the SketchUp® Version 5

Student Workbook

By Bonnie Roskes, P.E.

Exercises, tips and tricks that will teach you

everything you need to know about SketchUp.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all information contained within this book is complete and
accurate. However, the authors assume no responsibility for the use of this information, nor for any
infringement upon the intellectual property rights of third parties which would result from such use.

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.

Manufactured in the United States of America

SketchUp is a registered trademark of @Last Software, Inc.

All technical illustrations and models in this book were produced using SketchUp.

Cover design by Bob deWitt.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Basics

SketchUp Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Viewing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Shortcut Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Drawing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Rectangle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Push/Pull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Circle and Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Arc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Freehand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Manipulation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Select. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Measure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Protractor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Move and Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Rotate and Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Displaying and Smoothing Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Annotation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Dimensioning Using the Text Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 2: Intersect and Follow Me

Follow Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Basic Follow Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Follow Me with Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Round Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Intersect with Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Cutting and Embossing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Project: Intersecting Arches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Arch Cutouts Using Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Cutting Using Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Hiding Intersection Edges with Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Combining Follow Me and Intersect with Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Project: Creating a Wall Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Project: Intersecting Moldings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Project: Creating a Table Leg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Project: Creating a Faucet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

Chapter 3: Making Multiple Copies

Basic Move and Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Multiple Linear Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Multiple Rotated Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

Chapter 4: Working with Roofs

Simple Roof and Dormers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Using Offset for Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Project: Resolving Sloping Roofs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Method 1: Set Slope and Double Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Method 2: Delete and Recreate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Method 3: Roofing with Follow Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Project: Overhangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Project: Overhangs by Moving Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Chapter 5: Groups and Components

Components Versus Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Introduction to Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Breaking Connected Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Disconnecting from Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Project: Using Groups for Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Unsticking Objects from a Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Introduction to Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Component Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Component Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Inserting and Editing Predefined Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
Where to Find More Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Creating and Saving Components in the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Component Source Files and Reloading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Alignment and Insertion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
The Outliner: Manipulating Groups and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Cutting Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Cutting Method 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Cutting Method 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Creating a Window Component Plus a Cutout Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Nested Cutting Components - Specific Wall Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Nested Cutting Components - Any Wall Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
Cutting Holes in a Curved Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Project: Using Components for Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Replacing Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Tips for Efficiency with Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

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Chapter 6: Painting, Materials, and Textures

Overview of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Windows Material Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Mac Materials Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Where to Find More Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Applying Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Using Shift and Ctrl/Option Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Material Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Double-Sided Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Project: Using Transparent Faces to Simulate Fog Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Materials of Groups and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Overview of Materials and Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Using Groups to Separate Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Materials of Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Default Component Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Texture Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Fixed Pins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Free Pins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Using Pictures to Create Realistic Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Creating a Painted 2D Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Creating a Painted 3D Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Project: Creating a Clubhouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Project: Creating a Birdhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Wrapping Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Projecting an Image onto a Non-Planar Face (Topography) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Alpha Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Tips for Efficiency with Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

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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Chapter 9: Sandbox Tools

Creating a Sandbox (TIN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Sandbox from Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Smoove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
Sandbox from Contours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
Drape and Stamp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Drape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
Stamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
Stamp in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Adding Detail to a Sandbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Project: Organic Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250

Chapter 10: Using Exact Dimensions

Creating Exact Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
Entity Info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Exact Moving and Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256
Exact Rotated Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
Measuring Length and Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
Scaling in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267

Chapter 11: In-Depth Projects

Domed Apse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
Try It Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270
Smoothing Faces of Rotate-Copied Curved Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Aligning Any Two Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .272
Curvy Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273
3D Geometric Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
Starting from a Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
Starting from a Golden Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Starting from a Polygon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
Project: Creating a Spiral Staircase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282
Project: Creating a Steel Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Project: Creating a Log Cabin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287

Chapter 12: Program Settings

Stacking Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289
Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .290
Rendering Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291
Displaying Edges and Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292
Edge Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293
Edge Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
Face Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Perspective Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296

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Model Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Model Info > Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Model Info > Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Model Info > Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Model Info > File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Model Info > Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Model Info > Section Planes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Model Info > Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Model Info > Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Model Info > Tourguide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Model Info > Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Preferences > Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Preferences > Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Preferences > Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Preferences > General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Preferences > OpenGL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Preferences > Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Preferences > Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Toolbars / Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Export and Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Exporting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Importing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Chapter 13: Ruby Script

SketchUp Ruby Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Entering Code on the Ruby Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Creating a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Creating a Script that Requires User Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Using the Help Files to Create Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Provided Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Ruby Script Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Other Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Where to Find More Ruby Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Scripts for Film and Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

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1 The Basics
SketchUp Screen
When you launch SketchUp, your screen looks like this (shown in Windows, Mac is similar):

Value Control Box (VCB): This box is used either to

NOTE: To adjust what toolbars and icons are displayed, select enter values or to display numerical information. If you
View / Toolbars (Mac: View / Customize Toolbar).
are using a tool that can take numerical input (usually
optional), such as line length or number of copies, all you
Drawing and Editing Tools: These tools create geometry have to do it type the number and press Enter, and the
(Line, Arc, Rectangle, etc.), construction objects value appears in the VCB. If you are using a tool such as
(Measure and Protractor), and enable object Measure or Protractor, the length or angle being
manipulation (Move, Rotate, Push/Pull, etc.) They are measures appears in the VCB.
all described in this chapter. Stacking Windows: These are windows you might want
Drawing Axes: When you open a file, the model contains to keep open as you work. They can be made to stick to
a set of red, green, and blue axes (you can see the blue axis one another, and you can keep them minimized while you
once you orbit the model out of the red-green plane). work. See "Stacking Windows" on page 289.
These are equivalent to the X, Y, Z axes used in traditional
CAD software. You can turn off their display by selecting
View / Axes, and the Axes tool can be used to relocate and
reorient the axes.
Status / Prompts: This area serves two purposes. When
you hover the cursor over a tool, a description of the tool
appears here. When you are using a tool, this area displays
the relevant prompt such as “Select start point” or “Enter
value.”

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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.

NOTE: For information on ways to display the model itself

Look Around (Camera / Look Around)
(shaded, wireframe, etc.) see "Display Settings" on page 290.

Standard Views (Camera / Standard)

Pivots the camera around a stationary point,
representing a person standing still and looking side
SketchUp has five standard orthographic views (Top, to side or up and down. This tool is helpful when
Front, Left, Right, Back) and one Isometric view. When viewing the interior of a model. To look around,
an orthographic view is activated, its description appears activate the tool and drag the mouse from side to
in the top left corner of the display. side, or up and down. You can specify the eye height
by typing it and pressing Enter; it will appear in the
NOTE: If you are working in Perspective mode, the isometric VCB.
view will not be a true isometric projection, although it may
appear pretty close. For a true isometric view, work in Paraline
mode.
Walk (Camera / Walk)

Orbit (Mac: Orbit Camera) (Camera / Orbit)

Enables you to move around in a model as a

simulation of walking.

NOTE: Perspective mode must be on for Walk to work.

Also known as dynamic rotation, this tool simulates
holding an object and turning it around. To rotate
your view, activate Orbit and hold and drag the
mouse. Pressing Shift while orbiting will pan the
view. If you have a three-button mouse, you can hold
the middle mouse button while moving the mouse to
rotate the view from within any other tool.

Pan (Mac: Move Camera) (Camera / Pan)

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 The Basics

Zoom (Camera / Zoom) Zoom Extents (Camera / Zoom Extents)

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.

In this tool you simply click two points to define a

rectangle, and the zoom adjusts to fit the window into
the full screen. This is a good way to enlarge your
view of a specific small area of the model.

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Drawing Tools 3. We want to enable both methods, so click Auto

detect.
Before you can create any forms in SketchUp, you need to
first know how to draw a few things using 2D tools. The 4. Also, be sure Continue line drawing is checked, in
six basic drawing tools are Line, Rectangle, Polygon, order to automatically start a new line after
Arc, Circle, and Freehand. While each of these creates a completing a line. If this is not checked, you create
2D object, you can use them in any 3D plane. lines one at a time.

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.

Mac: You can add this icon to your toolbar via

View / Customize Toolbar.
7. Open the Colors page and check the color for Edges.
By default, edges are drawn in black, but you can
change this color if you like.

NOTE: If you don’t see the axes displayed, select View / Axes.
This is a toggle function - it can also turns the axes off.

2. To control the way lines are drawn, open the

Preferences window (Window / Preferences, Mac:
SketchUp / Preferences). Open the Drawing page.
8. If you like to work with as much screen space as
possible, close the Model Info window.
9. Line should already be active, but if it isn’t, click
Line, or select Draw / Line.

Three setting here affect line creation:

• Click-drag-release uses a mouse drag to create
lines.
• Click-move-click will define a line by two points.
• Auto detect enables both methods, depending on
how you use your mouse.

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 The Basics

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.

12. The next endpoint is to be located directly above the

midpoint of the first line. Hover over this point; the
midpoint is indicated by a cyan dot. Do not click yet! 16. Draw the next line in the green direction.

13. Move the cursor up in the green direction from this

point, and click to place the next point.
17. You can make new lines parallel or perpendicular to
any existing line, not just the most recent line. Hover
over any point along the edge shown . . .

14. Move the cursor until you see the Perpendicular

inference (the preview line is magenta). The
perpendicular constraint is always available relative

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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).

21. Similarly, press Shift when the next line is

perpendicular to the previous one . . .

25. Orbit to the orientation shown below.

22. . . . and constrain it to the start point.

6
 The Basics

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.

33. Complete the face.

29. Draw the third line to complete the face.

34. Lines can also be used to divide faces. Draw a

vertical line connecting the midpoints of the
horizontal edges of the face you just completed.

30. We will use a parallel constraint again. Draw a line

up from the point shown.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.

40. Recreate the face by simply replacing the line.

36. This line also divided the original face into two faces.
To verify this, activate Select (Tools / Select).

37. Click either face to see it highlighted.

41. Erase the dividing line, and the two faces are healed
- joined into one face.

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.

8
 The Basics

43. Redraw the line to recreate both faces. Rectangle

If you need to draw a rectangular face, you don’t need to
use Line to draw four separate lines; Rectangle does it in
one step.
1. Start a new file (Top view) and click Rectangle (or
select Draw / Rectangle).

44. Now open the Display Settings (Window / Display

Settings) Set the edge display to By Axis. 2. Draw a rectangle by clicking the two opposite points,
or by clicking and dragging from the first point to the
second.

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.

4. So far the rectangles have been parallel to the red and

green axes. To draw a skewed rectangle in the
red-green plane, you need to change the axes. Click
Some prefer to work with By Axis on, and some find Axes, or select Tools / Axes.
it distracting. For the purposes of this book, black
edges will be used.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.

6. For the green axis direction, click any point above

the new red axis.
9. Erase all the extra lines in the middle to heal the face
into one face.

Here are the new axes - red and green in the

horizontal plane, blue pointing up.

10. Orbit so that you can create some vertical faces.

Create the first rectangle by clicking Point 1 and
hovering over Point 2.

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.

7. Because the axis display can be distracting, turn it off

by selecting View / Axes). Exit the Axes tool by
pressing Esc. Rectangle is once again active.
8. Draw the next rectangle by clicking on Point 1 and
hovering over Point 2. Then move the cursor from
Point 2 and press Shift to lock this width. With Shift

10
 The Basics

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.

