Follow Me and Groups: Part 2 – No Breaks

In Part 1 of this series, I left off with a fireplace mantel. SketchUp’s Follow Me tool was used to drive the mantel profile along the top of the fireplace. But there are some missing faces in the back corners:

 

So I’m starting back at this point – a fireplace with a 2D face against the wall. This 2D face is the mantel profile.

 

To avoid breaks, the profile face should be a group.

 

 

Now here’s how to use Follow Me with a group. First, select the path: the three edges shown below.

 

Choose Tools / Follow Me.

Right-click on the group and choose Edit Group.

 

 

With the group open, there’s just one face to click on – the profile face. Click this face . . .

 

 

. . . and Follow Me drives the face around, still within the group.

 

 

To close the group, you can click anywhere outside the group, or right-click in blank space and choose Close Group. Now I have a nice fireplace with its equally nice – and unbroken – mantel along the top.

 

This is great, but in practice, everything should be a group (or component). So we’ll have one more post on this: Part 3 will show how to use Follow Me with edges that are already inside a group.

 

 

About Bonnie Roskes

Bonnie Roskes has been writing tutorial-style projects on 3D modeling software, primarily SketchUp, since 2001. Her website, www.3dvinci.net offers a wide variety of learning materials for all ages, from kids in grade school through design professionals. Her materials cover general 3D design, 3D printing, geometry, interior design, geo-modeling, and more, and future books are in the works. Read more about Bonnie.

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