Google - SketchUp

Lesson 15: 3D Drawing (4)

15/48 Lessons 3D drawing with the “Circle” tool

It is the same as drawing a 3D square, turn the workspace by using the “Rotate” tool until the blue
vertical axis is positioned on the green or the red axis.

Alternatively, use the “ISO”, “Left”, “Right” or “Back” buttons in the “Views” toolbar.
To move the circles, use the “Move / Copy” tool, possibly with the arrow keys on your keyboard, to
move horizontally, vertically, or in depth. Select the circle first, select the “Move / Copy” tool in the
tool bar, hold one of the arrow keys on your keyboard pressed while you move the circle.

With the up arrow to move the circle vertically.

With the left arrow, you can move the circle horizontally.

And with the right arrow you can move it vertically, horizontally and in depth.

To make it more clear to everyone, i think i will need another example.

1. With the “Arc” tool draw an arc in the circle.

2. The “Eraser” removes the outer edge of the circle.
Result, you have a moon (3).

From circle to globe

To draw a sphere of a circle, with a circle as shown below, select one of the two circles with the
Select tool (1).
By now, you know how to do this.
You select the “Follow Me” tool in the tool bar and click the tool on the Circle selected that is not
selected (2).
That’s it (3).
I will tell you more about the “Follow Me” tool, in one of the following lessons.

3D drawing with the “Arc” and “Freestyle” tools

Again the same principle as the previous drawing tools.

First you turn in the workspace by using the “Rotate” tool, until the blue vertical axis is positioned on
the green or the red axis. Or you use the buttons in the “Views” toolbar.
Drawing a 2D figure on a 3D figure
When we have a 3D figure, and wish to draw a circle on it, SketchUp will automatically position
the drawing figure to adjust to the axis-position of the plane of the 3D-object (image 1,2 and 3) like
a magnet.
Sometimes this is what you would want, sometimes not.

If this is not the case, and you want to draw the 2D figure parallel to another axis, move your mouse
pointer over to the plane that is on the correct axis.
Hold the Shift key on your keyboard.
Move the mouse pointer to the position of the plane where you want to draw, and click and drag until
you’ve reached the desired size of the 2D figure.
Once you begin to draw you may, but need not, release the Shift key.
When you figure reaches the size you want, let go the mouse button, and you’re done (4).
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 20: The “Select” tool

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Selection Methods
Before we proceed with the rest of the tools, lets just understand a bit about the “Select” tool.
I have said nothing about it till now, yet we have already used it several times, so it is time I write
something about it. Moreover, it is always useful when you know the right way to use this tool.

With the “Select” tool, we select one or more parts of one or more objects in the drawing area. I think
everyone is smart enogh to know that.
Let me explain the different ways of selecting in the following table:

Click on a surface, this is filled with black dots, and this surface is selected.

If you click on an edge, then the line is colored in blue and this edge is selected.
Clicking twice on a surface, the surface and the edges around it are selected.

Click on a surface three times, then the entire object is selected.

You can also select multiple parts of an object by holding the Shift key on your keyboard, hold it
while the various parts of the object are clicked.

The same when you deselect the selected parts.

Keep the Shift key on your keyboard pressed while you click the selected part.

Another way to select something, is by clicking and dragging in the drawing area.

Click and drag from left to right with the mouse pointer around the object, then only the objects that
are entirely in the bounding box are selected.
Click and drag from right to left, then all objects are completely selected though they are only
partially in the selection.
You see the difference
By dragging from left to right I have 5 edges plus 1 plane selected, and by dragging from right to left
I have 8 edges and 3 planes selected.

As you may have also noticed in the above image, when you click and drag from left to right, the
bounding box is in full lines, and when you click and drag from right to left, it is in dotted lines.

Again you can work with the Shift key or Ctrl key on your keyboard to select or deselect
different adjacent or non-adjacent objects.

To deselect all selected objects, click anywhere on an empty space in the drawing area.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 22: The “Modification” toolbar (1)

22/48 Lessons

The “Move” tool in 3D figure

We use the “Move” tool to move objects and you know this by now. To move a figure to a specific
location such as on the edge of another figure, first select the whole figure, click an endpoint of this
figure, you move the mouse pointer over the edge of the second figure, and click again. This will
place the reference point of the first figure at precisely the same height as the reference point of the
second figure.

Wherever you place it, does not matter, but if you want to place it in a specific position, first click the
item you want to align, and then the point where you want to align.
When we move the mouse pointer on the Edge (On Edge), the Endpoint (Endppoint) or the midpoint
(midpoint), we can change the shape of the 3D object.
To edit the shape, move the mouse pointer over the point in the figure that you want to change shape
(1), click and move the mouse pointer in the direction that you want to change shape and click again
(2) when you have achieved this.
You can use the “Move” tool to move, deform and even twist 3D figures.

Auto-fold
Sometimes, when you want to deform a 3D figure in a certain direction with the “Move” tool,
SketchUp will impose certain constrains on the direction that you want to change the shape.
For example, in the image below, I can only apply the distortion in the vertical axis.

The reason why SketchUp imposes such restraints has to do with the number of fold lines SketchUp
will input in the figure.

SketchUp just want to know that you’re sure that you want to move this surface in this direction.

If you are sure thatt you want to move, hold the Alt key on your keyboard while you drag the area.
This way SketchUpiss sure you want to do this.
From cylinder to cone
To make a cone of a cylinder, we use the “Move” tool.
Place the mouse pointer over the edge of the cylinder.
When it changes into a black border for the first time, you click and drag the mouse pointer.
Should it be that the right endpoint (endpoint) is not found in the edge, move the mouse pointer over
the mantle of the cylinder, when a blue dotted line appears move your cursor vertically up or down
depending on what field you wish to change the size, over the edge. This brings you to the right
endpoint (endpoint) in the edge (1).

