Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
4. Select all of the lines (the axis centerlines in the
truss). In the Tools menu, select the item “Convert
arcs, circles . . .,” after which the dialog shown
here appears.
5. Set the parameters as shown in the image. As
you can see, you can enter the diameter, the circle
precision, and the material. We’ll make sure “Each
tube is a group” is selected so that we can use
those groups later. Then just click on OK. The
plugin gives you a confirmation, and your truss
should resemble the image shown here.
6. When you look more closely at the truss, you will see that it needs some cleaning. The
ends don’t extend (or at least don’t clean up nicely) as would likely be the case in reality.
Also, internal ends overlap too much, creating a lot of internal geometry.
7. To clean up the ends, double-click the horizontal tubes to get
into group editing mode. Then extend each of them by a reasonable
number (8 inches, in this case).
8. At this point, your truss looks better, but the geometry
is still overlapping quite a bit. You can see this when you turn
on X-ray mode.
Now you can do one of two things: The classic SketchUp
method to clean up overlaps is to actually explode the entire
truss and use the Intersect with Model right-click menu item
on the entire truss. This creates lines where faces intersect,
which would let you clean up overlapping faces easily.
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