Square and Golden Section

While using Rectangle, it’s easy to create two of the most
commonly-used rectangles: squares and golden sections.
First the square. Simply activate Rectangle and start
drawing. SketchUp lets you know when the cursor is in a
position to create a square. If you click when you see the
indicator, you’ll create a square.

13. Click the midpoint shown to create the

double-constrained vertical rectangle.
Golden sections work the same way.

For those unfamiliar with the golden section, it is a ratio

used since the earliest days of architectural design. The
ratio of AB to BC equals AC to AB.
14. You do not need to use Shift in every case for a
double constraint. Start at Point 1, hover over Point
2, and pull up to Point 3.

As you can see, it can be created automatically. But if

you’re curious, here’s how to create it:
1. Use Rectangle to create a square. Then use Line to
connect one of the corners to one of the midpoints.

Here is the final set of walls.

2. Activate Select and select only the diagonal line (no

faces).

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

3. Activate Rotate. 8. Erase lines to heal the rectangle. To measure the

length of the longer edge, right-click on it and select
Entity Info. (If the Entity Info window is already
open, just Select the edge.)

4. Place the protractor at the this end of the diagonal

line.

The length of the edge is listed in the Entity Info

window.

5. This line will be copied, so press Ctrl/Option. To set

the zero angle, click the other endpoint of the
diagonal line. (Note the plus sign on the cursor - this
means a copy will be made.)

9. Measure the shorter edge as well. The ratio of the

long edge to short edge should be 1.61803.

NOTE: This value of 1.61803 is phi - a crucial number in

architecture, art, and nature - including the human body. If you
divide this value into 1.0, you get 0.61803.
6. Finally, create the rotated copy by defining the
rotation angle as shown here: Push/Pull
While not exactly a 2D drawing tool, Push/Pull it is so
crucial to working in SketchUp that it’s important to cover
it before moving on to other tools.
Push/Pull is what makes SketchUp so unique and easy to
use. Simply put, it takes a face and makes a 3D assembly
of faces. In CAD terms, it’s basically an extrude tool but
much more flexible and intuitive.
1. Start in top view, and use Line to make a trapezoid.
7. Use this copied line to complete the rectangle. Orbit to an isometric view.

2. Click Push/Pull (or select Tools / Push/Pull).

12
 The Basics

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.

7. Use another Push/Pull to continue pushing this face

past the boxes. You can use inferences while using
Push/Pull - stop at the midpoint of the edge shown
(or any similar edge).

NOTE: For the Push/Pull cursor, the tip of the red arrow is
where you select or highlight.

Push/Pull always pushes or pulls a face in a direction

perpendicular to the face. It also creates a prismatic
form - the start and end faces are the same size.
4. Use Rectangle (or Line) to draw two rectangle from TIP: When using an inference point to set a Push/Pull distance,
the bottom edge of the front face. (When you use a it’s easier to use two clicks (face and height point), rather than
drag the face.
2D drawing tool on a face, the object automatically
aligns to that face.) Constrain the second rectangle to
be the same height as the first. 8. Draw two rectangles on the top of the trapezoid. The
should be aligned to each other, and to the two boxes
along the front.

5. Use Push/Pull to pull out one of the rectangles. Then

double-click on the other rectangle - this pulls it out
by the same distance you just used.
9. Use Push/Pull to push in one of the rectangles.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.

15. With one additional line and another Push/Pull, you

can add a small balcony.

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.

14
 The Basics

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.

20. Now use a normal Push/Pull - no extra keys - on the

face shown.

17. Undo this operation (Ctrl+Z, Cmd+Z), and pull it

again, this time holding down the Alt/Cmd key. The
pulled face remains the same size, but the
neighboring faces move with it.

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.

18. Undo and try again, this time keeping Ctrl/Option

pressed. The difference this time is that dividing lines
are created along faces that would otherwise be
healed.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.

2. Draw a circle in the red-green plane by clicking the

center point and then a point on the circumference.
You could also click and drag from the center to the
circumference.

6. Move the cursor to face, and the circle aligns to it.

Note that the preview color of the circle tells you

what plane you are working in. When you place a
circle in the red-green plane, the circle is 7. You can also draw a circle on a face that is not
perpendicular to the blue axis, so its preview color is aligned to it. Move the cursor so that the circle is
blue. horizontal again, and press Shift to lock the
When the circle is defined, it is filled in. orientation. Then move along a face or edge - the
circle remains flat.

3. Like with all 2D drawing tools, you can draw a circle

in any of the three planes. Orbit so that you are facing
the red-blue plane and draw another circle. This time This is how you would draw something like this: a
the preview color is green. horizontal circle that intersects a vertical face.

8. Now for more on the inner workings of this tool.

Undo the horizontal circle if you created it.

16
 The Basics

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.

14. Before the circle is complete, you can choose to

10. Push the triangular portion of the face inward until it specify a radius or a different number of segments.
cuts all the way through. Create a circle on the side Type “8s” to change the sides to 8. You need the “s”
face. because a number alone will be interpreted as a
dimension.

If you change segmentation this way, the segment

number stays active for future circles, until the
number is changed again. The same applies for
Polygon.
If you look closely at the circle, you’ll see that it’s not
You can also change the number of sides after the
actually round, it’s actually comprised of many short
circle is completed. However, if the circle is located
segments.
on an existing face (such as in this example), the
11. Because the circle divided the vertical side into two circle will sometimes be created on top of (not
faces, you can use Push/Pull on the circular portion within) the face.
to pull out a cylinder.
NOTE: You can also use the VCB to set the circle radius - simply
type in the radius and press Enter.

15. Complete the circle (which is actually an octagon)

and Push/Pull this inner circle back to the vertical
face of the box.
Even though the circle is a series of lines, the
cylinder face appears smooth and round. It is actually
comprised of a series of flat faces, but looks and acts
as one, curved face.
12. The next circle will be concentric with the front face
of the cylinder. To pick up the Center inference, first
hover over one of the endpoints, then move the
cursor around the center until the green dot appears. 16. If not already displayed, show the Entity Info
window (Window / Entity Info). With nothing
selected, and no faces highlighted, the window
should be blank.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.)

21. Activate Polygon (Draw / Polygon).

Once a circle has been extruded, you can still change
its radius. (Before extruding you can also change its
segmentation.)

TIP: You could also have displayed this by right-clicking on the

circle and selecting Entity Info from the menu.

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.

19. The hollow cylinder now has a inward draft angle.

23. Align the polygon center to this point. Create a

polygon with approximately the same radius as the
circle.

20. Now draw a small circle on the sloped face (leave

room for another circle next to it). Note that it has
eight sides - this is the last segmentation value you
used. Also note that the circle automatically aligns

18
 The Basics

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.)

28. Select the circular face - it is selected as one face.

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.

25. To see how these are different, Push/Pull them both.

(Remember, you can Push/Pull one face, then 30. Activate Circle. You can change the number of
double-click the second face to extrude it the same segments before placing the first point by simply
distance.) The circular face appears smooth, while typing the number (no “s” needed). Enter 12, and the
the polygonal face is faceted. value appears next to Sides in the VCB.

31. Locate the center at the midpoint of the edge shown

(do not click yet). Depending on how you move the
cursor, you can align the circle with either adjacent
face. Click when the circle preview is vertical. Make
the circle vertical, and orient the radius straight up
(or straight across) so that the box edge contains two
26. In actuality, these objects are the same, only their
segment endpoints.
appearance is different. Circular faces are faceted as
well, but their edges are smoothed and hidden. To see
the edges of the circular faces, select View / Hidden
Geometry.

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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.

37. Now Select the arc shown. It is a half-circle you

converted into a polygon, but it is still one object.
NOTE: If you had placed the circle so that its segments
overlapped the edge, the circle would not have been divided.

33. To resolve the arc to the face, simply use Line to

connect its endpoints. (You could also use Line to
recreate any of the arc’s segments.) The arc becomes
thin-lined.
38. Right-click on this arc and select Explode Curve.
This breaks the curve into its individual segments.

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.

20
 The Basics

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.

6. When you draw an arc starting from an existing arc,

the new arc is tangent to the adjacent one by default,
2. Activate Arc via the icon, or by selecting Draw / indicated by the Tangent at Vertex inference. To set
Arc. the arc bulge, double-click to keep it tangent.

3. An arc is started by first defining its chord. Select

two edge points on the side face. Like when drawing
a line, the arc chord appears in magenta when both TIP: If you are having trouble placing the starting point of the
ends are equidistant from the corner. new arc exactly on the endpoint of the previous one, try zooming
in closer.

7. Do the same for the third arc in the chain.

4. Move the cursor along the face to set the bulge.

8. Arcs in a chain do not necessarily have to be tangent
to their adjacent arcs. Start the next arc as before, and
locate the second chord point (just one click) on the
top edge.

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.

NOTE: Be careful when making an arc tangent to an edge, if

both chord points are located on edges. Unless the chord points 11. Use Push/Pull on the arc, arc chain, and circle to
are equidistant from the corner point, there are two tangency create voids.
possibilities - one for each edge.

NOTE: There are some visible lines created as a result of the

Push/Pull. If you want, these can be made invisible by
right-clicking on them and selecting Soften.

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.

13. When you Push/Pull a circle or arc, it looks smooth,

but these entities are actually created as a series of
TIP: You could also place a construction point at the center by segments. One way to change the number of
right-clicking on the arc and selecting Point at Center. If this segments is to enter the new number after the arc is
option does not appear, open File / Preferences to the created. Type 4s, which appears in the VCB, and
Extensions page and check Ruby Script Examples. press Enter.

22
 The Basics

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”.)

The arc now has four segments.

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.

15. Change the segment number to 8, and enter a slightly

smaller radius (don’t forget the units symbol if
necessary).

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.

21. Like a circle, an arc can be broken down into

individual segments. Right-click the arc and select
Explode Curve.

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.

22. Each segment is now a separate entity. Erase the top

four segments. . .

26. Close this second arc with a line.

23. . . . and draw a line to connect the ends of the

remaining segments.
27. Push/Pull the first arc down to the bottom of the box.
Then right-click the second arc and select Convert
to Polygon.

24
 The Basics

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.

You could use Entity Info to change the radius of the

arc faces on either end of the extrusions. But once
Push/Pull is used, you cannot change the
segmentation.
5. Push/Pull out the freehand face. Although the curve
Freehand is segmented, the curved face is smooth.
Another self-explanatory tool name, Freehand is used to
create freehand sketches.
1. Start with a box like this.

6. Undo and use Convert to Polygon to create a

faceted extrusion.

2. Click Freehand, or select Draw / Freehand.

This smooth vs. faceted behavior works the same

3. Draw an open curve by clicking and dragging the way as for circles, arcs, and polygons.
mouse. Because the mouse button remains pressed, 7. Undo again, and use Explode Curve. Now the curve
inferences from other points are not displayed. is broken into separate segments. Verify this by
erasing individual segments.
8. Erase the rest of the curve to clear the face. Then
draw a similar closed curve, keeping the Shift key
pressed.

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

9. When you use Shift, the resulting curve does not

integrate with any other geometry. The lines are thin,
Manipulation Tools
These are tools you can used once you have some
but it has not divided the box face into two faces -
geometry in your model. Among other things, this section
you cannot erase the enclosed face.
includes tools for measuring, erasing, copying, moving,
rotating, scaling, and making construction lines.

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.

2. Click Select, or select Tools / Select.

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.