When this is changed into a black border (2) click for the first time and move the mouse pointer.
When you’ve reached the correct diameter, click a second time (3)

To make a cone, move the cursor all the way to the center of the plane. (1)
If you wish the upper surface and the lower surface were proportionally larger or smaller, click
anywhere on the blue dotted line in the mantle of the cylinder, move the mouse pointer, and when the
proper size is reached click again (2).
If you want to make your cone back into a cylinder, click the blue dotted line in the mantle of the
cone.
Move the mouse pointer completely to the center of the cone until a straight wide beam remains (3),
then move the mouse back outside.
Click when the correct diameter for the cylinder is reached (4).

The last step can be replaced by typing a diameter in the VCB box.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 23: The “Modification” toolbar (2)

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The “Rotate” tool

We use the “Rotate” tool to move objects around their own axis, or rotate around each other and to
copy objects.
Using the “Rotate” tool for copying, I discuss in the “Copy and Arrays” section.

Let us first look at how to rotate an object to another object.

As an example I have a bench and a garbage can. I have not drawn these, but I’ve extracted from the
component library which we will see later.

The first thing you do is select the object (the bench) (1), around which we want to rotate the other
object (the trash can).

Then select the “Rotate” tool in the “Modification” toolbar (2).

Then move your mouse pointer over the bench and then click for the first time (3), this determines
the pivot point.
As you notice thel â??Rotateâ?? too behaves like a magnet and will depend on where the cursor is
currently located and takes the color of the axis on which it will base the rotation.

Then click again on the trash can (4) to determine the path

After this you can type any angle (Angle) and hit the Enter key.
I do the latter in this case, but I move the mouse pointer to the position where I want to place the
object, in this case the trash can.
When this has been achieved, then click again (5).

In the second example, we are going to rotate an object, in this case, the bench seat, around its own
axis.

First, we select the bench.

Next we select the”Rotate” tool in the tool bar.

Place the cursor on the bench and when it is changes to the right direction, that is the plane, then
click for the first time. The bench should must rotate on its own axis with its legs remaining on the
ground. The latter is true for us always.
Then move the pointer to determine the path and click for a second time.

Move the mouse pointer until you’ve reached the correct position, and then click for the last time.

Result:
For your information:
If you want to rotate an object in the vertical position, move the mouse, or rather the protractor over
the object, so that it is in the vertical position afterwards.
For the rest do the same thing.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 24: The “Modification” toolbar (3)

24/48 Lessons

The “Scale” tool

With the “Scale” tool, we can alter the size of the object.
This is both for 2D objects and 3D objects.

Select the “Scale” tool in the tool bar and click the object whose size you want to change.
For a 2D object, several blocks appear along the edges and corners, we call them “handles”.
When the mouse pointer moves over a handle, it turns red and the opposite handle rises. And this is
important, the opposite point is in fact the base point, I will call this the scale point, from where
SketchUp is going to work when the size of the object changes.
In other words, this point remains in place when you click and drag the selected handle.

If you wish to modify the width and length proportionally, click and drag a handle in one corner. Or,
another way, you hold the Shift key on your keyboard while you drag with any handle.
If you want to shift the scale point to the center point of the object, keep the Ctrl key on your
keyboard pressed.

A 3D object scaling is exactly the same, only we have some more handles here.
Through all these different handles we can enlarge the object, narrow, widen, increase, decrease.
Please hold the Shift key on your keyboard pressed if you want to retain the proportions of the object.
If you want to shift the scale point to the center of the object, you will also have to hold the Ctrl key
on your keyboard pressed.

If you want the cop to turn the other way, then push the handle all the way through the figure.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 25: The “Modification” toolbar (4)

25/48 Lessons

The “Offset” tool

With the “Offset” tool, we draw a figure 2D with the same shape as the figure on which you are
using the tool, where the distance to each edge of the figure is the same.

A few examples makes this clear.

In the first example I want to replicate a cube, or rather replicate the edges of the upper surface. The
distance between the edges must remain the same for each edge.

Click the “Offset” tool in the tool bar.

Click the first time on an edge, no matter what, the copying surface (1).

Drag or move the cursor inside or outside, depending on what you want to do, and then a second
time.

You can also use the VCB box if you want to set a specific distance. In this case, I wish the edge at
30cm from the first edge, so I type 30 and click the Enter key the keyboard (2).
This gives me a new surface in the top face where the distance between the edges is 30 cm.

We can edit this second plane like any other plane in SketchUp. For example, push with the Push /
Pull tool.

You do not have to copy all edges of a figure with the “Offset” tool, you can just select a few edges
with the selection tool, select the “Offset” tool option in the toolbar and copy the selected edges with
an equal spacing from the edges in the same way that you have learned in the previous part of this
lesson.
Example:
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 26: Tips

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Tips for drawing

When you draw a line parallel to the red, green or blue axis, hold the Shift key on your keyboard
pressed. This will lock the direction of the line being drawn.
This way when hover over any reference point, the axis on which you are drawing will remain
selected. This axis is indeed bold.

If you want to draw a line with a slope to a particular axis, in this case the green axis, hold the Shift
key on your keyboard pressed when you move the cursor on this axis, once the axis locks, move the
mouse pointer over the inclined plane, and click.
SketchUp will automatically add the line to this axis, as in the image below, that is the green axis.
Once the length of the line is calculated and marked by SketchUp, it is simple to draw a line from
one endpoint to another in order to obtain a plane.

We can use the same with the “Move” tool also.

If you have a certain reference point or plane, it does not matter.
Select a reference point, such as the midpoint of a line, you move the mouse upwards, keep the Shift
key on your keyboard pressed to lock the direction, move the mouse pointer over the area that you
selected, once the line is aligned, click. This gives a perfectly aligned plane, in this case, we have
returned back to a cube.

One last example.

When drawing a polygon whose perspective must be the same as that of a certain plane, first
select the Polygon tool, move the mouse pointer over the plane, hold the Shift key down, move the
mouse pointer to where you wish to draw the polygon, and draw the polygon with the Shift key still
pressed.
Same for a circle, a square, or any other drawing tool.

Result:
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 27: The “Modification” toolbar (5)

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The “Follow me” tool (1)

The “Follow Me” tool uses a 2D figure and copies it along a path. This path can be lines, and also
planes.
So, what do we to need for using the “Follow Me” tool?
A shape and a path.

A number of examples makes this clear.

