SketchUp 5, Student Workbook
SketchUp 5, Student Workbook
SketchUp 5, Student Workbook
Student Workbook
Second Edition.
Copyright 2005, Bonnie Roskes
No part of this publication may be stored in a system, reproduced, or transmitted in any way or by any
means, including but not limited to photography, photocopy, electronic, magnetic, or optical, without
the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher.
All technical illustrations and models in this book were produced using SketchUp.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 7: Sectioning
Sectioning Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Using Sections for Interior Design and Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Exporting Section Slices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Project: Copying Section Planes for Floor Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Project: Using Section Planes with Model Intersection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Simultaneous Section Cuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Chapter 8: Presentation
Layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Setting up the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Walk and Look Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Position Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Updating Pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Tourguide / Slideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
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Table of Contents
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1 The Basics
SketchUp Screen
When you launch SketchUp, your screen looks like this (shown in Windows, Mac is similar):
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Viewing Tools Shifts the center of the model (up, down, left, right),
while maintaining the model’s orientation. To pan
While creating objects, you need to know how to change
the view, activate Pan and hold and drag the mouse.
your view and adjust what appears on the screen. You can
If you have a three-button mouse, you can pan by
familiarize yourself with these tools before starting to
pressing Shift while orbiting (dragging the mouse
draw, or play with them after you’ve created some
with the middle button pressed).
geometry.
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Click this tool to fit the entire model onto the screen,
In this tool, drag the mouse up to zoom in, down to
while centering it as well.
zoom out. If you have a wheel mouse, you can scroll
the wheel up or down to zoom. In this case, zooming
is relative to the location of the cursor. Previous (Camera / Previous)
To change the camera lens (field of view), press Shift
while zooming. This is handy for adjusting the
perspective of your image. You can also enter an
exact value, such as 45 deg (for field of view) or 35
mm (for focal length).
While in zoom, you can double-click on a point in the
Returns the view to the previous view.
model to make it the new viewing center. This is
equivalent to a one-click Pan. Shortcut Keys
Also knows as “hotkeys” or “accelerator keys,” keyboard
Zoom Window (Camera / Zoom Window) shortcuts can be set up for quick access to tools you use
often. A few shortcuts are provided for you (such as
Ctrl/Cmd+Z for Undo), but the rest need to be added. See
"Preferences > Shortcuts" on page 304.
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Line
This tool creates lines that typically become edges. When
lines (or other objects such as arcs, circles, or polygons)
lie in the same plane and form a closed boundary, a face is
automatically created.
1. Open SketchUp, and an empty file appears in Top 5. Close the Preferences.
view. You are looking at the red-green plane, and the 6. Now open the Model Info window (if it is not
blue axis (vertical) is pointing toward you. By already open), either by selecting Window / Model
default, you are in the Line tool, as indicated by the Info or by clicking the icon.
pencil-shaped cursor.
NOTE: If you don’t see the axes displayed, select View / Axes.
This is a toggle function - it can also turns the axes off.
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10. Click to place the first point (not on the origin), and to the last line you drew. Click for the next point,
move the cursor to the right. The On Red Axis trying to maintain the general proportions shown
inference tells you that the line will be parallel to the below.
red axis. Click to locate the second point.
TIP: You could also click the first point, hold the mouse button,
drag to the second point, and release.
11. Because you selected Continue line drawing, you NOTE: You can also use the perpendicular and parallel
immediately start a new line. Locate the next point in constraints relative to any line, not just the one you just drew, as
you will see in another few steps.
the green direction from the last point.
15. Make the next line perpendicular from the last line,
stopping when the red direction constraint appears.
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18. . . . and move the cursor until you see the Parallel 23. Draw one more line to complete the face.
inference (be sure not to activate any other
inferences). Do not click yet.
19. Now we use a double inference. With the Parallel TIP: If you want to create an open shape, you can press Esc to
inference still showing, press Shift. This ensures that end the chain.
no matter where you move the cursor, the line will
always have this parallel orientation. When you press
Shift, the magenta inference line turns thicker, NOTE: Face colors are set in the Color page of the Model Info
window. Each face has a front and back, and these are typically
indicating that this constraint is locked. assigned different colors. You can reverse a face’s front and
20. With Shift pressed, hover over the corner point back by right-clicking and selecting Reverse.
shown to see the double inference. Click this point.
24. Like all drawing tools, Line can be used just as easily
in 3D. Click Orbit (Mac: Orbit Camera) and move
the mouse to spin the model around. (If you have a
three-button or scroll wheel mouse, simply hold the
middle button / scroll wheel and drag - no need to
activate Orbit).
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26. If it’s not already active, activate Line, and draw a 31. Hover over any point on the edge shown . . .
line from the point shown straight down, in the blue
(vertical) direction.
27. To draw a rectangular vertical face, hover over the 32. . . . move the cursor until the Parallel inference
desired corner point . . . appears. Press Shift to lock it and click the corner
point.
28. . . . and move down (in blue) and click when the
double constraint appears.
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35. Both lines are now divided into two lines. To verify 39. Erase one of the top edges. Because it no longer has
this, hover over what was the midpoint, and now it is a closed boundary, the face disappears.
an endpoint.
38. We will now see how lines can be used to heal faces.
Click Erase (Tools / Erase).
42. If you erase a line that is a boundary for more than
one face, all affected faces will be deleted. Erase the
common edge shown, and both faces sharing this
edge disappear.
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NOTE: While sizing the rectangle, you may see two indicators -
“Square” and “Golden Section.” These are explained in the next
NOTE: Display Settings is one of SketchUp’s stacking
section.
windows.
45. All edges parallel to one of the axes take on the axis 3. Draw another rectangle from a point on the top edge
color. to the midpoint of the left edge.
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5. Locate the origin at Point 1, and click Point 2 to pressed, click Point 3. You have now used a double
define the red axis. constraint to both lock the width and set the height to
include a specific point.
NOTE: You can see the blue axis, even though you are in Top
view. This is because you are working in Perspective mode. If
you turn this off (Camera / Perspective) the blue axis will point 11. Pull up in the blue direction and click to create the
directly up and be invisible while in Top view.
rectangle.
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12. Click and hover again using the points shown, and 15. If you are planning to continue your work in the same
press Shift to lock the width. file, you should reset the axes. Display the axes
again, right-click on any axis, and select Reset.
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3. To use this tool, you can either click on the face and 6. Now push the top of the trapezoid down. You can
then click the point (above or below the face) to set only go as far as the top of the box forms.
the height, or you can hold and drag the face up or
down. Either way, the face updates dynamically
while you move the mouse.
NOTE: For the Push/Pull cursor, the tip of the red arrow is
where you select or highlight.
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To push the other rectangle in by the same distance, 12. Now pull up the top trapezoidal face. Because of the
you could double-click it. But this can only be done box forms, there are lines above the box corners,
when you want to use the distance of the last dividing the front into five separate faces.
Push/Pull. If you used Push/Pull somewhere else,
then came back to the second rectangle, the distance
you want is no longer stored.
10. To get the same Push/Pull distance, click the
unpushed rectangle, then move the cursor to the one
already pushed. When the On Face constraint
appears, click to use this distance.
13. Erase two of the lines, healing the face above one of
the boxes.
11. You can also use Push/Pull to create voids. Push the
rectangles all the way through the trapezoidal form - 14. Push in the vertical face above the other box.
simply end the operation at the bottom face.
TIP: An easy way to push all the way through is to first click the
rectangular face you want to push through, then click anywhere
on any edge of the bottom face. This prevents you from pushing
too far or not far enough, and is very useful in cases where you
cannot see all the way to the bottom of the hole.
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There is an added feature of Push/Pull that enables 19. For another demonstration of this feature, undo
you to control how the adjacent faces act. To again, and pull out the side of the trapezoid.
demonstrate this, we will work on the back face.
16. Orbit to the back and pull out the face shown. This
leaves the neighboring faces in place, and adds
vertical faces, between them and the pulled face.
21. Undo, and pull the same face using the Alt/Cmd key.
Quite a difference!
NOTE: You could get the same results using the Move tool, but
Push/Pull ensures that you are always moving perpendicular to
the face.
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Circle and Polygon 4. Do the same in the green-blue plane. The preview
These two tools are grouped together because they are color is red.
basically the same. Both create multi-segmented
polygons; a higher number of segments is a better
approximation to a circle. The difference basically lies in
the appearance of the faces that result when you use
Push/Pull.
1. Start in top view and activate Circle (Draw / Circle).
5. You can also create circles on existing faces. Start a
new file, and create a rectangle. Push/Pull it up to
create a box. Activate Circle. The circle preview is
horizontal anywhere you place the mouse, as long as
it is not along a face.
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9. Draw a diagonal line on one of the faces - when the 13. Start to draw a concentric circle on this face, but do
line turns magenta that means its endpoints are not click the second point to complete it.
equidistant from the corner.
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17. Activate Select and select the circle shown. The itself to this face. Because the circle isn’t aligned
Entity Info window displays the radius, number of with any of the three standard planes, it is given the
segments, and length of the circle. (If the length does default edge color.
not appear, click the down arrow at the top of the
window and select Show Details.)
18. Assign a slightly smaller radius - remember to Polygons are drawn just like circles - center then
specify your units. (For 1’- 4” you could type 1’4.) radius.
22. Before drawing the polygon, pick up the center point
of the last circle you made, and move in the red or
green direction along the diagonal face.
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24. By default, the polygon should have six sides, unless 27. Hide the edges again. Another difference in these
this was already changed. Open the polygon’s Entity faces is how they are selected. Activate Select, and
Info and change the number of segments to 8, to click one of the polygonal facets. Each of these faces
match the circle. (If you’re a perfectionist, you can can be selected separately.
also use the Entity Info to assign the exact same
radii to the circle and polygon.)
NOTE: The “8s” method would also work for polygons. But once
you Push/Pull a polygon (or circle), you can no longer change
its segmentation.
You should now have two adjacent octagons. 29. Undo as many times as needed to erase the two
cylinders on the diagonal face.
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32. Because two of the segment endpoints lie on the 36. Push/Pull the arc face out again, pressing
edge, the edge divides the circle in half. Select the Ctrl/Option (this is like starting a new extrusion,
top part of the circle and delete it. You are left with an instead of continuing the old one). This time the
arc that has bold lines, indicating that it is not extrusion is faceted.
considered properly aligned with the face.
34. Push/Pull the arc face outward. Because this arc was
created from a circle, its extruded face is smooth.
39. You can now select any segment of this curve and
delete it.
35. Right-click on the arc shown and select Convert to
Polygon.
NOTE: If you get the context menu for one of the faces, try
right-clicking again on the arc edge so that the edge is
highlighted. Then the menu should look like the one shown
above.
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Arc 5. Start a second arc in the top corner, placing the first
Similar to Circle and Polygon, Arc creates chord point along the vertical edge and the second
multi-segmented representations of arcs. You can draw point on the face. To define the bulge, move the
arcs in any face, or in any of the three main planes. cursor until the arc appears in cyan and the Tangent
to Edge inference appears.
1. Start with the same form you used in the Circle
exercise.
NOTE: You can also specify exact dimensions for the bulge by
entering the value, which then appears in the VCB.
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9. Move the cursor so that this arc becomes tangent to Set the number of segments and circle radius high
the top edge, rather than the adjacent arc. enough so that you can see that the circle and arc are
concentric.
10. You can also find the center point of any arc. Activate
Circle, and move the cursor around the area where 12. As with all 2D tools, you can create geometry on any
the center of the last arc should be. (If you have existing face. Draw a rectangle on the diagonal face
trouble locating the center, hover over one of the arc then draw an arc using the top edge of the rectangle.
endpoints and then try again.) When you find the Move the cursor until the Half Circle inference
point, it is highlighted in green and the Center appears.
inference appears.
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17. Now make the arc radius larger. (Note that even if
NOTE: You can also change the number of segments while you are using architectural units, you can still enter a
selecting the chord points, or before you set the bulge. In these
cases, you also need to type “4s.”
decimal value: 2.5’ is the same as 2’-6”.)
This time the arc updates but does not affect the
rectangle (now a trapezoid) below it. This is because
an arc can be fit to the current edge below at a size
less than a semi-circle. But if the new radius will
make an arc greater than a semi-circle, the edge
below will update instead.
14. Once you create another object or activate another
tool, you can no longer change the arc this way (the
4s method). But for another way to change the arc,
open its Entity Info window. Both the radius and
number of segments can be edited.
18. Erase the line between arc and rectangle, and erase
the face.
19. For the next arc, use the bottom edge of the cutout as
the chord, and set the arc upward (blue direction).
Note that it has four segments; this reflects the last
arc change you made (and does not take into account
16. The arc shrinks, resizing the rectangle below it as the change you made via Entity Info.
well.
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20. Type 8s to make the arc rounder. 24. Now draw an arc that sticks out of the side face, and
close it with a line. Leave room on this face for
another, similar arc.
25. Draw the next arc at the same height (by hovering
over an endpoint of the first arc and dragging the
cursor to the right). To set the bulge, you can pick the
bulge point of the first arc.
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28. Push/Pull the second arc the same distance. Because Like circles and arcs, this curve is approximated into
it is actually a polygon, the segmentation is visible. segments, though it is selected and manipulated as
one object. The lines are thick because they are not
edges of a face.
4. Orbit to the other side, and draw a closed freehand
curve. To make a curve closed, simply end it at its
start point. If you do it right, the lines will be thin,
indicating a face has been formed.
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Select
You need to understand this tool before getting into the
other manipulation tools, because, in many cases, objects
need to be selected before you can apply another tool to
them. Selecting is very straightforward, but this exercise
10. To change this into a standard object (a curve that may show you some features you didn’t know about.
will affect neighboring objects), right-click on it and 1. Start with a box.
select Explode. The lines are now thick, meaning it
is not closed. Even though this was created as a
closed curve, it does not translate into a closed curve
when exploded.
11. Use a small line to close the curve. You will probably
have to zoom in closely to the start and end points to
find the break. Once closed, the lines are thin. 3. When in Select mode, the cursor appears as an arrow.
Click an edge to select it.
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4. Now click a face to select it. The edge now is 9. . . . then click the face again (with Shift) to deselect it.
deselected. Selected faces are covered with a dotted
pattern, also in the Highlight color.
Keep in mind that edges and faces are considered TIP: You can select everything by selecting Edit / Select All, or
separate objects, so be aware of what you need to by pressing Ctrl+A (Cmd+A).
select for the tool you want to use!
5. Add another face to the set of selected objects, by 11. Add a rectangle to one of the faces and Push/Pull it
pressing Ctrl/Option while selecting. out. We will now use window (marquee) selections.
Return to Select mode and drag a window from left
to right, enclosing the front face of the small box.
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This window selects everything completely or In this case, the window has also selected some edges
partially inside it - the front face, side and top faces, and faces of the small box.
and surrounding edges.
14. Now orbit around so that the small box is behind the
larger one. Drag a right-to-left window to select three
faces of the large box (the two you can see plus the 17. The small box is deselected, but the last selection
bottom face), plus the three common edges. window also deselected the side face of the large box.
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19. Press Ctrl/Option or use Shift, and re-select the face. If you right-click a face, you can select its bounding
edges, connected faces, or all connected geometry.
20. Here’s a neat feature that allows you to select Taking Off Quantities Using Select
multiple objects at once. While in Select, and Entity Info
double-click on any face. This selects not only the The Entity Info window enables you to easily calculate
face, but also all surrounding edges. numbers of objects, total lengths of edges, and total area
of faces.
1. When a face it selected, its area is listed in the
window. You can also check Hidden to hide the face.
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TIP: If you pass over edges too quickly, they might be missed. If
you’re not picking up all the edges you want, move the mouse
more slowly. 11. Another way to erase is to select first, then press
Delete. Use a right-to-left window to select all edges
7. Erase the remaining circle segments on this face. and faces of the base, except for the top face.
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13. If you erase an edge of a face, all faces adjacent to it In addition to hiding edges, Erase can also be used to
will also disappear. Erase one of the vertical edges of soften edges. Hiding and smoothing are two different
the cylinder, and its two adjacent faces disappear. things. As you saw above, hiding edges leaves surfaces
looking faceted, while smoothing creates a smooth look.
Hiding also hides profile lines, while smoothed objects
still have their profile lines displayed.
Measure
This tool has three purposes: to measure distances, to
14. Undo to restore these face. You could also recreate scale an entire model, and to create construction lines.
these faces by manually redrawing the edge you
1. Start with this form.
erased.
15. The last feature of the Erase tool is that it can also
hide edges (not faces). Just press Shift and click an
edge, or keep Shift pressed while you pass over
multiple edges.
TIP: You can also hide edges and faces by selecting them first,
then pressing H (or selecting Hide from the popup menu, or
selecting Edit / Hide).
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5. Using Measure this way enables you to scale your 8. Measure can also create construction lines offset to
entire model, according to the value you entered. edges and other construction lines. Click the
Click Yes to the following question: construction line you just drew and move the cursor
to one side to see the offset line. Place it so that it
intersects the midpoint of the edge shown.
NOTE: You can only use Entity Info to edit the length of a line
when it has one endpoint free (not connected to another edge).
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12. You can enter the offset distance manually. Enter a 16. Use the intersections of the construction lines to
value like 7’ (don’t forget the foot symbol; create the three lines and arc shown below. If drawn
otherwise, the value is assumed to be in inches). correctly, the form should be thin-lined (closed and
Press Enter. aligned to the sloped face).
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19. Then move out so that the construction line is along 22. Do the same along the diagonal edge. Now you have
the axis (red or green direction) from the upper edge, the intersection of where the two construction lines
and directly above (blue direction) the lower edge. meet.
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29. If you look from the side, you can see that the sloped
faces of both forms lie on the same plane.
