Show the name of the default template the Sketchup is using on the title of the program, or toolbar, or work surface, or somewhere. ("Untitled-Sketchup Make 2016-3D Printing-Millimeters) (not just the splash screen)
Change the name of the “Line Tool” to the “Edge Tool”. It is completely wrong to call them lines because you aren’t using them to draw a “line”; you are drawing an edge which impacts geometry. (a drawn-on line wouldn’t do that). (Besides, there are no “lines” in Sketchup, right?)
So, there IS a way to see (within the program, not just the splash page), to see what template is active? Where is that setting?
My point is that “line” isn’t used for anything. Inferencing says “On Edge” not “On Line”, if you moved a written line, nothing should happen, but since the line you are moving is actually an edge, the connected geometry moves with it. I just think calling it a line minimizes the impact of its effect on geometry. And when you model, it tells you there are extra edges, not extra lines. I just think if we have a tool that makes edges, it should be called the edge tool…shrug.
And whatever we call the “assembled group of faces and edges”, I’m good with. So, model, 3D drawing, etc.
And Bob, I have no idea what your comment is talking about…“egg sucking”??
I vision the ‘Line’ tool as a tool to draw finite lines (at both ends) that SketchUp then calles edges.
It does so even before the edge is an edge of a shape. Edges are entities that in certain cases are the edge/boundary of a face. SketchUp is a surface modeler.
I mean where should we draw the linebetween line and edge, what’s in the name. Use SketchUp what it is intended for: modeling with pleasure.
I’ve already seen that. It’s buried too far. I’d like those words on the desktop or header. That’s what I’ve been saying from the beginning. How do I do that?
And I what I am getting is that you think calling it “lines” or “edges” is just semantics, but my point is: What do we do with “lines”? Nothing. What do we do with edges? everything. So why is it called the line tool?
If they even look at these, they can ignore it if they want. But I like this format where other users can review your feedback. Imagine if every comment card we filled out in a restaurant had to be passed through 1000+ other customers first. We would darn sure not fill out any more comment cards. )
For the template thing, here’s what was happening:
I’m doing the Sketchup videos (Sketchup’s and other people’s). I’m doing ALL of them.
In the video, they say “type in 10”. I do that and go on. Then they say “Now, push/pull 1 inch.”.
Well, ■■■■, I have been in the mm template the whole time (that’s what I use for 3D printing), and now my “10” is 10mm, not 10 inches. And I can’t enter .5 in in mm, (it would be .5mm). So, I change templates halfway through.
And then I watch another video only they are using meters, not inches, not feet, etc.so I change templates again.
I was just thinking that if the template in use was on the desktop I was watching in the video, I can make mine like that from the start. So we are all on the same page.
That’s why my request was for a way to make what template is in use more obvious.
in your own ‘custom’ Template, you can add a ‘Watermark’ which tells you the Template name…
you can type in 10" or 10mm or 10’ etc… from any template and SU converts it to match the model units…
my main point with Templates is their job is ‘done’ as soon as you open a new document…
you can keep Model Info open on Units if you need a constant reminder, or if you want to quickly change them for a video tutorial…
quite the opposite, when you click your first point SU displays a line from that point to the cursor, when you click a second point, the line only then becomes an edge, the ‘LineTool’ has done it’s job and you can progress to tools that manipulate edges …
you can’t draw an edge without line and 2 points, but you can draw a line without an edge [i.e. guidelines]
There is no such thing. The template is just a SketchUp file that is opened when you start a new model. It doesn’t control your modelling process in any way, it is just a way to store your preferred settings. You are free to change any of the settings (styles, units etc) at any time and you are in no way limited to what your original template had to offer.
@leaning, you’re attaching way too much importance to the template “in use.” Indeed, it’s only “used” when you start a new model, after which there is no particular connection between the model and the template. The templates that come bundled with SU aren’t particularly special, and in many ways they are pretty arbitrary. They just represent possible combinations of settings that may appeal to some users. You don’t have to use a template for the purpose implied by its name, and some would suggest that there isn’t even any logical or necessary connection between a given template and its named use.
Most users end up creating their own templates with the particular combination of settings they prefer. One of the bundled templates may represent a good starting point in the creation of your own custom template. Or not.
Rather than check to see which template is “active” at any time to determine, say, what units are in use, you can just check the units setting directly, and you can change the setting as many times as you wish during a session to support some process or operation, whereupon the particular template that was used to create the initial settings for the model becomes a purely academic consideration.
Your suggestion about template name represents a misconception that oddly seems to persist after all this feedback.
The point is, you could have the template name appear as you suggest but the actual settings that currently control attributes such as “unit” could be different from those in the template. That would actually be counter-productive, not to mention misleading, wouldn’t it?
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