Lines chain. Lines don't chain.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Noob here.

Sometimes I'm drawing lines and it acts "right": click from point to point to point to get lots of lines. Sometimes it acts completely cursed wrong: click from point to point. Click point again to start next line click end point. It seems random. All I'm doing is line and navigate. Drives me spare.

 

Can anybody at least make it... have a basis (there can be no sense or logic ;-)? Can anybody make it go away?

 

- gruhn

[BillyElNino]

When you complete a polygon in SketchUp the command 'finishes' and you begin a new command.

 

For example, if you draw four lines, the command will finish if the last line you draw meets the first point of the first line or intersects that line. If there is no intersection or point meeting then the polygon is not formed and the command continues:

 

Is this where you are having the trouble or am I patronizing you horribly?

[Peter M. Gruhn]

When you complete a polygon in SketchUp the command 'finishes' and you begin a new command.

 

For example, if you draw four lines, the command will finish if the last line you draw meets the first point of the first line or intersects that line. If there is no intersection or point meeting then the polygon is not formed and the command continues:

 

Is this where you are having the trouble or am I patronizing you horribly?

 

That'd be it. Except I'm tracing and retracing and retracing an existing plan trying to get bits of floor to stand on their own. In that context the visibility of the completed polygons (many of which were complete before I started) is not as obvious.

 

I guess it even makes sense. Though in the context I was in it only an utter pita.

 

"Polygon's complete!" Yeah, but not the one I'm trying to tell you about; GWAAARGH.

 

I won't tell you about the horrid mess when I got to the last little bit of floor, only that I somehow managed to clean it up and am now putting in the doors!

 

Thanks.

[BillyElNino]

There's an element of trust if you directly trace over a CAD drawing and I only trust my own CAD work in terms of lines meeting and everything being at 90 degrees. To get over this I put the CAD in a group and draw over the top of it. This way its easier to see the mesh that I am putting down and ensure that it is correct.

 

A good clean up of the CAD work before you begin modelling is also worthwhile, especially on a complex drawing. There is always, as you know, so much crap in a construction drawing that is not required for modeling purposes.

 

Like any application SketchUp can be a pain in the arse but there is normally a way round most issues that, once found (sometimes after a long time believe me) can save any office cardiac arrests or blood pressure issues!

[Peter M. Gruhn]

> I only trust my own CAD work in terms of lines meeting

> and everything being at 90 degrees

 

If I could get my students and principals to draw clean I'd be a happy boy.

 

> To get over this I put the CAD in a group and draw over the top of it.

 

That's what the videoman told me to do. I presume it helped.