We had already seen how to use tools to create a sphere from a circle in Lesson 15 of this course, but
we can do a lot more.
A second example is the use of the “Follow Me” tool along a line.

I have already drawn a circle and a number of lines. The circle is the 2D figure to be copied, the lines
are the path for the 2D-circle to follow.

Now we have a number of ways to use the “Follow me” tool.

One way is the “Follow Me” button option in the toolbar, and with this tool selected, move the
mouse pointer over the 2D figure, in this case the circle, then click and drag it across the length of the
path , then release the mouse button.
If you wish to do only part of these lines , then you let the mouse button go when you’ve reached
endpoint of your choice.
A second way is to select all the lines , which form the path (1), select the “Follow Me” tool from the
tool bar (2), and double-click the 2D figure, in this case the circle (3).
I think this is the quickest way.
However you do, it does not matter. Either way, this gives the following result:
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 28: The “Modification” toolbar (6)

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The “Follow me” tool (2)

In the second example we use a plane around which the figure should be copied.
I made a cube and hollowed it out by means of the “Offset” tool.
If you do not know how to do that, please read Lesson 25.
I’ve also drawn a semicircle with the “Arc” tool and this is the figure to be copied.
Now you have several options for using the “Follow me” tool.
You can drag the shape around the outer edge of the cube. You can use the “Rotate” tool to change
the angle.
A second way is to first select the edges of the cube and then select the “Follow Me” tool and click
on the semicircle.
And a third way, and I think the easiest and fastest, is to select the plane (1).

And
then click on the semicircle with the “Follow Me” tool.
This gives:

In the above example, we have added the shape on the outside of the cube . But we can use this shape
or any shape to cut into a portion of the cube.
I draw a semi-circle on the inside of the plane (1).
I select the base of the cube (A), and with the “Follow Me” tool selected., click on the semicircle (B).
To select the base of the cube, you must select the “Rotate” tool to change the angle to see below the
base line.

Result, a “beautiful” flower planter.

In the Next Lesson, we will do some fancy drawings with “Follow Me” tool, and I’ll explain how
and why we use the ‘Protractor’ tool and “Tape” tool.

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Lesson 30: The “Modification” toolbar (8)

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The “Follow me” tool (4)

And finally, we must still draw the roof. Now that we have all the construction lines or guide lines,
call it what you want, it is a piece of cake.

We need to use the “Line” tool option.

Then place the cursor in the middle of the upper edge of the house and click.
Move the mouse pointer straight up to the diagonal construction line, and click for a second time (1).
Move the mouse pointer to the intersection of the two construction lines, and click again (2).
Move the pointer vertically down to the height of the upper edge, and click again (3).
And finally, move the pointer back to the center of the upper edge of the house, and click for the last
time (4).

This draws a plane that is the basis for our roof.

Select the “Select” tool, and click on the top face of our cube to select it.
Select the “Follow me” tool, and click the base plane of the roof.

As a result we have a modern looking roof.

This is not difficult, is it?.
I hear you thinking:
“You can also do this by dragging the base surface around the edge of the house with the “Follow
me” tool.
That’s right, but why make it so hard when it so easy.

In the next lesson let’s see how we can solve the problem, such as having a hole in our roof.

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Lesson 31: The “Modification” toolbar (9)

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The “Follow Me” tool (5) – First issue

One problem you may encounter is a hole in the roof.
The reason for this is that the base surface of the roof is not from the center of the upper edge when
we have drawn.
You have two ways to solve this problem.
One possibility is undo all the steps of the roof and start again.
A second way is to close the gap in a correct way.

The first thing you do to close this hole is by using the Line tool.
Click on the first endpoint of the hole, and then the second endpoint of the hole.
This fills the hole with a flat surface.

For those who quietly want go to sleep,without getting wet when it rains, this is enough, but I want
my roof as a complete slope, and not a flat piece on top.

The first thing you need to do is click the center of the edge of the upper flat surface.
Move the pointer vertically upwards to the blue axis, with the Shift key on your keyboard pressed. In
this way we lock the drawing axis and we can move the cursor to any point in the drawing area.

Then move your mouse pointer over a slope, left or right does not matter, and click. By this we
determine the height of the line that we need, to get the correct slope of the roof, then
release the Shift key on your keyboard.

Then click on the vertex (that is the Endpoint) of the plane.

What we have drawn is a basic plane with the right slope.
Then select the flat surface to serve as the path.

And then click the base plane with the “Follow me” tool.

Our roof is now already a pointed roof, only the point is in the blue, which means that the surfaces
are reversed.
We have already seen how to solve this in a previous lesson, but for those forgotten, right click on
the flat surhace, and select “Orient Faces” in the drop-down menu.
All the surfaces now have the same color.

The only thing you have to do is to erase the excess lines with “Eraser”.

And our roof is done.

Google - SketchUp
Lesson 33: The “Construction” toolbar

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Text tool
In SketchUp, we also have the ability to add text to our figure.

This can be useful, for example, for a diagram or a presentation.

To add text to your figure, select the Text tool from the Construction toolbar, click anywhere in the
drawing window and start typing (1).
A second way is to click on the edge of any object, click the pointer and move in any direction, and
click again when you’ve reached the right position to type your text (2)
The difference between the first and the second method, is that in the second method it automatically
draws an arrow pointing to the relevant part of the drawing.
To change the format of the text, right click the text, and select “Object Properties” from the drop-
down menu.
In the “Object Properties” dialog, click the “Change Font” button.
This opens a second dialog box where you can change the font, style and size.
When all this is changed, click the OK button to close the second dialog box, and click the X in the
“Object Properties” dialog box to close the first dialog box.
To delete text, select the text and click the Delete button on your keyboard.

To move text, select the “Move” tool in the tool bar, move the mouse pointer over the text, then click
and drag the text to the desired position.

When the text is connected to a pointing arrow, this will automatically adjust to the arrow position of
the text.

3D Text tool
We can also add 3D text into our drawing.

Click the “3D Text” tool in the tool bar.

This opens the “Place 3D Text” dialog box.