The selected edge appears in the color specified for

Highlight, located on the Color page of the Model
Info window.

26
 The Basics

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.

10. To deselect everything, select Edit / Deselect All.

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.

6. Use Ctrl/Option to add two edges.

This type of window selects objects that are

completely enclosed within it - the face and the four
surrounding edges.

7. Pressing Shift+Ctrl/Option removes objects from the

selection set. Remove one face and one edge.

12. Clear the selection (click anywhere in the blank

space), and draw the same window selection box,
this time from right to left. This time the marquee
box is dashed.

8. Pressing Shift toggles objects between selected and

deselected. Press Shift and select a face . . .

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the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

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.

15. Switching to wireframe can show you exactly what’s

13. Shift and Ctrl/Option keys can be used with window been selected. Click Wireframe.
selection. Press Shift to toggle selected objects and
drag a window that encloses both boxes.

In wireframe view you can see the edges and faces of

the small box that are selected.

Objects that were previously selected are deselected,

and vice-versa.
16. To deselect the small box, orbit the view as shown,
press Ctrl/Option + Shift, and drag a right-to-left box
around it.

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.

18. Switch back to Shaded mode.

The selection window affects all objects inside it,
throughout the depth of the model into the screen.
Therefore, you need to be careful when using a
right-to-left window, because you might select
objects that are hidden behind objects.

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 The Basics

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.

NOTE: If you are trying to select groups or components, the tool

works the same way. The only difference is that the group or
component is selected as one object.

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.

21. Double-click on any edge to select the edge plus all

adjacent faces.

2. Select a few faces, and the total number of faces, as

well as total area, are listed.
22. Finally, triple-click on any edge or face. This selects
all contiguous edges and faces. Unattached objects
remain unselected.

3. Now select one edge; its length is listed. In addition

The context menu also provides these selection options. If to Hidden, for edges you also have the options Soft
you right-click an edge, you can select all connected and Smooth - these are options that control how the
faces, or all connected geometry. edges are displayed.

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4. Select a few edges (they don’t have to be Erase

contiguous), and their total length is listed. After knowing how to select, the next important thing is
knowing how to erase.
1. Start with a polygon, using around 24 sides, pulled
into a cylinder. Draw a rectangle that encloses the
bottom of the cylinder.

5. Length can be calculated for curves as well, which

makes sense since arcs and circles are basically
created as a series of small edges. In this case, four
objects are selected - two circles with 24 segments
each, and two arcs with eight segments each. The
faces within the circles are not selected. The total
number of edges is 64, and the total length is also
listed. 2. Push/Pull the rectangle downward and Push/Pull
the polygon the same distance by double-clicking on
it.

6. If your selection set contains different types of

entities, such as adding two circular faces to your set
of selected edges, the total number of entities will be
listed, and nothing else. 3. Use Explode Curve to break the bottom polygon
into its individual segments.
4. Activate Erase (Tools / Erase).

5. The cursor is now an eraser symbol. Click on any of

the polygon segments on the bottom face. Because
this breaks the circular face, the remaining lines
become thick. If you try to select this rectangular
face, it has now become a single face.

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 The Basics

8. Orbit to look down on the top face, draw a rectangle

NOTE: If you hadn’t exploded the polygon, the entire polygon on it, and select it.
would be erased with one click.

6. To erase multiple edges in one go, keep the mouse

button pressed and pass over the edges you want to
delete. They will be highlighted in the “select” color,
and will be deleted once you release the button. If the
Entity Info window is open, you will see the number
and total length of the edges to be erased.
9. Right-click and select Erase. You could also use
Select to select the face and press the Delete key.

If you accidentally pass over an edge you don’t want

to erase, press Esc to start over. And, of course, you
can always use Undo.
10. Erase one of the edges of the cutout. The face is
restored, and the remaining three edges are
thick-lined.

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.

12. Press Delete, or right-click and select Erase. Only

the top face of the base remains.
The Erase tool does not work on faces, only edges.
To remove faces, you need to select them first.

NOTE: If you erase an edge of a group, the entire group will be

deleted. The same is true for components.

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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.

2. Activate Measure (Tools / Measure, Mac: Tools /

Tape Measure).
Hiding all, or even just some, edges is a great way to
get a smooth look.

3. Measure the length of the base by clicking the two

endpoints.

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).

If you like working without edges, you can uncheck

Edges in the Display Settings window (Window /
Display Settings).

The length is indicated in the VCB.

4. To change the length of this edge, type the desired

length (such as 20’) - don’t forget the unit.

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 The Basics

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.

The model changes scale. You can verify this by

using Measure on the same two endpoints, and
checking the length in the VCB.

NOTE: If your model has components, they will not be scaled in

this operation. Components have set dimensions which would 9. Create another offset construction line that intersects
be lost if they were scaled. This is useful in cases when you want the midpoint of the other edge.
to scale a model around a component. For example, you could
insert a door component and scale a face to accommodate it.

6. As you’ve already seen, you can also use Entity Info

to measure edges. Select the edge you just resized,
and its length appears in the Entity Info window.
The length is grayed out because it cannot be edited.

10. Now for the construction lines in the other direction

- create one between the other opposite corners of
this face.

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).

We now want to create a shape on the sloped face, but

we need construction lines to know where to locate 11. Click this construction line and move the cursor to
points one side, keeping it on the face. Do not pick up any
7. Activate Measure and click two opposite corners of other inferences, and do not click yet.
the diagonal face. An infinite construction line is
created here.

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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).

13. The construction line is created at the specified

offset.

17. Erase all construction lines by selecting Edit /

Construction Geometry / Erase (or Hide).
14. This value is a bit too large, but it’s not too late to
change the offset. Type 2’ and press Enter, to move
the new construction line closer to the center.

18. The next construction line will use a double

constraint. Click the lower edge of the sloped face
(not at an endpoint, and without picking up any other
15. Create another construction line at the same offset in inference), so that you can create a construction line
the other direction. parallel to it. Then hover on the upper edge to pick up
its inference.

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 The Basics

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.

(Here’s another way to do the same thing: Click the

lower edge and pull up in the blue direction. Press
Shift to lock the blue direction, then click any point
on the upper edge.) TIP: There is a quicker way to find this point, by using inference
20. Activate Push/Pull, click the inner portion of the locking. In the Measure tool, first hover over one edge and press
Shift, then click the other edge. This places the first endpoint of
sloped face, and click the construction line. This the construction line at the point where the two edges would
extends the face to the level of the construction line. meet.

21. Construction lines can also be used to infer points.

Create a construction line along the edge shown by 23. From the point where these lines intersect, start
clicking any two points along it. another construction line. Move in the red or green
direction (depending on where your axes are) but
don’t click yet.

24. Type an offset value, such as 25’ and press Enter.

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25. This creates a finite construction line, ending at a Protractor

construction point. This tool has two basic purposes: to create angled
construction lines and to measure angles.
1. Start with a box and activate Protractor (Tools /
Protractor.

26. Create an offset of the diagonal construction line by

clicking on it (Line A), then clicking on the endpoint 2. The protractor appears. Hover over the midpoint
of the finite construction line (Point B). shown. If you move slightly to the right and left, you
can align the protractor to either adjacent face. The
color of the protractor tells you how the protractor is
aligned (the protractor is green when aligned in the
red-blue plane, etc.).

27. We now have the necessary information to create this

triangular face.
3. Click when the protractor is aligned with the front
face (facing you). This sets the protractor’s center.
4. The next click sets the orientation of the reference
line. Click a point along the axis that will set a
horizontal line across the front face. The reference
line appears as a dotted line.

28. Erase the construction lines, and Push/Pull the

triangle outward.

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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 The Basics

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.

9. Activate Protractor again. This time we want to

keep the protractor flat (red-green plane) and center
it at a specific point. To do this, we need to set the
orientation before placing it on the point, since there
6. To change the default tick spacing, open the Model is no adjacent face we can use.
Info window to the Units page. Enable angle 10. Place the protractor anywhere outside the form and
snapping should be checked, which enables you to press Shift to lock its orientation. The protractor is
snap to the tick marks. Change the snap angle from blue when sitting in the red-green plane. (You could
15 to 10. also use the top horizontal face for orientation.)

11. With Shift still pressed, click the corner shown to

place the protractor center.

7. Now the protractor has tick marks every 10 degrees.

Place the cursor at the 40-degree tick, and click to
place the construction line. 12. Define the reference line along the horizontal edge.
Place the cursor to indicate the direction of the angle,
and type the angle (such as 32.4) which
automatically appears in the VCB. Press Enter to set
the construction line.

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18. You can enter a ratio instead of a degree

TIP: You can enter negative values as well. If the cursor had set measurement. Type 8:12 and press Enter.
the angle direction the other way, you could type -32.4 to get the
same result.
19. Use this construction line to draw a line along the
13. Use this construction line to create this triangular front face. Erase and recreate some edges as needed
form. to get this:

14. Erase the construction line. Move and Copy

The Move tool can be used in two ways - to move objects
15. Activate Protractor again, which will now be used
to measure an angle. Place and orient the protractor to a different location, or to make one or more copies.
from Point B to Point A. Hover (do not click) over Move can also be used to resize curves and curved faces.
Point C. In the VCB you will see the measurement of Move
angle A-B-C. This measurement of 57.6 is the
complement of the 32.4-degree angle you created You can modify your model by moving edges, faces,
points, or a combination of selected objects.
before.
1. Start with a box and add an edge on the top.

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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 The Basics

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.

When moving this way, you need to define two

5. Move also works on faces. Move the face along the points, a reference point and a destination point. The
red (or green) axis to stretch the entire model. move is applied based on the distance and direction
between these two points.
7. Activate Move and click any point in space (Point 1)
and click or drag to Point 2, following the axis
direction (red or green, depending on how you made
your model). The two edges move accordingly.

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.

So far we’ve used Move on single objects. Objects

can also be selected first, then moved. If you want to
move multiple objects, you must define the selection
set before activating Move. (Conversely, if you want
to move a point, you must activate Move first, then
move the 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.

11. Now move in the direction you want to go, clicking

when the Parallel to Edge constraint is displayed.

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.

12. Now we can create a triangular frame at the top of the

rectangle. There is no endpoint on the top edge to use
Move on, but it’s easy to create one. Right-click on
the top edge and select Divide. Move the cursor so
that the edge is divided into two segments.
15. Hover over the lower edge of the large face to get its
Parallel constraint. Press Shift to lock this constraint.

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 The Basics

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.

6. The copy should still be selected. Make another copy

using the distance between Points A and B The copy
is automatically aligned with the front face.

3. Draw two parallel lines from the new endpoints and

pull the outer faces up. Create a small cylinder on one
of the top faces.

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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.

8. One copy is made, but you can make several copies

at the same spacing. Type 3x, which appears in the
Autofold
VCB. Press Enter. Autofold is a very useful enhancement of the Move tool,
which enables you to create fold lines where there weren’t
any before. Normally, Move keeps planes as planes,
Now there are three copies (four total windows). without dividing them into more planes. Autofold will
create as many planes as needed to perform the move.
1. Start with this form, with all lines at right angles.

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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 The Basics

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.

7. Select both ridge lines, and activate Move, without

Autofold. As before, click any two points to raise
these lines in the blue direction. This works, though
some cleanup would be necessary.
12. Use Move with Shift-locking on the ridge line
intersection point, to get this result:

8. Undo this move, and add two valley lines.

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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.

