8 Tips for MOVING OBJECTS PRECISELY in SketchUp

[@delinquense]

This should be one of the first videos that you watch. Oh how I wish I knew what I know now! I've been basically winging it but then kind of figured it out not too long ago. With the 3 axis movement. Excellent video.

[@sunnygirlrn]

Comprehensive and concise. Thank you for your excellent videos.

[@howard6798]

This video with the inferencing (holding the Shift key down) was the difference! THANK YOU!!! I was going crazy trying to place a laptop on a desk, lol. I got it now. :)

[@kroghjohn]

So awesome. Im not a beginner, but its been awhile. Forgot all the shortcuts, tricks and workarounds :-) Thanks mate. Bless the Internet.

[@EC-xh7tm]

I've had objects floating all over my drawing, it's been driving me insane! Thank you so much for your videos - so easy to follow, simple instruction and it WORKS!!!

[@PacketFPV]

Okay I'm about 5 minutes into this video an you've literally saved my life, I want to design something an I had models flying everywhere and I was ready to throw things. Now I can move objects accurately, I know I should have watched tutorials before started but damnit that's just not how I roll. Thanks for the quick tips bro, you just gained a subscriber and another like. I'll be back soon when the next thing won't work I'm sure. Have a great day.

[@ragnarokgoat]

very usefull I was incredible stuck with moving stuff around and also trying to make things snap together proper

[@BookofIsaiah]

This was a VERY helpful tutorial!! Thank you for all the knowledge you share with us!!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thank you - glad you liked it!

[@jiteshmaurya5700]

Great video pal. These small knowledge packets makes a big difference in precision work. Great going. Thanks

[@Thesketchupessentials]

👍😎

[@elisacasa_creations]

Thanks a lot! Sometimes struggling moving objects precisely, as I use to model on AutoCAD with center points and midpoints in one shot...here i need many steps and not always successful!

[@nicolewynn6636]

Thank you for this! Your videos are very helpful because they reveal a number of ways to get the job done and I appreciate having options in my toolbelt.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad they're helping! :)

[@EviLLeoJ]

I was having a tough time placing cabinets in a kitchen model. This tutorial really helped me straighten things up! Great stuff you're doing here!!

[@hannablom5803]

Thanks mate! I´ve been ripping out my hair since yesterday when I found this program, trying to make 3D-designs for my house remodel. It sure differes a lot from illustrator. Your videos have really helped a lot, especially this one and the rotation video :) (so far)

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad I could help!

[@MrAluntus]

Justin, you are a great help, thanks!

[@aliebel]

Just what I was looking for, Thanks!

[@andrewc7958]

You saved me! I was nearly ready to throw in the towel. thank you!

[@Synthwave89]

Phenomenal video, thank you so much!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@pommeletrobert5404]

Very well explained. Thank you very much. Robert from France 😉👍

[@kaiseroram7195]

Your KZbin post are always helpfull, Thank you.

[@lestercantem7740]

This was most helpful!!! Thanks very much.

[@fmtvworld75]

Dude, you rock! So many of your videos are incredibly simple, thorough, clearly explained, and super beneficial. Thanks for making my Free SketchUp learning curve so much easier. And thanks for sharing the knowledge!

[@kristinabednarikova3872]

Very helpful, thank you very much.

[@SchuylkillRiverValley]

Excellent video! Very helpful info (for my needs anyway) and very well-presented - clear & concise, yet still enough detail! Thanks for an excellent tutorial! Best, John

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much - glad you liked it!

[@douglastrouette1583]

So helpful... Thank you very much for explaining that train of thought. I am a mad clicker in 3D spaces.

[@rocketjose]

As with most of your videos, I knew some of these methods but there are always new ideas to make things easier and more precise. Thank you!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much for the comment!

[@signout5033]

Hi thank you for making This tutorial It teach me a lot but I hope straight to the point because of more explanation you have the more difficult it will be followed .

[@rivforest2395]

thanks for the tips, really useful and well explained😀

[@rocky8004]

Excellent explanation Sir Ji Guru Ji

[@vicarioustube]

great loved the last basepoint advice

[@richnfamous59]

that last tip about basepoints on lines is really great

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad you liked it!

[@satori1312]

You are a good teacher!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much :)

[@butlersartworld]

Another helpful tutorial. Thanks so much.

[@vbenkovskyy]

Super guide, thanks!