Type your text in the upper section (1).

select a “Font” in (2).
Specify a style (3).
Determine the “Align” (4).
Determine the “Height” (5).
Determine whether or not these letters are to be filled (6).
Determine the depth of the characters, if you choose to fill the letters (7).
And click the “Place” (8).

This closes the dialog, and the 3D text now adheres to our pointer.
Wherver we position the mouse pointer, the 3D text will always appear parallel to the plane above
which it is located.
If you prefer to still change the size of the text, select the “Scale” tool.

And you can change the formatting with the “Paint Bucket”, more on that later.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 34: Groups (1)

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Group
What we have till now are all individual objects in our drawing.
However, when we try to move, the entire drawing will be distorted.

For example, I select the garage and move it with the “Move” tool (1).
Not quite what I want (2).
A solution is, select the garage, right click it and choose “Make Group” in the drop-down menu.
Select the “Move” tool in the toolbar, and move the garage.
We now have a hole in our house, but this is easy to close, right?
Well if you do not know how to, select the “Line” tool and click two endpoints of the edge of the
hole.

Once the hole in the wall is closed, we can confidently move the garage to any position in the
drawing area.

Move Group
To correctly align with another object in the drawing area, in this example the house, click for the
first time at a specific point in the group, in this case the lower left corner of the garage.
Move the mouse pointer to a specific point of an object, in this case the lower edge of the house, and
then click for a second time.
The garage is now perfectly aligned against the house.

You can see when we switch to the “X-Ray” view (1).

If the garage is not perfectly aligned, this would be very clear in this view (2).
The X-Ray button is in the “Face Style” toolbar. To access this toolbar, click “View” in the menu
bar, choose “Toolbars” in the drop-down menu, and click “Face Style”.

To return to “normal” mode, click again the “X-Ray” button.

To move the garage backwards or forwards, click the left arrow on your keyboard.
This will lock the possibility of movement on the green axis. In other words, wherever you move the
cursor, the garage will always align with the green axis.

If you want the garage also to be aligned to the front view of your house, move your mouse over this
area and click again.
If you want the garage to move in a vertical position, click the up-arrow on your keyboard. In this
case, this seems pretty ridiculous, but it’s just to show you how to do this.
If you want to move the garage horizontally, click the right pointing arrow on the keyboard. This will
limit the movement to the red axis.

If you want to undo the restriction of movement, click the same arrow again that you had clicked to
set the restriction.

So, if you had chosen to limit the possibility of movement to the red axis, click the right pointing
arrow again on your keyboard.

You can also see when a restriction is set.

An icon that resembles handcuffs is placed right above the icon of the “Move” tool.

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Lesson 35: Groups (2)

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Copy Group
To copy a group, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard while you move the group with the “Move”
tool.
As you can see in the below image of the house, I also created a group first.
I select the “Move” tool.
Hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and drag the group, in this case the house, to anywhere in
the drawing area.
You can repeat this as many times as you want.

First make a copy of the house and then the garage, and create a group from the two groups.

This is not necessary, but it is easier to manipulate them later, for example, rotation, push & pull, etc.

In order to create a group of two or more groups, select all groups and right-click it and choose
“Create Group” in the drop-down window.
In this way, we can quickly make a whole street of same houses. Everyone has the same house, and
this is not so useful, especially when you come home after a drink. Then it is possible that you end up
in someone else’s house.

But even here, Google thought of this, and they have given us the opportunity to edit a group.

Edit Group
When you have made several copies of a group, you have the option to edit the original or a copy.
There are two ways to edit.
One way to edit the group is to right click and choose “Edit group” in the drop-down menu.
If you have a group in a group, you must repeat this action several times.
As soon as a black dotted border around the group is displayed, this means that the group is open,
and the various components of this group can be edited.

As you notice in the picture below I have the roof that I increased with the “Scale” tool, and I created
one window from three windows.

Once all changes are made, click outside the black dotted part of the group.
This will close the group again.

Ungroup
To ungroup a group, right click the group, and select “Explode” (Explode) in the drop-down menu.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 36: Components (1)

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What are components?

When we have made a figure that we want to use more than once in a drawing, we make a
component of this figure.

Now I hear you thinking, I can do this with a group.

True, but the difference between a component and a group is that you can use a component in
different files. Namely, a component is stored in a library.

Another difference is, when you have several copies of a component used in your drawing and you
modify the component, all the components used in your drawing will be modified This is not the case
with a group. If you copy your group several times, and modify one of these, only that copy
is modified.

Create Component
This is what I have drawn till now.
I have just drawn the garden that i have imagined, plus two walk ways up to the house and the garage
to work. And I have drawn a framework that I want to make a component.
By now, you know how you draw these all, how draw and color the garden and the rest we will see in
a later lesson.

Ok, we go further.
The first thing you do when you want to make a component of part of a figure, select it.
Right click the selected, and select “Make Component” in the drop-down menu.
The “Create Component” dialog is divided into two parts.
The “General” section and the “Alignment” section.

In the General section in the upper part, we give a name for the component. Always easy to find it
later.
In the second part we give a description.

The “Alignment” part refers to the securing, or in other words, the “Lock” of the component in the
area over which the component moves.
I select “Any” in the “Glue to” and leave the two checkboxes “Cut Opening”, and “Replace selection
with component” as checked.
I click the “Create” button.

We will discuss more options on the “Alignment”, especially on the “Glue on:”, in Lesson 38.

This brings us back to the drawing area where the window is selected.

The purpose of a component is that we can use it repeatedly, so I copy it.

With the window selected, I click the Ctrl + C and then press Ctrl + V on my keyboard. This will
copy and paste a second window on the cursor (1).
When we move on any surface in our drawing, it shows that the component will behave like a
magnet, and it will “align” to the surface over which it is located (2).
This is actually becuase of the choice (Any) we had made for alignment, in the “Create Component”
dialog.

Click again when you want to release the component from the mouse pointer (3).

In the next lesson we copy the window several times and align it correctly.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 37: Components (2)

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Copying a Component, Group, or Object

Copying a component, a group, or an object, can be a done in number of ways.
The first thing you always have to do is select the object, which seems to be quite logical.
To copy this object we can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C – Ctrl + V. This pastes a copy of the
copied object to the cursor. Click the left mouse button to position the object.