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5. The final step is to define the angle, which is 8. Draw a line along the construction line on the front
measured from the reference line. By default, the face and Push/Pull the triangular face all the way
protractor has ticks marking angles every 15 degrees. through. Because the construction line is no longer
If you move the cursor two ticks above the reference needed, you can erase it.
line, you will see 30 degrees listed in the VCB.
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16. Press Esc to “free” the protractor so it can be placed 2. Activate Move (Tools / Move).
somewhere else.
17. Place it at the corner of the front face, oriented along
its bottom edge. This face isn’t aligned with any of
the three standard planes, so the protractor is black
(or whatever your edge color is). Move the cursor
upward (do not click yet) to set the angle direction. 3. Click the edge shown, and drag it downward (blue
direction). You can also click the edge and then click
its new location.
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4. Move is still active. Move the point shown on the left 6. Use Select to select the two edges shown.
down till it meets the corner point below it.
NOTE: If you use Push/Pull on the same face, only that face
would be extended.
8. Draw a rectangle on the large, front face. Make it
off-center.
Move affects edges and faces adjacent to the selected face, 9. We can resize the rectangle by moving one of the
thereby stretching the model.
edges, but these edges are not aligned with any of the
You could use Push/Pull with Alt to get the same effect as standard axes. Use Move on an edge, clicking any
Move. point along the edge as the start point.
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10. Then hover over the lower edge (do not click). 13. The midpoint of the top edge can now be moved, but
(again) the move direction is not along any of the
standard axes. To position it exactly right, first create
a construction line. Then Move the midpoint of the
top edge (which is actually an endpoint since the
edge was divided) along the construction line.
14. Now to center the small face along the lower edge of
the large face. Activate Move on the small face, and
click a point at the center.
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16. With Shift pressed, click the midpoint of the lower 4. We now want to select this cylinder to copy it. Use a
edge. Now the small face is centered. right-to-left selection window - everything inside or
touching the window will be selected. (You can also
double-click the top edge to select all the faces that
touch it.)
You could erase this face to make it a cutout, like a 5. With the cylinder selected, activate Move. Press
window. Ctrl/Option, then click Point A. Release Ctrl/Option,
then click Point B to make a copy of the cylinder.
Copy
When you use the Ctrl/Option key within a Move
operation, you create a copy.
1. Start with a box and use Move to move the edge
shown.
TIP: Selecting Point B can place the copy on either the top face
or front face. If you’re having trouble getting the copy on the top
face, try to approach Point B slowly from a point on the top face.
2. Divide the back edge into three segments.
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7. Erase as needed to get a circular window. Copy it, 10. Now select two of these windows, and copy them to
using any point on the front face as a reference point. the side face.
Then hover over the bottom edge. For the second
point, make sure the copy is parallel to the bottom
edge.
NOTE: Automatic alignment, which you just saw, works only for
copies. Moving objects does not change their alignment.
9. In this case, the last copy extends past the face, so no 2. Use Offset to create an offset face within the original
cutout is made. Enter 2x to remove this copy. face. (Activate Offset, select the face and press
Enter, then pick a point to define the offset distance.)
3. Select the inner face and try moving it up. You can
only move it within its plane.
NOTE: You can also enter a number (no “x”) to change the
spacing.
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4. Undo. 9. Now select the two ridge lines as before (not the
Here’s the first instance when Autofold is useful. valley lines), and try to move them up without using
There are two ways you can do this: Autofold. There is only one direction the edges can
be moved; you can’t move in the blue direction.
5. Select the inside face first, then activate Move. Press
Alt/Cmd, and click a reference point anywhere. Then
release Alt/Cmd and click a second reference point,
directly above the first one. The fold lines between
the top and bottom faces are created automatically.
10. Try again, this time using Autofold. Now you can
move the edges in any direction - use the blue
direction.
The other way to do this is to start with nothing
selected, then activate Move. Press Alt/Cmd, click
the inner face, release Alt/Cmd, and drag the face
upward.
6. Now we will create a roof. Start at Point A
(midpoint), and start the line in the axis direction.
Press Shift to lock the line to the axis and click Point
B (also midpoint). Then complete the roof ridge line. 11. The roof wasn’t created perfectly, but it can easily be
cleaned up. Erase the two lines shown, then correct
the roof face by adding one line.
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There are so many uses for Autofold, it’s impossible to 3. Now try to move it again, this time pressing Alt/Cmd
show examples of them all. Here are a few extra for Autofold. You can now move the face in any
examples. direction.
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The Basics
6. Create the next arc from the end of the first one. By
default it is tangent to its neighbor. Double-click to
3. Make a cylinder from the circle. Activate Move,
place the endpoint somewhere on the other side of
make sure nothing is selected, and move the mouse
the circle.
along the top edge until only a quadrant point (and
not the entire edge) is highlighted. Drag the point
inward to make a cone.
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8. Do the same at the midpoint of the first arc. 12. Resize the arc at the bottom of the face by dragging
its midpoint forward.
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The Basics
16. Then resize the top polygon by dragging a quadrant Mac: Rotate only works if objects are selected first.
point inward. Therefore, select the wing first, and then activate
Rotate.
5. Place the center of the protractor on the top face,
along the intersection with the other wing. The next
click sets the rotation reference line. In this example
the reference line is not so important; set it along one
of the axes.
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The next exercise uses alignment locking with Rotate. The rectangle is aligned with the red and green axes,
1. Start with a long box with a line across the top. Use and therefore not aligned with the rotated house.
Move upward on the line to create a ridged roof. 5. Erase the interior face of the window, and Push/Pull
up the frame.
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The Basics
9. The window is properly inserted, and cuts the face. 3. Press Ctrl/Option and click anywhere to place the
reference line. Note that the cursor symbol now has a
plus sign, indicating copy mode.
Rotate - Copy
As with the Move tool, you can use Rotate to make 4. Move the cursor to rotate out a copy of the column.
rotated copies by using the Ctrl/Option key. Place the copy a reasonable angle from the original.
1. Create a box with a semi-circular protrusion at the
top. Create one rectangular column.
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6. If the number of copies is too high or low, type a 3. Activate Rotate. If you place the protractor along the
different value (like 5x). common edge, it will only align to the existing faces.
Defining the Rotation Axis 5. This sets the rotation plane perpendicular to the
In the previous exercise, the rotation protractor was set rectangle. Set the orientation along the rectangle. . .
along to a standard plane (like red-green) or along an
existing face. This exercise shows how to set your own
rotation axis.
1. Start by drawing a hexagon. Use Line to start a
rectangle perpendicular to one of the sides.
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The Basics
6. You can use this method to define any rotation axis. 9. Click anywhere to set the protractor orientation, and
We will rotate the rectangle again, but first it must be click again to turn the rectangle about the rotation
prevented from “sticking” to the hexagon. Select the axis.
rectangle (double-click on it to select its face and
edges), right-click, and select Make Group.
8. Click and hold the mouse button, and click the top
midpoint. This defines the rotation axis.
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2. Activate Rotate, and use the click-and-hold method 3. Undo, and this time place the protractor off-center.
to define the rotation axis between two endpoints of Now the cylinder both twists and skews.
this face. When you rotate the face, you get this
result:
5. Rotate the top face about its center for this effect:
2. Activate Rotate and place the protractor at the center
of the top face. Rotate it around to twist the cylinder.
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The Basics
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10. Drag the corner handle while keeping Ctrl/Option 14. Undo to return to the model before you did any 3D
pressed, to scale the face outward from the center. scaling. The reason the entire model was affected by
This is how to give a form a draft angle. the scaling of any two faces is that the top and bottom
objects are single objects (scaled polygons). When
scaling, single objects keep their basic form.
15. To change this behavior, right-click on both the top
and bottom edges of this form and select Explode
Curves.
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The Basics
18. Scaling can also be used for mirroring, or turning 2. Select the top face of this small box and activate
objects inside out. Start by using Move with Scale. You get a 3D bounding box, reflecting the
Ctrl/Option to make a copy of the entire form. axes in which the original form was created.
19. Activate Scale, select the copied form, and press 3. To change the axes, you could use the Axes tool, but
Enter. Start dragging the handle at the center of the in this case there is an easier way. While Scale is still
front of the bounding box. active, right-click on the sloped face and select Align
Axes.
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6. Use Ctrl/Option and a corner handle to give the box 4. Double-click on the inner face to create another
a draft angle. offset, using the same offset distance.
Offset
This tool takes all the edges of a selected face, or a series
of connected edges in the same plane, and offsets them.
1. Start with a form like this.
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The Basics
8. Activate Offset and create an inner (or outer) 3. Activate Axes (Tools / Axes).
doorway shape. Note that the two ends of this edge
chain remain connected to the bottom edge.
9. Push/Pull the doorway face outward and you have a 5. The next click defines the red direction. Click
tunnel or covered entry. anywhere along the lower edge.
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The red and green axes are now aligned with Face A,
and the blue axis is normal (perpendicular) to it. TIP: Selecting Place from this menu is equivalent to activating
Tools / Axes.
10. Enter Move values for the axes you want to move.
For Architectural units, if you want feet, be sure to
use the foot symbol; otherwise inches are assumed.
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The Basics
Displaying and Smoothing 5. We’ll fill in the space between the two arcs by
drawing lines. Draw a line between the first set of
Edges segment endpoints and create the first two triangular
When you are creating curved objects such as spheres, faces by adding a diagonal line.
cylinders, etc., SketchUp enables you to display and
manipulate these objects either as faceted objects, or as
smooth, single objects.
1. First we will construct the object. Start with a
horizontal rectangle, and along one edge make a
vertical face like this, with nine segments.
NOTE: If any faces appear in the Face Back color, you can
change this by selecting them, right-clicking, and selecting
Reverse Faces.
3. Make the bulge vertical (blue direction).
There are two ways to control edge display: hiding
and softening. First we will look at hiding.
7. Right-click on any interior edge and select Hide. The
edge disappears.
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8. Hiding edges does not change the structure of the 11. Unlike softened edges (as we will see later), hidden
adjacent faces. Activate Select and select either face edges are always hidden, no matter how you orbit the
next to the edge. Each face remains a separate object. model. This means that profile lines may be hidden.
Turn on Hidden Line display.
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The Basics
15. Blank the hidden edges again, and you can see the 18. The edge is invisible. But in contrast to hiding the
edge you made visible. edge, a softened edge joins the adjacent faces into
one face. Verify this by using Select.
NOTE: If you always prefer to work without edges, you can set
uncheck Edges in the Display Settings window (Window / 20. You can also soften a group of selected edges. To
Display Settings). select all the remaining edges of the arc face, orbit so
that you are facing into the arc, activate Select, and
use a right-to-left selection window.
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The Soften Edges window has a slider that you can 24. Deselect the Smooth normals option. The edges are
use to control which edges are softened. (You can still hidden, but the face now looks faceted. It still
also display this window by selecting Window / acts as one face, however, because this option only
Soften Edges.) controls appearance.
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The Basics
27. Blank the softened edges, and erase the window 30. To unsoften specific edges, you need to be able to see
cutout. the edge first. Display hidden edges, then right-click
on an edge that is still softened. Select Unsoften.
29. You can unsoften edges that you cannot see. Activate
Erase, and press both Shift and Ctrl/Option. Hold
and drag the cursor over a few edges, which become
highlighted.
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Annotation Tools 5. For the next object, click the face shown. When you
first click a surface or edge (as opposed to blank
SketchUp provides two ways to add descriptions to your
space), you are creating a leader. By default, the area
model: text and dimensions.
of the face is listed as the text, but this can be
Text changed. Click a second point to determine the
Text can be placed in your model in two ways: attached to location of the start point of the text.
geometry or “floating” in space.
1. Start out a building like this, with one main section
and two slope-roofed wings.
7. For the next text object, click on the sloped roof face
shown.
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The Basics
9. To display the leader for this text, right-click on the 11. The type of text we’ve been using is view-based,
“8:12” text and select Entity Info. Change Leader to meaning that it always tries to maintain its
View-based. orientation relative to where it was originally placed.
If you orbit so that any leader line is hidden, the
entire text object disappears.
Now the text has a leader. 12. Open Model Info and change the Leader to
Pushpin and the End point to Dot. This setting
affects text drawn from now on - it doesn’t change
what’s already there. (There are ways to change
existing text, as you’ll see.)
10. You can also fix a leader to an edge. Click the top
front edge of the rectangular section. The default text
for edges is the measured length. Click to place the
text and overwrite the text with something like
“Optional Roof Deck.” (Like with a face, if you
double-click the text location, you will get a hidden 13. Add the two objects shown below to the other wing.
leader.) Note the different leader end point.
14. While you are in Text mode, you can move any text
NOTE: You’ve seen what happens when you click an edge or object. Click on “West Wing” once, then click again
face. When you apply text to a component or group, the default to relocate it.
text is the component/group name. You can change names of
groups in the Outliner, as you’ll see later.
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15. You can also edit text. Double-click on “8:12 Roof” 17. In addition to moving and editing existing text, you
and change it to “6:12.” Click outside the text area to can also change a text object’s type. Activate Select
implement the change. and select two of the view-based text objects from
the east wing.
TIP: Another way to change text is to right-click on a text object 18. There are two ways to change these objects. One is
and select Edit Text. the Model Info window: choose Pushpin and Open
Arrow. Then click Update Selected Text.
16. To see the difference between view-based and
pushpin text, orbit the model to partially hide the
west wing. View-based text disappears when its
leader line is hidden, but pushpin text remains visible
even when text and/or leaders are partially hidden.
TIP: As you probably figured out, you can change all text objects
by using the Select All Text button in Model Info.
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The Basics
19. To verify that these are now pushpin objects, orbit 22. Do the same for the “West Wing” face; both the text
around and note that they do not disappear when their and leader move.
leaders are hidden.
Dimensions
NOTE: For a single text object, you can also change its leader You can add dimensions to your model to show exact
type or arrow by right-clicking on it and selecting Leader or measurements.
Arrow.
Creating Dimensions
20. You can also create text directly on a face or edge, so This section focuses on ways to create and place
that no leader is attached. Activate Text again, and dimensions. Dimension display and properties will be
double-click on the front center face. Type “South,” covered in the next section.
then press Enter and type “Facade.” This creates two 1. Start with a form like this.
separate text lines. Press Enter twice to finish.
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3. The first dimension will be created between two 5. Create the next dimension from the right wall to the
points. Select the points shown below. Then move arc face, by selecting the two points shown.
the mouse in front of the building and click to place
the dimension text. Leave enough room for more
dimensions closer to the building.
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The Basics
8. Move the other short dimensions as well, keeping it 11. Dimensions are objects that can be moved, copied,
aligned with the first. rotated, and hidden like other objects. Select the two
dimensions shown below, and hide them.
13. If the “R” prefix does not appear with the radius
dimension, you can attach it. Open Model Info to the
Dimension page, and check Show radius/diam
10. Create the vertical dimension the same way, aligning prefix.
it with the previous dimension.
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15. The model is starting to look cluttered, so it’s a good 19. In addition to dimensioning in the red, green, and
idea now to modify the display. Open Model Info to blue directions, you can also create parallel
the Dimension page, and check Hide when dimensions. Move the cursor in a perpendicular
foreshortened. direction away from the selected edge; the parallel
dimension inference line is magenta. Do not click to
create this dimension.
TIP: You can use the slider on the Dimensions page to control 21. Use the same edge to create a horizontal dimension.
the angle at which dimensions will disappear.
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The Basics
23. Next, create a parallel dimension along the 26. To dimension the circle, click the edge, then place the
chamfered corner. If the outline is dashed, adjust the dimension. By default, circles are assigned diameter
viewing angle so that this dimension is visible. dimensions, with a “DIA” prefix.
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Type “Radius <> Typ.” The angle brackets are 30. To dimension the height of the cylinders, select one
placeholders for the dimension value - the number of its hidden edges and move the cursor to the side to
will remain intact, located in between the suffix and create the dimension.
prefix.
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34. You will receive the following message - click Yes. 2. By default, so far the dimensions have been aligned
so that you can always view them facing you, no
matter the orientation of the model. To change this,
open the Dimension page and check Align to
Dimension Line, and set alignment to Centered.
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4. Change back to Horizontal on Screen, and change 6. With the current settings, we cannot tell if there are
the Arrow Heads to Dot. any problems with dimensions, such as overridden
numbers. To change this, open the Dimension page
again and check Highlight non-associated
dimensions. Set a color that is easily visible.
5. We will now look at dimension overrides. Note that only the edited dimension text itself, and
Double-click the dimension shown and type in a not the witness lines, appear in the “problem” color.
different number. This dimension is no longer This indicates that the dimension itself is still valid,
numerically accurate. only the number is wrong. You would also see the
“problem” color if you changed the dimension to
text, or added a prefix or suffix without using the
“<>” format described in the previous section.
7. To remove the tilda symbols, you can always
increase the precision. Open the Units page and
increase the Precision to several decimal places.
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The dimensions are now more accurate. The edited The dimensions are now in foot-inch, rounded to the
dimension does not change, however, it remains how nearest inch. Most or all of these dimensions will
it was edited. have a tilda symbol since the precision is low.
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The Basics
3. Click the second point, and the text is highlighted. At 8. If you click within a curved face to get its area, you
this point you can overwrite the text, but we want to will get the area between hidden edges - not the
keep the coordinate values. entire face. (You may have to zoom in closely to get
the On Face constraint, since there are hidden edges
and endpoints within this face.)
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2 Intersect and Follow Me
Follow Me 4. Then select (click and release) the cutout face as the
face to drive along the path.
This tool basically takes a flat face of any shape, and
drives it along a path. In other CAD applications, this is
called extruding or driving.
Basic Follow Me
This exercise will show you the several ways you can use
Follow Me.