[@metamech7383]

Very good explanation. VERY good. Thank you.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thank you! :)

[@metamech7383]

Really, I’ve been looking around for an easy, precise method, and this was dead on. Subbed and will be hitting that website you mentioned. That’s the problem with KZbin...so many videos but it’s hard to find that one quick click that works. Thank you again. 👌

[@DarkMoonDroid]

👍 When it comes to placing furnishings and cabinets in a floor-plan, I will actually view the entire thing from below ground level so I can see the outlines of the objects thru the floor. When I have the move tool on and I get near the object I want to move, it still lights up even tho I can't see the top of the object thru the floor. Then I just click and move it into the corner or against a wall or what have you. If there is a toe-kick or some other kind of inset base, I will use the tape-measure tool to give me the distance out from the wall and move it to that line instead. This works pretty well and it's fast. The hardest ones are things like chairs with curved backs or cars or something that has no straight line to measure from. In those cases, I try to grab the part that is sticking out the farthest and get it somewhere up against my wall - regardless of where it is vertically - then I click out and use an entirely new click to change the blue axis. That one where you have to move an object thru open 3-D space to even get it anywhere near the desired position is definitely an issue. I find that measuring distances and just making 3 separate moves along axes takes less time and generates less frustration than trying and failing to do it in one move. I make non-real surfaces in my models and lines to measure against just for this purpose. For instance, my apartment is on the 2nd floor. I don't model the apartment below me. There is just air. But I make a "ground" surface to measure against and I have it on a different layer so that I can only turn it on when I need to make one of these measurements. The floor-plan is already pre-measured on it so I don't have to guess. This problem comes up when I'm importing stuff from the Warehouse and when I make my furnishings outside the house so I can see and move around it more easily. Pain in the butt!!!! 😝 ☕🥐

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I agree with the curved chair comment a bunch - that's why I turn hidden geometry on to inference to sometimes - it can be difficult to pick out that "furthest out" point and I find hidden geometry helps me find it better. Looking up from below ground level is interesting to me - I haven't tried anything like that, but if it works for you, great! Thanks for the comment! :)

[@DarkMoonDroid]

@@Thesketchupessentials I love combining intelligence! ☕🥐

[@robertschagen9016]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[@2008tfe]

Amazing video. Saved me a headache or two.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

That was the goal! :)

[@TruthDefender]

YOURE THE BOSS, THANKS

[@nachoman_oficial]

You Rock Man!!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

:)

[@seanb1081]

Thanks a mill...very useful info !

[@schlenbea]

Hi, how do you move an object along an axis that sketchup does not show. EG, my text tool only allows red and blue axis, but not green. How to I force it to move along green? Thanks!~

[@tlozanov1]

Thank you. This helped me a lot

[@adarshss82]

So simple concepts that we miss to learn .....tnx a lot

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks - glad you liked it!

[@TrueWodzu]

God of SketchUp has spoken! Thank you, maybe now I will be able to adjust my shelves properly:)

[@lfcbpro]

fantastic, thank you, I have been having problems with items snapping to guides, hopefully this will help me

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Hope it helped!

[@robertobaldizon8206]

Thank you sir. Nice video.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad you liked it!

[@mjs222100]

a great tutorial! haven't been using many of these methods!

[@vinaiv6969]

Thank you for the video. It was very helpful

[@Thesketchupessentials]

👍

[@jacb4866]

oh my gosh, i didn't know about holding shift, and the base point. So much easier, If anyone knows how to straighten an object (like against a wall, if it's on an angle) that's the next thing to learn :-)

[@Shelby-GT350-R]

Hi Justin, man you have so many amazing videos I dont even know where to begin. My builder gave me a Sketchup design I want to edit and I cant even figure out how to move the posts. How do you grab an entire post? Do I have to move each plane of the 6x6 post on the different axis's that you are talking about? Not asking for an answer directly but if you could point me to the proper video that would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Well it sounds like the geometry making up the post hasn't been made into a group. You'd either have to select all the faces and edges that make up the post, or you'd have to group the geometry

[@elnisdjcheco]

Thank you

[@russellschundler6559]

Another home run ... productivity counts. In my “just in time” learning with KZbin, these types of videos are critically important.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it helped!

[@azmatalinizami]

Thank you very much sir you are LEGEND👏😁👍✌️🤘

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad you liked it!

[@ahinnna28]

So helpful! Thank you.

[@bfkpwd2]

Great video as always....Thanks!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much!

[@gijbuis]

How do I select the axis to move along. I have a floor which I want to move 1 mm down along the blue axis - how do I select the blue axis to move immediately down. I try moving my mouse down but inferencing does not always find the blue axis immediately...

[@TwoSierraEcho]

"Find Center" was a new one. :)

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Me too! Love that!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Lol - I still remember the first time I found out about that - someone commented about it in a video - mind blown!

[@nathanrenault]

@@Thesketchupessentials So re: point 6 (9-10min mark), you advise to find centre on top of a cylinder before moving it. When I do this, the cylinder moves but the centrepoints stay behind. ???

