Total newbie issue, and I’m stumped on how to do this. I’m running into an issue when I draw a rectangle. I can type a new dimension in the “measurements” dialog…but I have to enter both dimensions…I cannot edit just one existing dimension in the dialog box. This isn’t a problem when I’m entering 2",4" but when I need to change [~2 29/64", ~4 1/8] to [3",~4 1/8] I can’t highlight the ~2 29/64 and change just that value.
I’m running SU2017 on Windows 10…and on my wife’s Mac running SU2017 I can do this in that dialog box. I’m almost sure there is a simple technique I’m missing…I just learned in the value of the ‘triple-click’ in the forum so I’m hoping there’s an easy answer.
Though it looks like you can do that on Mac (entering the measurements box ) ,you’re not really inside it, it is just a flickering cursor.
The way to use the measurement box (VCB) is to activate a tool, make an initial Click, release the button, drag the mouse in a direction (do not hold the button down!), let go of the mouse and start typing. (Watch the text for the VCB) If it says length, type one length. If it says dimensions (Rectangle) you can type two dimensions, seperated by the delimeter for your country (, or;) You can also type one dimension and let the position of the cursor determine the other. (Eg if you type ,4 the first dimension is determined by the position of the cursor, the last is 4)
Changes can be made while you are still in the tools action.
You never ‘enter’ the VCB, it just gets highlighted when you are in a active action
On Windows, clicking in the Measurements box just doesn’t work. All you can do is simply start typing while you are defining the rectangle. Since you can’t click in the box, you can’t change just one dimension. You have to enter both.
I may be misreading the OP, but it sounds to me like SketchUp 101: if you are drawing a rectangle and you want to alter one dimension but keep the other, you type a comma and omit the other field then press enter. For example “3,” or “,3” (without the quotes). Whichever one you omit will keep the value it had. Note: semicolon not comma if your locale uses comma for decimal point.
Sounds like you are trying to resize an existing rectangle. There are several ways.
You can use the move tool on one edge and type in the distance you want it to move. This requires you to calculate what you need to remove to get the size you want.
or
Use the scale tool and type in the exact measurement that you want it to be including the Unit. Without adding the Unit it will be read as a scale factor not a finished size.
That’s what I’m used to on the Mac, John…thanks for pulling the video out. As I understand from SJ it just isn’t available on the Window’s version…which is too bad, I find that extremely handy from removing the ~ to make things less “approximate.” (at least as I get used to things)
There’s no need to click in the Measurements window on either platform although you can do it on Mac. Once you’ve created a rectangle and moved on to the next operation, you cannot simply select the rectangle and type a new dimension for it. You can resize the rectangle using other tools such as Move or Scale but you can’t just type new dimensions for it.
Best practice is to draw the rectangle and immediately type the desired dimensions. If you click to set the first corner and drag out the rectangle, you just let go of the mouse and type the actual dimensions you want it to have. No clicking in the Measurements window.Just type. This works the same on both Windows and Mac.
Some background info: Once you’ve drawn a rectangle with the rectangle tool SketchUp has no way of knowing it’s a rectangle anymore. To SketchUp it is just a face with 4 vertices and for edges, not some sort of Rectangle Entity. You can’t go back to change the “rectangle properties” of that face. That is why you need to either move an edge or scale the face using other tools.
