Cardinal Points in SketchUp - Skill Builder

Have you heard of Cardinal Points before? No? Well, they are in SketchUp, and they do some pretty cool stuff! Check it out and try modifying some Cardinal Points of your own!

[@yootoob7048]

Very Cool! Now I know the name for the reason that stuff happens when I model. Thought it was just SketchUp being SketchUp.

[@monospaced]

Even after years of using SketchUp, it's great to find and learn something new like this. Thanks Aaron.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Ben Wexlar Glad I could help!

[@geometramartiniantonio]

I thik too. Exactly!

[@foddermott9532]

I immediately saw in your vid how to make simple knobs for my kitchen cabinet project. Thanks, Aaron!

[@brianblaylock5734]

I have been using Sketchup for over a decade and thought I knew how to use it well, but since I have discovered the Skill Builder series I have been amazed at how little I know. I have learned something from every one, but especially this one.

[@chrishaynes3196]

Thanks. That was so handy! A non-plugin based skill builder; the kind of trick that most of us simply overlook! Cheers

[@hobbster]

Great tip as always. Keep 'em comin'! Thanks!

[@slowhandete]

Hi Aaron, can you point me in the right direction. i just can't seen to get a square to draw from the centre of a circle. i'm using windows and when I hold the control key nothing happens.

[@machinedred]

Help I've got 4 holes through a 6mm plate and I want to make all the holes 0.3 larger diameter

[@Karaon]

and thats why i love sketchup

[@rswc55]

Drawing along the axes was alone worth the watch. Thx.

[@aarondietzen2995]

rswc55 Glad we could help!

[@trademember]

Stop it! You're turning me into. Sketch up nerd!

[@aarondietzen2995]

trademember Welcome to the club!

[@petewoodhead52]

Aaron, Thanks a million for another great tip!

[@donglaihao538]

When i use polygon, i find something more magical.but why

[@donglaihao538]

in polygon，only two endpoint and all midpoint can be used for scale

[@blairpettigrew]

Very cool! I had no idea you could do that.

[@motocatfish]

As a 1-year user of SU Pro, I must say your videos have made my learning process so much easier & fun! Thanks & looking forward to learning more! 🙂

[@mekkler]

I will definitely be able to use that. When I make circles, I always change them to 32 sides (or other power of 2). It just seems to avoid surfacing problems.

[@ThomasMcKayDin8go]

What you did in about a min. took me a long time to figure out in SolidWorks when designing a injection molded PP snap cap for a pump dispenser for a new product. Wish I had this tutorial about 15 years ago.

[@mariost-maurice447]

Thanks Aaron, what a nice trick. I'm a crazy user of SU. This kind of tip help avanced people to get something more to learn an always work faster

[@sonnytanod8862]

Again thank you

[@LT72884]

Would it be possible to rotate the top square of the cylnder so that it become a cool helical shape? Also, when do you think SU will become more parametric or at least have a history tree?

[@larrymortimer4833]

That is cool!

[@MusicEffekt]

Very handy tip. That last semi-pyramid was nice.

[@armandmselle3061]

Great tip thank you so much bro, it is not easy to know this kind of hidden feature !!!

[@ronmanning281]

Thanks Aaron. These tips are very helpful. You're the man.

[@CoryDiRecife]

Neat!

[@eWood_q8]

Great tip!

[@ambosaim]

Whoahhh!!!

[@pmfinverr335]

thank !! I think this will helpful for me in soon 👍

[@tricky2k]

What if you don't want that cardinal point act like that, you just want to move things around the "other points" way?

[@SketchUp]

tricky2k That’s when you explode the arc/circle!

[@josefrundstrom]

Top tip! You open undiscovered areas, Aaron! As an urban planner I sometime use Match Photo to create photomontages. I wonder - if you made a video covering the best practices of using Match Photo or making photomontages - what would I learn? And what type of mistakes can I dodge with some enlightenment? =) Would love a Skill Builder covering that!

[@aarondietzen2995]

Josef Rundström I have dabbled in match photo, but I think that is well worth looking into more. Thanks for the idea!

[@Sheppard2030]

I am going to say that after all of these years, I have never had the need for this (that I can remember). Now, I intentionally said that so an opportunity to use this will present itself & I will be very happy that I learned this neat, "new-to-me" tip! Thank you! :D

[@aarondietzen2995]

Sheppard Well here’s to the hope that you will need this skill soon!

[@refusoagaino6824]

Special. We're like monkees with some of these tools, until these secrets are revealed. My thing recently is natural ventilation, bringing air into a house from underground, using cheap, local materials that are all round or square but have to turn corners and be accurate enough to calculate things like flow rate. Wind tunnel testing a house to see where embers might lodge, shows other places where 2D surfaces should transform gradually, not abruptly. Can you change the number of segments? What's on the right-click dropdown menu of one of these arc segments? (I'll answer my own question momentarily)

[@aarondietzen2995]

Refuso Againo You sure can! I didn’t even think to talk about that! If you bisect the arc, you can set a number of segments for that new arc! Great catch!

[@seanflanagan5674]

Way cool, and a great thing to have in my pocket. So cool it would freeze my leg off... but my pocket had a hole innit so I ducked that bullet. But I need you to keep these cool things coming, else my pocket will soon be empty again.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Sean Flanagan Ha! Love it! I will do my best to cause you frost bite... in a good way.

[@peterlaurence4831]

Hi there! Thank you very much for these tips and tricks you're sharing with us. There's this problem that im facing right now, this "alt" key that's suppose to let me draw rectangle from the center. What the alt key does here is it select items at the menu bar instead. It won't let me do as you did here in the video.

[@aarondietzen2995]

You are welcome! On Windows, it is the CTRL key that modifies input (Alt/Option is for Mac machines).

[@willembuiting]

Soon as you think you know it all..... great tip!

[@aarondietzen2995]

Willem Buiting There’s always more to learn!

[@mpasquarella44]

Great Series of Short Tutorials... Very Good and Very Useful.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Michael Pasquarella Glad to hear!

[@urbanwoodworking233]

Thanks for sharing. Great tip. We will have to practice that to remember it.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Urban Woodworking A friend of mine had a saying, “Practice makes permanent!”

[@petea1uk]

Another first class lesson on the best channel on KZbin. Thank you.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Pete L you’re making me blush!

[@leonthezealous9239]

This must be done before the circle is selected, otherwise it won't work.

[@SketchUp]

This can be done on ANY arc or section of a circle, as long as you select the arc, not the surface that it may be attached to.

[@pastorflat3864]

this is ancient I knew this back in 2005. How about adding some more features to sketchup.

[@aarondietzen2995]

Pastor flat Alas, I am ill equipped to make any changes to software as I have no idea how to code. Thus, I have resigned myself to helping the community by showing them tips and tricks to get the most of SketchUp as it is.

[@pastorflat3864]

So do you work for sketchup or not? Do you have any say.?

[@aarondietzen2995]

I am lucky enough to work at SketchUp, but not in a development or product management position. I personally have no direct control over what is included in releases. We have much smarter individuals than myself for that!

[@pastorflat3864]

Well at least you are very humble.

[@aarondietzen2995]

It’s one of my best qualities... I am constantly bragging about my humility

[@mabroukainteriordesigner]

Many Thanks man

[@aarondietzen2995]

MAB Courses You are so welcome!

[@JSClements]

Great piece of USEFUL info! I never realized that when INTERSECTING an arc, the resulting edges maintain the cardinal-point attributes

[@aarondietzen2995]

Glad I could teach you something new, John!