Sketchup: Making friends with "Follow me"

Follow Me seemed to be a bit of a weird tool, I never was quite sure what I was going to get. I think I get it now, and it's awesome for adding profiles around things. One of the places it excels is in figuring out how to do corners, so you're not spending lots of time manually mitering a corner.

So there's two ways to make friends with "Follow me", selecting line by line and selecting all at once. Selecting all at once is my preferred method, it almost always seems to work.

First, draw your profile on one of the lines you'll be extruding on. It should be a single face and make contact with the line. It should be perpendicular to the line.

For the "line by line" method, select the follow me tool and select the face to extrude, then move it to select the line you want to extrude on. Carefully navigate to the next line and keep going until your extrusion is done.

For the "all at once" method, select the lines you want to extrude on, then select the follow me tool, and finally click the face you want to extrude. It will then extrude along that path.

Note: Your face and the lines you select must be on the same component. If you draw a face outside a component and try to extrude along the lines of a component it will not work.

Later we'll talk about layers... Can you believe such a powerful tool had documentation that said "don't use layers and be happy?"

Puckdropper

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Puckdropper
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"Layers" are very nice. I recall that feature better than "follow me".

Reply to
Bill

I use follow me so seldom that I have to refresh myself with a quicky YouTube video that Sketchup puts out. Between 1 and 3 minutes in, the basics are covered.

FWIW "Layers" have been renamed "Tags" on the past 1 or 2 updates, maybe more.

It is a good habit to not use "Layers/Tags" for design drawing. Use the Layers/Tags for segregating work that you do not want to always show. Basically, draw/design on the default layer and when complete assign it to another Layer/Tag, if you want.

I like the option to add a "Tag Folder". I am designing kitchen cabinets and want all cabinets to be in the same drawing. Each individual cabinet, when complete, is on a different Layer/Tag. I can look at any number of cabinets or just one particular cabinet by turning their respective Layer/Tags on or off.

BE CAREFUL to not draw on two different Layers/Tags at the same time if both are visible. Your editing will be added to only the currently selected Layer/Tag.

And additional Tag Folder lets you place specific extra layers under the hierarchy of a specific tag. For example I have 5 cabinets each on their specific Layer/Tag. Adding a Tag Folder allows you to put each cabinet layer in those individual folders along with separate Layer/Tags for dimensions unique to the cabinet in that tag folder.

This allows me to have the ability to turn every thing in that Tag "Folder" on or off with a single click.

Additionally Adding a scene for each cabinet with the appropriate Tag Folder selected allows you to turn off every thing that is not assigned to that Layer/Tag and zooms you to that particular cabinet for viewing or editing.

Reply to
Leon

A Sketchup Tag Folder Video.

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Reply to
Leon

Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote in news:VRCdnQkJ3OsuV1v-nZ2dnZfqn snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

That's why it took me so long to make friends with it. It's not something you need often but can be really handy when you do.

All geometry goes on Layer 0. No geometry should ever be on a layer. Components and groups go on layers, geometry goes on layer 0.

I'm stuck on Sketchup Make 2017 because of poor business decisions. Software as a service, renting software, programs running exclusively online... It's just not a world I can trust.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Puckdropper, I may have a copy of the free install program from when SketchUp was owned by Google, before it was sold to Trimble. I believe it is from around 2008. I last installed it on Windows 7, but SU still runs on Windows 10 after my upgrade. Let me know if you are interested.

Reply to
Bill

I use it constantly. I have a cheap PC and a 55" TV on the wall (sorta) over my TS. I display the components of project, with dimensions, on the screen while I work.

I'm the same, though it's getting harder and harder to do. I just "rented" Shaper Studio. I'm not all that happy about it but it wasn't all that expensive.

Reply to
krw

The 2017 version still works. I've been using it since, well, 2017.

Reply to
krw

If its the Trimble version it works with more handicaps than the free Google version. The last time I tried the free version it didn't support "labels", for instance, which were essential to what I wanted to do.

Reply to
Bill

Bill snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote in news:XF3yL.61797$ snipped-for-privacy@fx48.iad:

I appreciate the offer, I've got install files for Sketchup 8. I spent a long time on Sketchup 8 and finally moved to Sketchup 2017 for better plugin support. The solid modeler (drawing) is pretty much the same, which sucks because it needs some fixes. (ROUND circles? What's that?)

Puckdropper

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Puckdropper

snipped-for-privacy@notreal.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

On the front page, these guys say "Buy it once, own it forever."

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I really need to see if it will do what I do, I'd like to reward those guys with some business for having sane licensing terms.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Well, not always. Once a component or group is placed on an alternative layer it sometimes has to be modified. You would not want to move it to the default layer to make modifications and then back again.

I understand however I use the pro version. That is a subscription for updates. If you choose to not pay for the subscription the free updates stop, but you can still use the program.

FWIW the Pro version and your data files are still on your computer. Because I sell most of my work the cost is offset.

Reply to
Leon

Have you tried "smooth" on the circular geometry? And or adding more segments to the arks and circles?

Reply to
Leon

Just looking at it, I would rather pay the price of something that I am proficient with than to have to learn a 7th drawing program. But at least there is a 30 day trial. I wonder what you don't get with the $150 version vs the $600~$1400 versions.

Reply to
Leon

Lables?

Reply to
Leon

Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote in news:ABydnVjg9upD71T-nZ2dnZfqn snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

My little hobby business is 3D printing scale models. That means the more time I spend in Sketchup the longer a new model takes. If a new program can get me to the end faster then I'm all for it.

Trimble got rid of the option to buy Sketchup Pro outright. It's now all rental software.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

On 1/19/2023 6:15 AM, Puckdropper wrote: The solid modeler (drawing) is pretty much the same, which

To be fair, due to "raster graphics", in many computer applications, circles are merely polygons (an ordered list of vertices). And the more vertices you want, the most space it takes and the longer it takes to render the geometry. I believe that SU allows you to override the default number of edges or vertices for a particular circle. In "old" (or new?) "vector graphics" monitors, circles might possibly render better--I honestly don't know the answer, but my mind is open to this possibility. When I was in school, the vector graphics monitor was "that old dusty thing in the corner".

Reply to
Bill

The price for the personal/workshop version is at the right price point. SVG and DXF support makes it a potential SketchUp killer for me.

It does have a $50/yr maintenance cost.

Me too. Thanks for linking it. I'll have to download the trial soon.

Reply to
krw

Bill snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote in news:0mlyL.324999$ snipped-for-privacy@fx12.iad:

When you draw a circle about 4 inches in diameter then send it to a 3D printer it prints out with noticable flats along the outside. With any other program, it will be round.

I've tried increasing the number of sides, but usually hit the limits before I get something really round. My current solution is just not to print anything that requires a really large circle.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

SVG and DXF Support. That will likely require a plug in which may be free and may require extra cash. DXF is supported tith Sketchup Pro and the SVG plug in, the one I use, is free. Food for thought. And yes it could be a Sketchup killer but Sketchup is to well suited for woodworking.

In that case, maybe not much better than the Pro version of Sketchup. Sketch up requires annual maintenance for updates and quite a bit more but Sketchup Pro updates are not necessary to continue using the program.

Yes! Let us know. While the licensing terms are more reasonable than Sketchup, Sketchup is a load more reasonable than AutoCAD, a program I used for years.

If I consider how many years I used Sketchup for free, the new Pro pricing is easier to swallow.

Reply to
Leon

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