Need help with Sketchup rectangles

[David Dalzell]

I am new to Sketchup so I may be doing something obviously wrong, but I don´t know what. When I use the rectangle tool plus typing in length,width in the dimension box I get anomolous results. Example: I click to start drawing the rectangle and then move the curser away. I type in , say, 10,20, hit return and release the mouse button. I wind up with a rectangle of say 12 3/32 by 17 1/16. The results are not always the same. I can try the same thing two or three time, typing in the same dimensions and will get different answers each time. I am using the woodworking template of inches. I have tried typing in " after the dimension numbers and "inch" also. Same results. I have tried variations of click and move away to start the rectangle then type dimensions in while holding the mouse button down, releasing the button then insert dimensions, hitting "return" before and after releasing mouse button etc. Just about every combination I can think of. Nothing works. I watch the Sketchup video tutorials and follow them step by step, but still no success.
Any help or suggestions would be most welcome.

[Ken Whitney]

David,

The mouse needs to be absolutely still when you type in the dimensions and hit enter. Any movement of the mouse will change the dimensions of the rectangle.

If that isn't the problem then I'm out of ideas.

Ken

[Glenn Vaughn]

Start the rectangle - release the mouse - type dimensions - press enter.

What I do to determine which number goes first is start the rectangle and drag the mouse in one direction only. I look at the dimentions and see which number is "0" - that is the postion to use for the dimension that is not started yet. Before entering the dimensions move the mouse in the "0" dimension direction so that a rectangle is shown then enter the dimensions. For example if I want a rectangle 10 high and 20 wide I start the rectangle and move the mouse straight up. If the display says 4,0 then the dimensions would be 10,20. If it says 0,4 then the dimension would be 20,10.

Sketch does an awful lot for you but a lot of it is not intuitive. Some things are almost impossibler to do (or are at least so without lots of instruction). I have yet to figure how to put a profile on a piece that is not 90 degrees square.

[glenn bradley]

What the other Glenn said. No need to hold the mouse button down. The rectangle doesn't even need to be close to the size you want. Just drag a rectangle, release mouse, type in something like 5 5/16,23 1/2 and hit enter. You get a 5 and 5/16" by 23 and a half inch rectangle.

P.s. your template does have to be set up for feet and inches for my example to work.

[David Dalzell]

well I just tried all that you recommended. Still no luck. Started the rectangle, released the mouse, typed in dimensions seperated by a comma, hit return. Still the size is no good. I changed template from inches (woodworking) to general feet & inches. Same screwy results. This is really extremelly frustrating.

[Bob Vavricka]

David,
If you are using a number keypad, check to make sure the numlock is on. This may not be the problem, but it is the first thing that comes to mind.
Bob V.

[David Dalzell]

I don´t normally use the numeric keypad. But I did try it just now with the same bad result. By the way, yesterday I completely deleted Sketchup from my computer and then downloaded it from the web. On the offchanch I had screwed something up. No luck. Same screwy results.

[Glenn Vaughn]

David,

I sent you a PM.

Glenn

[David Dalzell]

Thanks Glenn. I sent you a PM on the results. Still no joy.

[Clark Harbaugh]

The only suggestion I have is to use the inch symbol as well. When I type in a dimension, i type is as - 10",20" - and it works everytime. In the bottom right of the window should be a box that shows what you are typing.

[glenn bradley]

This is probably redundant as I imagine you've been here but, just in case: http://sketchup.google.com/support/b...n&answer=94837

[Harry Hagan]

Try rebooting your computer. That will fix a lot of screwy problems.

[Michael Kaplan]

+1 on adding the inch symbol to your dimensions- if you set the default to "feet and inches" then you may be confusing Sketchup. Perhaps before you made that change your default units were metric and so sketchup assumed you were enering a metric unit. also, you know you don't need to "place " the cursor in the information box in the lower right corner, right. Simply type, without moving the mouse, and your information is entered.
good luck.

[David Dalzell]

Finally I can draw and dimension rectangles correctly. It was Dave Richards who solved the problem. Quite a guy. Very helpfull and extremely knowledgble. The problem is I am currently in Spain and thus am using a Spanish keyboard. For some reason Sketchup does not recognize the comma "," as a valid separator when dimensioning. So in the dimension box my length comma width was not being intrepreted correctly. However the semi-colon ";" symbol is the correct separator to use on this keyboard. That never would have occurred to me. After fixing this Dave, via remote control, set up my Sketchup tool bars and a specific woodworking Template, and then gave me about an hours tutorial on Sketchup. Thanks Dave.