Similarly, Autofold is useful when you want to create

skewed cylinders and polygonal prisms.

Autofold with Curved Faces

Autofold can be also be handy with faces created as a Using Move to Resize Curves and
result of Push/Pull’ing arcs, circles, and polygons. Curved Surfaces
1. Start with a box that has an arc attached to it. Pull the This section applies to arcs, circles, and polygons, and to
arc up but not all the way to the top of the box. the surfaces created when these entities are extruded. Note
that the changes you can make in this exercise can only be
performed on curves and faces that have not been edited -
they must still retain their original shape. For example,
once you use Scale to change a circle into an oval, the oval
cannot be resized.
1. Create a small circle, and activate Move. Make sure
nothing else is selected, and move the cursor around
the circumference of the circle.
2. Select the top face of the arc form and activate Move. Along most of the circumference, the entire circle is
The only way you can move this face is up or down. highlighted. But at the four quadrant points, only the
point itself is highlighted in green, indicating that it is
a point you can drag for resizing.

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 The Basics

5. Now onto arcs. On the top face, create an arc

NOTE: If you have an even number of segments, these between an endpoint point on the circumference and
draggable quadrant points will be at segment endpoints or
midpoints. For an odd number of segments, play with the mouse
a point near the circle center (don’t use the exact
to find the four quadrant points. center). Size the arc so that it is tangent to the circle.

2. Move one of the quadrant points, either by dragging,

or by click-move-click. The center of the circle
remains in place, but the radius changes. Watch the
VCB to see the radius value update.

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.

7. Activate Move again; now we will resize the arcs.

Move the cursor to the midpoint of the second arc -
4. You can also resize the curved face itself. While only this point should be highlighted (not the entire
Move is still active, move the cursor until a movable arc). Drag this point downward to “flatten” the arc.
edge (and not the entire face) is highlighted as a bold,
dotted line. These edges correspond to the locations
of the quadrant points. Move the edge outward to
create a wide, flat 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.

13. Change both arc faces by moving their common

9. Arc endpoints can also be moved. Pick the endpoint edge.
shown and drag it toward the center of the circle.
This not only changes the arc, but shrinks the circle
as well.

10. Push/Pull up the rear face made by the arc chain.

Using Move, highlight the moveable edge directly
below the arc midpoint. Drag it forward to change
the bulge direction.

14. Finally, we will use a polygon, which is basically the

same as a circle. Draw a hexagon on the top face and
use Move to shrink it. The location of these points
depends on how many segments you have, but there
is always at least one at a segment endpoint.

11. Do the same for the other face.

15. Pull up the polygon. To resize the polygonal face,

drag one of its moveable edges.

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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.

Rotate and Copy

This tool can be used in two ways - to rotate objects to a
different position, and to make rotated copies. You can
align the rotation axis to a one of the standard planes or to
an existing face, or you can define your own rotation axis.

Rotate 6. The next step is to rotate. Move the cursor to activate

1. For a basic look at Rotate, start with a form like this. the rotation. You can use the tick marks on the
We want to rotate one of the wings. protractor, rotate by eye, or type an angle value.

2. Once in Rotate, you need to select the objects to

rotate. But you can’t select just the wing unless you The current rotation angle appears in the VCB.
create a dividing line, on both the top and bottom
faces.
7. Because the rotation has affected adjacent faces, the
non-rotated wing no longer consists of right angles.
Use some construction lines and the Move tool to
correct this.

3. Activate Rotate (Tools / Rotate).

4. Select the wing to rotate and press Enter. The

Protractor appears, which works the same way as the
Protractor tool

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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.

2. The house is aligned with the red-green plane, but we

want it aligned in another direction. Activate 6. The window needs to be rotated to the orientation of
Measure and click Points A and B to create a the house. Start by rotating the window to be parallel
diagonal construction line in the red-green plane. to the construction line.

7. Use Move to place the window on the sloped face. To

3. Use Rotate to align the house to the construction rotate it into place, activate Rotate and Shift-lock the
line. protractor to the vertical side of the house (or another
face parallel to this).

4. We will now create a window that will be placed on

the sloping face of the roof. In some blank space,
create a long rectangle with a smaller rectangle 8. Keeping Shift pressed, click the point where the
inside it. Make sure it’s sized so that it will fit entirely window meets the roof. Then you can align and
within the roof face when rotated. rotate as needed.

48
 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.

5. As with Move, you can change the number of copies

by entering a value. Type something like 3x, then
press Enter, to create a total of three copies (four total
columns).
2. Use Rotate on the column, anchoring the protractor
on the midpoint of the arc diameter line.

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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.

4. Here’s how to switch the rotation plane: click the

edge and keep the mouse button pressed. The
That’s all there is to it. If you look at the underside of protractor center stays on the edge, and you can
the model, you can see that each column is rotated move the mouse to pivot it around. To fold the
from the original, and the angular spacing is even. rectangle over, align the protractor by clicking an
edge endpoint.

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.

. . . and rotate it down. The rotation angle is listed in

the VCB; you can change it by entering a different
value if you like.

2. Complete the rectangle and select it.

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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.

10. Now we can copy this rectangle to every side of the

hexagon. Select the rectangle, activate Rotate, and
place the protractor at the center of the hexagon.
Press Ctrl/Option to make copies, and click any
adjacent endpoints of the hexagon to define the
rotation angle.

7. Rather than aligning the protractor to an edge, place

the cursor at the lower endpoint shown.

11. After creating the first copy, enter 5x to create a total

of six rectangles. The result is a basic turbine form.

8. Click and hold the mouse button, and click the top
midpoint. This defines the rotation axis.

You can also use Rotate on one or more faces of a 3D

objects.
1. For a simple example, create a cylinder and select the
top face.

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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:

4. Undo and rotate again, defining the rotation axis like

this:
Using Rotate to Twist
Keeping with the theme of rotation a single face, Rotate
can also be used to twist a 3D object.
1. Create a polygon (this one has 12 sides) and select
the top face.

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

Scale 6. Undo, and hover on one of the corner handles. Move

Use Scale to resize or stretch selected faces, relative to this handle to resize. By default, corner handles
other geometry. You can also use Scale to mirror objects, cause uniform scaling in two directions - the circle
in effect, turning them inside-out. remains a circle.

1. Draw a multi-segmented polygon (not a circle) in the

red-green plane.

7. Undo again. Using Shift toggles between uniform

2. Activate Scale (Tools / Scale). and non-uniform scaling. Drag the same corner
handle, while keeping Shift pressed. This way you
can create an oval using a corner handle.

3. Select the polygon and press Enter. The circle is

surrounded by a bounding box, with eight drag
Similarly, if you use Shift on a side handle, the
handles. The side handles (as opposed to corner
scaling would be uniform.
handles) are used to scale the geometry in one
direction. A tool tip appears on each handle, telling 8. Push/Pull this oval up. Select the top face and then
you what kind of scaling it will do, and from what activate Scale. (Like the other tools, Windows users
point. can either select the objects and then activate Scale,
or select the objects from within Scale.)
4. Hover over a side handle. Moving this handle will
scale relative to the opposite side handle.

5. Drag, or click-move-click, this side handle. By

default, moving a side handle causes non-uniform
scaling - which means the aspect ratios are not Mac: Objects must be selected before Scale can be
maintained. This is a handy way to create an oval activated.
from a circle. 9. Hover on one of the corner handles, and press
Ctrl/Option. Rather than scaling from the opposite
handle, you are now scaling relative to the center of
the face.

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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.

NOTE: If you press Ctrl/Option and Shift together on this face,

you can scale non-uniformly about the center.

11. Drag back toward the center using Ctrl/Option. In the

VCB, the scaling snaps to whole values and half
values. Release the handle when the scale is 0.5. 16. Now when you scale the same faces as before, only
these faces change, in addition to the faces
immediately adjacent to them.

12. Scaling in 3D works the same way as 2D. Select two

front faces and activate Scale. Now there are 26
handles - corners, sides, and bounding box faces.
17. Drag the top of the bounding box upward.

13. Drag the handle at the center of the front of the

bounding box outward from the model. The entire
model scales with these faces. Try dragging different
handles to see how the entire model adjusts. Note that scaling causes faces to fold automatically.
Fold lines are added to faces that were previously
planar.

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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.

20. Drag this handle toward its opposite handle, stopping

when the VCB reads -1.0. The form now faces the
other direction. 4. Now the scale box is 2D, and aligned to the sloped
face.

5. If the axes are not displayed, turn them on by

selecting View / Axes. Red and green are aligned to
Scaling with the Axis Tool the face edges, and blue is normal to it.
By default, the Scale bounding box reflects the current
red-green-blue directions. But you might need to scale
objects according to a different set of axes.
1. Start with a form like this:

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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.

7. If you plan to continue working in this file, the axes

should be reset or you will get unexpected results
when creating new objects. Move the axes back to 5. The repeat offset does not have to be on the same
their original location by right-clicking on any axis face; double-click one of the vertical faces.
and selecting Reset. If you want to start the next
exercise in a new file, the axes automatically reset.

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.

6. Push/Pull up the middle face on the top, to create a

parapet or railing wall.

2. Activate Offset (Tools / Offset).

7. Orbit around to the long wall and create an arched

doorway. Offset can also be used on a series of
3. Select the top face and press Enter. Move the cursor edges, rather than an entire face. Select all edges of
inward, and the offset distance appears in the VCB. the doorway, not including its bottom edge.
Click to place the offset face inside the original. This
creates a new face.

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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.

4. We will orient the axes to Face A. Start by locating

the origin at the lower left corner.

NOTE: As with most tools, in Windows you can activate Offset,

then select the face or edges, then press Enter and set the offset
distance. On the Mac, you must select the face / edges first, then
activate Offset.

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.

6. The last click defines the green direction. Select any

point on Face A.
Axes
This tool can move the origin and/or change the
orientation of the axes.
1. If the axes are not displayed, select View / Axes.
2. Draw a box with a sloped face, based in the default
red-green plane.

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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.

7. To align the axes with Face B, you could use the

same method, but an easier way is to right-click on
Face B and select Align Axes. 11. Click OK, and the axes move accordingly.

12. To move the axes back to their original location,

8. The axes are now aligned with Face B. right-click on any axis and select Reset.

We’re now back where we started.

9. You can also move and/or rotate the axes by specified
values. Right-click on any axes and select Move.

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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.

6. Continue in this manner along the remaining

segments. until all 18 faces have been created.

2. At the other end of the rectangle, start an arc with

endpoints like this:

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.

4. After the arc is complete, change the number of sides

to 9.

Now the shapes at either end of the rectangle have

the same number of segments.

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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.

The edges that were hidden are invisible. Even if you

orbit the model, you will not see these edges; its
profile lines are hidden.

9. Select a few more edges and hide them by selecting

Edit / Hide. (You could also right-click and select
Hide.)

12. Return to Shaded mode.

13. To see the edges that were hidden, select View /

Hidden Geometry. Hidden edges appear as dotted
(not dashed) lines.

10. For another easy way to hide edges, activate Erase

and press Shift. You can click individual edges or
press and drag over the edges you want to hide. Use
this method to hide interior and exterior edges along
one side of the arc. 14. To redisplay a hidden edge, right-click it and select
Unhide.

