Move Copy Specified distance does not work in vertical axis

SketchUp Pro
1

I’ve had this problem for a long time, I’ve posted on it before without result so I’ll try again.

Using the sequence; Select instance, type ‘M’, drag instance, type Ctrl, input distance, type enter - will not make a copy in the vertical axis. This sequence works with red and green axes, but when specifying blue axis, a duplicate instance will be visibly created (just like in the other axes), but disappears as soon as the command is completed. Oddly, this command works when I do not specify a distance, but drag the copy to an arbitrary distance.

This occurs both on my office PC and my personal Mac laptop with unrelated licenses.

This has been an unresolved annoyance for quite awhile and there are easy workarounds, but my workflow is less efficient and my frustration level gets pretty high.

Has anyone seen this? Any ideas on how to make this simple function work again?

1 Like
2

Does the component by chance have “glue to” enabled? You can check by editing its properties in the Components window. Alternatively, is it a Dynamic Component?

3

I see your profile says you are using a Mac. So am I.

I presume by Ctrl you actually mean Alt? That is the key I use to create a copy. Doing that works for me just fine.

I have never understood why SU doesn’t have a dedicated Copy command (as opposed to a variation of the Move command) but that’s another story.

4

slbaumgartner - This phenomenon occurs with all instances including a simple line, which does not have any “glue to” options.

simoncbevans - As mentioned in my post, “This occurs both on my office PC and my personal Mac laptop with unrelated licenses.”

5

you’re point of view also has to do with it…
When looking from above Sketchup thinks you want to move it in a horizontal way.
Looking from “groundlevel” makes it easyer to move things up and down.
Alternatively you can use the up-key to tell sketchup you want to move up.

6

tweenulzeven - This will occur regardless of the orientation of the camera or inference locking on axes. When I lock inference on the blue axis with the up key, it will revert to either the green or red.

7

Could you attach a model that shows this behavior so we can see if is something with the model or something with your system.

8

This is an issue that occurs frequently, but not consistently. The model that I was having the issue with earlier is now behaving normally and is too large for me to share. While I was having the problem earlier, I was able to duplicate the issue with a new blank file and got the same result. This leads me to believe that it is not specific to the model or individual file. Because the problem does go away, I believe that it is system related, but because I have experienced this problem on different machines with different operating systems across different sketchup versions, I would think that it is a software glitch. If that was the case, however, then I would expect more people to have reported similar issues.

9

I know this is an old post, but I do have the same problem, and have had it for years now. I also use both Mac and PC and it occurs on both. The workaround I’ve used is:

  • Select the object/line/whatever you want to move
  • Drag with ctrl (or alt on Mac) and write specific distance
  • The problem occurs and the objects has not moved
  • Then I ctrl-drag the object again and because of the snapping function, the object now snaps to the previously written distance

As @marrigoround mentioned, this only occurs on the vertical axis. Has anyone come up with a solution?

10

If you read the other posts about the problem you will see my suggested work around is to retype the number and press Return/Enter again. Then the copy stays where it is.

Work has been done on the issue, but that was soon after the last update. I can’t give you a date for the next update, that hopefully will have this issue fixed.

11

Thanks! Good to hear you’re working on it.

12

Make sure you aren’t holding the modifier key. And click and release, don’t click and drag.

My process has always been to press the modifier key before clicking to start the move and this bug hasn’t been a problem for me at all. I have to work at changing my steps to make it happen because the method I use that works is so ingrained.