Hi all,
I’m trying to draw a segmented unit with 12 sides, I can,t get it to reproduce as the original. File attached,
.Segmented Piece.skp (51.1 KB)
TropicalGuyCns
Yes that’s it
TropicalGuyCns
So what were you trying to do that made it not possible for you to get this?
After cleaning up your model and getting rid of some unneeded nesting, I did this:
1 Like
Just not sure what to do, I made a copy but could not get it to come to the right place.
TropicalGuyCns
Read the help files on using the Rotate tool for copies.
After adding more detail to the model, I had a BUGSPLAT. This morning I went to do some more work on this model and now I have a gap between some segments. Can I turn off a grid somewhere to allow me to position segments to a precise location? In the attached drawing, I have segments in a brickwork pattern, What is the best way to get these to align vertically?
Thanks,
TropicalGuyCns
Segmented Piece.skp (63.6 KB)
Locate you main pieces so that they are centered on the origin [where RGB axes meet].
Currently they are slightly offset.
This is making it more difficult that it needs to be when you are selecting the rotation’s center-point.
Because the copies are not getting rotated about a common center you’ll get gaps, overlaps, misalignment and other weirdness…
You could also draw a temporary vertical line through the origin to give you something to snap to for the parts…
Can I turn off a grid somewhere to allow me to position segments to a precise location?
TropicalGuyCns
There is no ‘grid’, although you can set Model Info > Units to Snap, it’s not normally recommended and in any case you have that switched off !
If you locate your ‘circular parts’ so that their centers align in plan and they are located at [or directly above] the origin, then you can simply use the blue-axis as you locator.
You get a circle’s center by hovering over the circumference briefly then moving near to the center, where the tooltip should indicate the center.
However, if you have exploded the circle into separate bits of edges, you can still find its center - draw a diameter line across it - two diameters will always intersect at the center, and one diameter’s mod-point [another inference] is also at the center.
You can draw guide-lines along axes and anywhere else you choose - these can be snapped to and also act an anchors for rotate/copy etc…
Unlike Lines, these Guides do not stick to other geometry like faces and other edges.
Alternatively you could draw a Line from the origin where the three axes meet upwards along the blue axis [use the inference again - perhaps lock it if you are unsure about its exact verticality - use arrows or shift key to lock a new line’s axis/direction]
Hi TIG,
Thanks for the information, being a newbie it’s sometimes quite confusing when things just happen. I had all units in the right place and things were centred until I
had a Bugsplat.
Thanks again .
Regards ,
http://forums.sketchup.com/users/tropicalguycns TropicalGuyCns
