I have a model with interior walls, stairs, window-cut-outs etc. and would like to walk around in the model. Is there a better alternative to the standard function given in Sketch Up? I once had for a model Graphisoft BIMx free education version.
I believe the Graphisoft walk around function is ok, however, and because I want to embed the model later in a terrain model built with Sketch Up I believe I should be able to do that within Sketch Up. Is there a good plugin to improve the walk around mode in Sketch Up - what is currently the best solution?
Here the link to the same topic from Feb 16 - however my question relates specifically to Sketch Up connected Plugins:
I always use the look around tool (eye) along with mouse wheel and scroll for navigating inside of models. I find that much easier than the dedicated walk tool.
Yes. I use orbit tool to move around objects. That’s why I have look around as the active tool so I can have orbit on middle button. Initially I tried the walk around tool but I found it very slow and cumbersome to use. It doesn’t allow you to move sideways and if you are going to use pan and lose the fixed eye height you can just as well stick to the usual camera tools all the way through.
I preferably would like to move with arrows forward, sideways, back. With eye level always on a definied 1.68 meters e.g. -where can I adjust this? - the middle mouse button Orbit function is very good, thank you. How can I make that when I am finished with Orbiting I can fall back to a definied e.g. 1.68 meters eye? Should the the eye level be kept when I move up stairs, change level etc.? Also, the eye height is in mm, where can I switch this to cm or m?
Overall, the walking / look around function just does not experience very intuitive for me compared to other walk-around functions I saw (like the one mentioned). However, it might be totally my inability, to cleary state this.
When done using orbit SketchUp doesn’t help you get the eye height back by itself. That’s why I do this kind of navigation completely manually with look around, orbit, pan and mouse wheel as opposed to the walk around tool. I agree that arrow keys (or WASD) would be much more intuitive for first person view.
Regarding the units you can go top Windows > Model Info > Units and change them to meters or centimeters.
To get the camera to a defined height over the floor, activate look around tool, type the length and press enter.
Happy birthday btw! (the forum displays a cake next to your name)
Either walk mode in my sketch up model does not work correctly or for walk mode there is room for improvement. I tried for hours and still am not able to walk easely through my building stairs up and down etc. eye height always at the same level (what I would call a walking experience).
Is there a solution I can achieve an experience for my model that comes close to what I experienced with
Alternatively you can try exporting your Sketchup file to Unreal Engine 4. You can walk around interactively (turn on&off lights, change wall colours etc.) inside UE4 as if you’re playing a video game.
Check this video: SketchUp to Unreal Engine -WIP 1- [Gurkan's Villa] - YouTube (That Youtube channel has more videos demonstrating how to export etc.)
But remember that SketchUp is meant to be a model editor, not an animation nor presentation engine.
Given, that however there are quite a few 3rd party extensions and external applications that bring these two workflows “to the next level.” (LightUp also comes to mind.)
I just tested this (using the arrow keys with the Walk tool) and the arrow keys DO work (alone) to walk, or with CTRL to run.
Other users coming from game engine editors have also requested A, S, W, D navigation as well.
This is difficult within SketchUp (even for plugins) as keyboard shortcuts cannot be disabled and cause other tools to be activated. [The A is pre-assigned to the Arc tool, the S key to the Scale tool.]
[Since we are mainly discussing improvements, I’ve moved this to the Feature Requests category.]
[quote=“eneroth3, post:5, topic:41039”]
Initially I tried the Walk Around tool but I found it very slow and cumbersome to use.[/quote]
Well you can run by holding CTRL, but I’d prefer that CTRL toggled running (or that users could set a default speed with a slider somewhere.)
Yes it does. You just hold a SHIFT key down.
Using the mouse it is too easy to change the eye height as moving up and down also happens when SHIFT is held.*
So SHIFT+RightArrow or SHIFT+LeftArrow is more advisable when “shifting right or left”.
* Note that the whole time that the Walk Around tool is active, that the VCB displays the eye height, and is always ready to accept a new value simply by typing and then ENTER. So, at any time with meters as the model units, the user can simply type 1.68 and ENTER on the numpad (or with the left hand on the main keyboard,) and the eye height will be changed. (If inches or architectural units are used typing 66 and ENTER is the same.)
I have been trying to find the setting for default eye height, but cannot find it. On my SU2016 machine no matter what template I use, the Position Camera tool sets the height to 0". Even if I save the model having set eye height to 66", upon reopening the model, and using Position Camera, it’s back to 0". Or perhaps the culprit is the Look Around tool ?
I didn’t know about the shift modified key but the tool still seems pretty useless to me. Shift also unlocks it vertically so the pan tool still does the same thing.
Besides being slow the tool is also very laggy and has always been no matter how good performance is otherwise.
I wish that SHIFT+mouseUp(Dn) did not change eye height. Instead I wish it was SHIFT+ScrollWheel. (Either that or I wish there was a checkbox on the VCB bar to lock/unlock the eye height, as it’s too easy to accidentally change it.)
Part of the lag may be due to collision detection running.
I tested in the last day a lot and did not find an extension that really improves the walking experience in sketch up.
With all the inputs and some training I can bring it (the walking experience with given functionalities within sketchup) to an acceptable level. I either walk with arrows and switch to the look around when needed OR just jump from point to point with the position camera tool and use from a specific point the look around function.
However, using the arrow keys makes very fast moves. How can I adjust the MOVING SPEED?