danlott wrote:DustinS wrote:Thank you all for the replies. I'm still new to using it so I'm still using 2-D panels until I progress into more and more. I'll have to search for those videos.
http://wwq.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=49233Dan
Emphatic +1!!! Showing how to use the guides, and how to enter precise dimensions for an operation started with the mouse in danlott's videos was what transformed me from a bull-in-chinashop sketchupper to a toddler. That, and I haven't even worked through all the videos yet.
Tried to swype it on my phone in my previous post, but let me restate from my laptop keyboard the single concept that, once realized, helped me to shed a lot of frustration: When you draw a series of connected lines and the last one connects to the beginning of the first one, you make a 2d shape. If you remove any of those lines, the shape disappears and you're left with a set of connected lines. Redraw that line, and the shape re-appears. So, objects that 'disappear' when you do something are losing one of the connected lines. "Undo" puts the line back in, but if you can find where it was, you can also make different lines to reconnect and restore the shape. I was having problems with profile curves, doing things that made the shape go away; when I zoomed into the line, followed it around, and found the disconnect, ta-da!!
BTW, adding the 3rd dimension to your shapes is easy with the extrusion tool. Select your shape, select the tool, and drag in the direction you want to add the 3rd dimension. Don't worry about how big you make it with the mouse, because you can then go to the edit box at the bottom of the window and enter the precise dimension of the extrude, e.g., 3/4". danlott demonstrates using the edit box very well.