What is picked, and the few things you can change about it.
/info puts it down the right-hand side. /info off
takes it away. It is remembered between sessions.
It reads whatever is picked, and changes as you pick something else -
which is why it is docked rather than a dialog you have to open.
With one thing picked
Picked
It says
A line
length, both ends, pen width, whether the crease is softened, and which solid it belongs to
A circle or an arc
radius, center, sweep, how many sides, which plane it was drawn in
A face
area, how many corners, how many windows, which solid
A note
what it says, where it points, its size
A dimension
what it measures, and what is written on it if that was typed over
A guide
where it is
What you can change from it
Sides, on a circle or an arc - - and +
beside the figure. This is the one worth knowing: the number of sides used
to be something you set before drawing and could never change
afterwards. Draw a circle at 24, decide it wants to be 48, and it is two
presses.
Soften, on a line or an arc. A softened crease is hidden except
where the surface turns away from you, which is what makes a pulled circle
read as a pipe rather than a barrel of staves.
Length, on a line. Pick the line, type the new length and
press Enter - the panel doesn't need to be open for it. Which
end moves follows SketchUp's rule:
a loose line moves the end it was drawn to;
a line joined to something at one end moves its free end;
a line joined at both ends can't be changed this way - the panel says
joined at both ends - fixed. Move one of its ends with the move
tool instead.
Width, on a line or an arc - - and +,
through the same widths as the LINE WIDTH list on the SETTINGS menu.
Color, on a line, an arc, a note or a dimension - Change...
opens the color picker. The LINE COLOR and LINE WIDTH settings still set what
the next thing is drawn with; these change what is already there.
Material, on a face - Paint... opens the color picker, and
the face is that color, not a tint of it. A face's material is a separate
thing from the pen that drew its edges, which is how SketchUp has it: paint a
face red and it is red, while the lines around it stay whatever color they
were. Back to default returns it to the near-white every face starts
as. If the face is one of several picked, all the picked faces are painted
at once.
Everything it changes goes on the undo stack like anything else.
With several picked
How many of each, the total length of the lines and the total area of the
faces. Colors can be set for all of them at once, and the buttons say how
many they will land on:
Material - Paint n faces... paints every picked face,
and Back to default strips them all back to the near-white.
Color - Change n... sets the pen color of every picked
line, arc, note and dimension. Faces are not included - they are painted,
not inked - and guides never take a color.
Reverse turns over every picked face.
Sizes and widths are still one at a time, on purpose: a stepper that acted
on nine things at once is a way to lose nine things. A color is not a
stepper - it is one decision, the button says how many it lands on, and undo
puts it back.
With nothing picked
What the sheet adds up to: how many things, how many lines and how long
they are altogether, how many faces and how much area. It is a question
people ask of a drawing often enough to be worth the space when there is
nothing else to show.