Is there any method to tie/group parallel inner and outer faces of a wall (as shown in the image below) together, so when moving either, the other faces automatically faces, thus the wall thickness stays the same. Currently I have to select the first face, then rotate the view and select the second face, before I can move the wall, which is a cumbersome and time consuming process, when in need to move many walls because you want to play around with the size and shape of a room/cabinet.
A recess as in the upper wall of the below image, should follow along as well.
Bottom line: “One click select and move” instead of “Multiple clicks select & rotate and move”. Possible? How? If not with the SU(Pro) default installation, perhaps with a plugin?
I’m guessing from your image that you aren’t using groups or components and that the model is all raw geometry.
If so, simply select the wall and niche and move it.
Thanks for your suggestion. I’m of course aware of rectangular selection, the “problem” however is that it requires a certain perspective, thus extra clicks for rotation again. Plus in a crowded model, ones has to hide the rest of the model (which despite being done automatically in component edit, sometimes isn’t desired, as one needs visual feedback with the rest of the model while moving).
I really want to tie faces to each other, so I can click to select and immediately move. Perhaps through a dynamic component!? How?
In Model Info->Components you can choose the degree of “Fade” applied to similar components or to the rest of the model when a component is open for edit. The fade happens without needing to fully hide them.
Or, more precisely, it doesn’t have to because only entities within the currently open component can be selected regardless of their visibility or fade.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the native tools for this sort of thing, but I think you can do it with a Dynamic component. But beware there is a steep learning curve to this sort of thing and you need to have a good understanding of what’s going on to make things work correctly.
I have very limited knowledge of this and would find it far too difficult to try to explain over the forum how this is set up and why. What I can do is give you a link to some basic tutorials which helped me in my understanding of the basics.
You can study this link at your own leisure to get to grips with the basics of Dynamic components. Mike Brightman Dynamic components
I created six components and made them into a component, note I hid some of the edges that are a little unsightly…(exploded just for illustration)
I gave attributes to the component to make them behave, like I think you wanted. I added component options for “width and depth” and restricted scaling to only X and Y for this case. Notice the window component always stays the same distance from the left wall when changing the size, it can move if you want too…
As @Box said above, it looks as if you aren’t using groups or components. You should be, otherwise you will find your model becomes increasingly difficult, or even impossible, to edit as it grows in complexity.
Unless I am really misunderstanding the situation, you are making things much more complicated than they need to be.
When I teach people to use sketchup, I have a big sign that says “GROUP!” which I hole up frequently. As soon as you make anything…GROUP IT! Because otherwise everything “sticks” to each other and it becomes impossible to work or control the model.
So you make your four walls in 3D…Triple click or use select window to select all faces. Then GROUP. Now, if you double click to “get into the group”, you will be editing ONLY items in the group. I.e.; your walls. Everything else that is outside of the group cannot be affected in any way when you are in the group. So now just get yourself more-or-less overhead/plan…and use select window to select the wall faces and the window opening faces of that wall…then move. It’s very simple. Don’t start making components of things like this…you will make your work flow slower and your headaches greater.
I’m well aware of group vs. component. What I’m looking for is a way to modify the width or length of the room (while preserving the wall thickness), with just two (!) clicks: select, then move. Just as you can do with a room/box which has single face walls (no wall thickness).
The problem with having four separate walls in a group is that moving for instance the very left wall to make the room wider, doesn’t make the top and bottom wall stick to both the left and right wall, thus automatically adjust in width. Instead I’d have to additionally scale those two. Or am I missing something here!?
I think I’m really looking for a feature/function, which as it seems just doesn’t exist: to attach two or more parallel faces (or even non-parallel: think of 45° corners because of e.g. chimneys) to each other (perhaps even with the option to ignore scaling of the component/overall object), so when when one of those linked/“grouped” faces gets moved, the other simply follow along.
@IanT Mind to upload the .skp-File from that Dynamic Room? I could learn from it by just inspecting the Outliner and DC settings. Would come in handy…