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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.

16. To display all hidden edges, select Edit / Unhide /

All. 19. To soften several edges,. activate Erase and press
Ctrl/Option. Note that in the area where the edges are
softened, the face looks smooth.

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.

21. Right-click on one of the selected edges and select

17. Softening edges is similar to hiding them, but can be Soften/Smooth Edges.
used for smoothing as well. Right-click an edge and
select Soften.

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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.

When Angle Between Normals is zero, no edges are

softened. When Smooth normals is checked, the
resulting faces lose their faceted look.
22. Move the slider from 0 degrees to the other end (180
degrees) to see how the edges disappear.

25. Turn on Hidden Line display. Unlike hidden edges,

softened edges are always visible in profile. You can
orbit the model and always see the profile lines.

23. At a certain angle, all the edges will be softened,

resulting in one, smooth face. Now this face can be
selected and manipulated as one face - it is no longer
26. Return to Shaded display. Display the softened
faceted.
edges by selecting View / Hidden Geometry.
Softened edges are shown as dashed lines, as
opposed to hidden edges which are dotted. Draw a
few lines to create a window.

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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.

28. The remaining edges lie within existing faces (even

though you can’t see the faces themselves). You can
soften these edges as well - select them all, 31. To unsoften all edges, select them all using the
right-click, and select Soften/Smooth Edges. Make
selection window you used before. Right-click and
sure Soften coplanar is checked - this softens any
select Select/Smooth Edges, and make sure the
interior, coplanar edges slider is set back to zero degrees.

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.

6. You can now overwrite the area text. Type “East

Wing”and click outside the text area to complete the
text. (Pressing Enter twice also works.)
2. Before creating text, we will set the type of text to be
used. Open the Model Info window to the Text page,
and make sure Leader is set to View Based, and End
Point is set to Closed Arrow. For the font and color,
use whatever you like.

7. For the next text object, click on the sloped roof face
shown.

3. Activate Text (Tools / Text).

8. Then double-click where you want the text.

Overwrite the area with “8:12 Roof” and press Enter
twice. This creates text with a hidden leader.
4. For the first text object, click anywhere in the blank
space in front of the building. Type something like
“Proposed Museum” and press Enter twice to
complete the text. (Pressing Enter only once starts a
new line of text.) The text now appears as one line, in
the selected font and color.

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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.

The other way you can change objects is via the

Entity Info window, as you’ve seen. This way you
can also see how many objects are selected.

Because of these differences, view-based text is

appropriate for presenting still shots from certain
angles, in which you don’t want irrelevant text
cluttering the view. Pushpin text is good for overall Either way, the selected objects now have open arrow
studies and plans, in which you want all text leader end points.
available at all times. This type of text should be
moved using axis direction inferences, so that you
don’t inadvertently move it to another plane.

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.

This type of text object has a “hidden” leader line,

which can be changed using the methods you’ve 2. Now to add some dimensions to this form. Activate
already seen. Dimension (Tools Dimension).
21. Text objects that are anchored to faces or edges
“stick” to those faces when they are moved. To verify
this, Push/Pull the south facade forward; both of its
text objects (“South Facade” and “Optional Roof
Deck”) move with it.

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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.

6. Create a similar dimension on the other side of the

arc face. When locating this dimension, use the
4. The dimension is listed in whatever units are dotted inference line to align it with the
currently set (shown here in Architectural). Open corresponding dimension on the other side.
Model Info to the Units page and select Decimal
dimensions in Millimeters. Use a Precision of 0.0,
so that the dimension will have one decimal point.
Deselect Display units format, so that the “mm”
will not be displayed on every dimension.

7. While Dimension is still active, you can move

existing dimensions. Click one of the shorter
The dimension text should now reflect the new unit
dimensions and drag it closer to the building.
settings.

TIP: You could also use the Move tool to do this.

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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.

12. To dimension the lower arc, click it and click again to

place the dimension.
9. You can also dimension an edge with two clicks.
Click the edge shown, and pull the dimension to the
side of the building.

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.

14. Dimension the upper arc the same way.

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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.

16. With this setting, dimensions oblique to the viewing

plane are hidden. Orbit to a more vertical view, and 20. Move the cursor down and click to create a vertical
the dimensions on the red-green plane will disappear. 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.

17. To dimension the arc face, first display hidden

objects. All the hidden dimensions are outlined in
dashed lines. Click on one of the dashed line at the
center of the face.

22. Now orbit to a more isometric view. Depending on

your foreshortening settings, some dimensions that
were previously hidden should now reappear.

18. Turn off hidden objects.

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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.

27. Change this diameter to a radial one, by

right-clicking on it, selecting Type, and selecting
24. Once a dimension is created, you can still change its Radius.
orientation. Click the dimension for the chamfered
corner and move the mouse so that it is aligned with
the front edge dimension.

The dimension now has the “R” prefix. This method

can be used on both arcs and circles.

25. For the next dimension, click on the center point on

top of one of the circles. Click the other center point,
and create the dimension between them.

28. You can add prefixes and suffixes to dimensions

without changing their numerical value. To edit the
dimension, double-click on it, while in Dimension or
Select mode. (You can also right-click on it and
select Edit Text.)

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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.

31. As you would expect, changes to the model cause

dimensions to update. Push/Pull up the cylinder
whose height you just dimensioned to see this
The dimension text now contains the extra text. But dimension update. Note also that the dimension
the “R” symbol is still there, which is no longer between the cylinder center points does not change,
needed. but its leader lines update.

29. Open the Dimension page again and deselect Show

Radius/Diam Prefix. 32. If you change the size of the model, all the
dimensions will update. You can use the Scale tool
for this, but Measure is better if you want to assign a
specific measurement. So activate Measure and pick
two endpoints of an edge, such as the one shown.

The “R” symbol is now gone. Note, however, that

this affects all radial and diameter dimensions, so be
careful when changing this option.

The VCB displays the actual length of this edge.

33. To assign a new length, simply type it and press

Enter.

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 The Basics

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.

The scale of the entire model, and its dimensions,

increase to reflect the new measurement.

Each dimension is now aligned to its plane. This is

typical of most CAD programs, but can be a bit hard
to read unless you are directly facing the dimension.

Dimension Display and Properties

Some display options and dimension properties were 3. Change the alignment to Above.
covered in the previous section, but this section will cover
the rest. We will continue with the same model.
1. Erase or hide all dimensions except those shown.

The dimensions are now located above the

dimension lines.

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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.

Now the dimension you edited will appear in the

“problem” color. In addition, any dimensions that are
The dimensions are all aligned to the viewing plane, not accurate to the specified precision will now have
and end in dots at the witness lines. a tilda (~) symbol.

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 Basics

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.

10. Use the Measure tool to change the dimension

shown to a whole foot value, and to scale the entire
model accordingly. This dimension does not include
8. To remove a dimension override, simply delete its
“zero inches,” which you would want on final
text. Double-click it, and press Delete to remove the
text. drawings.

11. Back in the Units page, check Force Display of 0”.

The dimension now reflects the actual number, to the
correct precision.

9. Now change the units to Architectural, Precision =

0”, and do not check Force Display of 0”.

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The zero is now displayed.

WARNING: Be careful when using this option, because you
might then create dimensions that immediately disappear!

Lastly, we have already seen how dimensions are

associative to the model, and update with changes to
geometry. But what happens when the geometry used
to create them disappears?
14. Cut a chamfer on the other front corner. The two
dimensions that are affected are those that referred to
the corner that was eliminated. These dimensions
appear in the “problem” color, and not just the text
itself. The witness lines are problematic as well,
12. Another way to avoid clutter is to hide dimensions since it is no longer clear what they reference.
when they get too small to display. In the Dimension
page check Hide when too small. Use the slider to
adjust the display tolerance.

Dimensioning Using the Text

Tool
13. Zoom out on the model, and note how dimensions You have seen how Text can be used to label dimensions.
disappear when they are small enough. Depending on what start point is selected, you can also
label coordinates, edge lengths, and areas.
1. Start with a form like this and activate Text. This
example uses Decimal cm units.
2. For the first point, select one of the corner points.
Drag out the text, and by default it is a label of the X,
Y, Z coordinates of the point.

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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.)

4. To place the text as is, click anywhere outside the

text.
5. For the next text label, click anywhere along an edge.
Place the second point - this time the text shows the
9. However, labeling a circular edge will give you the
edge length.
entire length. Be sure to click within one of the circle
segments, and not on one of the segment endpoints.

Unlike dimensions, the Text tool creates labels,

which are not associative to the model. If you make
geometric changes, or change units, the text does not Using the Axis Tool with Dimensions
update. Dimensions are always relative to the current axes. If you
6. To demonstrate this, change the units to display the need to create dimensions relative to a different set of
unit format (i.e. cm). Create another edge label, and it axes, you can use the Axes tool.
includes the format. The previous labels do not
1. Turn on the axes display and create a box.
change.

2. Activate Axes and create a new set of axes, not

perpendicular to the original axes.
7. Text can also label areas. Click a point within a face,
and the label contains the area.

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3. In the new axes system, create a rectangle.

4. Create dimensions between the rectangle and box.

Dimensions are always in the current axes system.

5. To reset the axes, you can right-click any axis (they

must be displayed), and select Reset. The
dimensions remain in place.

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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. . .

2. Use two arcs to create a cutout section in one corner

of the box. This is the section that will be used in
Follow Me, in a few different ways. 6. . . then move it along the back of the box and the
opposite edge . . .

3. The first way to use this tool is the “real-time” way.

First, activate Follow Me (Tools / Follow Me).

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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.

8. Click at this point, and the section is removed.

NOTE: You don’t always have to select a closed path; just stop
wherever you need.

The real-time, dragging method is great in some

cases, but as you’ve seen, it’s not always so easy to
pick the path. Also, the driven section must be
connected to the path and must meet it at the path
endpoint.
10. Undo again. The next method shows how to set the
path ahead of time. Activate Select and select all
edges along the top (five edges total).
TIP: You can also hold and drag the section all the way around.
Activate Follow Me and click on the section, without releasing
the mouse button. Keep the button pressed and move along the
path. When you release the mouse, the cutout is made.

9. Undo (hotkey: Ctrl/Cmd + Z) to restore the top edge

of the box. Try the real-time Follow Me again, using
the edges shown. Don’t leave out Edge 11, which
takes you back to the start point.
11. With the edges selected, activate Follow Me. Then
select the cutout section.

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This drives the section around in one step. 15. Then activate Follow Me and select the section - the
cutout goes all along the face.

12. Undo, and pre-select the edges you used before.

16. Undo and use the face-select method with a side
face. . .

13. Activate Follow Me and use the same cutout section

- the same results as before. But with an unusual path
. . . with this result.
like this, it’s an easier way to make sure you get a
clean, closed result.

17. Undo again. If you want to drive around a face, you

don’t have to pre-select it. With nothing selected,
14. Undo. If you plan to drive a section around a face,
activate Follow Me. Select the section, press
you don’t have to select each edge in advance. Use
Alt/Cmd, and select the top face. Do not click yet.
Select to select just the top 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.

This is the result - the section is removed from both

faces (with a little cleanup needed).