1. Start with a form like this - a box with an arc form
pulled up part-way.
5. Move the cursor to the back endpoint shown. . .
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7. . . and back to the point from which you started. It This may be tough to do - you may end up with
might be a little tough to get this point since the incorrect edges selected. If you have trouble, try
cutout shape starts before this point. If you miss it, approaching endpoints slowly, zooming in, or
try zooming in and approaching more slowly, or try changing the view.
approaching from a different angle. Here is the result - the cutout is made along the entire
path.
NOTE: You don’t always have to select a closed path; just stop
wherever you need.
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Intersect and Follow Me
This drives the section around in one step. 15. Then activate Follow Me and select the section - the
cutout goes all along the face.
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18. With Alt/Cmd still pressed, move the mouse to the 21. Now erase or hide one of the side faces. Because the
side face and click. circle section was partially inside the building, you
can see the quarter-circle section sticking into the
room.
22. Undo and create a section like this, all outside the
building.
20. Use Follow Me to drive it around the top. 24. One way to use Follow Me so that the driven section
does not affect the form on which it sits is to use
groups. Undo the last action and select the section
face. Make it a group by selecting Edit / Make
Group.
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25. When using Follow Me on a group, you need to 28. Right-click outside the group and select Close
pre-select the path. So, select the top face or select its Group. The top looks like it did before . . .
edges.
29. If you pre-select the path, the path does not have to
27. Select the face. touch the section. As an example, we’ll create a moat
around the building (a very useful thing no doubt).
Create a rectangular section with an arc cutout.
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31. Select the moat section. It remains the same distance 33. Extend the lines to meet the arc segments, and heal
from the path, all the way around. However, the the face.
intersections between the straight and curved
portions are not clean.
34. Now use the edges of this face for the moat section.
Much better.
32. To find out why, undo the last action. Use Offset on
the bottom face to create the surrounding edges. Stop
at the moat section’s far endpoint.
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2. Draw a molding section on the outside of the box. The section now has a bounding box, like it would as
a group.
3. Use Follow Me on this section along the top of the 5. If the Component Browser is not open, select
box. This cuts material from the top of the box, but Window / Components. Click the In Model icon.
doesn’t create a molding inside the box.
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Here is the result from the outside - the box remains Round Objects
closed on top. By extruding a face along a circle, you can create rounded,
or lathed, objects.
1. We’ll start with the most basic round shape - a
sphere. Start with a circle. Orbit so that you can
create a new circle perpendicular to the first one.
Start the new circle at the center point of the first one,
and make it larger.
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Intersect and Follow Me
5. Draw a circle perpendicular to the arc shape. The 10. Place a perpendicular circle at the corner point
center point must be aligned with the line, but does shown.
not have to touch it. (It might help to use Measure to
draw a construction line. You can center the circle at
the endpoint of the construction line.) The circle can
be any size, as long as its center point is located
correctly.
11. Use this circle to extrude the shape, and this is the
result, shown in X-Ray mode. The rectangular
cutout is in the center of the object.
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Intersect and Follow Me
4. Use Push/Pull on both the freeform face and the arc 7. Now erase the faces inside these edges, on both sides
face so that they intersect like this: of the arc wall. The result is a solid arc wall with a
solid cutout.
5. To find the intersection edges, select the arc wall (or 8. Embossing is similar. Use Undo to return to the step
at least the front and back faces of it), right-click and before the intersection edges were created.
select Intersect with Model. (You can also find this
on the Edit menu.)
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12. Erase the freeform faces, and you see partial cutouts
- similar to poking the bodies slightly into the wall.
Arch Cutouts Using Groups
This exercise is similar to the previous one, but uses an
arch form to create intersecting cutouts. The result is a
vaulted ceiling.
1. Start with a square in the red-green plane make it a
Project: Intersecting Arches box. Draw an archway on one side and pull it out. To
separate this arch from the box, add a dividing line.
1. Start with one arch form and rotate-copy it
90-degrees about the midpoint. (Rotating is easy
when you display hidden geometry.)
2. Use Scale to make one archway taller, and use
Intersect with Model to get the intersection edges.
3. Delete everything in the openings - selection
windows are very helpful for this. Recreate and erase
edges as needed (sometimes easiest to do in X-Ray
4. or Wireframe mode).
NOTE: If you used the Ctrl/Option key when you pulled out the
arch, you wouldn’t need the dividing line.
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3. Undo the move, and with the arch still selected, make 6. Erase the arch faces, and this is the result. Because
it into a group (Edit / Make Group). Grouping the the cutouts were grouped, no part of them remains
arch has eliminated the “stickiness” to the box. Now inside the box when they are deleted. To solve this,
you can move it into the box. groups must be exploded before creating
intersections.
5. Select everything, right-click and select Intersect 8. Now select everything again and intersect the model.
with Model. Now erase the arch groups, and the Delete the portions of the arches that extend past the
intersecting edges remain on the box. box. This is easy to do in Top view.
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9. Erase the arch faces, and you are left with some Cutting Using Components
interior faces. Erase these interior faces as well to This exercise shows how components can be used in
create an arcade. conjunction with Intersect with Model.
1. Create a form like this, using lines and arcs, Offset,
and Push/Pull. Close the end faces. This will be the
grill form that will have several cutouts made.
Smooth the long, lateral edges on the front face, by
using Ctrl/Option + Erase.
Try it Yourself
Use the method described above to create a six-sided
arcade. Use cutout groups, rotate-copy them, explode
3. Select the box and make it a component.
them, and intersect them. There will be a bit more cleanup
than the previous four-sided case. 4. Position the cutter component within the grill, so that
it stops in the hollow space. It may be easiest to do
this in X-Ray mode. You’ll probably need to move a
few times, in a few axis directions.
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5. Make several copies of the cutter and open one of 8. Trim the cutter on either side of these edges. You
them for editing (double-click a component to edit should have four faces, representing where the cutter
it). meets the front of the hollow grill “shell.”
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11. Now you can delete the cutout faces, and the interior 3. Use Move with Autofold to move the middle back
faces of the front face. edge up If your model does not look like this, you can
erase and recreate the needed edges.
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6. Now edit one of the sphere components, select it, and 9. Now edit one of the spheres and do an intersection.
perform an intersection. Unless your spheres The intersection edge with the “whole” roof face is
overlap, no intersection will be created. The roof face created this time.
has already been cut, so no edges are created where
the sphere meets it.
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14. Then unhide the skylights. Now you can see through
the glass into the model.
3. Trim all the extra faces and edges, and here is the
wall niche.
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Project: Creating a Table Leg 3. Move or Push/Pull the box into the sphere and use
This exercise will show how to create a lathed form - a Intersect with Model to trim the intersection.
table leg. Its dimensions are a bit exaggerated, but it
shows clearly how to use Intersect with Follow Me to
create everyday shapes.
1. Start with a box and draw a construction line from the
center of the box to the bottom of the table leg.
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9. Unhide everything and edit a handle. Try performing 12. Erase everything on the other side of these edges.
an Intersect on the handle.
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15. Unhide, and now hide the body. The intersection 19. Edit one of the handles and intersect it with the
edges are created on the handles as well. However, model to get the edges along the faucet body.
these edges are not part of the handle components
themselves; they are separate entities.
18. Return one last time to the saved file. Now we will
see how to create the faucet body as a solid (not a
shell), with solid cutouts for the handles.
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23. Close the handle. Now select all four handles and
copy them straight up at a known distance (i.e. type
in 3’) Remember the distance, since you will move
them back down later.
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3 Making Multiple Copies
Moving and copying were covered briefly in the Basics 5. The cutout is not made because the face alignment of
chapter, but this chapter will explain them more in-depth. this window has already been broken. Resolve the
thick-lined rectangle by redrawing any of its lines.
Basic Move and Copy
This short exercise shows a few more ways you can move
and copy objects - to specific locations.
1. Draw a rectangle and Push/Pull it into a box. Draw a
rectangle on the front face for the window. Push/Pull
this window in to give it a little depth, and erase the
window face.
4. Move the window back to the front face by dragging Alignment to faces works only when copying, not
one of the outer endpoints (or any point on the front moving. If you had moved a window to the side face,
of the window) to the front face. it would not have aligned to or cut the face. To do
that, you would need to rotate, then move, the
window.
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Making Multiple Copies
8. To make more copies, type 4x and press Enter. This 11. Select the four windows and use Move to copy them
creates four copies at the same spacing, for a total of upward (blue direction). Type 3x to create three
five windows. copies of the row of windows. Type 3x to create three
copies of the row of windows.
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13. We will now create another two-story section. Use 16. With Shift pressed, move back to the vertical face,
Offset inward and Push/Pull this new rectangle and click when the double constraint is indicated.
upward so that it will contain the upper windows.
Erase the outer windows in the top 2 rows.
17. Resolve each window to this face and cut them out.
14. The upper windows are not flush with the vertical
face. Select these four windows, and activate Move.
Here we will use a double constraint. Click any point
on the front of any window. . .
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Making Multiple Copies
19. Select and copy this window anywhere. As long as In case you hadn’t already noticed, there is always
Move is active, you can specify a relative distance by one copy in the highlighted color. When
using angle brackets. Type <3’,0,2’> to make a copy manipulating numbers of copies and spacing, the
at a 3:2 slope. highlighted copy is the first copy in the row.
23. When changing the spacing between copies on a
slant, the distance is the absolute distance (along the
slant) between copies. Try something small like 1.5’.
NOTE: Distances are entered in order of red, green, and blue 24. In this case, the most useful copy method is probably
directions (analogous to x, y, z). If your face was in the to set the distance to the last copy and adjust the
green-blue plane, you would type <0,3’,2’>. number of copies in between. Change the spacing to
something large like 15’. (There are still five copies,
20. Type 3x to create three copies. but each one is spaced at 15’ so they might not all fit
on your screen.)
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26. Now adjust the first-to-last spacing so that all 30. Move the edge shown by dragging its endpoint to
windows fit within the face, and create seven meet the construction line.
windows.
The window line looks good, and now the roof needs
to be adjusted to accommodate it.
27. The slope of the window line is known (1:3), so we
can draw a construction line with this slope. Activate 31. To create the remaining window cutouts, you have to
Protractor and set a 1:3 construction line from the resolve each circle to the face by redrawing one of its
horizontal edge. segments (you may have to zoom in very close to do
this).
32. Use similar steps to make a beam along the roof, and
create a copy of the beam above each circular
28. This method is fine for cases in which the slope is window.
known, but let’s assume the slope is not known.
Erase or undo the construction line.
29. Draw a construction line between the lowest
endpoints of the two outer circles. Place an offset
copy of this construction line at the corner point
shown.
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Making Multiple Copies
Multiple Rotated Copies 4. Use Intersect with Model to get the six intersection
edges.
There are several ways to make rotated copies of objects.
To demonstrate this, we will build a gazebo. Start a new
file.
1. Start with the roof - use the Polygon tool to draw a
hexagon. Place in the red-green plane, not aligned to
either axis. Draw a line connecting two opposite
corners, and a line from the midpoint of this bisecting
line to any corner.
NOTE: Of course, you could also draw these six lines manually.
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7. Because five total copies are needed, type 5x (or 5*). 10. Activate the Rotate tool. Set the protractor as before,
To cut openings, use Push/Pull to push one triangle and create a rotated copy anywhere. You could pick
through, and double-click on the five other faces. two corner points as before to set the rotation angle
as before, but let’s do it another way. Type 360 for a
full-circle rotation, and press Enter.
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4 Working with Roofs
Sometimes the most difficult aspect of building design 4. Use axis and point inferences to draw the front,
can be roofs. This chapter contains a few simple exercises vertical face of the dormer. Then drag a line from the
to show you how simple roof design can be once you’re top point straight back toward the roof. Release the
familiar with the SketchUp interface. mouse when you hit the roof face. This is a double
constraint.
Simple Roof and Dormers
1. Create a basic house form, and draw a line to break
the side face.
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7. Select the entire dormer and make a few copies. (In 11. Activate Move, and move the dormers straight back
addition to Move, you also use Ctrl+C (Cmd+C) to toward the roof (along the axis again), stopping when
copy and Ctrl+V (Cmd+V) to paste.) you get to the face.
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2. Pull the offset face and the top of the building up. 6. Now offset the six edges shown.
Heal the top face by erasing the extra lines. Note that
you can still see a few dots on the top face - these are
the ends of vertical lines that can be seen in
wireframe.
4. Add some approximate ridge lines for a sloped roof 8. Push/Pull the offset face upward to create a parapet
and raise them up using Move with Autofold. wall. If you press Ctrl/Option while pulling, the
parapet walls will be separate from the walls below.
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Project: Resolving Sloping The slope we want to use for all roofs is a standard
8:12 slope. The roof of the main section (between H
Roofs and E) will be established at this slope first, and the
This exercise will show you how to create one roof for the other two roofs will be adjusted to it.
entire house, keeping all roof slopes at the same pitch.
To begin, we will want to raise all ridge lines together
Draw the basic form, using parallel and perpendicular to the level of an 8:12 slope for the main roof (H-E).
constraints to give both wings 90-degree corners. Make To raise line H-E to the proper height for an 8:12
Width A larger than Width B, which is larger than slope, we need to first create an 8:12 construction
Width C. line along a face that is perpendicular to H-E. Since
Face A is perpendicular to H-E, it will be used to
create the construction line. The construction line
will then be moved to an appropriate location for
raising the roof ridge into place.
2. Activate Protractor. Place the protractor center at
Point C, aligning it with Face A. Click to locate the
reference line along C-F.
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Move the construction line in the red direction from 8. Because it’s a good rule of thumb to save your model
Point D, to the point where it intersects Line B-E. after every few steps, make another copy of this file,
This is so the slope of the roof will be aligned which you will continue working in, called
properly with the center section of the house. RoofIntersections.skp.
Now the main section’s roof has an 8:12 pitch. The
other two roofs, however, have different slopes.
We’ll start fixing this by focusing first on the wider,
perpendicular wing.
9. Draw an 8:12 construction line on Face B, from
either Point A or Point C. The current pitch is too flat,
so fill in the missing material.
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11. Now spin the house around so that you can see the 13. Now move the outer chevron point to Point F.
intersection area that needs to be resolved. The lower
point on the chevron apex needs to be moved, but
you can’t move it as long as the chevron is a single
face. Therefore, divide the chevron by drawing a
vertical line at the apex.
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16. Clean up the rear face by deleting the extra line. 19. To complete this corner, draw the line shown.
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22. Push/Pull the chevron face back to the valley line of 25. Drag the chevron point along the ridge line, locking
the center roof (Point I). You can’t go any further it to the construction line. Constrain this point to
than this point. As before, draw a vertical line at the Face D.
chevron apex.
23. Move the top point of the chevron apex to Point H. 26. Erase the extra line on Face D, as well as the
construction line. Now the triangular face at the
exterior corner is the only one whose slope is not
8:12.
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28. . . . and constrain to Face G as well, to match its This deletes all the faces that will change as well.
slope.
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6. Orbit to the other side, where the back of the roof 10. From Point I, draw a line constrained to the center
needs to be fixed. Move the roof apex point so that it ridge line and adjacent diagonal roof face.
is along line B-E, constrained to Face D.
11. On the other side, the center ridge line was too long
and needed to be trimmed. This time it’s too short.
7. Erase any extra lines and replace faces to get the Draw a line between the two points shown to extend
resolved corner. the ridge line.
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13. First, draw a line from where the diagonal ridge line Use Follow Me to drive the triangular section around
first meets the center roof face to the endpoint of the the top face. Here is the result - a good bit of cleanup
line you just drew from Point G. is needed.
14. It looks like a mess, but start erasing the edges you TIP: Another way to do the same thing: activate Follow Me, and
can tell are overhanging. It then becomes clearer select the triangular roof section. Then press Alt/Cmd and select
which of the remaining edges can then be erased. As the top face of the house.
before, if any erased edges cause a face to disappear,
just recreate it with a simple line. 3. Select all faces of the roof and use Intersect with
Model to get the intersection edge.
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Project: Overhangs
Try It Yourself Because the model you just created has uniform roof
slopes, it is a convenient place to start for creating
This was a simple example, but you can use it for any type
overhangs.
of building and any type of roof. Here’s another example,
using a complex roof section: 1. Open the original form RoofHouse.skp. It would be
easy to create an overhang roof on the large,
90-degree wing, since it is already parallel to the red
and green axes. But instead, we will use the narrow,
diagonal wing. Set the axes to match this wing.
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2. Create a rectangular section like this. Make it pretty 5. Flip the copied section over and move it into place.
long - this section will be driven along both sides of
the house, and will need to overlap the other side of
the roof.
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The results - all edges on the top are neatly 2. Copy the six lines down slightly.
resolved. . .
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5. . . . and one on the underside. 8. Activate Move, and click any point along the top
edge of one of the fascias. Move the fascias in the
blue direction, press Shift to lock them, and constrain
them to the slope of the adjacent roof face.
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5 Groups and Components
You may have noticed the “stickiness” of SketchUp - • You can combine groups and components. For
faces stick to one another, and objects become embedded example, you can make a window component, make
in one another. The way to make objects independent from copies of it, then group different arrays of copies
one another is to use groups or components. together. This is a good way to build efficiency into
your model.
Components Versus Groups
Groups and Components are similar, but it's important to Introduction to Groups
understand the differences between the two. Grouping is easy: select the objects you want to group and
Simplicity: Groups are fast and straightforward to make do one of the following:
and use. They don't require you to define a name, insertion • Select Edit / Make Group
point, or adjust special behaviors. (You can use the
Outliner to assign a name to a group, but it is not • Right-click and select Make Group.
necessary.) To ungroup objects, select the group and then:
Instancing: When you place a component in your model, • Select Edit / Group / Explode
it creates a definition within the file. All instances of the
same component refer to this definition, so editing one • Right-click and select Explode.
component edits all simultaneously. Groups are simply a The following short exercises will get you familiar with
collection of geometry that acts as one object; multiple the concept of groups, and why they are useful.
copies of groups do not refer to any other source.
