On Apr 23, 12:36*am, Leon wrote:
Greg Guarino wrote:
On Apr 22, 7:40 pm, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:
On 4/22/2013 6:24 PM, dadiOH wrote:

I've had the program for a number of years, never took the time to actually
learn to use it. *Due primarily to various posts here, I've been spending
some time with it.

They say it is "intuitive"; IMO, some of it is and some of it isn't. *Let me
give an example...

Suppose I draw a simple table: four legs, four aprons and a top. *Each of
those items is an "entity". *I decide that I want my table 1" wider which
means I need to make the top wider and both end aprons longer *I can't scale
the aprons, deforms the legs. *I could move the legs, then scale the aprons
and move the legs back. *Not too bad on this but on more complex things it
could be a PITA.

Is there some simple, fast way to do it.

Yes

OK first off be certain you are using the latest version, you stating
that you have had the program a number of years indicates you may be
using one of the older versions which IMHO we more difficult to master..

By entity I suppose you mean that you made each separate item in to an
actual component.

Don't scale, simply use the push pull tool to lengthen or shorten the
end that you want to be longer or shorter, do the same for the apron and
top. *Start the push pull tool in the direction that you want it to go,
don't worry about how far you drag it, just go in the direction you want
to go, *than type in the distance you want to add or subtract.

I'd like you to flesh that out a bit. I tried it and found that
sketchup would not allow me to push-pull faces of a component. To be
sure, I drew a rectangle and "pulled" it into a box. At that point I
was able to push or pull any surface. I then made the box a component,
after which I could not use the push-pull tool on it.

*then
move you legs.

NOW if your legs are reshaping when you are trying to adjust other
pieces that would indicate that your entities are not components.

I found that out the hard way a week or two ago. Yes, anything you
don't want to be deformed needs to be a component.

Actually evert part of the project should be made into a component.

So what do you do to lengthen a component that has "distinctive" ends?
I just drew an oval, a rectangle with semicircular ends. Then I pulled
it into a "solid" (yes I know it's not really modeled as a solid).
When you lengthen it the semicircles become distorted.

So I drew a "cut line" around the middle of my "solid", exploded it,
and used "move" to drag one of the resultant halves further away. I
intended to then pull the other side to close the gap, but since they
were touching to begin with, Sketchup stretched the other piece to
keep them connected.

It worked, but it was still kind of a pain. If you draw a piece with
box-joint ends, for instance, do you draw the ends and "component"
them separately in case you decide to make the box smaller at a later
time? The same would go for anything non-rectangular, like miters.