TIEBIAOJI SketchUp Tutorials

Move and Copy

• What is Meridian Tapping and How Can It Help

The Move tool can be used in two ways - to move objects to a different location, or to make one or more copies. Move can also be used to resize curves and curved faces.

Move

You can modify your model by moving edges, faces, points, or a combination of selected objects.

3. Click the edge shown, and drag it downward (blue direction). You can also click the edge and then click its new location.

4. Move is still active. Move the point shown on the left down till it meets the corner point below it.

6. Use Select to select the two edges shown.

Move also works on faces. Move the face along the red (or green) axis to stretch the entire model.

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Note: If you use Push/Pull on the same face, only that face would be extended.

Move affects edges and faces adjacent to the selected face, thereby stretching the model.

Move affects edges and faces adjacent to the selected face, thereby stretching the model.

You could use Push/Pull with Alt to get the same effect as Move.

So far we've used Move on single objects. Objects can also be selected first, then moved. If you want to move multiple objects, you must define the selection set before activating Move. (Conversely, if you want to move a point, you must activate Move first, then move the point.)

6. Use Select to select the two edges shown.

When moving this way, you need to define two points, a reference point and a destination point. The move is applied based on the distance and direction between these two points.

Activate Move and click any point in space (Point 1) and click or drag to Point 2, following the axis direction (red or green, depending on how you made your model). The two edges move accordingly.

Draw a rectangle on the large, front face. Make it off-center.

9. We can resize the rectangle by moving one of the edges, but these edges are not aligned with any of the standard axes. Use Move on an edge, clicking any point along the edge as the start point.

10. Then hover over the lower edge (do not click).

11. Now move in the direction you want to go, clicking when the Parallel to Edge constraint is displayed.

12. Now we can create a triangular frame at the top of the rectangle. There is no endpoint on the top edge to use Move on, but it's easy to create one. Right-click on the top edge and select Divide. Move the cursor so that the edge is divided into two segments.

13. The midpoint of the top edge can now be moved, but (again) the move direction is not along any of the standard axes. To position it exactly right, first create a construction line. Then Move the midpoint of the top edge (which is actually an endpoint since the edge was divided) along the construction line.

14. Now to center the small face along the lower edge of the large face. Activate Move on the small face, and click a point at the center.

15. Hover over the lower edge of the large face to get its Parallel constraint. Press Shift to lock this constraint.

16. With Shift pressed, click the midpoint of the lower edge. Now the small face is centered.

You could erase this face to make it a cutout, like a window.

Copy

When you use the Ctrl/Option key within a Move operation, you create a copy.

1. Start with a box and use Move to move the edge shown.

2. Divide the back edge into three segments.

3. Draw two parallel lines from the new endpoints and pull the outer faces up. Create a small cylinder on one of the top faces.

4. We now want to select this cylinder to copy it. Use a right-to-left selection window - everything inside or touching the window will be selected. (You can also double-click the top edge to select all the faces that touch it.)

5. With the cylinder selected, activate Move. Press Ctrl/Option, then click Point A. Release Ctrl/Option, then click Point B to make a copy of the cylinder.

Tip: Selecting Point B can place the copy on either the top face or front face. If you're having trouble getting the copy on the top face, try to approach Point B slowly from a point on the top face.

Tip: Selecting Point B can place the copy on either the top face or front face. If you're having trouble getting the copy on the top face, try to approach Point B slowly from a point on the top face.

6. The copy should still be selected. Make another copy using the distance between Points A and B The copy is automatically aligned with the front face.

Erase as needed to get a circular window. Copy it, using any point on the front face as a reference point. Then hover over the bottom edge. For the second point, make sure the copy is parallel to the bottom edge.

one copy is made, but you can make several copies at the same spacing. Type 3x, which appears in the VCB. Press Enter.

Now there are three copies (four total windows).

9. In this case, the last copy extends past the face, so no cutout is made. Enter 2x to remove this copy.

Note: You can also enter a number (no "x") to change the spacing.

10. Now select two of these windows, and copy them to the side face.

Note: Automatic alignment, which you just saw, works only for copies. Moving objects does not change their alignment.

Autofold

Autofold is a very useful enhancement of the Move tool, which enables you to create fold lines where there weren't any before. Normally, Move keeps planes as planes, without dividing them into more planes. Autofold will create as many planes as needed to perform the move.

1. Start with this form, with all lines at right angles.

Use Offset to create an offset face within the original face. (Activate Offset, select the face and press Enter, then pick a point to define the offset distance.)