There is a second way, here too first select the object.

Click the “Move” tool option in the toolbar.
The original single click while holding the Ctrl key on your keyboard. Move your mouse pointer and
click for a second time when reached the position for the copy.
After the second click type in a number followed by the letter x, it will be copied x-times, each
distributed over the same distance equal to the first copy.

Component alignment and equal division

The problem that may occur in the above example, is that they are not distributed at the same
distance over a certain plane.
We use a different method.
To begin, we draw a number of guidelines with the “Measure Tape”.
The first line that I draw is the baseline that all windows must align horizontally.
I click, with the “Measure Tape” selected, on the lower edge of the top floor, enter 120 and press the
Enter key on keyboard.
This places the guideline, and later the windows, 120cm from the floor.
Then I align the window on this guideline.
I click and drag the lower end of the component to the guideline.

The second guideline that I draw is on the left of the building.

I click this, with the ‘Measure Tape” selected, on the left edge of the building, type 30 and press the
Enter key on the keyboard.
This places the guide at 30cm from the side.
Then I align the window at the intersection of the two guides.
I click above the lower left endpoint of the window so that it sticks to the mouse pointer.
I move the mouse pointer over the intersection of the guidelines.
And when the “Intersection” appears I click again.
This window will perfectly align the two guidelines.

Then I draw another guide on the right side of the building.

Of course, also 30cm from the edge.
Since all the guidelines are already there, I select the “Move” tool.
And click the extream right “end point” of the component.

Hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard pressed and move the mouse pointer over the intersection of the
guidelines to the other side of the building.
When I’ve reached the intersection, I click for a second time.
This places a copy of the window on the right side of the building, against the guidelines.
I type in the number of windows that I desire, followed by the “slash mark” (/).
In this case 4 /, and click the Enter key on my keyboard.
This places four copies of the window, including the first in the wall.

All windows are now evenly distributed.

Google - SketchUp
Lesson 38: Components (3)

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Locking Component
When we were in the components lesson 36, we had the “Glue on” option, where we have the options –
None, Any, Horizontal, Vertical and Sloped .
The first two options “None” and “All” are actually the most important.

When we choose “Any”, it means that we can move the component in the direction of the blue axis and
the red axis, that is vertically and horizontally. However, when we choose “No”, we can also move the
component in the direction of the green axis, that is the depth.
This means when we have selected “Any” and do a push, pull or move of the plane in which we put in the
component, this component moves along in the direction that you move the plane.
If you have selected the option “None”, then the components, in this case, the windows, remain in place,
and they would be located inside or outside of the housing when we pull or push the surface.

You have the option to release a glued component at any time.

Right click above the component and select “unlock” in the drop-down menu.

Regarding the options Horizontal, Vertical and Sloped, these relate only to the axis on which this
component will be glued.

For example, if you choose “Vertical”, then you can only move the component in the direction of vertical
axis. If you choose “Horizontal”, then you can just move the component in the horizontal axis.

This also means that when you bring a component into the drawing from the library, this component will
be glued to the shaftaxis on which the plane is based.
For example, a component for which the “Horizontal” is set, can not be placed on a vertical plane.
You have the option to change “Glue on” at any time.
To do this, open the component library by clicking on the “Window”button in the menubar and selecting
“Components” in the drop-down menu.
Click the icon with the house, this gives all the components that have been used in the file.
Select the component and click the “Edit” tab.
In the “Edit” tab click the downward pointing arrow next to the “Glue to” box, and you choose a different
setting from the drop-down menu.

More about the library components in the next section of this lesson. Just remember when you click the
house icon you will see the components you used in the drawing.

Components Library
To open the library of components, click “Window” button in the menu bar and select “Components” in
the drop-down menu.

This opens the library with all the components we have created or are supplied as standard components
when we had downloaded SketchUp.
Let me first describe what we get to see when we open the library.

At the top we have two compartments, the upper box displays the name of the component, the lower the
description.

We also have three buttons, we will get back to that later.

Below that we have three tabs, “Select”, “Edit” and “Statistics”.

In the “Select” tab, we have several folders into which different standard components of SketchUp are
divided.

To add a component to our drawing, we must first open the folder containing the component.
To open a folder you must double click on this(1) ,or select it in the drop-down list (2)

Once the folder is opened and the component is found, click the component, move the mouse over the
drawing area, and click again to position the component.

Wherever you place it does not matter, we can later move it to any place we want.
We have a left and a right pointing arrow.
This allows us to navigate between previously opened folders with components.

We have the icon of the house, this gives us the components used in the drawing.

Under the “Edit” tab, we can change the options we had entered when creating a component.

Under the “Statistics” tab, we find information about the component, such as the number of lines in this
component, or the number of faces. Only information about the component.

Use Component created in other files

When we make a component, it is placed in the “In Model” folder.

This does not mean you can also use this component in another file.
To do this you must first place it in one of the standard folders.
I have made a window that I want to use in another file.
I insert this in an existing folder, the “Architecture” folder, seems well suited for this.

At the top we have three buttons.

By clicking the top button a second library window is opened(1).

In the second library window, open the folder where you want to place the component.
Then click and drag the component from the “In Model” folder to the folder of your choice in the second
library window.
In this case, the “Architecture” folder.

Now you can use this component in any file new or old.

If you do not find the component in any folder, you can make this yourself, or download from the online
Trimble 3D warehouse Google SketchUp.
To search the online component in the 3D warehouse, click the third button at the top of the library (3).

Now that I am here, I will download a garage door from here, otherwsie I cannot drive in my car.
You get more number of results when you type the keyword in English and click on the ‘Search’ button
and Google will give you all results.
Click on “Download to Google Sketchup” and the component is immwdiately opened in SketchUp. All
you have to do is place it in the right position.
More on this in the next lesson.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 39: Components (4)

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Editing Components
What is new in my drawing?
I have the roof for the garage and made a component of it, and I have placed a number of
components of the window on different walls, plus some on the roof.

