved the circle (restricting it’s movement with the arrow keys) until it is over the cross center end point and poof poof magic happens. It stops right where I wanted it. I then go back and erase the guide lines and line segments.

I spent about three hours trying different ways to accomplish this until I came up with this approach.

It’s not the elegant/best way to do it, but I’ve only been using SU two days.

It’s good to keep the Instructor window open as you learn the basics of SketchUp’s tools.

Also keep an eye on the statusbar for tool options as you work.

The problem for that might be due to the place where you place the pointer
be keen on placing the pointer on the place wrher you want to zoom in and also make sure that the sketchup window is active also make sure whether you mouse wheel is keen and in good condition