Hi. I’ve been using Sketchup intermittantly for a couple of years (most of my work is free-standing sculpture with hand tools and I use only quick sketches or create on-the-fly) and am currently using Sketchup level 6.4. Working on a new table design, I’ve found a problem with the Select Tool I’ve not had before — I’can’t click on a line or small object and get it selected. The tip of the arrow is not picking the item I want. I can (with a little difficulty because I can’t tell where the select focus is) draw a box around the item to select it, or sometimes drag across it and select it, but picking individual lines out of a complex drawing is almost impossible and very hit and miss.
My memory says I didn’t have this problem previously — has something changed or am I remembering wrong? This is making a fantastic tool very frustrating to use and probably doubles the time needed for a design.
And BTW, many thanks to Dave and others for the great Sketchup information found here. With my occasional use of the tool, its easy to forget or not take the time to learn key points needed for complex work. This new table has many mortice and tenon joints including mitered tenons, and here in Knots and in Design.Click.Build, I found the info quickly that made it possible. Rich
Edited 2/27/2008 12:07 pm ET by richlife
Replies
Do you have this problem even if you zoom way in? I usually only experience selection problems when the area is "complex," with lots of overlapping lines and faces. In such cases, I zoom in, make my selection, and zoom back out. A mouse with a wheel is pretty much essential in order to take advantage of this kind of quick zoom/pan/orbit.
-Steve
Yes, it really doesn't matter how much I zoom. I just tried zooming on a 1/2" line making it more than halfway across the screen and selecting it. It selected the entire tabletop (all surfaces). Clicking repeatedly along the line only picked the line about once in five. Dragging across right to left will pick it up -- but not when the arrow tip crosses. The focus appears to be below and to the left of the tip somewhere.
This example was for an isolated line with no other structures around it. Yesterday, after finding an accidentally distorted mortise, I had a horrible time trying to pick out just the parts of the mortise without getting the tabletop, other structures, etc. I took me about ten minutes and multiple zooms and rotations to finally remove it -- not fun!
Edited 2/27/2008 12:49 pm ET by richlife
Edited 2/27/2008 12:49 pm ET by richlife
Strange. I've never experienced that, so I'm afraid I don't have any brilliant ideas. What happens if you start from a new project and draw a few shapes? Can you select those okay?
One thing I would try is to go to Window|Preferences|General and check the "Automatically fix problems when they are found" checkbox, in case there's something internally wonky with the model.
-Steve
Nope, starting a new drawing still shows the same problem. I have "Automatically check for problems" selected. I did also set for "Automatically fix problems", but there is no change. I also loaded several files I did over the last two years and they also show the problem. The only thing that's new is the 6.4 version and that I have set the defaults to those recommended by Tim in his first Sketchup class.
I was able to determine a somewhat more precise location for the focus point on the Select Tool -- it's straight down the left edge of the arrow from the point about 1/32" below where the arrow stem ends (that is, even with the vertical left edge). That makes it a little easier to pick out specific lines and explains why I can get vertical lines first time, but it's very counterintuitive to Select that way. Rich
Weird. I wonder if there is some kind of global setting that is controlling this? I'm using 6.4.112, and I'm not seeing anything like this.
-Steve
A global setting is all I could thing of too, but I haven't been able to find anything (we have the same version and release). I think I'll try the Sketchup Online Help Center.
Edit: Nope, that's Pro only. Gotta use the Help Group.
Edited 2/27/2008 3:19 pm ET by richlife
OK, I think I've found the problem -- and believe it or not, Tim Killen was the solution source. He had posted in Sept. about a similar problem in his first class. I'm using Vista also and the problem apparently relates to the OpenGL hardware driver. When I turn off "Use Hardware Acceleration" the focus returns to the Select Tool tip. So even though Tim probably hasn't had time to see this thread, he got the solution identified. Many thanks.
By the way, turning off Acceleration automatically activated Fast Feedback (with no warnings related to hardware acceleration. I'll try it that way, to see what happens. Also, sure hope this doesn't bog down may performance.
Rich
Ah, of course. If something graphical looks screwy, turn off hardware acceleration. I turned off hardware acceleration on my laptop because it was causing weird on-screen artifacts. No problems on my desktop machine.
-Steve
I just happened to be reading this section of Knots tonight. Surprised to see that I solved a problem without email and phone calls. Glad to know that you were able to figure this out.
I also have frustrating times in SketchUp when my battery in the wireless mouse becomes weak.
Tim
I have just started trying to learn to use Sketchup. It seems like an interesting tool.
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Hey, Harry. Yeah, Sketchup is interesting (fascinating!) and easy to get yourself lost in. Once you see what you can do, it leads to more. The biggest thing is to stay with it for a while, get the basics down and learn a few of the details so you understand that you really can do almost anything. But even with that, it only takes a few hours for several days or a week to become fairly versatile -- much better than any CAD tool I ever used and yet I can do the same or more with Sketchup.
I wanted to respond to you, but I guess this thread is over. You may want to join a beginner thread here or at Sketchup to help get past any early problems -- but the best thing is just play with the tools, read some in this blog and try to build something with it. Have fun.
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