To edit the “window” component, we have two options:

1. Right-click on a component, no matter what, and choose “Edit Component” in the drop-down
menu.
2. Or, a second way, you double-click a component.

Both ways brings us to the edit mode of the component.

The first thing I do is to divide the window into two parts by placing a strip of wood between them. If
you remember everything I taught you, it would not be difficult for you to do this.
Zoom in on the window, draw a square and use the push / pull tool to stretch it to the opposite edge
of the window.
Then I make the window transparent.
Click on the “Window” in the menu and select “Materials” in the drop-down menu.
This opens the “Materials”.
Click the downward pointing arrow and choose “Translucent”.
Click on one of the options, move the mouse pointer over the window, and click when you see that it
is changed to a paint bucket. Because I divided the window above into two parts, I must repeat this
for the bottom part.

As you can see in the image below, each component of the window that we used in our drawing, is
now changed.
Or maybe not.
As you can see in the image below, the resemblence of the components of the windows in the roof
are not transparent.
But yes, it is only because these window components are ON another component, that is, the roof
component, and for this to appear in the correct way, we need to place this again in the roof
component.
We make it easy for ourselves if we cut this and paste this on the roof component.

First, we select the three skylights (1).

We click the “Edit” button in the menu bar and choose “Cut” in the drop-down menu (2).
We double-click the roof component, this puts us in the editing mode for the roof component.
Click again on the “Edit” button in the menu bar and choose “Paste on location” in
drop-down menu (3).
This pastes the three window components in the “Roof” component.
We call this a nested component.
A component in a component is called a nested component.
In this case, therefore, the “roof” component is a nested component.

If we click somewhere outside the roof componet, it closes the edit mode, we see that the windows in
the roof are now transparent.

Note: The same procedure until you add on “Groups”.

In other words, a component in the group, not the ‘ON’ the group.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 40: Components (5)

40/48 Lessons

Unique component
The skylights look exactly the same as the other windows and this is not what I want.
Now I can create a new component, and use this as a skylight, but I can also use a unique pre-made
component .
When I have a unique component I can make this change, and keep all the other items of this
component unchanged.
To create a unique component, you first have to select the multiple items of component that you want
to apply this change to, as in this case the three skylights, select these three components.
Right click and choose “Make unique” in the drop-down menu.

This brings us to the edit mode of the component.

The first thing you can do is perhaps remove all the details in this window 1 – 2 – 3.
Then we fill the area again and we give a transparent touch.
This gives us a flat window (4).
Now I can make a dome of this skylight.
For this I must first fill the entire window.
You must know how to do this by now, anyway, but for those of us who have forgotten, select the
two end points in the rectangle with the Line tool.

Then I select the “Offset” tool and draw a copy of the edges of the plane.
Then I select the “Move” tool, keep the Alt key on my keyboard pressed and move the cursor up.
This gives me a little diamond-shaped 3D shape.

Then I remove the inner lines. I click the Ctrl key on my keyboard while I click the lines with the
eraser.
This gives a perfect dome.

Finally I change the material of the dome to transparent, I click “window” in the menu bar and
choose “Materials” in the drop-down menu.
Choose the material, slightly transparent and click the dome and let the sunshine in.

By creating a unique component you can create a new component, and this is also shown in the “In
Model” of the component library.
I already explained how to place it in one of the other folders in a previous lesson.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 41: Components (6)

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Component replacement
What is added?
The house is colored, a number of components added from the various standard libraries, such as two
trees, a motorcycle, a mailbox, a door and a garage.
I have drawn stumps, of which I’ve made a component, and copied it around the garden.
By now you would be able to do this.
We have the option to replace a component that is used in our drawing by another component.
For example, suppose you have the window, it has been used countless times in the drawing, you are
tired of it and want to replace it with another window.

The first requirement is that you have another component somewhere in any folder on your
computer.

Right click the window component in the drawing, and select “Reload” in the drop-down menu.

You navigate to the folder where you saved the component.

You will find the library folders of SketchUp in the “Local drive C” – “Program Files” – “Google” –
“Google SketchUp” – “Components” folder on your computer.
You select the component, and click the”Open” button .
All used components of this component will be changed at one time.

If you do not like the new component, it can always change back, just perform the same actions.
Upload Components
As I had told you in Lesson 38, components can be downloaded from the online library of Google.

We also have the option of adding home-made components to this library.

The only requirement for this is that you have a Google account and password.

Click on the “File” button in the menu bar, choose “3D Models” in the drop-down menu, and click
“Share Model”.

When you use this for the first time you will see a window where you must agree to the terms of
service with Google.
If this is not a problem, click the “I agree …” button at the bottom of the page.

This takes you to the second window in which you have to enter a title, description and some
mandatory information.
Once you enter all the information, click the “Upload” button.
When Google has finished uploading, it shows you a window with your component plus the
information you have entered.

From now on, anyone and everyone can download and use this component.

Google - SketchUp
Lesson 42: Layers

42/48 Lessons

The usefulness of layers

As in Photoshop, or any other drawing program, we use the layers in SketchUp to organize the
objects in different slides in the drawing.
The difference, however, with the layers of your drawing and the layers in SketchUp is that the layers
in SketchUp only relate to what is in it, and not on the order of the layers.

For example, in Photoshop you can place an object in a layer over another layer, by clicking and
dragging, you will not be able to do so in SketchUp.

In SketchUp, you can place a single layer to accommodate the different objects.

This object must be a group or a component.

The use of this is that we can can hide or show its contents

This makes it easy when we go through the forest of the trees that are no more there. In other words,
in a complex drawing we have quite a lot of components or groups . When you actually go from one
to select another, this can sometimes make us feel frustrated.

One solution is to hide the layers where we have nothing to search and display only the layers where
we want to make changes.

Layer
The first thing we should do is make a layer.

To make a layer, click the “Window” button in the menu bar and choose the “Layers” option in the
drop-down menu. This opens the “Layers”.

Layer0 is the default layer in SketchUp and can not be removed.

All that is created by you, can be deleted.
As you can see in the image below, I have already made a number of layers, for example the “Fence”
layer, “House”layer and the “Garage”layer.
To create a layer and to hide its content in the drawing, click the checkbox beside the name of the
layer, so that it is unchecked.
To view the drawing in the colors of different layers, click the arrow pointing to right at the top right
and choose “Color by Layer” in the drop-down menu.

