I’m sure this is a pretty simple question, but I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own, or find any answers online.
I have a Sketchup model with various components and groups, and I’m trying to create a new component on the same face of an existing component. I locked the existing component, then traced the shapes I want to push/pull with the line tool, and made that into a new component. I can’t pull the drawing to make it into a 3D object. I’m guessing I need to close the drawing, or somehow tell Sketchup that it’s an entity it can push/pull, but I cannot figure out how to do that.
To simplify, I copied the sketch into a new file.example.skp (1.1 MB)
I should add that I’m using the free version, which appears to lack the solid tools. Maybe this is only possible in the Pro version?
Rather than trace the piece I want to mirror to create the new component, I was able to select the face and then the bounding edges, then copy that shape. I think this will let me push/pull, but when I try to paste it on the existing face, Sketchup wants to place it perpendicular to the original.
OK, I was able to paste it on the correct orientation. Now I made it into a new component, but the component is nowhere to be found in the outliner. Not sure where it’s going, but Sketchup did tell me when I made the component there was another component with that name (which I thought I had deleted) and I told it to replace that component.
So is there currently a question pending? I don’t think so, but it’s hard to tell. Perhaps we should spend a minute on “questions.” A question is a sentence that ends with a question mark and is spoken with a rising inflection at the end. Its function is to pose a request for information. Nothwithstanding your first sentence, you haven’t actually asked any questions. The only sentence that you did end with a question mark isn’t really a question.
You seem to be treating this forum as a journal. I really dont think it’s necessary to post to keep us updated every time you discover something or a new idea pops into your head. Just ask a question–an actual interrogatory, providing any relevant background information you have, and await a response.
My apologies for the confusing account of what I am looking for help with. I seem to have provoked a condescending response
My initial question, which I could have stated better, was:
Why can’t I use the push/pull tool on the sketch I have attached?
Subsequently, I thought I had discovered a better way to create the component I desired, but ended up confusing myself further. So, my follow up questions would be:
If I copy the bounding edges of a face, then paste them back into the model to start a new component, why does Sketchup paste the edges perpendicular to their original orientation, and how can I prevent this? Is it possible to select a plane in which to paste the edges I have copied?
What is the proper way to delete a component? I used ‘erase’ from the context menu, but this does not seem to have been the right approach, because when I tried to create a new component with the same name, SketchUp told me a component with that name already existed. I told SketchUp to replace it, but that resulted in the new component not showing up in the outliner tree.
Ah, very simple, thank you for catching that. I suppose that is the danger in trying to trace an existing sketch on a 3D object. I will have to watch for that in the future. Copying the bounding edges of the existing face seems to be a better approach in this situation.
In any event, your inner polygon/circle is coplanar, but not the outer one. Also, the shapes consist of individual edges–not a circle and not a polygon.
I mention this because even though it’s indeterminate how you created those shapes, I think you must have had to work at it to break them down to edges. I probably would have drawn the first hexadecagon with the polygon tool and the second with the Offset tool, which would keep them on the same plane, and they would easily support an annular face.
In general (and with a particular exception), a better way to copy objects is with the Move tool (Ctrl-Movve moves a copy, leaving the original in place). I can’t reproduce your perpendicular copy issue.
When you create a component, SU creates a “master instance” in the Component browser In-Model collection and as many other instances out in model space as you wish. To completely remove a component, you must not only delete the instances out in model space, you must also delete the master instance. Go to the Components browser and pick Purge Unused from the Details menu. Alternatively, go to Window > Model Info > Statistics and there hit Purge Unused.
Once you purge your model, save it to capture its new, diminutive size on disk.