22. Undo and create a section like this, all outside the
building.

The Alt/Cmd-face method is convenient, but only

works on sections immediately adjacent to the driven 23. Drive this section along the top. Now the section has
section. dragged the walls out with it.
19. Now we will see how driven sections affect the forms
on which they are created. Undo to erase the arc
section and draw a small circle at the corner shown.

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.

. . . but if you look inside, you’ll see that the vertical

26. Activate Follow Me. The section to drive is within walls of the room remain unchanged, though you can
the group, so right-click the section and select Edit see the outline of the group.
Group.

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.

Within the group, the section is driven around the

top. 30. Use the bottom face for the path. If you select this
face (as opposed to the edges), be sure to first heal it
into one face.

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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.

Follow Me with Components

The previous exercise showed how you can avoid
“stickiness” with Follow Me by using groups. You can
also use components for the same effect, with the
advantage that you can reuse sections repeatedly. A good
Here’s the problem - the intersections here are not example is the use of moldings.
clean either. 1. Start with a box and remove the floor, so that you can
see the moldings.

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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.

In Model contains the molding section you just

created.

4. Undo, and select the molding face. Make it a

component by using the icon or selecting Edit /
Make Component. (Or right-click on the section
and select Make Component.) Assign a name and 6. To drive this component around the top of the box,
be sure that Replaced selected is checked. first select the top face or the four top edges. Then
activate Follow Me. Right-click on the component
and select Edit Component. Select the molding face
and it proceeds along the top face.

7. Right-click outside the molding and select Close

Component. (You can also go to Select mode and
click outside the component bounding 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.

8. In the browser, you can see that the component has

changed - it used to be a 2D section, now it is the
entire molding.
2. Select the new, larger circle. Activate Follow Me,
and select the smaller circle. The smaller circle is
driven around the larger one.

9. Look up from the bottom - the molding appears on

top of the box walls and ceiling.
3. Erase the larger circle to get the sphere.

You also could have driven the larger circle around

the smaller one, but then you would have to erase a
circle inside the sphere.
4. For another way to create a sphere, start with a
half-circle arc closed by a line.

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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.

6. Select the circle, activate Follow Me, then select the

arc shape. The sphere is created.

12. Undo, and move the circle to this corner point.

7. To create a hemisphere, start with the same arc shape
as before. Draw a perpendicular circle of any size at
the midpoint of the arc shape line.

13. The extrusion this time has the rectangular cutout on

8. Select the circle and activate Follow Me on the arc the outside and the curved portion on the inside.
shape, to create the hemisphere.

9. Where you place the circle affects the outcome of the

extrude. Draw a rectangle with some lines and arcs
inside it. Erase as needed to make a face like this.

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14. Here’s a funny aspect of Follow Me. Change the

circle so that it is a half-circle. (This is easily done if
Intersect with Model
These easy exercises are a good introduction to Intersect
the circle has segment endpoints along the face edge.
with Model. This tool basically enables you to perform
Then you can use a line to divide the circle, and erase
solid Boolean functions - combining, intersecting, and/or
the top half.)
subtracting one solid from another.

Cutting and Embossing

This exercise shows how you can use Intersect with
Model to create the edges needed to make cutouts.
1. Start with an arc and use Offset to create an outer arc.
15. Use Follow Me along the 180-degree arc (not the Connect the arcs with lines to complete the face.
half-circle face). If you look closely, you can see that
the start and end faces are not flush.

2. For future reference, right-click on the original arc

and select Point at Center.

16. Undo, and make sure nothing is selected. Activate

Follow Me and select the face, then extrude it
manually along the arc. Now you can see the
problem - the face is Push/Pull’d along the first arc
segment, and after that the extrusion is curved. So,
NOTE: If this option does not appear, open File / Preferences
arcs don’t always give you the results you’d expect. to the Extensions page and check Ruby Script Examples.

This creates a construction point at the center of the

arc.

To remedy this, you can try an arc with many more

segments. You’ll still get an extrusion that’s not
exactly 180 degrees, but it’ll be closer. The
disadvantage is that more segments make for a more 3. Orbit to face the front of the arc face, and use
complex, and therefore slower, model. Freeform to create a shape like this.
Another way is to use the “slice and copy” method.
This will give you the exact shape you want, but
takes a bit more work. This will be shown later in the
exercise "Domed Apse" on page 269.

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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.)

9. Switch to X-Ray mode and Push/Pull the freeform

body so that it stops inside the wall.

There are now edges where the freeform face meets

the wall.

10. Select the freeform body and activate Rotate. Place

the protractor at the construction point and
rotate-copy the original form on either side.

6. To see these edges better, delete the portions of the

freeform body that extend past the arc wall on either
side.

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11. The intersection edges are only needed on the outer

face of the arc wall. Right-click on this face and
select Intersect with Model. Erase the overhanging
portions to see the three sets of intersection edges.

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.

2. Now we need to move the cutout all the way through

the box. Select the arch form and try to move it into
the box. It can only move side-to-side.

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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.

7. Undo until you return to the step in which you had

4. With the group still selected, activate Rotate with two arch groups. Select both groups, right-click and
Ctrl/Option to create a copy 90-degrees from the select Explode.
original.

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.

This is how the arcade should look from below - a

nice vaulted ceiling.

2. Create a narrow, tall box that can be used to cut grill

holes.

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.”

6. The easiest way to edit this component is to blank

everything else. On the Components page of the
Model Info window, check Hide for both
components and the rest of the model.
9. Close the component by double-clicking outside it,
or right-click and select Close Component. If you
try selecting and deleting the interior faces, you can’t
do it yet - the grill face is not yet broken.

7. Select the entire component (select everything - only

the edited component is selectable) and perform an
intersection. The edges where it meets the grill are
created.

10. To break the face, you to use the components as

cutters. Select all of the components and run
Intersect with Model again.

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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.

4. We will add skylights to this sloped roof. Display the

This works because the grill is a hollow shell, and not a Component Browser (Window / Components).
full solid. To do the same thing with a solid, you would Open the Shapes category and click one of the
have to explode each component. Or, see the next exercise spheres.
for a work-around.

Hiding Intersection Edges with

Components
This exercise is a neat work-around to the problem of
model intersection, in which you cannot find edges on a
component when its intersecting face has already been
cut.
1. Start with a short rectangular box. Right-click one of
the long top edges and select Divide. Move the
cursor until the edge is divided into three segments.

5. Drag the sphere to the sloped face. Use Scale and

Move to place it and make two copies of it along the
sloped face. Run Intersect on the sloped face to
create cutting edges.

2. Do the same for the other long top edge.

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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.

7. If intersection edges are created, it is where the

sphere overlaps with other spheres. Undo any
intersection edges, and close the component.
10. Erase everything but the face that represents the
8. Here is the crucial step: select and Hide (do not skylight.
erase) all the intersection edges. Do not hide the
cutout faces, however! The roof face has to appear
whole.
The easiest way to do this is to keep Ctrl/Option
pressed and use several left-to-right selection
windows. Be sure not to create any selection window
that would enclose an entire cutout face, or an entire
component. With all edges selected, press H or
right-click and select Hide.
11. To make this realistic, open the Material Browser
. This should be the result: no intersection edges
(Window / Material Browser). In the Library, open
visible and the components are still in place.
the “Glass + Transparent” category and click one of
the glass thumbnails. Click the skylight face to apply
the glass material.

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12. Close the component. The skylights appear on the

roof, but you cannot see through them because the
Combining Follow Me and
roof face is still whole. Intersect with Model
These exercises use both tools, which you’ll find are very
often used in conjunction with each other.

Project: Creating a Wall Niche

This simple exercises shows you how to use Follow Me
to create a rotated form to use as a cutout, and how to use
Intersect with Model to make the cutout.
1. Make the cutout using an arch shape, driving it
around a circle using Follow Me. To easily find its
center later, place a vertical construction line at the
13. Display the intersection edges you hid before (Edit center point.
Unhide / All). Then hide the skylights. What remains
are those edges you hid before. Erase the cutout
faces.

2. Create a box, and use the cutout’s construction line to

move the cutout halfway into the box.With the niche
still selected, right-click and select Intersect with
Model. The edges along the box are now created.

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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Try It Yourself 4. Use Follow Me to drive each section along two

Create a niche using different cross-sections. complete edges. If you preselect edges, be sure to
pick all segments that comprise the two edges.

5. Use Intersect with Model to clean up both corners.

Project: Intersecting Moldings Replace faces as needed.
This exercise may not represent a typical or practical
design (a funky picture frame), but it’s useful to know
how to handle objects that intersect. It demonstrates how
to use Follow Me to easily create interesting edges, and
uses Intersect with Model to trim them to one another.
1. Start with a flat box for the frame itself, then draw a
vertical arc starting from the endpoint of one edge.
Copy the arc to the opposite corner.

2. Zoom in on the copied arc, and draw a rectangle that

encloses it. This should be the result:

3. Erase the arc, and change the section to something

like this:

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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.

4. Now create the cross-section for the table leg. This

example includes some detail at the bottom and top.
Use the circle at the bottom with Follow Me to
complete the leg.

2. Draw circles and use Follow Me as needed to get

this:

5. Use Intersect to get the intersection edges between

the two parts of the leg, and trim as needed.

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Project: Creating a Faucet 5. Move the handles into place.

Like the previous exercise, this exercise shows how to
create revolves, and shows what happens when Intersect
is used with components.
1. Start with the faucet base section. In Front view, use
lines and tangent arcs to draw the outline of the
faucet cross-section. The drive the cross-section
around a circle. It will help later if you add a
construction line where the center of the faucet will
be.
6. Save the file, naming it something like faucet.skp.
We will look at a few ways to create intersection
edges, and will need to jump back a few times to the
faucet as it is now.
(If you want to download this faucet file, go to
www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5Files.htm and
download the file “faucet.skp.”)
7. Run Intersect with Model and hide the handles to
see the intersection edges.

2. Now for the faucet handles - each one will be a

component. Start with a half-section like this . . .

3. . . . and drive it around a circle Place a construction

point at its center; it will help later with placement.

NOTE: If you had hidden any of the handles before intersecting,

the intersection edges would not be created.

4. Make the handle a component and make a few

rotated copies. The handles overlap at the middle, so 8. Erase the circular cutout faces.
use Intersect with Model to trim them.

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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.

13. Close the component. If you switch to X-Ray mode,

The result - nothing happens. The faucet body has
you can see that the handles do not protrude into the
already been cut at the intersection, so there is no
base.
actual intersection anymore.

NOTE: If you did the exercise "Hiding Intersection Edges with

Components" on page 94, you know there is a workaround to
this - hiding intersection edges first. Then you could get
intersection edges on the handle.

10. Go back to the saved version of the file - there should

be no intersection edges.

14. Revert to the saved file once again. Now select

everything - body plus four handles and intersect
everything. Hide the handles to see the intersection
edges.
11. This time run Intersect on a handle to see where it
meets the base.

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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.

20. We will now shorten the handle so that it just barely

sticks into the faucet body. Use the construction point
to draw a circle in the blue direction. Move this circle
so that it intersects the handle somewhere between
the end and the intersection edges.
16. Verify this by editing one of the handles - the
intersection edges do not appear.

21. Select the circle and handle and perform an

intersection. Then trim the handle on the other side of
the circle (and erase the circle itself).

17. If you want to trim the handle by these edges, you

need to Explode the handle first. Now the
component can be trimmed.

22. Finally, erase the intersection edges you created

when you first edited the handle.