File Size: Using a component multiple times will not
Breaking Connected Faces
increase your file size, because its reference information When two objects have a common face, that face acts as
is only stored once. Multiple groups, on the other hand, one face - the objects are both stuck to it. Grouping one or
are all unique, so each one adds to the file size. both of the objects breaks this link.
Alignment and Hole Cutting: Both groups and 1. Start with two joined forms.
components have options that allow you to align them and
'stick' them to faces. They also have the ability to cut holes
in faces. With components, you can control this behavior,
whereas groups work more automatically. Both groups
and components store their own set of drawing axes, but
components visually display those axes.
Naming / Referencing: Components can be named so
that you can reference them again from the Component
Browser. You can also save a component individually as a
standalone SketchUp file. Groups do not appear in the 2. A free edge can be moved up or down. (It can only
Component Browser, but they are listed in the Outliner. move left or right if you use Autofold.
Materials: When you explode either a group or
components, any elements inside that object that were
assigned the default material take on the material of the
group or component.
To sum up:
• Often-used and referenced parts such as windows,
doors, trees, etc. are usually best inserted and/or
saved as components.
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3. An edge along the shared face, however, can only be 7. Open the Outliner (Window / Outliner). The group
moved within that face. appears in the list, with the title “Group.” You can
right-click on this to Rename it. Groups are
indicated by a single-square symbol (as opposed to
component symbols, which contain four small
squares).
6. Erase the small form, select the large form and group
it (select Edit / Make Group, right-click and select
Make Group). A bounding box appears around all
selected objects.
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Disconnecting from Other 5. Groups are also useful for embedded objects. Create
a rectangular form. Move the column and base so
Objects that it is slightly embedded into the rectangular form.
1. Start with a rectangular column and draw a circle Because of stickiness between faces, move the
along the bottom face for a base. column/base up, over the box, then down.
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The first case is the result of keeping the cutting group and
running Intersect with Model. The second case occurs
when you explode the group first. If you want any part of
a group to remain after trimming, it must be exploded 3. Close the group, and paste the removed nut
first! somewhere else, like to the top of the box.
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Component Files
SketchUp comes with many components defined for you.
These are simply groups of *.skp files, grouped into
categories. You can also create components and save them
into your own folder.
1. In Windows, open the Preferences (Window /
Preferences, Mac: SketchUp / Preferences) to the
Files page. The folder you set for Components is
where component files will be created when you save Component Browser
them. Open the Component browser (Window / Components).
The categories reflect the folders in the default
Components folder.
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There are a few ways to insert a component. In the The inserted component has a bounding box around it,
Browser, you can access a folder like in any browser - similar to a group.
opened by double-clicking.
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Aside from the predefined components, you can insert a component appears in a bounding box, and the other
separate file as a component. Use File / Import / 3D objects in the model appear faded. This fading can be
Model. In the Open window, choose the Files of type to changed, as we will see in later exercises.
search for.
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7. Insert another armored truck from In Model (not 10. Open the Outliner (Window / Outliner). This
Transportation_Sampler). It should be the same size outline shows all components and groups defined in
as the existing ones. the file, including sub-components (also called
nested components). Collapse the list if necessary,
and the three trucks are highlighted as selected. The
other two vehicles are listed here as well
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14. Under In Model you can see that a new component 17. Switch to Components in the drop-down menu to
was added. Truck_Armored#1 is the one you just see all nested components. These include four car
modified. wheels and two side mirrors.
16. Open the Statistics tab. (If needed, use the arrow
icon at the top of the window to expand the window.)
When set to All geometry, you can see a compilation
of the edges, face, and other objects included in the
sedan.
19. In the Outliner, highlight the wheel sub-components
one at a time. You can see each one appear as
selected on the sedan, and the sedan itself is in Edit
mode - the sedan must be edited for the wheels to be
accessible. (You can Shift-select or
Ctrl/Option-select in the Outliner to select more than
one wheel.)
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20. In the Outliner, right-click one of the wheels to edit it 23. Another way to edit a component is to explode it.
- this is the same as double-clicking on the wheel Right-click on the sedan and click Explode.
itself.
25. Now that the sedan was exploded, its wheel and side
mirror components now appear on the list of
components in your model.
21. In Select mode, click once outside the wheel. You are
now back inside the sedan component.
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27. Even though the sedan was exploded and no longer Mac: The Properties option does not work as of this
exists in the model as a component, it still appears in writing, but you can change a component’s name
In Model. To delete it, click on the arrow at the top of using the Entity Info window.
the browser and select Purge Unused.
Where to Find More Components
For a wealth of components, click on the arrow at the top
of the Component Browser and select More.
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links listed under “Product Resources.” Some of these 4. Assign a name like Arch Window, and make sure
components are free, some are by subscription, some are Cut Opening is checked so that future instances of
a la carte. the component will also make cutouts.
You can also try www.sketchup.com/forum (located in
the Support section of the main website) and click
Materials/Components. These are objects created by
SketchUp users who have generously posted them for
public use. You can search for something specific or post
a request to see if someone might have what you’re
looking for.
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6. Edit one of the components to add a ledge to all the 9. Place the Arch Window file in this new folder.
windows.
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12. Back in the Component Browser, “Windows” now 14. This new component does not appear in the
appears in the drop-down list. Select the folder to “Windows” folder, since you didn’t save it into that
open it. folder.
NOTE: The reason for starting at the origin is this: when you
save objects as a component, the default component insertion
point is based on the origin of the sketch axes. The insertion
point can be changed, however, as you will see.
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2. Hollow out this box and add shelves to make a 6. To change the insertion point, right-click the
bookcase. bookcase (or the thumbnail in the Component
Browser) and select Change Axes. Keeping the red
and green directions the same, locate the new origin
at the lower corner of the bookcase.
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9. Click one of the crosses on the top face to set the 12. To demonstrate multiple scales, edit the unscaled
protractor and rotate the bookcase 90 degrees. bookcase and add a cylinder on the top (you can
Scale or Move the top of it outward). A scaled
version of the cylinder appears on the lower
bookcase.
10. Since you are still in Move mode, click the endpoint
shown and drag it to the corner of the rectangular
face.
13. Close the component. To return the scaled bookcase
to its default size, right-click and select Reset Scale.
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15. Add legs to the bottom of the bookcase. Remember, 19. Go back once again to the bookcase file, and use the
if you use Push/Pull with Ctrl/Option, the legs will Axes tool to reset the axes..
be added to the bottom, not pulled out from the
bottom.
18. You are notified that the component was edited, and
click Yes to replace the file. You won’t be replacing it
with a different file, but you still have to reselect the
file. The bookcase legs appear, but the insertion point 2. Offset the octagon, Push/Pull the frame downward.
has reverted back to the component’s origin. and make the face transparent.
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3. Select the entire window and make it a component. 6. Now insert a window into the same face. It now
Draw a form like this, with a sloped top. Size it so aligns properly. However, it does not cut the face.
that two octagonal windows can fit on the each of the (This will be corrected in a few steps.)
side and top faces.
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9. Re-open the window Properties, or right-click either 11. With the exploded window selected, make it a new
window and select Entity Info. Check Cut opening. component. Assign a new name, set it to glue to Any
plane and to Cut openings, then click Set gluing
plane.
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When finished, the components automatically align 3. Add a rectangular table leg and make this a
according to the new gluing plane. component as well. The Outliner now shows two
components. If the leg is selected, the component
name is highlighted in the Outliner.
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7. Add a rail between two legs, make it a component, 10. Open the Entity Info window for the table. Set the
and copy it. Statistics page to Components to see the
sub-components of the table.
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13. Expand the sofa component in the Outliner and The original component name (“Component#15”) is
highlight one of its sub-components. The sofa has to still listed after the new name. This is because you
be open for editing in order for its sub-component to can assign different names to different component
be highlighted, so the sofa has an “open” symbol in instances in the Outliner, but the actual component
the Outliner - four blue square surrounded by a box. name in its definition remains constant.
NOTE: You could also have changed the definition name via the
Component Browser. You would have to Expand the browser to
show sub-components, find the sofa half, and open its
Properties.
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17. Now rename the other instance separately. 20. Create another group by copying the existing room
into the blank space and use Scale to turn the new
group inside-out.
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22. In order for a sub-component to be unique, its 25. Now right-click on this edited group (or right-click
first-level component must be made unique first. So its line in the Outliner) and select Lock.
right-click on the table and make it unique.
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26. Right-click the group, and all editing options, 28. You can also use the Outliner to change group or
including Erase, are grayed out. You cannot touch component hierarchal structure. In the unlocked
this group or anything inside it, unless you Unlock it. group, highlight the table.
29. Drag the table just below the title of the file.
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30. Right-click on this table and select Hide. 32. Use the Outliner to drag this table into the unlocked
furniture group.
TIP: You can also use the Outliner to move one component
below another component, creating a nested component. If
there is more than one instance of the first-level component, the
nested component will go in each instance. This will be shown
later in this book.
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35. Now you can see all the legs, in red font. 2. Select the window objects, and create a component.
Because this component contains more than one
cutting face, it cannot align automatically to a face -
the component would not know which face to align
to or cut. Therefore, None is selected for Glue to,
and Cut Opening is grayed out as well.
Cutting Method 1
1. Create an arched cutout on a thin box. 5. Now you can erase the window face. The cut is not
made on the back face, however.
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6. On the back face, do the same thing - redraw one of 4. Create the component, and drag this component to
the window segments and erase the window face. create another window on the front face. This time,
the window cuts the front face. The back face of the
wall, however, is still missing.
Cutting Method 2
1. Starting with a box and a window like before.
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Creating a Window Component first insert the window. Erase any unneeded lines. (If
you’re ambitious, you can resolve the extra material
Plus a Cutout Component at the top of the post.)
Here’s a convenient way to handle cutouts for
components that have a non-rectangular shape. Basically
you create two components to be used each time you
insert the cutout - one is the component itself and the other
is used as the cutout.
1. Make a vertical wall and create an arch outline plus
offset. Copy these arches to the other side of the wall,
and Push/Pull them out the same distance.
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6. Now we create the cutout component. Right-click on 10. Because this original cutout was not replaced with a
the front face of the wall (the cutout is only needed component, you can still manipulate it. Push/Pull it
on one face) and select Intersect with Model. back to create the opening.
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Nested Cutting Components - 5. Explode this top component and Offset the arch
outward. Assign the same glass material to the center
Specific Wall Thickness face of this arch. Assign a different material to the
This method presents a very neat way to use one outer face, such as Ashlar Stone, found in the
component to cut both faces of a wall simultaneously. You Sketchy Materials category.
create the front and back components that are set to cut,
then combine them into the total window component.
When exploded, the subcomponents are “released” to do
their cutting.
1. Start out in Top view (drawing in the red-green
plane). When components are set to cut, they need to
be aligned according to the red-green plane of the
component, so it’s easiest to create them in this plane. 6. Push/Pull this outer face; all vertical faces created
2. Create the basic shape - an arch once again. Assign a by this have the same material. Add a post in the
transparent glass material to it. center.
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9. Select both components, and create a new 12. Explode the component. This activates the front and
component from them called 12” Arch Window. Set back cutout components, which are now free to cut
it to glue to Any plane, and set the gluing plane like the front and back walls. Because the cutting faces
this: are transparent glass, you can see whatever is behind
the wall. Add a small box behind the wall to verify
this.
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3. The window looks great from the front, but look at it 6. Create a new component consisting of the window
from behind. A face can have different materials on component plus the arch shape, called “Window and
its front and back. Also, the post needs a back face. Opening.” The insertion point should be along the
Fix the post, and assign the glass material to the back of the frame, and it should be glued to Any
window faces. plane.
The gluing plane should be along the back of the arch
frame.
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8. Explode this component so that it breaks down into 2. Within the first flat segment, draw a cutout shape,
the window component and arch cutout shape. Push/Pull it inward (not all the way through), and
Push/Pull the arch face through the wall. You can erase its interior face.
now see through the glass and through the wall,
which you can verify with a small box behind it.
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5. Rotate so that the window extends evenly from both 8. Without leaving Scale, use Axes to align the axes to
sides. There are ways to obtain the exact rotation the window. You return to Scale, and now the drag
angle, but doing it by eye is good enough for this handles make more sense. Pull the front of the
exercise (and for most things in SketchUp). This is window outward.
easiest to do in Top view.
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Project: Using Components 2. To copy these cutouts to the other face, you need to
select them all. The easiest way is to right-click the
for Mirroring cutout in the Component Browser and select Select
While SketchUp does not have a mirroring function, you Instances.
can make use of the Scale tool on components to achieve
the same effect.
Replacing Components
In SketchUp is it easy to replace any or all components
with another component. A good example for this is a 4. Select two of the cutouts and make them unique. Edit
building with many windows. either of them and change them like this:
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5. Close the new component. Then use Select 8. After closing the component, select a few of the
Instances again to select all of the original cutout windows you would like to replace. Use Replace
components. Selected. to switch the windows.
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11. The tree placeholder component should always look 14. As you’ve seen, you can replace just selected
the same no matter how you orbit around. Place components. Select a few trees and use Replace
several of these tree placeholders around the Selected to switch them for another tree.
building.
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6 Painting, Materials, and Textures
Overview of Materials 1. To see the various categories of materials provided,
click the drop-down arrow.
One of the things that makes SketchUp such a great
visualization tool is its texture, or material, feature. You
can use this to apply colors, pictures, and textures to any
face or edge.
To open the Material Browser, click the Paint icon, or
select Window / Material Browser (Mac: Window /
Colors).
TIP: In Windows, you can change this default folder on the Files
page of the Preferences, by modifying the path for Texture
Images.
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NOTE: As you’ll see, you don’t have to use Add to Model for
every material you plan to use. You can just start painting with a
material, and that material gets added automatically.
There are four color selection methods:
4. Now click the In Model tab, and the thumbnail is • Color Wheel: Select a color from the circular
now listed. spectrum.
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8. Click Add to add the new material to the library. The The magnifying glass to the left of the Active Color Well
material with its new color, and new name, are listed activates the Screen Sampler. This enables you to select a
in In Model. color from anything current visible, anywhere on the
screen.
Another way to select a color is to click Color Wheel -
you can click anywhere on the wheel to select the color at
that point.
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The User Palette remains constant between files, so it’s a Once a color, texture, or image has been used in your
good place to store materials and colors you want to model, it appears in the Colors in Model palette,
transfer between models. available in the dropdown menu.
To remove unused materials, go to Colors in Model and
Textures and Materials select Purge Unused from the List dropdown menu.
By default, the browser opens to a category called Base
Materials. Texture categories include preinstalled textures Importing Images
provided for you as *.jpg images, which tile seamlessly You can also import your own custom textures. Select
when repeated. These images are stored in Root Colors in Model or My Textures (if you want to edit the
directory\Library\Application image) from the palette dropdown menu. At the bottom of
Support\SketchUp\Materials. To switch between the pane is a Color button; click this to get a dropdown
categories, such as Exterior Finishes, Roofing, Markers, menu including the option New Texture. (This option is
etc., simply select the category from the dropdown menu. also available when you right-click inside the pane.) New
Texture enables you to load an external image file to be
used as a texture.
You can also import an image to use for picking colors.
Click Image Palette, where the image Spectrum is
already preinstalled. Select New from file to browse to
the image you want to import.
You can also drop an image file directly into the Image
Well of the Image Palette. Like the User Palette, images
imported this way remain available from model to model.
(You can also add a new texture by right-clicking within
this pane of Colors in Model, or the personal palette.)
TIP: If the image is only to be used as a texture, you may want
By default, this new personal palette is called My to import it directly into Colors in Model or My Textures (If you
Textures but you can rename it. Once loaded into My want to edit it). The main reason to import an image into the
Textures, an image or material can be edited, just like Image Palette is to use it for picking colors.
from within Colors in Model.
You can delete a material from your personal palette by
right-clicking on its swatch and selecting Remove. You
can also select Remove from the Colors dropdown menu
in Colors in Model or My Textures. Be careful when
using this, because you cannot undo the action! If the
material still exists in the User Palette, you can still drag
it back into your personal palette.
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Where to Find More Materials 3. Click the In Model tab to see that the material has
If you need materials that aren’t included in the been added.
installation, and don’t feel like creating your own, there
are a few places you can try.
Go go www.sketchup.com and open the Downloads
page. Under the top bar on this page, click Materials (you
will also find components and plug-ins here.)
Mac: select Colors in Model from the dropdown
You can also try www.sketchup.com/forum (located in menu or click the house icon to take you directly to
the Support section of the main website) and click Colors in Model.
Materials/Components. These are objects and materials
created by SketchUp users who have generously posted
them for public use. You can search for something
specific or post a request.
SketchUp’s “Partners” page also has a list of sites where
materials can be found. On the main company page The arrows next to the house icon can be used to
(www.sketchup.com), click “Company” at the top. Then scroll between the last palettes you used.
click “Partners” just below the main bar at the top. Try the 4. Click the thumbnail to activate the material. It
links listed under “Product Resources.” The sites listed appears at the top of the browser, (Mac: In the Active
mostly carry components, but you can find some materials Color Well) instead of Default which was there
as well (try objectivenetworks.net and formfonts.com). before.
Applying Materials
Now that you can navigate your way through the browser
in Windows or Mac, let’s apply some materials to faces.
1. Start a new file and draw two forms like these:
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6. Click the other two roof faces to paint them the same In this case, the vertical walls of the large building
way. Any face you click while CorrugateRust is are all painted, but not the smaller building because it
active will take on that material. is detached.
