Trouble moving an object

SketchUp
1

After I draw and clone an object, I wish to place the clone near the original. Normally this is easy. But if the clone is higher and closer in the view I cannot get the thing anywhere near the original. If I move it down, it gets closer. then it pops in front or behind. I reorient and the clone is high and right but looks about the same plane but when I move it down and left it pops in front.

How can one move on one axis only. I’d like to move it Down. Reorient. Left. Reorient. Into Position. Is there a way to move an item along only one axis?

As an example, albeit a simple one, in the attachment I have the near box selected. I want the bottom left corner of the near box to be placed at the end of the line off the bottom right corner of the far box. During the move it moves left/forward along the green axis, not right/backward, and keeps popping back and forth along the green and red axes, usually toward the front. This is driving me crazy!

I read somewhere about shift constraining the axis direction, but to no avail.
test.skp (15.5 KB)

2

Shift constrains once a direction is established in the move, for example with an inference along an edge in the model. The arrow keys will constrain a move to axis directions.

3

move_object
move_object800×394 219 KB

Use the arrow keys to lock the movement to an axis.

4

In de test file, you have created a cube, but if you don’t tell SketchUp that it is a cube, it is just a collection of edges and faces.
If you manage to place it next to the original collection, it will ‘stick’

move
move1898×936 632 KB

If you draw something you can buy or build, make it a group. If you plan to use it more then once, make it a component.

In order to survive in the 3D-space, one has to learn how to navigate. Use the Camera tools to orbit tb_orbit

and pan

tb_pan

and use Zoom Extends to have an overview

tb_zoomextents

X-ray will sometimes make life easier, too:

tb_xray

test2
test21898×936 1.97 MB

2 Likes
5

Some Basics

1 Like
6

Thanks, guys. I did some more playing around and found some videos that explained what was happening and what I did wrong. Navigation has not been a big problem (except via blue axis at times) but that Zoom Extends is a new gem!.

Geo, the videos were quite helpful, too. More tools for the arsenal.

Thanks, again.
Walt

1 Like