This displays all objects in your drawing, back in the color of the layer. You can also change the
color of the layer by clicking on the “Layers” button.

To create a new layer, for example those trees in place, click the icon with the plus sign (+) at the top

left of the “Layers”.

This places a new layer in the list. Give it an appropriate name, “Trees” for example. Close the
window.
Place Object in a layer
Now to add the tree components to this newly created layer, right click a tree, and select “Object
Properties” from the drop-down menu.

This will open the object properties window of this component.

Click the downward pointing arrow next to the “Layer” box, and select the layer you just created,
that is “Trees”.

Do the same for the second tree, a place it in the “Trees” layer.

When we return to open the “Layers”, we click the checkbox for the layer “Trees”, so that it is
unchecked, then the trees are gone.
They are not actually gone, they are just invisible, which means you can not accidentally select them.

If you want it to be visible again then click the checkbox in the “Layers”again.I think, you
have understood.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 43: Outliner

43/48 Lessons

The “Outliner”
As the drawings can be extensive, we need an outline way to view it. For this we use the “Outliner”
window.

To open it, click the “Window” in the menu bar and select “Outliner” in the drop-down menu.

The “Outliner” shows us all the objects that we used in the drawing.
The only requirement is that these objects are grouped or that they are components.

If an object is drawn, and you want this included in the “Outliner” window, group it or make it a
component.

To provide a name for a grouped object , right click this item, select “Object Properties” from the
drop-down menu, and give it a name in the dialog box that appears.
If you do not give it a name, then the SketchUp will come up with a name by itself .
Problem is that they all have the same name.

You can imagine when there are hundreds of objects in the “Ouliner” window that are called
“group”, it may take a while before you can find the right one.

So, give an appropriate name to the groups and components in your drawing.

The difference between a group and a component in the “Outliner” window is that the icon for a
component consists of four blocks, and an icon for a group is a block.

A plus sign in front of the name of the component or group means that it consists of more than one
component and / or group.

When we click on the plus sign, it unfolds the whole group.

Double-clicking a component or group in the “Outliner” window opens the object in edit mode of
SketchUp.
By right clicking a component or group in the “Outliner” window, you can delete, hide or lock this
object and many more.

When this window opens it is actually interesting.

Well for example if your drawing consists of many objects, and there is an object that is comprised of
various groups or components, it is easier to edit this object through the “Outliner” window than
editing it in the drawing area.

Hide / Show
I just told you that we can hide a group or component in the “Outliner” window.

We can do the same action in different ways.

For hiding the groups or components.
Right-click the component or group and select “Hide” in the drop-down menu.

To show a hidden object again, we can not obviously right click.

Just click the “Edit” option in the menu bar and choose “View” in the drop-down menu.
Select “All” if you want to display all hidden objects again.
Select “Last” if you only want to show the last hidden object.

Lock
The same applies to the locking of objects.

Right-click the object and choose “Lock” in the drop-down menu.

We lock an object when we want to ensure that nothing more can be changed to the object or its
position.

Google - SketchUp
Lesson 44: Section plane

44/48 Lessons

Cut your drawing in half

The “Section Plane” tool allows us to cut away certain parts of our drawing.
This cuts only visually, when you remove the section plane, you see the entire drawing again.
We can use “Section Plane” tool to edit or create a presentation of our drawing.

When you select this tool in the toolbar, and you move the mouse pointer over the drawing, you will
notice that the “Section Plane” tool will orient you to the plane over which it moves. To lock the
orientation of the section plane, keep the Shift key on your keyboard pressed.

Click where you want to place the section plane.

Use the “Move” tool to move the section plane in the drawing.
Just click the edge of the section plane, move the mouse pointer and click again when you’ve reached
the desired position for the section plane.
If you want to rotate the section plane, select the “Rotate” tool in the tool bar.
Then select the section plane and select the last “Rotate” tool.
Click to determine the pivot point, click again to determine the width of rotation, and move your
mouse pointer.
You have the option to place multiple section planes in your drawing.
But only one active cross-sectional plane.
To switch between the different section planes, select the selection tool and click the section plane of
your choice.
To remove a section plance from the drawing, select the eraser tool, and click on the edge of the
section plane.
When we right click on the edge of the section plane, we have a menu with a list of options.
The “Reverse” option shows the opposite side of the figure.
The “Create Group from slice” option will create a group of edges in the drawing where it is cut.
The “Align View” option will display the cross-section right aligned with the drawing area.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 45: Styles

45/48 Lessons

Different styles
In SketchUp, we have several style options for displaying the planes in our drawing.
The default settings can be found in the “Face Style” toolbar.
But there is more, there is so much that I can barely see through the forest of the trees.
Just click the “Window” in the menu bar and choose “Styles” in the drop-down menu.

The “Styles” has three tabs.

In the first tab, “Select” is for choosing a style.
Now, it is impossible to give an example for all of these different styles, this will take quite a while,

you can do it when you have some time.

In the second tab, “Edit”, we can make a style by including the changes for line settings, plane
settings, and even the color of the sky and the ground.
When you have time you should try poking around and try everything.

In the third tab, “Mix”, we can further mix the various styles mentioned above.

 Choose a style type (1)

 Choose a style (2)

 And click the setting you want to change with the chosen style (3)

The only style that interests me is the X-ray style. With this, I can see through my image, and this
way I know when unnecessary lines are present in a plane.
For example, you may find that, when I used the “follow me” tool to draw the roof in lesson 32,
there are two lines that have nothing to do.
So that, I can remove them.
There are abundant choices with the styles.
I am interested in the sketch lines, this can be very useful when you want to print something .

Exporting and printing drawing

Now we know how to apply a different styles, we need to know how we can export our drawing as a
bitmap image and print it.

With all that we have already learned, this is a piece of cake.

To print your drawing, click “File” in the menu bar and select “Print” in the drop-down menu.
The smart ones among us have a preview first.
This can save you paper and ink.