Select the inner face and try moving it up. You can only move it within its plane.

Select the inner face and try moving it up. You can only move it within its plane.

Here's the first instance when Autofold is useful. There are two ways you can do this:

5. Select the inside face first, then activate Move. Press Alt/Cmd, and click a reference point anywhere. Then release Alt/Cmd and click a second reference point, directly above the first one. The fold lines between

The other way to do this is to start with nothing selected, then activate Move. Press Alt/Cmd, click the inner face, release Alt/Cmd, and drag the face upward.

6. Now we will create a roof. Start at Point A

(midpoint), and start the line in the axis direction. Press Shift to lock the line to the axis and click Point B (also midpoint). Then complete the roof ridge line.

7. Select both ridge lines, and activate Move, without Autofold. As before, click any two points to raise these lines in the blue direction. This works, though some cleanup would be necessary.

8. Undo this move, and add two valley lines.

9. Now select the two ridge lines as before (not the valley lines), and try to move them up without using Autofold. There is only one direction the edges can be moved; you can't move in the blue direction.

10. Try again, this time using Autofold. Now you can move the edges in any direction - use the blue direction.

11. The roof wasn't created perfectly, but it can easily be cleaned up. Erase the two lines shown, then correct

the roof face by adding one line.

12. Use Move with Shift-locking on the ridge line intersection point, to get this result:

There are so many uses for Autofold, it's impossible to show examples of them all. Here are a few extra examples.

Autofold with Curved Faces

Autofold can be also be handy with faces created as a result of Push/Pull'ing arcs, circles, and polygons.

1. Start with a box that has an arc attached to it. Pull the arc up but not all the way to the top of the box.

Select the top face of the arc form and activate Move. The only way you can move this face is up or down.

Now try to move it again, this time pressing Alt/Cmd for Autofold. You can now move the face in any direction.

Similarly, Autofold is useful when you want to create skewed cylinders and polygonal prisms.

Using Move to Resize Curves and Curved Surfaces

This section applies to arcs, circles, and polygons, and to the surfaces created when these entities are extruded. Note that the changes you can make in this exercise can only be performed on curves and faces that have not been edited -they must still retain their original shape. For example, once you use Scale to change a circle into an oval, the oval cannot be resized.

1. Create a small circle, and activate Move. Make sure nothing else is selected, and move the cursor around the circumference of the circle.

Along most of the circumference, the entire circle is highlighted. But at the four quadrant points, only the point itself is highlighted in green, indicating that it is a point you can drag for resizing.

Note: If you have an even number of segments, these draggable quadrant points will be at segment endpoints or midpoints. For an odd number of segments, play with the mouse to find the four quadrant points.

2. Move one of the quadrant points, either by dragging, or by click-move-click. The center of the circle remains in place, but the radius changes. Watch the VCB to see the radius value update.

3. Make a cylinder from the circle. Activate Move, make sure nothing is selected, and move the mouse along the top edge until only a quadrant point (and not the entire edge) is highlighted. Drag the point inward to make a cone.

4. You can also resize the curved face itself. While Move is still active, move the cursor until a movable edge (and not the entire face) is highlighted as a bold, dotted line. These edges correspond to the locations of the quadrant points. Move the edge outward to

5. Now onto arcs. On the top face, create an arc between an endpoint point on the circumference and a point near the circle center (don't use the exact center). Size the arc so that it is tangent to the circle.

6. Create the next arc from the end of the first one. By default it is tangent to its neighbor. Double-click to place the endpoint somewhere on the other side of the circle.

7. Activate Move again; now we will resize the arcs. Move the cursor to the midpoint of the second arc -only this point should be highlighted (not the entire arc). Drag this point downward to "flatten" the arc.

8. Do the same at the midpoint of the first arc.

Arc endpoints can also be moved. Pick the endpoint shown and drag it toward the center of the circle. This not only changes the arc, but shrinks the circle as well.

10. Push/Pull up the rear face made by the arc chain. Using Move, highlight the moveable edge directly below the arc midpoint. Drag it forward to change the bulge direction.

11. Do the same for the other face.

12. Resize the arc at the bottom of the face by dragging its midpoint forward.

13. Change both arc faces by moving their common edge.

Finally, we will use a polygon, which is basically the same as a circle. Draw a hexagon on the top face and use Move to shrink it. The location of these points depends on how many segments you have, but there is always at least one at a segment endpoint.

15. Pull up the polygon. To resize the polygonal face, drag one of its moveable edges.

16. Then resize the top polygon by dragging a quadrant point inward.

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