Topics Covered In This Sketchup Article
How to use Sketchup
Sketchup cheat-sheet for Intermediate users
The following list is a great tool if you’ve read the Sketchup Beginner’s Guide. Print this out and leave beside your computer as you continue to build your first model. Included is a follow up list of intermediate commands that will give you the building blocks to design more intricate models. Good luck!
Continuing from where we left off; you should now be comfortable with drawing lines, rectangles, circles, making objects into groups, moving, rotating and pushing/pulling an object to extrude it into the third dimension.
Let’s draw a rectangle that measures 96″ x 6″. Now make it into a group by selecting all it’s parts (face and four edges); right click and select “Make Group”. Now double click on the grouped object so that it can be edited. Use the push/pull tool (“P”) to pull the rectangle up 10′ (120 inches). Now let’s say you want to create a doorway through this rectangular ‘wall’ you’ve created. While the object is still selected for editing, do the following:
Using “R” (rectangle), and starting at the base of the rectangle, draw a 36–inch wide by 78–inch high shape. You’ll notice when you draw the shape and click inside of the rectangle created, the face of the large 3d rectangular piece has been broken into two parts; the face inside of the new smaller rectangle, and the face leftover outside of the new smaller rectangle.
Now, using the “P” (push/pull) tool, click and release the face of the area inside of the smaller rectangle. Push it towards the opposite side of the 6″ thick wall. You can orbit around your model to see the other side of the wall while the push/pull tool is still active. Just push and hold the scroll wheel on your mouse while dragging it across the mouse pad.
Sketchup will snap to the opposite side of the 6″ thickness when your mouse comes close. When it does, click again, anywhere on that opposite face. The smaller rectangular face will disappear and leftover is a hole in your wall.
Now click anywhere outside of the object being edited. As a general rule, as soon as one object is no longer being edited, click outside of the dotted box surrounding it. This will inactive the group from being able to be edited, preventing any inadvertent changes.
Draw another 3D rectangle (40 feet wide, 40 feet long, 10 feet high), and make it into a group (first draw a 40′,40′ rectangle, make it a group by selecting all its parts and right clicking and selecting “Make Group”, Double click on the group, type “P”, click the face of the rectangle, move your cursor above the face and type 10′ or 120 (inches)).
So now you have a big, solid box. What if you want to turn this solid box into four walls of a house? Double click the rectangle so that it is editable, and type “F” (offset command). Click and release the mouse button on the top face of the rectangle. As you move the mouse around that face, you will see a smaller rectangle, equal in proportion to the large 3d object, moving inside of that top face. Let’s say we want the walls to be 12″ thick. Type 12 or 12″ or 1′ (one foot). Press enter. A smaller rectangle, offset 12″ from the edge of the large box will appear.
Now, in the same way that you created a door, use the push/pull command to push the center of the rectangle down to the bottom face. When the cursor snaps to the bottom edge or face, click and release. The smaller inside face will disappear, and four walls will be left.
Four walls in a square might seem a bit unimaginative, no? What if you want to change the shape of these walls? Double click on the object so that the group is editable. Look ‘inside’ the hollowed rectangle and using the “P” (push/pull) command, click and release one of the inside faces of the rectangle. Push it outward until the cursor snaps to the outer face. Click and release. The fourth ‘wall’ should disappear and one object with three ‘walls’ should remain.
Experiment with editing that object. Use the line tool to draw vertical lines that connect to the top and bottom of the 3-walled shape. Push and pull the resulting divided faces. Draw shapes on the side of the walls using lines, rectangles or circles, and use the push/pull tool to create ‘windows’ through the walls.
Moving on, what if you want to copy a model that you have, and move it elsewhere in the model space? The “copy” command in Sketchup is a modified version of the move command.
First, select the object you’d like to copy by clicking once to highlight it. Do not double click or you will access the model for editing. Type “M”; the move tool will become active. Now push the “Ctrl” key. There is no need to hold the key down. You’ll notice that just by pressing the Ctrl key by itself, a small “+” appears next to the cursor on the screen. Now you are ready to copy. Click and release on any part of the object you want to copy/move. Now move the cursor in the direction that you’d like the object to be displaced.
(If you’d like to move the object along an axes (green, red or blue), move the object in that direction until the computer acknowledges your intent and allows you to snap onto the intended axis)
Type a distance, or simply click and release where you’d like the object to land. After you do this, the move command will still be active. Push the Ctrl key again and you’ll notice the “+” next to the cursor goes away. Anytime you wish to toggle the “copy” command on and off while in the “move” tool, press the Ctrl key.
Now what happens if you want to copy something 10 times over, each equidistant from the last? Sketchup has a shortcut. Do everything mentioned in the above paragraphs to copy an object. After copying the original and placing it in the desired location by clicking and releasing the mouse, type “x10” and press enter. The object will copy itself ten times in the same direction as the first copied object.
In Sketchup, you can also color your models using the paint bucket tool. Type “B” and click on the “Materials” palette that is normally on the right side of the screen. If the menu is not visible, click the “Window” tab on the toolbar of the Sketchup window and click “Materials”. The window will appear (These menus, which include, Style, Materials, Scene, Shadow Settings and Layers (and others) function like shades, and shrink when the top bar of them is single clicked).
Open the Materials palette and explore. There is a dropdown inside of the materials palette than include various colors and textures (Asphalt and Concrete, Brick, Blinds, Colors, Fencing, Markers etc). Select the one you’d like to use, and click on the face of the model that you’d like to paint.
One important tool to use when your models begin to gain complexity is the Layers palette. Located near the Materials palette on the right side of the screen, Layers are a way of organizing your model so that it’s easy to edit while it is being developed. For example, a typical list of layers used for a house model include “Walls”, “Windows”, “Doors”, “Floors”, “Ceilings” etc.
To add a layer to the Layers palette, click the “+” button in the top left corner of the palette. Name your layer something that will make sense regarding what you’re drawing. In order to draw an object on that new layer, make sure the bubble to the left of the layer name in the palette is clicked and has a solid dot in the middle. Now draw your object. To switch between layers, click the bubble to the left of the layer name in the palette.
To turn layers on and off, uncheck or check the box to the right of the layer name in the palette, under the column that reads “Visible”.
This second guide has provided you with the rest of the fundamental tools for model building. Sketchup really is a user friendly program, and as you experiment with your model, you’ll find that most of it is drawn using lines, rectangles, push/pull, move/copy and rotate. Have a blast – and take a look around. The program is able to do most anything, and it’s very intuitive. Try something new that you haven’t read here. Self-teaching is one of the most effective ways to remember how to accomplish something!
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