10. Undo, and make sure Stone-masonry is still active.
Now press Shift and click the same face. This applies
the paint to all faces that share the same material as
the selected face, contiguous or not.
11. You can set edges to take on the color of the material
of the object. Open Display Settings and set Edge
Color to By Material.
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12. Another way to paint multiple faces is to select them 17. Press Ctrl/Option and Shift together. Then apply the
first. Use Select to select the three faces shown. brick to one of the “Concrete-warm: faces on the
larger building. This replaces only similar,
connected faces. The smaller building is not affected
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Mac: Purge Unused is also located in the List 22. Click Edit, or select Edit from the material
dropdown menu. thumbnail’s popup menu. You can also double-click
a thumbnail to edit it.
NOTE: You could also open the Statistics page of Model Info,
click Purge Unused. (This also gets rid of unused components
and layers.)
Now only the materials in use appear. NOTE: In Windows, you can also select Window / Material
Editor.
23. The first thing we’ll change is the size. Change the
20. One of the neatest features of materials in SketchUp length to 3’ (don’t forget the foot symbol if you’re in
is the capability of real-time editing. In Windows, Architectural units). The height updates as well, so
click the dropper icon, which is used to detect the that the aspect ratio is maintained. Also, as soon as
material of a selected face. You can also activate the you update a value, the material updates on the
“dropper” function by simply pressing Alt/Cmd model itself (the stones look smaller).
while in the Paint tool.
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25. Now the chain symbol is broken, which means the 27. Close the Edit Material window. The name of the
the width-to-height ratio can change. Enter 6’ for material has not changed. In Windows, if you
some very tall stones. right-click on the edited material, you have two
options: you can add it to the library or update the
library material to have the new properties.
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29. In Windows, right-click and select Add to Libary 32. The material is displayed. Click the thumbnail.
(Update Library Copy is not available because the
name has now changed).
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Using Shift and Ctrl/Option Keys case, the default, unpainted material). If there were
The previous exercise involved the use of other forms that had unpainted faces, these would be
“mass-painting” keys - Shift and Ctrl/Option. As you’ve painted as well.
seen, Shift paints all faces that have the same material as
the selected face. The Ctrl/Option key will paint the
selected face plus all faces that are connected to it.
1. Start with a form like this.
In this case, both keys produce the same result. All Material Transparency
the unpainted faces are contiguous and are therefore Any color or texture used as a material can have
painted. transparency properties - enabling you to create realistic
3. Undo, and pick a different material. Apply it to the windows, screens, or see-through walls.
horizontal face shown.
1. Start with a sloped-top form like this, with a circular
cutout on the back face.
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2. Add another half-face along the diagonal wall. 5. Open this material for editing. When a material is
transparent, its preview swatch is divided in two
sections - the opaque color (top left) and its
transparent appearance (bottom right). The level of
transparency is controlled by the Opacity slider.
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8. Textures can be transparent as well. Change the 10. Change the color of this material by using one of the
transparent face to one of the Glass Block images. color methods (Color Wheel is shown here). Select
This texture image is very dark, so changes in color something dramatic like dark red. The color changes,
will not be easily seen. Edit the material and make it but transparency is maintained.
something lighter.
9. Apply the blocks to the half-face. The default setting 11. Now add a cylinder in front of the form. Assign a
of this material looks rather opaque, so edit it and texture to this cylinder such as Stone Vein (found in
move the Opacity slider closer to the middle. As you the Stone category).
increase transparency, note how the preview swatch
changes, as well as the face itself.
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13. You can also play with the colors of texture 16. Here’s another neat feature of transparent faces. Turn
materials. Make sure Colorize is not checked shadows on by clicking the icon, or selecting View /
(Windows only), and assign a new color Shadows.
(reddish-purple) as shown. There are no shadows cast from the transparent
cylinder.
18. Turn off shadows (or leave them on), and orbit the
model so that you are looking in through the circular
Mac: You can reset any edited material, even if you back face. Apply any non-transparent material or
have closed the editing pane and applied the edited color to the glass-block face. This face now hides the
material. Simply re-edit the material and select Reset cylinder.
Color.
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19. Orbit back to face the front; this side still shows Transparency display can be memory-consuming,
transparent glass blocks. and when you working with a large model that uses
lots of transparency, your renderings can be slow.
Working without transparency can speed things up.
21. Turn transparency back on. Note that so far we have
been working in Shaded with textures mode.
NOTE: If you need to expand the window to see this option, click
the down arrow at the top of the window.
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Double-Sided Faces 3. Add a vertical wall through the middle of the house.
As you may have noticed, faces in SketchUp have two Pick a transparent material and apply it to one side of
sides. There is a Face Front and a Face Back color (set this wall. Because it is transparent, this material is
on the Colors page of Model Info.) This feature enables automatically applied to both sides of the face.
you to get very creative with materials - applying different
ones to both sides of a face.
1. Start with a roofless house with a few cutouts. Apply
an exterior texture, such as Sketchy Brick, to all four
exterior faces. The interior faces remain unpainted.
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6. If you change a solid material to transparent, and the This double-sidedeness can be very handy for
other side of the face is unpainted, both sides will presentations. For example, at certain viewing angles, the
take on the transparent material. Apply a solid small house would be hidden by the large house.
interior material, like marble tile, to the floor.
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10. Just like with a face, to see the material of one of the Using Groups to Separate
groups, look at its Entity Info. This is the group’s
default material, even though not all faces of the
Materials
group use this material. If you’ve read the chapter on Groups, you already
understand how groups prevent objects from “sticking” to
one another. This is also relevant for materials. This
exercise will create a cabinet, and the use of groups makes
it easier to apply various materials.
1. Start with the basic cabinet shape like this. Apply a
single color (found in the Markers category) to the
four vertical faces of the base, and paint the cabinet
faces with wood.
3. Undo the counter. Select the cabinet and its base, and
13. Close the group to see the results. make it a group. Then create a counter top. Because
this counter is not connected to the cabinet group
below it, it has the default (unpainted) material.
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4. Push/Pull the front of the counter slightly outward. If you press Ctrl/Option while applying a material to one
Activate a stone or marble material, and apply it to of the walls, the windows and doors will not be painted.
the entire counter. (Using Shift will paint them, assuming the components
are originally unpainted.)
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2. To determine the material assigned to any face, click 7. Select any new color (found in the Markers category)
on the paint dropper icon in the Materials Browser and apply it to any face of the truck - the body faces
(Windows only). You can also press Alt/Cmd while are painted. The windows and tires are already
the Paint tool is active, to get the dropper icon (Mac: painted, so they retain their assigned colors. And all
Cmd+Paint is the only way to sample material). edges take on the color you just assigned.
8. Set Edge color back to All Same.
9. Bring in another truck from either the Transportation
category of the browser, or from In Model. The new
truck will have the default color.
11. Open any truck for editing and change its roof to
black. This changes the component definition in In
Model, and each truck now has a black roof.
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12. Start a new file, and bring in a sedan from the same 16. If you want different colored sedans, each will need
component folder. All of its faces are already to be a separate component. Make one unique, edit it,
painted. Sample the body color - it is gray. and make it another color.
13. To change the car’s color, pick a new color from the
Markers category such as red. Click any body face -
the color remains the same. All faces of this
component are already painted, so there are no faces
to take on the new color.
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faces that are still unpainted, that have the 6. Edit the component, and change the table top
component material of Default. The legs already material. The default component material is still
have an assigned material, so they stay wooden. wood.
So far this is what you’ve already seen with the truck 7. Make three more copies, and assign each table a
- replacing unpainted faces. The next component, different material. This time the legs are painted.
though, will use a specific material. This is because the legs were originally wood, which
3. Use Undo to return to the original, default table, and is the default material of the component. And the
make it a component. Make sure the wood material is default material is what gets replaced when you
still in the model even if it is not currently assigned. assign a new material. The table tops already have
another material, so they remain unchanged.
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Fixed Pins
Fixed pins is the more exact mode for texture positioning.
You have four pins of different colors, each with its own
function, each works relative to the anchor (red) pin.
1. Start with a form like this, and locate the Stone
masonry texture in the Stone category.
6. In this mode you will see four pins, either all yellow
or four different colors. We want the four-color
mode: Fixed Pins. If you’re not in this mode,
right-click and make sure Fixed Pins is checked. The
pins surround one instance of the texture - the rest are
tiled instances.
2. If necessary, edit the material size so that only a few
stones fill the small front face.
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The red pin is the anchor pin. Scaling, shearing, 10. In addition to dragging pins, you can also move
rotation, and distortion are all done relative to this them. Hover over the green pin until you see a small
pin. square around it, then click. This lifts the pin out of
8. Click and drag the red pin to the lower left corner of its position. Move the mouse to the point between
the face. (You can access inference points like Blocks 2 and 3, and click to place the pin there. The
endpoints and midpoints while in position mode.) point of the pin (not the pin body) determines the
Now Block 1 will always start at the lower left corner pin’s location.
of this face.
11. Now drag the green pin back to the lower right
corner. Two blocks are now spaced along the face.
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13. To accept this new position, right-click and select The yellow pin is used for out-of-plane distortion.
Done. (You can also click anywhere in blank space to (The result only looks out of plane - the texture
exit position mode.) always remains on the face). This is more useful for
actual photographic images that you’re trying to fit to
a face, but we will use it here anyway.
16. Drag the yellow pin straight up so that the seam line
above Blocks 1, 2, and 3 is parallel to the diagonal
edge.
14. Now move the front face again. No matter where it’s
located, the face contains two blocks along the
bottom and four rows vertically. Also, note that the
rest of the model has the original texture position;
only the front face has changed.
17. Exit position mode, and here is the result: the blocks
look as if they are getting closer; their perspective
has changed.
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19. We will now look at rotation and shearing. Go back 22. Now move the red pin and drag it so that a block
to position mode and drag the red pin to the corner starts at the corner shown.
shown.
23. Drag and rotate the blue pin to shear the blocks. The
result is that the blocks are skewed and still have
20. Drag the green pin upward so that the angle of the vertical sides.
blocks matches the diagonal edge (do not release the
mouse yet). If you stay on the dashed red rotation
line, you will not change the scale of the blocks.
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26. Click the front face to pick up this texture. You can also find this picture at
www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm;
download the file “CustomDoor.jpg.”
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TIP: While in either Free or Fixed Pin mode, you can switch
modes temporarily by pressing Shift.
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8. In Free pin mode, each pin has the same function - to 11. Now click and drag one each pin to the closest corner
pull its corner to stretch and distort the picture. Hover of the model doorway.
over one of the pins until you see a small square
around it, and click to “lift” the pin off the image.
10. Use this method to place the four pins at the four
rectangular corners of the door picture. When one pin
is directly above/below/left/right of another pin, a
dotted line appears - very helpful for accurate
positioning.
13. Erase the line between the rectangle and arc, and the
image extends into the arc. To fit the arc to the
picture, use Move.
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14. Here is the completed door. If you move it, the image 1. For reference, start with a basic house. Select File /
will follow. Import / 2D Graphic and browse to your picture.
Place it vertically, at a scale that makes sense, using
the house size as a guide.
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5. When the outline is closed, the lines will become Mac: The Properties option does not work as of this
thin. When you’ve finished tracing, delete the rest of writing. To make a component always face the
the picture. camera, this option must be set when the component
is first created. To modify an existing component, you
must explode it and redefine the component.
9. Now orbit the model around. No matter what the
angle, the trees are always facing you.
7. Orbit the model around - the trees look like how they
were created - flat cutout faces.
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4. Enter position mode, and make sure you are in Free 6. Drag each pin to its corresponding corner on the
Pins mode. Place Pin 1 at the top left corner of the model. The side of the box should now contain the
side of the bus. Place Pin 2 the same way. When Pin portion of the picture that is the side of the bus,
2 is directly below Pin 1, a faint dotted line will stretched and moved to the right scale and
appear as a guide. orientation.
TIP: It’s very helpful to use the zoom functions when placing
pushpins. Use Zoom Window to lift the pin, then Zoom Extents
to see the whole model. Zoom Window again to the target point,
and click to place the pin.
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9. Push/Pull the lower part all the way back. Now the 13. The pins along the common edge are already located
wheels are included in the bus. correctly. Drag the other two pins into place and exit
position mode.
10. Now for the front of the bus. There are two ways to
apply the picture here. First, click the thumbnail in
the Material Browser and apply it to the front face. 14. The top face is done the same way, sampling either
With texture positioning this would work, but the the side or front face first.
initial placement of the picture is random - not
connected to the picture on the side of the bus.
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Then build outward from the door and adjuust the Like with the clubhouse, start with an easily identified
model to the picture. Sample and apply the picture to rectangle, like the side of the roof. Then sample the
neighboring faces. material and paint the remaining faces.
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Use as texture is an efficient way to bring in a 6. Activate Move mode, in which you can both move
texture - the texture is automatically applied (does and rotate the picture. Move it to a position like this
not have to be exploded). - at an angle in which a corner of the cube sticks out.
2. Apply the map to one face. Start at one corner, and
make the scale a bit larger than the face itself. If
necessary, position the texture so that the top and
right are off the face (and will spill onto adjacent
faces).
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8. Click the thumbnail from the Material Browser (do 11. Sample the box face to wrap the skewed images to
not sample the face) and apply it to a face of the box. other faces.
It is not skewed or tilted; it has the original
projection.
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3. It’s easy to fix this - remove the material (apply the 5. Sample the rotated image, and turn off the hidden
Default material), and reapply the image. lines. Then apply the texture to the cylinder - the
rotated picture wraps around the whole cylinder.
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9. Explode the picture and Push/Pull it into the wavy This is a projection, not a wrapping. Therefore, the
form. wavy face looks fine in Front view. . .
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13. The texture of this face now has the “true” scale. Projecting an Image onto a
Sample this texture, then turn off hidden edges.
Non-Planar Face (Topography)
Similar to the previous exercise, this exercise shows you
how to project a map onto a topographical surface. You
can get a map from the site www.mapquest.com.
14. and apply the texture to the rest of the wavy face. In
this example, many of the segments have a
continuous pattern, but not all do - the pattern looks
jumpy.
15. The solution: turn hidden edges back on, and position
the texture in each face segment, one by one, in order.
Unless you’re working at a very large zoom scale,
you probably won’t get perfectly matched results
with this method, but it’ll look pretty close.
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3. Use Push/Pull to pull up each section. We will now try another method, using the Sandbox
tools. For these tools to be available, open File /
Preferences to the Extensions page and make sure
Sandbox Tools is checked.
6. Erase all but the lower four edges of the topo face.
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12. To modify grid heights, click the Smoove tool. Enter 17. Switch to Top view. For exact placement, it is best to
a radius - you’ll be able to see whether your radius turn off Perspective mode (Camera / Perspective).
makes sense once you start. Use Scale and Move to size the map to the topo
surface. (The topo may extend past the map slightly,
depending on how you created your sandbox grid.)
18. Explode the map so that you can sample its material.
Then apply it to the topo surface. It is projected
directly onto the surface, and not subdivided. Hide
(do not erase) the flat image to get a better look.
14. Select all and smooth the edges.
15. First, we’ll see how not to apply the map to this
surface. The map should still be present in the
Material Browser; click it and apply it to the surface.
The material is applied to each sub-face individually,
resulting in a jumbled mess.
16. Undo, and bring the map in again, either using File /
Import, or by dragging it right from your browser.
Make sure it is flat - not aligned to any faces on the
topo surface. Position the map so that it is above the
topo.
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20. Erase all of the flat surface, minus the footprint face. 1. Start with a form like this, with one curved wall.Use
File / Import / 2D Graphic with Use as texture to
place the tree on one of the flat faces. The flat face is
painted, and the background of the image is
transparent.
Alpha Transparency
SketchUp supports graphics with alpha channels: areas of
a graphic that are defined to be transparent are treated as
transparent in SketchUp. 3. Now apply the image to the curved face. It may not
wrap correctly.
The image used in this example comes from
www.entouragearts.com. You can get all sorts of
non-photo-realistic images here (mostly people and trees)
that can be used as SketchUp components.
To get this picture, click “Downloads,” then click
MatureTree.png. (This is a free download, but you’ll have
to fill in some data.)
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4. If you did the exercise “Curved Faces” on page 204, 8. As it is now, the component will be inserted by its
you’ll know how to fix this. First display hidden lower corner point. It would be better to insert it at
geometry, then position the image in the first curved the base of the trunk, so use Change Axes for this.
segment. Sample it and apply it to the rest of the
curved face.
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7 Sectioning
Section cuts enable you to look inside your model, 5. Move the cursor around the model, and notice how
providing a powerful way to visualize spatial the plane indicator aligns to the various faces. Locate
relationships, and they can make documenting and the section plane on the vertical face shown.
constructing complex forms much more straightforward
and accurate.
Section planes free you from having to constantly hide
and unhide geometry, and they dynamically demonstrate
the relationships of spaces.
Sectioning Overview
This exercise will show you the basics of using the section
tools.
6. Click to make the section. The plane appears, with
1. Open the Components Browser to the Shapes folder arrows indicating the direction that will be cut.
and insert a Buckyball. Wherever a face intersects with the section plane,
thick lines appear.
2. Draw a base for the ball and move the ball down
slightly into the base. This default color of section lines can be changed on
the Section Planes page of the Model Info window.
You can also set the section line thickness and colors
of active and inactive section planes.
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8. Click Section Plane again, and align it with Face A, 10. Display the section cuts again, and click Display
but do not click yet. Press Shift to lock the Section Planes or select View / Section Planes.
orientation, and click the midpoint shown.
NOTE: If you do not see the Section Planes toolbar, select View
/ Toolbars / Sections (Mac: Tools / Section Plane).
