A Sphere in SketchUp

Dave I was trying to duplicate your sphere. The problem I had was with the rotate tool it would only activate as blue. Is there a way to force the direction? I checked the help file but didnt see any mention of how to get the tool to display the axis you want.

Keith
 
I finally was able to get the Green Protractor. (Would be handy if you could just specify to rotate about the green axis) Then I completed the sphere. Note this was my first success with the follow me tool. Thanks Dave.

Keith
 
Very cool Dave. Not only the sphere itself, but the other little tricks like locking the orientation really will come in handy.

Many thanks for making and taking the time to do the video. :thumb:
 
Hi Dave
Very slick. In the rotate portion it appears the ctrl key is telling SU that you want to rotate a copy of the selected object?

This is similar to the 'move copy' sequence?

Does the shift key need to stay depressed to lock in the axis?
Dan

BTW Since I've learned magical VCB properties from you are there anyother magical Cntrl key properties?
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys,

Dan, Yes, the Ctrl key activates the copy function tied to the Rotate tool. Once the center of rotation is set, you can let go of the Shift key.

If you want to have a little fun, try this. Draw something, select it, get the Rotate tool, hit the Ctrl key (this has a toggle function so you don't need to hold it), start rotating and you'll get a copy. type some small number for the rotational angle (15 maybe), hit Enter and type *5, Enter.

Next, before selecting any other tools, type a large number (150 for example), Enter, /5, Enter.

Presto! A radial array in each case. The first time the six elements are distributed around a circle 15° from each other. In the second the first and last are located 150° from each other and the remaining four are distributed equally between.
 
Thanks guys,

Dan, Yes, the Ctrl key activates the copy function tied to the Rotate tool. Once the center of rotation is set, you can let go of the Shift key.

If you want to have a little fun, try this. Draw something, select it, get the Rotate tool, hit the Ctrl key (this has a toggle function so you don't need to hold it), start rotating and you'll get a copy. type some small number for the rotational angle (15 maybe), hit Enter and type *5, Enter.

Next, before selecting any other tools, type a large number (150 for example), Enter, /5, Enter.

Presto! A radial array in each case. The first time the six elements are distributed around a circle 15° from each other. In the second the first and last are located 150° from each other and the remaining four are distributed equally between.
Too cool, Dave. :clap: Still not sure I understand how it's working mathematically, but I can see the results in a right-brain manner,and I like 'em. Gives me all sorts of ideas.

Copy Rotate Exercise.jpg
 
How about this? A door swinging through its range. In this case I used 150° as the arc angle and put some intervening copies in to show the space required to open the door that far.

The attached skippy shows an application of linear arrays using the Move tool. I did it very quickly so I hope it is useful.
 

Attachments

  • swinging door.jpg
    swinging door.jpg
    90.8 KB · Views: 8
  • arrays.skp
    30.7 KB · Views: 7
Top