Rotate object to position a point perfectly on a plane. This is an inference ("On Radius") that's missing in the native Rotate tool.
Streamlined to rotate pieces of paper in pop up models to the right angles, but can also be used in more generic cases such as leaning a ladder against a wall.
Activated from Extensions > Eneroth Rotate to Plane or its toolbar.
Select an object to rotate, a rotational axis from an edge, a rotation start and a target plane to rotate towards.
Source code available at GitHub.
This tool is created and streamlined for paper pop up models, i.e. rotating groups/components containing a face, along one of its edges, so one of its endpoints lands on a given target plane. Often the target plane is extrapolated from a non-vertical edge.
I have a bit of an inner conflict how generic vs specialized/streamlined this tool should be. It could easily be made more generic by allowing:
- rotational plane to be picked from a hovered face,
- rotational plane to be picked from the ground plane and
- target plane to be picked from the ground plane.
However this would obfuscate the intended use case, making the tool less intuitive and lead to questions such as:
- why is the tool at all picking the rotational axis from an edge (it's a rare use case but very nifty for paper pop up models),
- why is the tool assuming a vertical target plane from an edge (it's a rare use case but very nifty for paper pop up models),
- why is it drawing a circle and not a protractor like native Rotate tool (because it shows the radius intersections to the plane will be found at)?
For now compromise by limiting the tool a little bit, allow the drag+hold pattern for custom directional input, and hope native SketchUp Rotate tool one day adds a "From Radius" inference for the general use case.
Let this tool stay the paper pop up rotate tool.