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.

24. Now explode each of the original handles. Select the

faucet and all four exploded handles, and intersect
them. Trim away the parts of the handles that
protrude from the body.

25. Then erase the circular faces on the base. What

remains are solid cutouts you could use to insert the
handles. The faucet body itself is still a solid, making
it more realistic than the shell we’ve seen until now.

26. Now you can move the copied handle components

back down, and you have five solid pieces. In X-Ray
mode, you can see how the handles protrude partially
into the base.

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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.

6. Erase the window face.

2. Select the window (all four faces) and move the

window outside the boundary of the front face. It no
longer makes a cutout.
7. Select the window again and copy it. The copy also
cuts out the window.

3. Now move the window by clicking one of the inside

endpoints, and placing it on the front face. The
window now sticks out of the building.
8. Copy a window to the side face, to which it aligns
and cuts.

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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Multiple Linear Copies 5. Draw an arched window. Make it small enough so

that several copies can be made in the red direction,
If you want to make repeated (array) copies, you can
and one copy in the blue direction. Make one copy in
easily do this using the Move tool.
the red direction.
1. Start out with a new box. We will assume that we
know some basic dimensions about this building, and
that we need to figure out a layout for its windows.
To set the first dimension, we will use the Measure
tool. Click the endpoints that define the width.

6. As long as Move is still active, you can play with the

spacing and number of copies. Look at the VCB to
see the delta distance you just used. (Of course, what
appears here depends on your model.)
2. Use Measure again to create a construction line 10’
above the bottom. . .
7. Type a larger spacing and press Enter. If you are
using feet and inches, you do not need a space or
dash - just type something like 7’6. (7’6” would also
work, as would 7.5’.)

The copied window moves a bit farther from the

original.
3. . . . And adjust the box height to meet the
construction line.
4. Verify the height by checking one of the vertical
edges in Entity Info.

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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.

9. The spacing is too far apart, so type a spacing that

will bring the windows closer together. Rather than
type in feet and inches, you can also type in decimal
feet, like 4.75’.

12. If you need to, adjust the vertical spacing by entering

a distance. The second row from the top should be
located slightly above the top of the box. The bottom
two rows should both be within the face of the box.

10. There are still too many windows, so type 3* (you

can use * or x) to make four 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. . .

Linear array copies are not limited to orthogonal

(horizontal or vertical) directions. The remainder of
this exercise will focus on sloped copies.
18. Draw a small circle on the top left corner of the front
face. Erase the face to create a window.

15. . . . and Shift-lock them along the axis perpendicular

to the vertical face.

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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.)

21. The slope of the window line is too steep. Enter

<3’,0,1’>.

25. Enter 4/ to create four equal divisions between copies

(five total windows).

22. Add more windows along this line by typing 5*.

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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.

5. Now use Erase to delete everything that extends past

the bottom of the roof. Erase the center of the bottom
face as well, and you now have a roof with some
thickness.
2. Use Move with Autofold to move the center point up
(in the blue direction).

6. The first object to be copied is a window shape in the

roof. Use Offset to create a small triangle in one of
the roof faces. Select the triangle and activate
Now we’ll use a Boolean subtract function - using Rotate. Use Shift-locking to keep the protractor flat
one shape to cut volume from another. The cutting and place it at the center. Make the first rotated copy
shape will be a copy of the original one. by clicking two adjacent corner points.
3. First complete the bottom face. Then create a copy of
the roof slightly below the original.

In this example, the rotation angle was known, and

appears in the VCB. The angle is 60 degrees, which
is 360 divided by six faces. You could have entered
this value manually, but the reference point method is
useful for cases when you do not know the exact
angle.

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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.

11. Now type 6/ to specify six divisions between copies.

For a 360-degree rotation, this also means six copies.
Press Enter, and the arch appears (uncut) on each
face.
8. Now onto the base of the gazebo, which will be a set
of hexagonal walls. Use Offset, Erase, and
Push/Pull as needed to create the base.

12. Remove the arch faces.

9. Create an arched opening on one wall.

Select the arched doorway. In this case, you should

switch to Wireframe to verify what’s selected.

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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.

5. Draw the two lower horizontal lines the same way,

and complete the dormer form with lines along the
roof.

2. Now move the ridge endpoint back, constraining it to

the ridge direction.

6. Complete the dormer by creating two pushed-in

windows and erasing faces. You’ll also have to erase
the section of the roof face within the dormer. This is
how the dormer should look from inside (hide the
3. To get the proportions of your house to match this, side of the face to peek in).
use Move to move the roof faces down.

The next step is to create a simple dormer. It should

be small enough so that you can fit three of them
along the long side of the roof.

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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.

8. Copies are automatically aligned to their destination

face. Place another copy on the sloped gable. This
dormer might not be exactly vertical, depending on
the slope you used. But you get the idea - the cutout
12. The final result - a simple house with seven dormers.
is still made, and the dormer is still perpendicular to
the face.

9. Now copy the three dormers straight back.

Using Offset for Roofs
This simple exercise will demonstrate how to use the
Offset tool. This is useful for creating parapets and
overhanging roofs.
1. Start with a form like this and use Offset to offset the
top face.

10. Use Scale on the three copied dormers to turn them

“inside out,” using a scale value of -1.

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 Working with Roofs

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.

7. The offset lines still touch the adjacent building -

Offset correctly constrains all endpoints.
3. Erase these small vertical lines in X-Ray mode.

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.

5. Undo what you’ve done so far, until you’re back at

the simple building form with no offsets. Add a
larger, L-shaped form behind it.

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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.

Save this model as RoofHouse.skp.

This form will be used to explore three ways to
make a uniformly sloped roof.

Method 1: Set Slope and Double

Constraints 3. Use the cursor to indicate the direction of the roof
This method is probably not what you’d use to actually angle (above, not below, line C-F), and type 8:12;
solve this problem, since it’s complex and there is an this ratio is automatically entered in the VCB. Press
easier tool to use (Follow Me). But it’s a good way to Enter to create the construction line.
master double constraints.
1. On the house form, draw the two valley lines and
three ridge lines. The following references points Because the ridge lines will be moved upward using
will be used: Point E, the construction line needs to be positioned
correctly.

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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.

4. Now Select all three ridge lines.

10. Push/Pull this chevron face back to the valley

intersection with the main roof (Point D).

5. Select all three ridge lines and move them up by

Point E until it meets the construction line.

6. Because the construction line is no longer needed,

right-click it and select Erase.
7. Since we’ll want to refer back to this state of the
model later, save the file as
RoofIntersections_before.skp.

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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.

14. The last (upper) chevron point needs a double

constraint to move into the proper position. Start
dragging this point along its ridge line (along the
axis) and Shift-lock this direction.
12. Use Move to drag the lower middle chevron point to
Point E.

15. Keep pressing Shift. Because it is the rear face of the

center roof (Face D) that will be extended to connect
with the modified (higher) roof, place your cursor
anywhere on this face. When the line-face constraint
appears, click to relocate the chevron point. This will
place the point at the correct location along the ridge
line to generate the same 8:12 slope as Face D.

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16. Clean up the rear face by deleting the extra line. 19. To complete this corner, draw the line shown.

17. Now the slope on the interior corner needs to be

readjusted. To do this, you need to create a valley line 20. Now erase all extra lines. This roof is now resolved.
from Point D that lies at the correct angle on the
center roof. So draw a line from Point D that is
constrained to Face E. Press Shift to lock this
constraint.

21. Now swing around to face the front of the diagonal

18. Keep Shift pressed, and place the cursor anywhere wing. Create another 8:12 construction line on this
along the center ridge line (H-E). Use this double face. This time the roof is too steep. Draw another
constraint to create the new valley line. chevron shape as before, which will be used to
remove material from the roof.

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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.

The lower apex point also needs to be moved, and

needs to be constrained along the diagonal roof ridge
line. This point can be moved freely along the ridge
line, but the ridge line can’t be used for a double 27. Orbit to face this area. Move the top triangle point so
constraint because it is not parallel to any axis. that it is constrained to the center roof ridge line (in
24. Therefore, create a construction line along this ridge. the red direction), press Shift . . .

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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.

3. Replace the front face, and use an 8:12 construction

line to draw a triangular face. Push/Pull the
triangular face to the end of the house.
29. Erase all extra lines at this corner.

4. Replace the edges of the center roof, by constraining

their endpoints to both the center ridge line and Face
Now all three roofs have the same slope. Be sure to A.
save the file (RoofIntersections.skp), because you
will use it later.

Method 2: Delete and Recreate

This method is a slightly faster way to achieve the same
results. It will give you some more practice withe double
constraints.
1. Go back to the preliminary file you saved -
RoofIntersections_before.skp.
2. First we’ll resolve the wider, 90-degree wing. Erase 5. The original center roof ridge line is now too long, as
all the lines you know will change (five total). you can see in X-Ray view. Erase the extra portion of
this line.

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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.

This replaces one face of the center roof.

8. That takes care of the perpendicular wing, but the

diagonal wing is a bit trickier. Swing around to that
side and erase the five edges you know will change.

12. From Point G, draw a line constrained to the center

ridge line and the adjacent diagonal face. This
replaces the other face of the center roof, but there’s
some trimming to do.
9. Replace the front face, place an 8:12 triangle on top
of it, and Push/Pull the triangle to the other side.

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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.

4. To continue with the cleanup, select all faces above

Method 3: Roofing with Follow the ridge line and delete them (press the Delete key).
Erase edges and recreate faces as needed to get the
Me resolved roof.
This is the easiest method; you use the tools Follow Me
and Intersect with Model.
1. Start with the initial house form - RoofHouse.skp.
2. Create the 8:12 construction line, and create a
triangular section of the roof. Make sure it extends
past the halfway point of the wing.

In these few steps, you have created (almost) the

same roof as in the previous two exercises, but
without all the tedious constraint work.

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5. The only difference between this roof and the

double-constraint method roof is that the front roof
faces are also sloped, not vertical. To straighten these
faces, use Move on the top points with double
constraints.

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.

Now we will create the section for the overhang roof.

It will be a simple rectangle that touches the front
face at its top left corner. There are infinite ways you
can create this section, but this way seems the fastest.

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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.

6. Drive this section along the other side of the roof.

3. This section will have to be used for the other side as

well, so it will need to be copied and mirrored. Create
a vertical construction line at the midpoint of the
diagonal wing. Select both the roof section and the
construction line and use Move to copy it anywhere
in the blank space.

7. The rest should be familiar: Create intersection lines

and trim.

4. Use Follow Me to create one side of the roof.

8. Cleanup the front of each wing by extending the roof.

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The results - all edges on the top are neatly 2. Copy the six lines down slightly.
resolved. . .

3. Push/Pull one of the new faces outward and

double-click the remaining faces to extend them out
the same distance.

. . . as are the intersections on the underside of the

house.

Project: Overhangs by Moving

Faces The 90-degree corners don’t need to be fixed, but the
diagonal ones do. We can either fix the corners now
Here’s an easier and faster way to achieve similar results.
or later, so let’s fix one now. Look at the inside corner
This method works when all slopes are uniform.
- the one that overlaps.
1. Open the saved file RoofIntersections.skp. Select 4. Draw two intersection lines on the top . . .
all six roof edges.

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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.

