Problems extruding pipe

I am working with some pipes and being beated by them soo far. I wonder if I can get some help here. Thanks a lot in advance!

Well my 1st problem is, I managed soo far to use the “follow me” tool, worked in some pipes, ok, but then, in this specific one, the pipe is not smoth like the others, it is a colection of planes. (I guess others are also, but I can’t make this one smoth). How can I make it smoth? I can only smooth one edge at a time?

2rd problem I made a mistake from the start. The pipe diameter is 5cm but it should be 3cm. How can I resize only the pipe diameter thru all its curves without distortionCasa Av Parque 4 eletrica.skp (5.2 MB) tube1 s?

Thanks Thanks Thanks a lot!

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Like most things in SketchUp, there are many ways to go about doing something like this. Here is one method for you to consider. By looking at your model I assume you do not need to see individual pipe joints, just the pipe or conduit pathways. Consider making your pipe first as a complete center line. Here I use the axis locking keys (arrow keys on your keyboard) to draw a pathway that is square. For the diagonal section I make a straight line and use the rotate tool with the appropriate axis locked to put it in place. For the curves I make a straight line in the direction I want the curve to go in that is the correct length for the curve radius, then I use the pie tool with the axis locked (arrow keys) to make the curve. Once you have your pathway built, make it a component to isolate and protect it. Then I open the component and draw a circle at 90˚ to the pathway (arrow keys to lock axis) at one end of pathway. Double click on the pathway selects it all, then follow me tool and select the circle, the entire pipe is extruded at once. The key to this method is to leave the pathway intact inside the pipe. Then if you need to do future modifications you can open the component for editing, double click on the pipe skin to select it all and delete it with confidence, knowing you can recreate it from the pathway easily. Here I erase the 5cm pipe, and redraw a circle at 3cm and re extrude.

ezgif.com-resize

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Thanks as always. :grinning:

Indeed you are right, I don’t need to depict joints or valves or other details, just the pipe and conduit path, soo I know where they are in the future if I need to access and use them.

Your aproach to design pipes looks easier but my problem with it is that it don’t give me much spacial feedback about the pipe dimensions. For example I don’t know if its sides will touch another wall or if the “belly” of the pipe will touch the floor (or how much it is above) while extruding each segment of the pipe, does not seems very efficient but sounds more cautios for me as a beginer, or I should train on your aproach and see if I feel more used to it (will definitively try).

Casa Av Parque 4 eletrica (SU2017).skp (1.9 MB)
See if it’s not easier for you to work with a better arranged model, with tagged grouped construction elements.

With a correctly made model, you can first draw directly on the wall and build helper elements. I used lines, offset and then colored red to be more visible to you, but you can also use only guides.

ofs-06

Instead of Hide, use Tags to control the visibility of objects (groups, components). Group the raw geometry (lines, arcs, circles, faces).

Learn the basics: https://learn.sketchup.com/track/sketchup-fundamentals-part-1

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If you use previous follow-me’d circles for new paths, the edges of the circle will no longer be welded (whereas push-pulled circles stay welded). Any time you can click-highlight just one edge of your surface at a time, the surface will extrude with unhidden edges at that break. Any edges that click-highlight together will extrude with hidden edges. If copying previous circles, weld the edges back into a circle before follow-meing. Weld is nice to set a hot-key for this reason (in web, search weld in the toolbar search and set hotkey). I just weld everything by default whenever I am about to follow-me, unless I know I want the lines to come out unhidden.

Screen Shot 2020-12-02 at 6.57.42

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Thanks Brian! I will explore this tool. I am sure it will be valuable in future.

Whether edges are welded or broken also determines whether >30° turns in the path will result in hidden or unhidden edges, so you save having to wrestle with the web’s somewhat flimsy soften interface

I couldn’t come up with any way to fix diameter after the fact (aside from the extreme of scaling every end-point circle in the pipe, which requires resetting axises over and over so that it doesn’t distort the planes). You just have to have kept the original path as mentioned above.

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