[@DavidHergert]

Can you move objects to be exact distances from something else? For example, your cabinet… how would you move it so it’s right side/edge is exactly 6” from the wall? Can you type it in or do you have to setup dimensions so you can see the measurements change as you drag it?

[@engt1000]

Thank you, very helpful.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@andabien3]

Excellent tutorial, as always. I have two topics that re confusing to me. Maybe you could explain them? 1) Trying to draw rectangles on specific planes. Maybe I want to draw a rectangle perpendicular to a certain object, then extrude it. The rectangle often goes on the surface of the object, rather that perpendicular to the object. 2) Entering dimensions in feet /inches. I can't find anything that seems reliable/coherent. Using ' and " marks doesn't seem to work. I just compute all ft/in measurements into inches only. that is the only thing I've found to work. Many thanks.

[@MasterBasser]

Hello, I see this was posted 5 months ago but I have the answers you requested. 1) Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to specify which axis you wish to draw the rectangle on after you have the rectangle (or any other tool) selected and it will snap to that axis. 2) when you are drawing a line or moving something or doing just about anything you can imagine you can click or click and hold (depending on your settings in preferences) then begin typing 2"enter or 2'7"enter and it will automatically put that line at the specified height or length etc. works for almost anything. Also an addition to the first is using the axis tool to change the spot of reference. experiment with that and you'll find things are much easier to work around. If you need something explained more thoroughly just reply.

[@bettymorgan4737]

Very helpful, I have been having problems putting things together because I was not using the the axes. Could you do a video about placing items, like putting coaster wheels on a box, drawing rectangles on a model without merging it into the model ......

[@maxknoblock]

luvin the energy

[@ericgagne1272]

Hello, thank you for the tutorial, but it didn't help me for what I was looking for. How would move the middle of a component without a middle point and irregular shape(making it hard to put guides lines in the middle). For example, if you had the 3D letter "S" or "C" in a font like "ink free" and would like to align the middle of the letter on the intersection of 2 guide lines?

[@AndrewAliferis]

Hi Justin, I'm still having trouble with Sketchup 2021. Is there a way to select the axis to lock to? I seem to have trouble locking to the blue axis.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Just tap the up arrow key

[@grumpywiseguy5992]

The use of the shift key to inference an axis during a move has eluded me for a couple of weeks now. This is especially useful when moving cabinetry around like you show. Thanks. Also I think that moving the mov inference point off of the object to move it has screwed me up way more than it has been a help.

[@lachie-n9y]

Omg thank you! This tutorial frustrated me as it wouldn't lock to any axis

[@vjenkins6815]

I was having a difficult time placing a pressure-treated 2x6 along the edge of a concrete slab that I'd created in SketchUp. This video was a big help. Decades ago, I used Adobe Illustrator to create floorplans, and my favorite tool for moving objects was the transform palette. I know that it's possible to see how far an object has moved in SketchUp by looking at the distance field. But I was wondering. Would it make sense to have a transform palette in SU to move objects along the x, y, z axes to a precise location?

[@utkarshkala1388]

How did you save the Toolbar layout? Or is it that you set the toolbars each time you open Sketchup?

[@antonioiozzi291]

Just one question, do there is the possibility to offset a line (and not only a face) without tracing it then measuring and move it again to the correct offset position?

[@sukmahadi4253]

is it possible to do "drawing order" like on the Autocad in the sketchup?? please answer me🙏

[@thewanderer8]

Excellent video but more examples needed! Trying to get doors and windows into holes - really struggling!

[@andryan8043]

thanks its very helpful

[@tanya8116]

Great content! 😊👍 Your videos are very helpful particularly when I'm about to pull my hair out! 😂🤣😂

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Lol - well glad I could help save your hair! :) :p

[@freejojoey530]

how do i stop the objects from passing through the wall???? when I am trying to move an object into a corner, it either snaps partially through the wall or it snaps 1/8" away from the wall. This is so frustrating as a newbie to 3D who's been designing for printing for 18 years... I'm used to adobe where the snap feature is super precise.

[@yochtorres8067]

Hi Justin, This was very helpful, but I have one question. What do you do when you try to move an object but the axes aren´t working, is there a command to make the appear again?

[@alanbrandt1492]

How do you move things around a cylinder? For example if I have a cylinder with pipes come out of the cylinder at different angles off the cylinder

[@JarodTaylor]

How do I get those text hints on the axis? Mine just shows the color, not a text/label hint telling me the axis.

[@vishnupalaniappanvitchu6138]

Sir while importing object into sketchup its hanging what to do sir is there any possibility to reduce file size

[@Range_Development_Services]

Do you have a video on how to modify a floor plan once its is completed with wall heights pushed so that when you move a wall, other walls automatically coorispondingly change?