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. . . then click. 15. Orbit out of this view, right-click again, and select
Reverse. The arrows change direction, and the
opposite part of the model appears.
This aligns the section plane with the screen - you are 18. Explode the group of lines. They become thin lines,
looking straight into the section. You may have to aligned to the planes that contain them.
zoom out to see the view better.
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19. Erase all faces and edges in front of the cut lines, and 3. Use lines to add the second floor. Note that this
your model is now trimmed by a plane. creates an additional section cut line along the front
of the house.
TIP: You could also have placed the section plane along the
opposite wall, moved it slightly inward, and reversed it
(right-click and select Reverse).
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6. Draw some lines for the stairs (no need for accuracy) In this way you can use sections to build wall and add
and group them. Edit the group and use Push/Pull to windows, furniture, plants, etc. Remember, if the
create the staircase. Because this is a group, the display of section planes clutters your display, you
outside wall of the house is not affected by it. can always toggle their display.
We will now use Pages to create a slide show in
which you can see sections dynamically.
9. Clear the planes, and orbit so that you are nearly
facing the front of the house.
NOTE: There is actually a way to have more than one cut active,
as you’ll see at the end of this chapter.
11. Display the planes again, and copy the active plane to
8. Move this plane very slightly inward so that you get the back of the house, just before hitting the back
past the front door. Now you can easily erase the wall wall.
separating the small wing from the main house.
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12. Activate this new plane, and turn off the plane 17. Copy this diagonal plane to the back corner and
display. Orbit to a similar orientation as you had for activate it.
Page 1, and create a new page (Page 2).
13. Turn the planes back on, but hide the ones that you
18. Orbit to a similar view as Page 3, and save as Page 4.
have created so far. (You can leave them in place, but
the display tends to get cluttered this way.)
14. Create a new plane on the face shown.
15. Select and rotate the plane so that it cuts the face
TIP: If you wanted to use the same exact view as Page 3, you
diagonally. Move it so that is it just inside the front could create the new plane and then click the tab for Page 3.
corner. Then activate the new plane and save the view as Page 4.
At the top left of the screen you can see the tabs for
all the saved views. Clicking a tab moves the current
view dynamically to the selected view.
16. Orbit to the view you want, this time leaving the
plane displayed. Save this as Page 3. You can add these icons to your toolbar via View /
Customize Toolbar.
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1. Select File / Export / Section Slice. • In Model: The actual measurement of the object in
2. Under Export Type, select the type of file (which real scale. For example, for a scale of 1/4" = 1',
version of AutoCAD, *dwg or *.dxf). Assign a file simply enter 1 inch in the output equals 4 feet in
name. If you want to specify conversion parameters, SketchUp.
click Options. • Width / Height: The overall dimensions of the slice
output. They will update depending on the slice
being exported and its scale.
Section Lines:
• None: Outputs section lines at normal width.
• Polylines With Width: Outputs lines as polylines.
• Wide Line Entities: Outputs lines as wide line
entities.
• Width: Outputs section slice lines with a specific
width.
• Automatic: Automatically sets the width of profile
lines by matching the output to the proportions you
see on screen. If disabled, you can specify an exact
width.
Always Prompt for Section Slice Options: The options
dialog will come up each time you output a section slice.
True Section (Orthographic): Outputs the section slice When disabled, SketchUp will use the options you
as a true orthographic drawing. This is useful when exact selected last time. (Mac: Not available)
dimensions are important, such as creating drawing
templates.
Screen Projection (WYSIWYG): Outputs the section
cut as you see it on the screen, including any perspective
distortion.
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Project: Copying Section 4. When you are finished with all the floors, display the
building in X-Ray mode.
Planes for Floor Plans
This exercise will show how you can easily use section
planes to get floor plans for a multi-story building.
1. Start with a building shaped like this, using Scale to
shrink the top face. Divide any of the near-vertical
edges into 4 or 5 equal segments.
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3. Create slice groups on each plane. 6. Now you can easily erase all the tube faces that
protrude from the exterior of the building. Erase the
faces along the building that cover the cutouts. If you
double-click on a common edge, both the edge and
adjacent faces will be selected.
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8 Presentation
This chapter consists of one exercise which will show you 4. Now select all three dimensions and open the Entity
how to walk through and look around a model, save Info window. Set the layer to “Dimensions.”
views, place objects on different layers, create shadows,
and create a slide show.
Layers
Layers are used in SketchUp for display purposes - to
show / hide objects, or to display objects of a certain type
by a certain color. You cannot use layers to isolate 5. In the Layers window, uncheck the Visible box. This
geometry, or prevent geometry from interacting with blanks the display of the dimensions.
adjacent geometry - for this you can use groups or
components.
1. Start with a house with the following dimensions.
Use the Dimension tools to create the actual
dimensions (three total).
NOTE: The color box set for each layer can be used to show
each layer in its own color. Click on the small arrow at the top of
the Layers window and select Color by Layer.
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2. Offset this floor slightly inward so that it cannot be 6. Downstairs, place some more furniture such as a
seen from outside the house. sofa, coffee table, and kitchen set. If the inside walls
are dark, you might want to color them something
lighter.
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NOTE: You can also add, delete, and update pages using the
NOTE: There are both 2D and 3D trees you can use. The 3D
View / Tourguide menu.
ones look great, but are heavy and may slow down your system
when you orbit or apply shadows. So use the 2D ones if things
move too slowly. Now the page called “Iso” appears as a tab at the top
of the screen. Mac. You can click this tab at any time
9. Orbit to a view like this, and add a tree or two along to return to this view.
the side as well.
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3. Now switch to Front view and zoom in on the front • To move up or down (for example, flying up to a
door. higher or lower floor), hold Shift while dragging the
mouse up or down.
• Perspective mode must be on (Camera /
Perspective); Walk does not work in Paraline
mode.
2. You can use Walk in conjunction with Zoom
(Camera / Zoom), which you can use to change your
field of vision. Click Zoom, and the VCB shows the
Field of View value. This can be in degrees (30 by
default), or you can enter a focal length like 35mm.
4. Assign a new page called “Facing front door.” In Zoom, you can also press Shift and move the
mouse up or down to change the number of degrees
you can see.
Walk and Look Around 3. Keep the default field of view, and return to “Facing
These two tools basically represent a camera moving front door” if you changed the view. Activate Walk,
around the model. The camera can simulate a person, but and the cursor becomes a footprint symbol.
it can also be placed at any height, using any zoom angle.
The Walk tool moves the camera, while the Look
Around tool pivots the camera about its base. These tools
are easy enough to explain in words, but you really have
to play with them to get a feel for it.
1. Activate Walk (Camera / Walk).
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5. Click near the bottom center of the door and move 7. Move backward a bit by dragging the mouse down.
forward slowly.
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11. The cursor switches to a pair of eyes. Drag the mouse 13. The Walk tool also enables you to go up and down
from side to side and up and down to simulate stairs. Start dragging the mouse up the steps - be
standing still and turning your head. careful not to go too fast.
NOTE: You can use Walk with Shift to move up to the second
floor. However, this will move you exactly vertically, while Walk
alone will simulate what you actually see while going up the
stairs.
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15. Stop at the top of the stairs, where your dog should be 18. We now can create some pages for the first floor. To
waiting. Create a new page called “Top of stairs.” It return to this floor, click the tab for the “Foot of
may be tough to reach this spot without steps” page.
overshooting, but you can always go back to the
“Foot of steps” page and try again.
19. Go from the steps to a view like this, in which you
can see the furniture.
16. From the top of the stairs, use Walk and Look
Around to reach the point where you’re facing the
loft furniture. Call this page “Front loft corner.” 20. Save this view as a page - it is automatically placed
after “Foot of steps” - the view you started from.
17. Keep going around the top floor and create a view
looking out the side windows (you should see a tree
or two from here). Call this “Top side window.”
NOTE: You can also move pages around after they are created,
as we will see in a few more steps.
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23. Get to a view like this, looking out on the patio, and 1. Start at the view at “Top of steps.”
save it as “Facing Patio.”
Position Camera
The way the pages are set up now, there is no smooth
flow between the first and second floors. Display the
“Top Side Window” page, then “Facing Living
Room.” It’s a rather abrupt change, so it would be
nice to place in between these pages a view from the
steps, looking toward the front door.
The Eye Height updates to 16’-6”. Why? The overall
At the angle of the staircase as it is, it is not so easy to height of the second floor is 11’ from the ground, and
use Walk to get back down the stairs (try it and see). another 5’-6” to the camera itself = 16’-6”.
But we can use Position Camera to get an exact
view.
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4. From this point, drag the mouse to the right to pivot 7. Walk down until you are on the third step from the
the camera about its base. Go around 180 degrees so bottom.
that you are facing toward the front of the house.
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10. You could keep moving the page to the right, or use 14. Draw another construction line from the side of the
the Page window. Use the down arrow to move “On house. The person will be standing where these lines
steps” to the position right before “Facing Living intersect. Draw one last construction line straight up
Room.” 5’-6’ from this intersection point. This is where the
view will be seen from.
15. The view will end at the picnic table out back, so hide
anything that blocks it, such as the back door.
16. Activate Position Camera and place the camera at
the eye point. Do not release the mouse.
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TIP: You can use the Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll
between pages. And you can double-click a page in the Pages
window to switch to that page.
Updating Pages
There are a few ways to update a page. You can update its
actual view, and/or you can update what information is
included in the view. Properties to save lists the various conditions that
can be preserved for the page. If any of the items are
1. Right-click on the “Facing Patio” page and select
unchecked, the page will use the relevant settings
Update. This is the easiest way to change the page’s
of the previous page.
view.
• Camera: Preserves the current camera view and
zoom distance. You need this option selected if you
want to save pages with different views, as we’ve
done so far in this exercise.
• Display: Preserves settings such as wireframe,
hidden, shaded, patterned, etc.
• Shadows: Saves shadow settings.
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• Axes: Preserves the display of the axes. 6. Display “Iso,” and no furniture should be visible
inside the house. Update this page - the view
• Hidden: Preserves the hide/show status of objects.
definition changes because the layers on it have
• Layers: Preserves the show/hide status of layers. As changed.
you’ve seen, this is a good way to create multiple
views that show different items.
• Sections: The active section plane will be restored
when the page is activated. This is a good way to
include dynamic sections in your slide show
4. There is nothing else to update, since the view itself
is fine. Now switch from “Facing Living Room” to
“Facing Patio,” and both are shaded. 7. In Pages, uncheck Layers for several pages that
come after “Iso.”
Tourguide / Slideshow
The slide show is a great way to present an animated view,
in order, of the pages in your model. For a page to appear
in the slideshow, Include in Slideshow must be checked.
NOTE: Any other layers you see here, aside from “Dimensions,”
were included with components that were inserted.
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2. Select View / TourGuide / Settings, which opens The slideshow shows one page at a time, smoothly
Model Info to the Tourguide page. In this window transitioning between pages.
you can set the timing and transition options for the
slide show.
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Shadows 2. You can use the sliders on the Shadows toolbar to set
the time and date, but to get more options, click
SketchUp’s shadow casting tools is a great way to present
Shadow Settings (Window / Shadow Settings).
a realistic view of your model, and to see how the model
will look under various conditions of time and location.
NOTE: To view faces as though the sun is hitting them, without 3. Check Display Shadows, and the shadows appear
actual viewing shadows, check Use sun for shading on the according to the month and time set in the sliders.
Display Settings window.
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9 Sandbox Tools
SketchUp’s sandbox tools enable you to create terrains, as Sandbox from Scratch
well as other organic shapes. The actual surface created as With this tool, you can create a flat TIN surface, divided
called a TIN - triangulated irregular network. A TIN is into a grid. This TIN surface can then be modified using
simply several connected flat triangular faces that, when the other sandbox tools.
smoothed, appear like one continuos smooth surface.
You can create a TIN from scratch as a flat grid, or create 1. Click From Scratch.
it from a set of contours. You can also import a TIN from
a *.dtm file.
TIN contours can be created within SketchUp or
imported. (For details on the ArcGIS plugin, see 2. The VCB indicates the Grid Spacing. Enter 5 (the
www.sketchup.com/markets/gis.php.) Or you could meter unit is assumed since you set the units).
import an image of a site plan or contour map and use
Freehand to trace its contours.
3. Click to start the first side of the grid and move the
Creating a Sandbox (TIN) mouse to create the first side. Do not click yet. The
tick marks are 5m apart.
1. Set the Units to Decimal Meters.
2. In order for the sandbox tools to be available, you 5. The next click defines the other grid direction. Make
must activate them. Open Window / Preferences to it something like this:
the Extensions page and check Sandbox Tools.
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The surface is created as a group, which is indicated 3. You can place the center of the Smoove circle in one
by its Entity Info window. of several places. Click to place the center at a grid
intersection point.
Smoove
The Smoove tool is a combination of smoothing and
moving (but the name still sounds a bit weird). You can
use it to sculpt a TIN - to make hills and valleys, or to
smooth out areas that are too jagged or bumpy. By moving
a circular area of a TIN up or down, you get a smooth
deformation.
1. Click Smoove, or select Tools / Sandbox / Smoove.
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5. For the next smoove, place the center at a grid edge. 7. Reduce the radius to 20m, and this time place the
center on one of the hidden diagonal edges. Hidden
edges appear when the cursor passes over them.
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10. Reduce the radius once again to 10m. Create a few 12. Turn off the hidden geometry, and open the Soften
depressions in the center to simulate a lake bed. Edges window. Move the slider to the right to see the
edges start to disappear. With nothing else checked,
the surface has a faceted look.
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Sandbox Tools
14. Check Smooth Normals to remove the faceting. 2. Make vertical copies of this rectangle. In this
example, the rectangle spacing is 4m.
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7. Turn off hidden edges, and Explode the TIN (it may
take a minute or so). Now the contour lines are thin.
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5. We will create a line that represents the center of a 8. Offset this set of curves 3m to either side, and erase
roadway that will cross this terrain and the lake. If everthing above the TIN except for the boundary
you click above a point on the TIN, the point will not curves.
be aligned to the rectangle, so first press Shift to lock
the point to the rectangle face. With Shift pressed,
click a point directly above a point on one side of the
lake.
Drape
1. Select the roadway boundary curves - there should
be six total.
2. Click Drape (Tools / Sandbox / Drape).
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5. Though it is not necessary for this simple model, use 3. A red offset line appears around the roadway face,
the Text tool to check some elevations. and the offset distance is listed in the VCB. This is
like the area of influence of the Smoove circle - it
shows the area around the stamped object that will be
added or removed from the TIN. Enter 1.5 to set an
offset like this:
4. Then click the TIN. The roadway face can now cut
through the TIN - move the cursor up and down to
see how terrain material can be added or removed.
Place the roadway like this, so that it is above the
lake but below the tops of the hills.
Stamp
This exercises uses the copy of the model you created
earlier.
1. This tool requires one or more 2D or 3D objects, but
you cannot select lines or curves. So add two lines
between the open ends of the roadway.
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5. Use constraints to create abutment planes on both 2. Use Follow Me to drive the oval along the arc.
sides of the lake, where the lake intersects the terrain.
Stamp in 3D
The Stamp tool can be used on one or more objects of any
shape - 2D or 3D. This exercises shows a very simple Adding Detail to a Sandbox
example of this. The Add Detail and Flip Edge tools enable you to make
1. Start with a basic grid using From Scratch. Above detailed changes to a TIN surface.
the grid, make a vertical arc. Place a small vertical 1. Start in Top view and use Freehand to sketch some
circle at one of the arc, and use Scale to squash it into terrain curves.
an oval.
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2. To make a bumpy surface, some of the curves will be 5. Place the cursor inside the large face . . .
moved vertically. Select alternating curves. . .
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7. Soften them to match the rest of the TIN. 11. Click a hidden edge of a facet. . .
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15. If you want a narrower hill, the triangular faces in 2. Explode the TIN, and while it is still selected, run
this area must be subdivided. Select a section of the Intersect with Model. You can then trim the TIN
TIN in this area and use Add Detail. into a circle. Make a Follow Me object and Stamp it
into the TIN.
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10 Using Exact Dimensions
Creating Exact Geometry way you can input dimensions; you can always enter
any type of number in any unit. Click Enable length
SketchUp is not CAD; its intent is for simple design and
snapping, and set the snap length to 2’.
easy modification - in a word, conceptualization. So,
designing using exact dimensions isn’t exactly what
makes SketchUp so unique, it is certainly doable.
When using SketchUp as intended, you probably won’t
use exact values for an entire design. But it is certainly
conceivable that part of your work will require working
with known numbers. Perhaps you’ll be working with a
specific area on a site plan, or you’ll need to incorporate
components of known dimensions.
This chapter focuses on the design of a building (three
buildings, actually) in which all of the drawing tools are
used. And for each tool, you will see how to enter exact
values.
2. Let’s assume the first point of the building is at a
known distance from the origin. One way to find this
point is to draw a construction line to it. Activate
Measure, and click the origin for the first point.
3. Exact coordinates are entered in square brackets. All
three values (red, green, blue) must be entered. Type
[13,6.5,0] - using square brackets - which appears in
the VCB, and press Enter. (You do need to specify 0
for the blue direction.)
1. The first step is always to set the units you will be NOTE: You do not have to use the foot symbol because you set
Feet as the default unit. If you add a foot symbol, the value will
working in. Open the Model Info window to the
still be interpreted correctly. If you wanted inches or different
Units page. units, however, you would have to add the appropriate symbol,
Let’s work in Decimal Feet. This sets the default as we will see later.
method of input, and the way units are listed in the
Value Control Box (VCB). This does not limit the The end of the construction line is the point where
the building footprint will start.