To save as a bitmap, or a picture, click the “File” button in the menu bar, choose “Export” from the
drop-down menu, and click the “2D image”.
Select a folder on your computer where you want to save this picture.
Give the photo a name in the second box.
And choose a file type in the third box. You can choose between a BMP file, a jpg file, a TIFF file or
a png file.

Click the Export button when you’re done.

Google - SketchUp
Lesson 46: Scenes

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Add Scene
We use different scenes to save at different camera angles and use them later in animation.
To add a scene, click the “Window” in the menu bar and select “Scene” in the drop-down menu.
I want seven scenes, so I click the plus sign seven times. Do not panic, we can always add and delete
later.
Deleting a scene is done by selecting the scene, and clicking the minus button, but I think you
already know it.

In the “Scenes” dialog box, type a name for the scene, an optional description, and check the
properties on or off, depending on what I want to include in the animation.
For example, if you used a style and want this in a scene, then check this box, if you changed the
shadow, then check that box too. Everything you want to save in the animation should be checked.
I still have them all checked, it does not matter much for what I use. If you have large files in MB, it
is better you uncheck the options that you do not need.

Through “Rotate” tool, you can change the view of the scene.
Click the “Update Scene” button when you’re done.
In the second dialog box that appears, click the “Update” button.
We repeat this for every scene.
To view the animation, click “View” in the menu bar, choose “Animation” in the drop-down menu,
and click the “Play”.

To make a movie from the animation, click “File” in the menu bar, choose “Export” in the drop-
down menu, and click the “Animation ..”.
Choose a folder where you want to save it.
Enter a file name.
Choose the file type, “.avi”, this is the only file type for a movie, the rest are for pictures, which one
can assemble as a movie afterwards.
Click the “Export” button when you’re done.

Adding shadows or fog

Finally I’ll even show you how to add a shadow to a scene.
Just click “Window” in the menu bar and select “Shadow” in the drop-down menu.
This opens the “Shadow Settings” dialog.

The first thing you do of course is to check the “Display Shadows” checkbox option.
Under this box, we have two sliders.
With the first you determine the hour of the day.
With the second, date or season, it’s just how you look at it.
You can use the fill boxes next to the sliders to type the certain hour or date.
Below that we have the “Light” and “Dark” scrollbars.
With the “Light” slider, you can change the light parts of the drawing, that is the parts where sunlight
is reflected.
With the “Dark” slider, you can change the dark parts of your drawing, in other words, the parts
where there are shadows.

And last, you can control the appearance, on faces, on ground, or from edges.

Another tip, when you enter a shadow for a scene, do this for all the scenes.

Optionally you can add some fog by clicking the “Window” button, and chooseing “Fog”.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 47: Match Photo (1)

47/48 Lessons

Front
In SketchUp, we have the feature to use a picture as a template for our drawing.
In this example I have a picture of a Dell computer from the front and the back.
Should it all be perfect I would have to have one of the top, but I have not. Anyway, I must do with
what I have, and finally this is only example.
Just so you understand how to do it.

The first thing you do is import the image into a blank SketchUp file.
Just click the “File” button in the menubar, and select “Import” in the drop-down menu.
Select the photo on your computer you wish to import, select the check box “Use as New Matched
Photo” and click the “Open” button.
If you do not see the picture in the dialog box, click the downward pointing arrow next to the “Files
of type” box and select “All Supported Image Types.”

This imports the image into SketchUp.

The drawing panel is now filled with a grid and a number of lines, we have to set as a basis for the
different axes.
The first thing you do is determine the starting point of the sketch. This is where you will begin
drawing the picture(1).
Then you determine the red and green axes at the bottom and top of the photo (2). The order in which
you do this does not matter.
These determine the perspective of the figure that we are going to draw.
Based on how carefully you place it, the more accurate your 3D figure will be.
Zoom in if necessary, what with the scroll wheel of your mouse.

In the “Match Photo” you can set the spacing on the grid of the model. If you do not know how high,
in this case the computer is, then just take a guess. As close to as it makes no difference.
Click the “Done” button when all your axes are placed.
Now that we set the perspective for the picture, select the “Square” tool.
Draw a square from the set starting point to the upper side of the picture.
This will be the rear plane of the figure we are drawing.
Select the push / pull tool, move the mouse pointer over the drawn surface.
And move it forward until the whole image is covered by the cube.
By clicking on the check box “Model” off, you can display the picture again to verify.
Click the “Project textures from photo”button when you are satisfied.
And this is what we have.
We continue in the next lesson.
Google - SketchUp
Lesson 48: Match Photo (2)

48/48 Lessons

Back
As you probably noticed our computer is not as angular as our cube.
Do not worry, you can adjust, or “fine tune” it, with the tools in the tool bar.
This is just one example, so I will leave out the “fine tune”part.
We continue with the second photo, the rear.
We turn our first figure with the “Rotate” tool.

In the “Sketch over” click the plus sign.

Select the second picture on your computer, in this case the back of the computer, and click the
“Open” button.

This imports the second picture of the computer.

With this we do exactly the same as in the first.
Determine the red axis and green axix and the starting point of the sketch.
The only difference is to determine the starting point of the sketch. This is now located on the other
side.
Draw the cube.
And click the “Project textures from photo” button in the dialog.
SketchUp will ask whether you want to overwrite the existing materials.
Click “yes”.
And this gives us the back of the cube with the photo texture.
If you’re using the “Rotate” tool and rotate the image, you will see that both the front and back are
filled with the texture of the picture.

We have two scenes now, with which we can create an animation.

Another tip, remove the check mark for the text “Photo” in every scene at the top of the “Match
Photo” window. This will remove the picture from the background.

If you got a third picture, for example from the top, then repeat these actions.
GOOD LUCK….

YOU’RE NOW READY FOR YOUR FIRST PROJECT DEALING WITH SKETCH-UP. HOPE IT HELPS A LOT FOR
YOU AS YOU PREPARE YOUR NEW JOURNEY OF CREATING AND BUILDING NEW IDEAS IN THE WORLD OF
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS US ALL…

Prepared by:

MARIO A. RUFINO JR.

Draftsman