[@rogerappears1]

Very helpful video... I do have a production question for you. When rotating the sphere, how did you snap to the red axis so easily? I know there’s a shortcut option for this, but I always spend tons creating a square face along a specific point so I can have an orthogonal face to snap to the axis off of. Thanks for the video!!!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

When you first activate the rotate tool, tap either the left or right arrow key to lock to the red axis (can't remember which one) - is that what you're looking for? Try this - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnm8iXqqbZmsfdE

[@mikebro2557]

Thanks Justin, one can never learn too much about SketchUp. I have been using SketchUp for around 13 years, but I always check your videos whenever I come across a problem, or because I just simply want to improve my SketchUp skills. One task I have been struggling with, is when I draw a tall wooden gate with three cross rails - one at top, middle and bottom of gate. My problem is trying to create a diagonal brace with a fourth rail using the ROTATE tool and getting the brace to SNAP on the the corner of bottom/middle cross rail (to form a Z shape) then copy and move this brace to middle/top cross rail, I cannot get the the ROTATE tool to snap these connecting points. Any help would be very much appreciated. Best regards, Mike.

[@Maxima-]

Third ......................... Thank you so much sir .

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@snds2236]

This was great, but I'm trying to create an object for 3d printing that needs to have elements with precise positioning based on relative edges or other objects, is there an easy way to do this?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I suppose it depends on what kind of positioning you need...

[@fukjobiden1508]

Why do they something as critical as moving shit. So hard! Trouble?? Is an understatement!

[@catoftruth1044]

wish you can press a button to specifically move to red green y axis etc

[@urbanwoodworking233]

Thanks for sharing. Pity there is no "sticky mode" in SU, where you can turn on a magnetic behaviour that attracts the object to the surface of the subject

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Isn't that what the inference points do?

[@urbanwoodworking233]

Inference point do help align objects the way cleft sticks help couriers

[@sibteakbar7226]

you are amazing

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@sibteakbar7226]

@@Thesketchupessentials you are my teacher of Sketch up

[@sibteakbar7226]

🙇‍♂️

[@ttvxryze201]

what bind is it to move Along the Blue axis

[@virtual07]

3:50 How to move along those axes? When I try to move it, it goes in all directions.

[@worakunsitthipochai3517]

thanks

[@jaredwaters4633]

Where do you click to pick the different axis?

[@ConSeann3ry]

What about just moving it over just a little with keyboard or something? Did I miss that?

[@vadikb]

The last one was a bit hard to understand. What are they keys you pressing again?

[@АндрюхаК-о9в]

Спасибо!

[@buzzyranker8289]

How do you move a plane up or down? I can move it along the other two axis but not vertically. Arrow keys don't do anything either.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Like a rectangle? Is it grouped?

[@JohnColgan.]

Is it locked/glued on a plane? Right click & see if there's an option to unlock/unglue ...

[@escapespacer]

Great :) Justin, may ask you make tutorial for WrapR or other UV plugin for SU, it will be freat, aspecially with mapping in UE4! :)

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Try this - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKC5eZ2jiqeIhKc , or this - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYiXq6R5np2FbKs

[@jamesbronson12]

How do you move something along a single axis? I guess you need to figure that out before this video does you any good. With the example where the box has the lines where you want it to follow. How do you make an object move along just one axis?

[@moodberry]

Love it as usual. But the title said how to move things precisely. I have trouble where objects will "jump over" where I want them to be. I know you can define the snap precision, but when I am trying to get an object to move so that it will actually snap to another object, sometimes, no matter what I do, I can't get it to snap to the other object. Why is this?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Not really sure. It sounds like you might have some conflicting geometry in that location. You might want to hide some things so only the object you want to inference to is visible

[@4STEVEJOY34]

What about snapping to the base plane on the blue (z) axis?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I don't understand the question - what about it?

[@JohnColgan.]

Glue object to a plane?

[@JohnColgan.]

I find sometimes that SketchUp slightly displaces the cursor and crosshair anchor point by a few mm. This can make it difficult to accurately position an object using the mouse. (Specially if highly zoomed in ) It's a shame SketchUp doesn't have a "fine movement" keyboard option eg 1 pixel or mm per cursor key press.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

If you need to be that precise, you need to be typing values in for how far you want to move things, or use inferencing to inference exactly to a point. It doesn't have a "fine movement" command because inferencing and/or moving by exact distances is MORE precise than a fine movement tool, not less.

[@jiphulsman274]

it be so easy if you could just press x y or z for the different orientations

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Why would that be different than tapping the arrow keys?