Sketch without snapping

is there a way of temporarily suspending snapping whilst drawing on the same plane (ie locking the blue axis)?

I design landscapes and gardens. This often means that I need a combination of shapes on the groundplane (2D plan) and 3D models. When drawing the initial design, mainly when using curves rather than rectilinear geometry, I want to use the freehand tool to sketch a shape. However, because it snaps all over the place it is unusable. In Vectorworks you can simply press a key to suspend snapping whilst you draw.

is there any way of doing this with or without an extension?

Draw a ground plane (I.e. a large rectangle) bigger than the shape you want to draw. If there is nothing between you and the plane, SketchUp will snap to the surface of that rectangle, rather than into 3D space.

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thanks. The trouble is that it snaps to other things in the model on that plane (I may be sketching in relation to things already there). I want to be able to switch snapping off

For better or worse, SketchUp has no means to do so. This has been requested often but not provided. I suspect it would cause more problems with things misplaced in 3D than it would solve.

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thanks. Its a shame. I’ve been using Sketchup for a few years and there are a few limitations I just haven’t found a solution to, even with extensions. I understand what you mean by things getting lost, thats why what I’m after is to suspend snapping in red/green and lock blue

You can draw edges in the chosen plane, disabling inferences (with Fredo6 Tools > DrawAlong), and then continue with the freehand tool without snapping at other points in different planes (on Z).

drw-03

Lift that face to above your model > paint it with translucent (safty) glass > draw on that glass face.
Create a hotkey switch to toggle between X-ray/non Xray.
So you can start drawing freehand from geometry below the face (parallel projection mode!).
Each new freehand line will start with a vertical line towards the translucent face, from thereone the tool stays on face without snapping to what is below.
Other drawing tools may need you to toggle between X-ray and non X-ray face style to eliminate snapping during the drawing operation.
I hope this helps.

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Line drawing on a face does allow you to stop snapping to axes. Tap the Command key, and the line will now snap to nothing (other than if you point at edges or corners). Tap Command again and the snapping only happens to inferred parallel and perpendicular directions. Tap again and you’re back to snapping to axes and parallel/perpendicular.

That isn’t to say an improved freehand tool wouldn’t be a good solution too, but it does let you trace around fine details without fighting with the axes locking.

that looks great - many thanks

thanks that does sound promising - will give it a try

thanks; will give it a try. Sounds like there are 2 or 3 ways to approach this