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4. Start a line in the red axis direction and make it 40’ 7. Now type the desired length of 25. The line is
long. You can use snapping (the values in the VCB extended to the correct length, keeping the 3:5 slope.
update every 2 feet), or type 40 and press Enter.
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11. The next form, a rectangle, will be located a set 15. Click to create the rectangle; its width can be set after
distance from the first diagonal line you drew. Draw this.
an offset construction line 11’-3” from the diagonal
line.
13. Now activate Rectangle, and for the first corner click
the point on the construction line in the green
direction from Point A. Set the other corner in the
green direction from Point B.
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The rectangle will later need to be copied and 21. You can now create lines D-E and E-F.
mirrored (scaled) relative to the original axes. Also,
the first form will be changed to become symmetric.
Therefore, we need to switch back to the default
axes.
18. If the axes are hidden, display them. Right-click on
any axis and select Reset.
22. Trim the lines, erase the constructions (You can use
Edit / Construction Geometry / Erase) and redraw
as necessary to complete the symmetric form.
25. Copy the rectangle and use Scale to mirror it. Then
drag it by Point G, to the point along the construction
line in the red direction from Point C.
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Entity Info 3. To get the perimeter of the main building, you could
select all six edges separately. But for an easier way,
With Entity Info, you can obtain lengths and areas of one
double-click the face to select it and all its bounding
or more objects.
edges. Then Shift-select the face to deselect it.
1. Make sure Entity Info is open, and select the edge
shown.
4. Now select only the face (no edges). This gives you
the area of the selected face.
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Exact Moving and Copying 4. Type 1700mm,2400mm. Since these are different
units than the default (decimal feet), you need to
In this section, you will use move / copy distances and
include the “mm” symbols.
rotation angles.
1. Activate Push/Pull and pull one of the forms
upward.The VCB tells you the height of the form.
Enter 24. NOTE: If you changed the units to decimal mm, you would not
have to type mm - it would be the default input unit.
NOTE: You would have gotten the same result if you started out
We will now create cutouts that will used as windows with a vertical rectangle, and entered 2400mm, 1700mm.
and doors of the center building.
3. Start creating a rectangle on the front face. The way 6. Use Arc to create the archway above the door. Click
you draw the initial rectangle is important when the two endpoints of the top edge of the rectangle,
applying dimensions; the first dimension number and move the cursor upward to define the direction of
is applied to the longer side! So start with a the arc. Enter 1500mm for the arc bulge.
rectangle whose horizontal sides are longer than the
vertical sides.
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7. Too large, but it’s not too late to change it. Enter 10. Move the door by the midpoint of its lower edge,
750mm. placing it at the midpoint of the bottom of the face.
Mac: Entity Info will tell you that a group has been
selected, but provides no details.
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14. Move the window so that its lower midpoint sits at 17. Now type 5x. This creates a total of five copies,
the endpoint of the lower left corner of the face. Start evenly spaced at 6’.
to move the window again by its lower midpoint
15. To place it exactly relative to the face corner, we will 18. We can squeeze in one more window on this face, so
use the angle bracket format. Enter <4’,0,14’2>. type 6x.
Don’t forget the foot symbols, because the units are
now set to architectural. Also, the movement is in the
red-blue plane, so don’t forget to include a zero
placeholder for the green direction.
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20. This face is 40’ long, and we want 4’ from each side 23. We will now create the top floor. Select the three
to the window centers. Therefore, the spacing front edges of the roof and offset them inward 14’.
between the first and last window is 32’. Enter this
value.
NOTE: Like with the other tools where exact values are used,
you can continue to update the offset distance.
25. Copy the arched door to the top floor, by dragging its
lower midpoint to the midpoint of Edge A-B.
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26. Let’s make this door a bit wider. Use Scale with 2. Offset the arc inward 9” (for inches you do not need
Ctrl/Option so that the scaling will be relative to the to include the “ symbol). The inner arc has thick
center of the door. The scale factor appears in the lines, indicating that it is not aligned in the plane of
VCB, but you cannot update it while Ctrl/Option is the lower roof.
pressed. So click anywhere to scale the door, and the
factor will be adjusted afterward.
27. Type 1.25 to increase the original width by 25%. 3. To resolve this arc, zoom in closely to the ends of the
arc and fix them.
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6. We want to locate the midpoint of Edge A-B, but you 9. Use Push/Pull to make a 2’ post from this circle.
cannot do this while the arc is a “pure” arc. Make the post a group. In Windows, Entity Info tells
Right-click on the outer arc, and select Explode you how many faces and edges are in this group. The
Curve. This breaks the arc into separate segments edge count includes edges along the cylinder that are
whose midpoints can be found. currently hidden.
8. As always, you can still change this value. A 6” 11. Type (or snap to) 15 degrees.
diameter post is a bit large, so type 2 (for a 4”
diameter post). This is a good size.
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12. To make an array, we use the same format as for 16. Rotate-copy the same post once more. As with linear
linear copies. Type 8x for eight copies (nine posts). copies, you can set the angle between the first and
last copy and set number of spaces in between. Type
165 to place the last copy.
14. You can still change the rotation angle as well. Enter 18. This looks nice, but the posts are wide enough to for
30 to double the spacing, and remove every other someone to fall through. Change the spacing to 25/.
post. Because the number of copies was not changed,
they are all still there, as you can see in X-Ray mode.
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19. This looks much safer, but we can check to make 21. Push/Pull the face up 6” to create the top rail. The
sure. Activate Measure and click two points to outer face of the top rail is segmented because we
measure the clear distance between posts. exploded the original outer arc. (The inner face is
smooth.)
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Symmetry 4. The one shown below (with faces reversed) has the
same overall dimensions as the rail on the roof deck:
1. Continuing on, we will join the main building with 9” width, 1’-6” parapet, 2’-0” posts, 6” top rail.
the two side buildings. Start by copying the doorway
on the top floor onto the side of the box that faces the
main building. Don’t worry about exact placement -
you already know how.
5. The posts are copied from the main building, and are
spaced about 1’ apart. You can create something
simpler, but this looks pretty nice and ties the
structures together. This picture shows the view
when the front face and its windows are hidden.
2. To copy this doorway onto the main building, align
the axes to the outbuilding first.
3. You can now copy the doorway from the cube,
straight along the red axis, until it hits the parallel
face of the main building.
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4. Click again to place the text. At this point you can 7. Another way to get the area of a face is through its
change the text, but leave it as is. Click outside the Entity Info, similar to edges.
text area to create the label. As with all
measurements, the text is created in the current units.
If you change the units, all subsequent labels will
reflect the change. Existing labels will not update,
however.
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10. Right-click any of these faces and select Area / 12. Place the two front out-building faces on the new
Material. The combined area of all four faces is layer.
calculated.
14. Remember, the area of one face was 472, and 944 is
twice that value.
Scaling in 3D
This last, short section demonstrates using exact scale
values when scaling in 3D. You can replace the modified
materials and layers, or leave them as they are.
1. Align the axes once again to the box (right
11. Another way to get a multiple-face area calculation is
out-building) form. Select the two faces shown and
to place all faces on the same layer. Create a new
activate Scale.
layer (Window / Layers, click Add) called
something like “Outbuilding Facade.”
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2. Select the corner midpoint handle shown. 5. You cannot enter values while Shift is pressed, but
you can click anywhere to scale, then enter values to
modify the scaling. Don’t forget to separate the
values by a comma, and to list them in order of red,
green, blue.
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11 In-Depth Projects
Domed Apse The resulting dome has a small notch in the center -
not the dome we want.
Here is a neat way to create a domed apse. Extruding a
face along a curve that is less than a complete circle is
slightly problematic, as you’ll see. This method shows
you how to extrude a face along a 180-degree arc.
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5. Display hidden edges and Push/Pull the arc form to 7. With the inner face still selected, rotate it as shown.
the first inner edge of the base.
Try It Yourself
The dome slice is now aligned with the base. You can create some neat variations on this. For instance,
if you double the rotation angle, you can get this:
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Modify the dome section to get this: This explains why, when you smooth the edges, it
still has a faceted look. As long as interior walls are
joined to the exterior wall, the wall cannot be
smoothed.
2. To change this, the side faces of the rotated object
should be removed.
Or this:
Smoothing Faces of
Rotate-Copied Curved Objects
For exercises such as the previous one, you need to
consider the interior walls of copied objects and how they
affect edge smoothing. NOTE: For the smooth version (without interior faces), if you
smooth each edge individually by right-clicking and selecting
1. Start with the results of the previous exercise. Look Soften, you will still get a faceted (not smooth) look. Use the
at the results in X-Ray mode. Each copied segment Erase tool with Ctrl/Option pressed, or select all edges,
has side walls. right-click and select Soften/Smooth Edges.
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Aligning Any Two Faces 3. With the cube still selected, activate Rotate. Align
the protractor with Face A, anchor it to Point B, and
This may not be a situation you run across very often, but
orient it toward Point C. Rotate it by clicking
it’s still useful to understand how this works. It’s actually
anywhere on Construction Line D.
not as complex as it seems when you sit down and try it.
While this example is simplistic, you might find it Face A is now rotated (though it may be hard to tell.)
applicable for components - inserting a component onto a
4. Face E will now be aligned to the same construction
face that does not conform to the red-green-blue planes.
line. With the cube still selected, and Rotate active,
1. Start with a cylinder and a small cube. Rotate the top align the protractor with Face E, anchored at Point G,
of the cylinder. The cube will be rotated to align to oriented to Point F. Rotate it toward Construction
this face. Line D.
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6. To verify that it is properly aligned, erase all but the 2. Draw three arcs to create a vertical face representing
bottom rectangle of the cube. Its lines are thin, the section of the mouse at the top.
indicating that all four edges are coplanar with the
circular face.
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4. You now have a section face and three profile curves. 7. Move the left side handle so that the bottom corner
Select all profile curves (do not select the face) and meets the left profile curve.
group them.
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9. Push/Pull this scaled face, either by the same Over the next three iterations, perform the same
distance you used before (simple double-click the series of steps:
face), or to the next segment endpoint. Scale the front
face as before, so that the top and lower two corners
meet the profile curves.
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Push/Pull to the end of the profile and scale the face 14. For the mouse wheel, bring in a Sphere component
almost to nothing. The profile curves are no longer and use Scale to adjust the overall size, and to push in
needed. the sides. Use Move to place the wheel where it
belongs.
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3D Geometric Objects 4. Here’s another thing you can create from a cube - a
tetrahedron. Start with another cube. Because the
SketchUp is great for applications you might not have
lines you draw will be inside the cube, switch to
thought of: for instance, creating geometric objects like
X-Ray mode. Activate Line and hover over the
polyhedrons. Here are a few examples, some simple and
midpoint of one edge and then a midpoint of an
some a bit more complex.
adjacent edge. Start the line at the center of this face.
Starting from a Cube
1. Start with a cube with equal sides. On each face,
draw diagonal lines to connect edge midpoints.
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In-Depth Projects
8. Continue orbiting around and adding triangles this 3. A second pentagon will be added along the
way. Eventually you get an icosahedron: a 20-sided horizontal edge of the original one. Select and copy
polyhedron comprised of equilateral triangles. the pentagon, flip the copy over, and move the copy
into place like this.
Starting from a Polygon The copy needs to be folded over the original. You
This last exercise is the most complex, resulting in a could easily look up the angle in geometric tables (it
dodecahedron. There are other ways to create it, but here’s should be 63.454 degrees), but here’s a way to do
what I came up with: without knowing the angle in advance.
1. Start with a single pentagon. Use Polygon for this, 4. To make things easier later, make a Group of this
and specify five sides. Place it in Top view, using any copied pentagon. It will be clear why in a few steps.
orientation. It’s easier if one edge is along a standard
axis, so rotate the pentagon so that one edge is along
the red axis.
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6. Use this line to create a vertical rectangle. When you 9. Select the circle and then activate Follow Me. Then
fold over the copied pentagon, the rotation stops right-click the copied pentagon (which is a group)
when you intersect this face. and select Edit Group. Select the pentagon face (the
only thing in the group), and it is driven around the
circle.
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13. Copy the original pentagon again and use Move and 17. To complete the other half, make a copy and flip it
Rotate to place it like this. over. Use Move to join two endpoints.
14. With the copied face still selected, activate Rotate. 18. Then rotate the copy into place.
Orient the protractor normal to Edge A-B, and rotate
the pentagon toward the fold line.
15. Check the VCB for the rotation angle, which should
be 63.454. (It will probably be slightly off, since the
circle wasn’t really a true circle. That’s why a high
number of sides was used.)
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20. If you connect all the faces correctly, you should get 2. For reference later, create a construction point at the
an icosahedron inside. center of either circle.
3. Draw two lines connecting segment endpoints of
concentric circles. This is the outline for one step.
Erase everything except one step and the center
point, and make this a component called something
like “Tread.”
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7. With the third step still selected, repeat the move by 10. Close the step. Then add two small circles along the
the same distance. Do the same for the fourth step back of the step. Push/Pull these circles up to the
(adding one vertical step) to get the four steps. bottom of the step above. If the top face of either post
is not covered by the step, edit the step component
again and pull the front face out a bit more.
11. Select both posts and make them a group. (If you
assign the posts a different color, do this before
grouping.)
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12. Select the step above the posts to see which one it is 15. To create a railing, start by opening a step component
in the Outliner (selected components and groups are and adding a vertical line from the outer bottom
highlighted in the Outliner). corner. Draw another line connecting the vertical line
to the end of the line above (or below) it.
16. For the railing section, create a small circle and use
Follow Me to drive it along the rail lines. Here is the
staircase so far.
14. This makes the posts a sub-component of the step.
And because all steps are identical, they each get
their own group of posts.
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17. Adding more steps is easy. Since there are now four,
we can add three more (always one less than the
Project: Creating a Steel
current number). Start by selecting three adjacent Frame
steps. Activate Rotate and place the protractor at the This project requires just four steel sections components.
center construction point. For the angle, click any These are used at various lengths and copied to get a
two similar points between three steps. frame like this:
TIP: If you have trouble clicking points inside components, you Create each of the following shapes in their own file
can try adding temporary lines whose endpoints you can use. (red-green plane) and save each to a component folder.
You can then insert components, rotate and move as
18. With the three copied steps still selected, activate needed, and edit them to give them length.
Move and use the same points you used for rotation. Get the overall dimensions correct, but the exact steel
Be sure to keep the blue direction locked while thickness is not important.
moving. The beams are W8x15:
Here is the longer staircase - seven steps. If you want
to continue, you can now add six more for a total of
13.
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In-Depth Projects
Use the Outliner to add the two connectors to each Then copy the whole frame to the other side, and add more
channel component. columns.
Use Copy and Flip (or Scale) to make both ends of the
channel the same.
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Create the notch at the end by rotating and moving into Flatten the top and bottom logs.
place.
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12 Program Settings
This chapter covers certain aspects and settings of the user 3. Now click the Component Browser’s title bar. This
interface you may want to manipulate. closes the window, while keeping the title bar
available when you want to open the window again.
Stacking Windows
This is a great new feature of SketchUp, enabling you to
keep all your UI windows available but not fully open,
thereby maximizing your work space.
TIP: It’s a great idea to set up shortcut keys to open and close 4. Drag the window by its title bar - you can place the
windows you use often. See “Shortcuts for UI Windows, window anywhere.
Toolbars” on page 305.
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TIP: You can define shorcut keys to invoke all options on this
window. This is very handy when you switch often between
wireframe and shaded, endpoints and jitter lines, etc. See
8. When you open a window, the adjacent title bars
“Shortcuts for Render Settings” on page 305.
move down to accomodate.
Clicking the arrow at the top of this window enables
you to show or hide the lower section of the window.
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Program Settings
Wireframe
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X-Ray For a crisp display, checking only Edges shows all edges
as thin lines. This looks nice when your model is crowded
and/or has lots of detail.
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Program Settings
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TIP: You can select both a face and its surrounding edges by
double-clicking on it. This makes it easy to be sure edges are
included when applying materials.
By Axis
Edges have the color of the axes to which they are parallel
(red, green, or blue). Edges that are not parallel to any axis
Edge Color take on the assigned edge color on the Color page of the
For these options to be available, click on the arrow at the
Model Info window.
top right corner of the Display Settings and Show
Details.
All Same
All edges have the edge color assigned on the Color page
of the Model Info window.
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Program Settings
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TIP: If you access this window often, you might want to set up a
shortcut for it - see "Preferences > Shortcuts" on page 304.
Geometry:
• Edges: To see edges displayed in this color, select
All Same for edge display in the Display Settings
window.
• Face Front, Face Back: Faces have different colors
on the front and back.
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Program Settings
The way a face is oriented generally depends on how Model Info > Components
it was created, but you can always switch front and
back by right-clicking and selecting Reverse Faces.
These colors apply to faces that have the default
(none) material. Once a material is assigned, it paints
only the selected side. The reverse side will remain
the default color, unless a material is assigned to that
face as well. (The exception is for transparent
materials, which are applied to both sides of a face.)
• Highlight: The color of a face, edge, or group when
selected. Use a color that will contrast well with the
Face Front and Face Back colors.
• Construction lines: The color of construction
geometry, created by the Measure and Protractor
tools.
Components are groups of objects that can be inserted
• Lock: The color of the bounding box surrounding a multiple times in your file.
locked component or group.
Fade similar components, Fade rest of model: When
Background: The background color of the SketchUp editing a component or group, these options control the
window. display of similar components and all other objects.
• Sky, Ground: Enables you to use sky and ground
backgrounds, and to set their colors. Sky is visible
above the horizon, Ground is visible below the
horizon.
When editing one component, you can use the Fade slider
if you still want to faintly see the rest of the mode and
other components.
Use the Transparency slider to make the gradient
ground effect transparent to various degrees,
allowing you to see geometry below the ground
plane. If you are using software-based OpenGL
rendering, don’t use this option.
• Show ground from below: Makes the ground
visible when looking up from below the ground
(worm’s eye view).
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Check Hide for both to blank them completely, leaving • Horizontal to Screen: Dimension text is always
only the edited component on the screen. horizontal.
Dimension
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Program Settings
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Lines: Enter the width of cut lines. A high width helps On this page you can count the numbers of certain types
you better see the section plane. of objects in your model, such as edges, faces, or groups.
Colors: You can obtain these numbers for the entire model or only
components. If you check Show nested components, all
• Section Cut Line: The default color for section objects within components will be included in the count.
slices. If you assign a material to a section plane, that
Purge unused: Removes any unused components,
material color is used instead.
materials, image objects, layers, and other extraneous
• Active Section Plane: The color for active section information from your file.
planes. Fix Problems: Causes SketchUp to scan your model,
• Inactive Section Plane: The color for inactive report any invalid geometry, and attempt to fix any
section planes. problems. The scan checks that:
• faces are bounded by a loops of at least three edges.
• a face has a pointer to the loops that bound it, and a
loop has a pointer back to the face that it bounds.
• a face adheres to a plane equation. If not all vertices
lie on the same plane, SketchUp tries to recompute
the plane equation and then check to see if the
vertices are on the re-computed plane.
• all edges that are used by a face are in the same
component that the face is in.
• a face does not have zero area
• an edge does not have two ends at the same point.
In some cases, Check Validity can fix things. For
example, recomputing a plane equation for a face will
correct the face. In other cases, there is nothing that can
reasonably be done to fix the problem. For example, a face
that does not have edges bounding it will be deleted.
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Program Settings
Text: Click Choose Fonts to select the font, font size, and These options are relevant for creating animations of
font style for the text. For text color, click the color box. saved pages.
Leader Lines • Enable page Transitions: Smoothly and
• End Point: Choose from four different types of end dynamically transitions between adjacent pages. If
points. not checked, the pages will switch immediately.
• Transition Time: The seconds for each transition.
• Page Delay: The amount of time each page will be
visible (not including transition time).
• Leader: A View-Based leader maintains its 2D Model Info > Units
orientation, and will disappear when any part of the
leader is hidden. A Pushpin leader maintains 3D
orientation, and is always visible as you orbit your
model.
Select All Text: Selects all text objects.
Update Selected Text: If you have text objects selected,
click this to apply new settings to those objects.
The units you set are used in the Value Control Box, and
affect the dimensions and text labels you create.
Length Units: Controls how lengths are measured and
displayed.
• Format: Controls units and type of measurement
that appears in the Value Control Box.
Architectural: 3’-2 15/16”.
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Program Settings
Extensions are groups of commands or functions that are Create backup: A backup file will be created each time
not necessarily part of core SketchUp functionality, so you save your file. The backup is located in the same
they can be turned on or off. For example, not everyone folder as the file, and has the extension *.skb.
needs the Sandbox tools, so you can work without seeing Auto save: Saves your file to a temporary file at a
the menu items and toolbar icons. specified time interval (i.e. every 10 minutes). If your
Ruby Script Examples and Utilities tools can be computer (or SketchUp - nothing’s perfect!) crashes, you
checked to activate sets of Ruby scripts. For details, see may be prompted to open the recovery file instead of the
“Provided Scripts” on page 317. original file. For large files, or if you are working on a
slow computer or a laptop, recovery may be disruptive.
Preferences > Files Use large tool buttons: Great when working with high
(Windows only) screen resolution, this enlarges all the SketchUp icons.
Automatically check model for problems: Options for
scanning for, and fixing, geometric problems. The model
is assessed for problems when it is loaded or saved. It’s a
good idea to check this box so that problems will be
corrected proactively.
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Preferences > OpenGL be careful when changing this setting; there is no way of
knowing in advance whether the mode you choose will
work properly.
Survey: Guides you through a series of questions that
allow @Last technical support to better identify certain
problems.
Details: Displays important information about your video
card, resolution and color depth settings, OpenGL driver,
and the current rendering mode that SketchUp is using.
This information can be very helpful when diagnosing
technical problems.
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Program Settings
In Windows, you can save your shortcuts by exporting all You can also set up shortcuts to toggle the display of
your preferences. You can then import them later. If you toolbars, or groups of icons These are found under the
have a large set of shortcuts defined, it’s a good idea to View header.
export them, in case of future system failure.
Select the command and simply type the letter(s) you want
assigned to it. The shortcut will appear in the field at the
bottom of the pane. Do not press Return; simply click on
another command to implement the shortcut.
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Preferences > Templates Mac users can customize what icons appear on toolbars
by selecting View / Customize Toolbar.
You can set default settings and add your own base
geometry to a file you want to use as a template. To make
a template, open a new SketchUp document, modify it to
suit your needs (units, location, etc.), and save the file to
a convenient directory. In the Template page of the
Preferences, click Browse to find this template file. Now
every time you create a new SketchUp document it will be To remove icons, simply drag them off the bottom of the
created as a copy of your template file. bar and they will disappear. To add icons, drag them into
The templates that appear in the drop-down menu on this the toolbar where you want them placed. (This is a
page are either those that are stored in your template function of the OSX graphic interface called Aqua.)
folders (.../SketchUp5/Templates), or any other file that
has ever been used as a template.
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Program Settings
Exporting
You can export a SketchUp file into another CAD format, For each file format, don’t forget to look at the settings
or you can export it as a 2D graphic. You can also save when you click Options. That is the place to control
section slices and animation files. resolution, file size, etc. Also, be careful when using
Anti-alias. In many cases it does not significantly help
File / Export / 3D Model file quality, and may use up so much memory that the
A SketchUp model can be exported into the following export will fail.
formats:
File / Export / Section Slice
See "Exporting Section Slices" on page 219.
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To create an animation file, select File / Export / Aspect Ratio: A 4:3 ratio is standard for television, most
Animation. Select the file type from the drop-down computer screens, and pre-1950 movies. A 16:9 ratio is
menu. the standard for wide screen displays, including digital
televisions, plasma displays, and so forth. Locking this
aspect ratio maintains a fixed proportion of video at any
frame size.
Frame Rate: A setting between 8 and 10 frames per
second is considered the minimum required for
convincing movement, between 12 and 15 is good for
keeping file size down while providing smooth playback,
and between 24 and 30 is considered “full speed.” A
setting of 3 fps is a great way to quickly create draft
quality test videos.
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Program Settings
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13 Ruby Script
Ruby scripting will thrill the programming techies out Press Enter, and a window with your text appears on the
there. This chapter will not cover how to program in the screen.
Ruby language - that would take another book. Besides,
information on creating code is available elsewhere (see
the next section).
This chapter will explain how use the Ruby console, and
to create some very basic scripts and routines (methods).
It also shows how to implement the scripts that are
provided with SketchUp. At the end of the chapter is some Now for a slightly more useful script - one that draws a
information on obtaining scripts from other locations. line between two specific points. This involves first
defining two sets of numbers - one for each point. Each set
SketchUp Ruby Basics of numbers is listed under a unique a name, also called a
Within SketchUp, select Help / Ruby Help for some variable.
basic information. You can also open the file index.html SketchUp’s Ruby Help page includes this example, but
located in the Ruby\Docs folder, under the SketchUp we’ll do it slightly differently here to show that you can
installation. This section will include some of the use different variable names.
information from the Help system, with some Type these four lines, pressing Enter after each one.
embellishment.
from = [10,0,0]
Entering Code on the Ruby to = [30,20,0]
Console
First, open the Ruby Console within SketchUp by model = Sketchup.active_model
selecting Window / Ruby Console. You can type in lines
of code here, or use the console to run scripts saved within
model.entities.add_line(from,to)
text files. We’ll start with the first option - entering code You can use names (variables) other than “from” and “to,”
directly in the console. as long as you keep them consistent in the 4th line. Not all
To create a SketchUp message window with some text in terms and characters can be used. For instance, “end” is
it, type this line at the bottom of the console (you can use actually a command in Ruby, so you can’t use it as a
whatever text you want between the quotation marks.): variable. Be aware that Ruby is also case-sensitive.
Each line you enter appears in the console with
UI.messagebox("Hello, World")
verification text below it. (Errors will appear here if you
make a mistake.)
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The last line of code is what actually creates the line from Name this script file something like “line_from_to.rb”
“from” to “to.” After you enter the last line of code, the and save it in the Plugins folder. (You could also add these
line is created. six lines to an existing script file in the Plugins folder.)
Now close and restart SketchUp. If there are errors in the
script, the Ruby console will open and show you an error
message to let you know. If the console doesn’t open, your
script is OK.
To run the script, open the Ruby console and type the
The variables can be changed by entering new values. name of the method: line_from_to.
Change “to” and recreate the line by entering these two
lines:
to = [100,20,0]
model.entities.add_line(from,to)
This creates a second line, starting from the original
“from” point to the new “to” point.
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Line 4:
results = inputbox prompts,
values, "Start and End Points"
Change the values as needed. . .
Creates the prompt window that will ask the user to define
the six values.
Line 5:
fromx, fromy, fromz, tox, toy,
toz = results
Assigns variable names to the six input values, in order of
input.
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. . . and click OK to create your custom line. Close and restart once again, and now the tool appears in
the Draw menu:
If this is a tool you will use often, you probably don’t want
to run it each time via the Ruby console. Here is how you
can add the tool to one of the SketchUp menus for easy
access.
In the script file, add these three lines at the end (after the
last “end” line):
Here’s how the entire script file should look, with no
comment lines:
11. if( not
file_loaded?("linefromto.rb") )
12 UI.menu("Draw").add_item("Line
between two points") {
line_from_to }
13 end
Explanations:
Line 11:
Lines can be indented, and line spaces added, with no
if( not effect to the code itself.
file_loaded?("linefromto.rb") )
Checks to see that the file is already loaded so that it is
only added to the menu once.
Line 12:
UI.menu("Draw").add_item("Line
between two points") {
line_from_to }
Adds an item to the Draw menu called Line between two
points, that runs the line_from_to script.
Line 13:
end
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Ruby Script
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Line 10:
baseedges =
entities.add_circle(center, vec,
Click Vector 3D.
radius)
Creates the circle for the cylinder base based on the center
point, normal vector, and radius. The 24 edges created by
this command are grouped under the name “baseedges.”
Line 7:
vec = Geom::Vector3d.new(0, 0, 1)
Creates a vector along to the Z axis - normal to the X-Y The “distance” value is what the user entered as “height.”
plane. The face is the one just created, called “baseface.”
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Ruby Script
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Box
This function is from the “box.rb” script found in the
Examples subfolder. Box is found on the Draw menu.
Run this function - it enables you to create a box with Run Assign Estimate to Material to assign a unit cost to
specified lengths on all three sides. any material in the In Model tab of the Material browser.
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Ruby Script
The bottom face has no material and was not assigned its
own cost, and therefore is not included in the cost
estimate.
If you make changes to any of the faces, simply re-run
Compute Estimate for the new cost.
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Point at Center This file contains several scripts, three of which are placed
This tool comes from the “contextmenu.rb” script found by default in the Tools / Utilities menu.
in the Examples subfolder. It appears on the context
(right-click) menu when clicking on a circle, arc, or
polygon.
It enables you to add a construction point at the center of
an arc or circle. First, it checks whether the right-clicked
object is in fact a single arc. If it is, the item Point at
Center is added to the context menu.
Create Face
First select all edges that surround the face you want to
create. Then run the script, or select Tools / Utilities /
Create Face. As long as the edges form a closed loop and
are all on the same plane, the face will be created. This is
handy, for example, when you want to close the top of a
cylinder without redrawing one of the many circle
segments.
Utilities
For these functions to be available on your UI, open File
/ Preferences to the Extensions page. Check Utilities
Tools.
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Ruby Script
Query Tool You can also hover on a face to get the coordinate of the
Shows coordinates of points and screen positions, as well cursor, as well as the area of the face. For a curved face,
as lengths of selected edges and areas of selected faces. the area is calculated for individual segments, not the
You can access this tool via Tools / Utilities / Query Tool. entire face.
To use the tool, simply hover over a point, such as an
endpoint, midpoint, or center point, to get its coordinates.
Other Scripts
There are additional scripts in the Examples subfolder that
are not available directly from the UI. You can run these
by typing their names in the Ruby console. To load the
script itself, use this format (for the example linetool.rb):
load ‘Examples/linetool.rb’
TIP: If you place the script files in the Plugins folder, they will be
loaded automatically.
linetool.rb
This file contains a class called linetool. To implement it,
you can type “linetool” in the Ruby console. With this
class active, SketchUp works as if the Line tool is active,
but you create construction lines instead of edges.
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selection.rb
This file contains several scripts that enable you to select_by_material: Brings up a window that lists all the
manipulate selection sets. Type any of these script names materials used in the model. Select the material, click OK,
into the Ruby console to run them. and all objects on that layer are selected.
invert_selection: First select some entities, then run this
script. The selection set is inverted - all unselected entities
become selected, and vice-versa.
hide_rest: Hides everything that is not selected. This is
very handy if you want to display only a few selected
objects in a large model.
do_select: This script can be typed with expressions that
enable you to select objects with certain characteristics.
You can select by layer, by type, etc., and combine
sketchup.rb
variables to get even more specific. This file contains some general scripts that are often used
by other scripts.
do_select {|e| e.layer.name ==
"Joe"}
Selects all objects on layer Joe.
do_select {|e| e.layer.name ==
"Joe" || e.layer.name == "Bob"}
Selects all objects either on layer Joe or Bob.
do_select {|e| (e.layer.name =~
/W.*/) == 0}
Select objects on layers that start with the letter W.
do_select {|e|
e.kinf_of?(Sketchup::Edge)}
Selects all edges.
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Index
Numerics Axis inference . . .5 Using Follow Me . . .84
Axis of Rotation . . .50 Compute Estimate . . .319
2D Graphic export . . .307
Axonometric projection . . .296 Connected Faces . . .29
3D Model export . . .307
Breaking . . .127
3DS Export . . .307
B Connecting windows . . .289
Construction lines . . .32, . . .36
A Background color . . .297
Continue line drawing . . .302
Backup files . . .303
Acceleration . . .304 Convert to Polygon . . .20, . . .24, . . .25
Blue axis . . .7
Accelerator keys . . .304 Coordinates . . .251
Boolean functions . . .88
Active Cut . . .217 Coplanar . . .63
Bounding Edges . . .29
Active sections . . .222 Copy . . .41
Box . . .318
Add Detail . . .248 Exact dimensions . . .258
Box selecting . . .26
Add Folder . . .139 Rotating . . .49
Breaking connections . . .127
Align Axes . . .58 Correct Reversed Picking Driver Bug . .
Brightness . . .168
Align to Dimension Line . . .73 .304
Browser
Align View . . .215 Cost estimates . . .318
Components . . .131
Aligning dimensions . . .68 Create Backup . . .303
Materials . . .167
Aligning faces . . .272 Create Face . . .320
Buttons . . .303
All Connected . . .29 Create Group from Slice . . .215, . . .220
By axis . . .9
Angle between normals . . .62 Crosshairs . . .302
Axis edge color . . .294
Angled . . .36 Current window size . . .303
Angles Curved objects . . .273
Measuring . . .36 C Curved walls
Animation . . .234, . . .307, . . .319 CAD file import . . .309 Windows . . .160
Anti-alias . . .308 Camera . . .233 Customizing
Apse . . .269 Capabilities . . .304 Shortcut keys . . .304
Arc . . .21 Cascade . . .303 Templates . . .306
Finding center of . . .22 Center of a circle . . .17 Toolbars . . .306
Tangent to edge . . .21 Center of arc . . .22 Cut Opening . . .138
Arc dimensions . . .69 Chamfer . . .17 Cutting faces . . .153
Architectural units . . .301 Change Axes . . .145 Nested components . . .157
Area measurements . . .265 Changing . . .18 Cutting with Groups . . .130
Area of all faces . . .322 Check model for problems . . .303
Assign Estimate to Faces . . .318 Circle . . .16
Dimensions . . .71
D
Assign Estimate to Material . . .318
Associated dimensions . . .74, . . .299 Finding center of Decimal units . . .302
Auto Detect . . .302 Inferences Default components . . .133
Auto Recovery . . .303 Center . . .17 Defined components . . .133
Auto Save . . .303 Click style . . .302 Delta distance . . .252
AutoCAD file import . . .309 Codec . . .308 Dialog Boxes . . .289
Autofold . . .42 Color by Layer . . .223 Diameter dimensions . . .71
Automatic Width . . .219 Color Wheel . . .168 Diameter prefix . . .72, . . .298
Automatically check model . . .303 Colorize . . .180 Dimensions . . .67
Axes . . .57 Colors . . .296 Changing axes . . .77
Aligning . . .58 Faces . . .296 Exact . . .251
Components . . .298 Component axes . . .298 Settings . . .298
Displaying . . .57 Component Browser . . .131 Troubleshooting . . .299
Moving . . .58 Components . . .138 Display crosshairs . . .302
Resetting . . .58 Aligning faces . . .272 Display Section Cuts . . .214
Using with dimensions . . .77 Cutting faces . . .153 Display units format . . .68, . . .302
with Scale tool . . .55 Materials of . . .186 Distance
Axis colors . . .9 Nested . . .157 Measuring . . .32
Settings . . .297 Dividing faces . . .7
325
the SketchUp Workbook Version 5
326
Index
327
the SketchUp Workbook Version 5
328
For questions, comments, and
information on updates,
contact Bonnie Roskes
202-243-1046
bonnie@f1help.biz
Published by:
Conceptual Product Development, Inc.
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973-364-1120