6. Erase all extra lines on the top and underside of the

roof.
The other corner is easy to fix. Here’s the whole
house - fixed corner and all.

You have now created a continuous overhanging roof

using a pretty small number of steps. The difference with
the result here is that the fascias are all vertical; in the
previous exercise the fascias are at right angles to the roof
planes.

7. Now select the six vertical fascias.

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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).

8. Now if you create the smaller form along the same

common wall, you can move its edges, and the form
4. To separate the forms, draw the line shown on the itself, wherever you want.
bottom face (if it’s not already there).

5. If you try moving the smaller form, you are restricted

to the common face. You cannot disconnect it from
the larger form.

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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 Groups and Components

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.

2. Push/Pull the base down. The original circle was

automatically divided into two faces by the square,
and the square face was not included in the 6. Select all visible portions of the column and base and
Push/Pull operation. erase. Hide the top rectangular face, you will see that
a portion of the base still remains inside.

3. Erase the base, and group the column.

If you had grouped the column and base before

embedding it, the whole thing could be selected and
manipulated, ensuring that no portions are left out.

4. Now you can create a circular base with one

Push/Pull. The base does not stick to the column,

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Project: Using Groups for Unsticking Objects from a

Cutting Group
Groups (and components) can be very useful as cutting Sometimes you may create a group that you might later
tools. This is because of their “unsticky” nature - they want to break. An example of this could be a group of
remain separate from other objects surrounding them. objects from which you want to remove some objects and
place them elsewhere, outside the group. Editing a group
is straightforward; you know how to delete objects from a
group. And a simple cut-and-paste operation enables you
to preserve the removed objects and insert them
elsewhere.
1. Create a nut-and-bolt group and place it in a box.

1. Start with a form like this and make a cutting shape

that passes all the way through. Make this shape a
group.

2. Edit the group (right-click and select Edit Group, or

just double-click it in Select mode). Cut (don’t
erase) the top nut.

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.

This is a simplified example, but the method is easy and

clear. You can also use this method to copy (not cut)
objects from a group, then paste them elsewhere.
The Outliner enables you to easily move objects in and out
of groups, as well as components, as you’ll see later in this
chapter.

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Introduction to Components 3. Open one of the folders, such as

Transportation_Sampler, to see the *.skp files it
Like a group, a component is a collection of objects that
contains. Each of these files is a file that can be
works as one unit. But components can be reused in a file,
opened itself within SketchUp, and can be inserted
as well as in other files.
into another file as a component.
Many components are provided for you (see "Where to
Find More Components" on page 137), and you can create
your own. Components can either exist only within the
file in which they were created (internal), or can be
exported for use in other files (external).

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.

Mac: To find component files, start in the root

directory and go to Library\Application Support\
SketchUp\Components. Components are added
automatically to this library; or you can add them
manually here.
2. In Windows, for predefined components, use your
browser to open the SketchUp5 / 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.

When a component has been placed in your model, it

appears in the In Model area of the browser. Click the
house icon to open this category.

Mac: This folder structure is only visible if you have

clicked the Component option in the drop-down menu
while in Icon view.
You can also access folders from the drop-down menu.
All components currently defined in the file are listed
here.

You can also access In Model from the dropdown list.

Open a folder to see the components (*.skp files) it

contains. If you hover over a thumbnail you will see the
component name.

To change the view from thumbnails to a text list, click the

arrow to the right of the dropdown menu. Select List
View.

To insert a component, simply click a thumbnail, then

click in the graphic area where you want to place the
component. You can also drag a component out of the
browser and into the graphic area. If you have many components that look similar, the text
list may make components easier to locate and insert.

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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.

Inserting and Editing Predefined

Components
Editing components is a simple procedure. We’ll start
with predefined components, to save you the trouble of
creating your own (for now). 5. Select the entire truck (you can only select objects
1. Open the Transportation_Sampler category and within the component, so select everything). Note
insert an armored truck, a delivery truck, and a sedan. that the other truck component is also selected. Then
use Scale to make the truck taller. Note that the other
truck updates the same way - this is the essence of
components: change one and you change them all.

2. Open In Model. The three components you inserted

will appear here.

6. Right-click outside the component and select Close

Component. You can also click anywhere outside
the component (while in Select mode) to close it.
3. Switch to List View to see the components listed by Now both trucks are taller.
name.

4. Insert another armored truck, and open either truck

for editing (right-click and select Edit Component,
or just double-click it in Select mode). The opened
This is an important point: you did not change the
original component you took from the
Transportation_Sampler category. You only changed
the definition of the component in your model.

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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

8. Right-click on any truck and select Entity Info. This

tells you that there are three instances.
11. You can also change one or more component into a
new component. Select two of the components,
right-click and select Make Unique.

9. In the Component Browser, right-click on

Truck_Armored and select Select Instances.

12. Edit one of these trucks and perform some change

like adding a window on the back.

Now all three armored trucks are selected.

13. Close the component. Only the edited trucks were

changed.

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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.

You can change this name by right-clicking on the

component in the browser and select Properties
(Windows only), or via the component’s Entity Info.
15. Now for the sedan. Right-click on it and select 18. Open the Outliner (Window / Outliner). Open the
Entity Info. sedan to expand it, and you can see the same nested
components listed.

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.

24. Now this vehicle is no longer grouped, and does not

The wheel is open for editing, and you can still see a act as one individual object. Its sub-components are
faint bounding box around the sedan as well. This is still intact, but now they appear as first-level
how you can tell that the wheel is nested within the components in the Outliner.
sedan component. Also, the wheel’s icon in the
Outliner indicates that the wheel is open for editing.

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.

22. Click outside once more to close the sedan for

editing.

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28. Lastly, we can rename the component of the armored

TIP: You can display nested components in the browser, without truck with the window. In Windows, right-click on it
exploding their parent component first, by clicking on the
right-facing arrow and selecting Expand.
and select Properties.

26. Right-click on one of the sedan wheels and select

Entity Info. As before, you can see the component
name and number of its instances.
29. Use this window to assign a new name.

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.

NOTE: To purge all unused components, materials, and layers,

open Model Info to the Statistics page and click Purge
unused. This opens SketchUp’s component download page. These
are free, and download / installation instructions are listed
here. This page can also be accessed from the main page
(www.sketchup.com) under “Downloads.”
SketchUp’s “Partners” page also has a list of sites where
components can be found. On the main company page
(www.sketchp.com), click “Company” at the top. Then
click “Partners” just below the main bar at the top. Try the

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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.

Creating and Saving

Components in the Library
This exercise creates a window component. After it is
created, it can then be saved as its own file to be used in
the future as a component.
1. Start with a long box and create a window outline.
NOTE: If you right-click a group and select Make Component,
this assigns an automatic name (Group#1) to the component.
You can then change the name in the component’s Properties
(Windows only) or Entity Info.

NOTE: If the component is capable of cutting a hole in the face,

then Cut Opening will automatically be checked. If the
component cannot cut a hole, as in the case of a double-faced
wall, this box will be grayed out.

2. Complete the window like this, using Offset and

Push/Pull, then erasing the window face. 5. Drag (or click and place) more of these component
from In Model onto the front and side faces of the
box.

3. Select all elements of the window, and select Edit /

Make Component. (You can also right-click on
selected objects and select Make Component. Or
you can click the Make Component icon. Mac: This
icon is available when you customize your UI. See
"Toolbars / Tool Palettes" on page 306.)

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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.

The component is defined only for this file; at this

point you cannot use it in other files. To do this, the
component must be saved as its own *.skp file.
7. Right-click on any of the windows, or on the
component in In Model. Select Save As.
10. For this new folder to appear in the drop-down list of
component folders, click on the small arrow at the
top of the browser and select Add Folder.

8. Browse to where the predefined components are kept

(Program Files\@Last Software\SketchUp5\
Components (Mac: Library\Application Support
\SketchUp\Components). Create a new folder here 11. Locate the new “Windows” folder.
called “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.

15. Open In Model. The new component does appear

here, with a new name. To save it into “Windows”
you would have to go through the same Save As
procedure you used before.

The new component appears here, and can be

accessed in future files.

Component Source Files and

Reloading
This exercise will show you how to create a component in
NOTE: If you did not want to use Add Folder, you could simply its own file, insert it and manipulate it in another file, and
select Components from the drop-down list. Then “Windows” make changes to the component in its original file.
would appear as a sub-folder of Components, along with all
other folders defined within Components. 1. We will first make a bookcase component. In a new
file, draw a rectangle starting at the origin, and
Push/Pull it down (not up!).

13. Now select two of the windows and make them

unique. Edit either one of these, and make a new
change.

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.

3. Save this file as bookcase.skp in whatever folder

you choose. As we will see later, this change only affects the
component in the current file. The original bookcase
NOTE: Open Window / Preferences to the Files page to see file is not changed.
the default components where components are placed. 7. Erase the previous component, and insert another
one from In Model. This time you insert it by its
4. Start a new file (you can have more than one instance lower corner.
of SketchUp open at once) and draw a rectangle in
the red-green plane to serve as a reference.

5. To insert this component into the model, select File /

Import / 3D Model, and find the component you just
Immediately after inserting a component, you are in
saved. Make sure you have Files of type set to skp.)
Move mode (note that the Move icon is pressed).
You can also drag a *.skp file straight in from your
browser. The insertion point is based on where the
origin was in the bookcase’s original file.

8. In addition to being able to move the component, you

can also rotate it. Move the cursor over any face of
the component’s bounding box, and four crosses
appear. These are rotation handles.

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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.

11. Insert another bookcase from In Model. While still

in Move mode, use Scale to make the bookcase wide
and short.

Both bookcases now have the same scale.

You can have multiple instances of the same

component that have different orientations and
scales. This does not affect the definition of the
component itself.

NOTE: If you had selected Scale Definition, that would have

reset the default scale to that of the selected bookcase. Any
future instances of the component would then be scaled.

14. Now we will go back and edit the bookcase in its

original file. Save the current file and return to
bookcase.skp.

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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.

20. Back in the other file, reload again. Now the

bookcases are inserted correctly.

16. Save the bookcase file again.

17. Returning to the other file, right-click on one of the
bookcases and select Reload.

Alignment and Insertion

Point
Components can be set to automatically align to faces in
your model, and you can adjust the point at which they are
inserted, relative to the alignment face.
1. We will create an octagonal window for this, so start
with an 8-sided polygon. To get it aligned with the
red-green axis, rotate it 22.5 degrees.

TIP: You can also access Reload from the component’s

thumbnail in the Component Browser, or from a component’s
Entity Info window.

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.

4. Try inserting the window into the side face. It will

not align to it.
7. Try inserting another window on the sloped face. The
window does not align itself to this face.

5. Press Esc, or Undo if you placed the window. Open

its Properties, and under Alignment, choose to glue
the window to Vertical faces. This is how window
components are typically created - lying flat in the 8. Open the Properties again, and change Vertical to
red-green plane, and set to stick to vertical walls. Any. Now you can insert a window into the sloped
face. They align correctly, but they do not cut the
faces.

Mac: The Properties option does not work as of this

writing. Alignment must be defined when creating the
component. To modify an existing component, you
must first explode it and then redefine it as a
component with the desired alignment.

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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.

12. Set the gluing plane to this:

Now the windows cut the face, and you can see into
the box.

13. Create the component, and insert this new window

onto a face. It is inset, and the face is still cut. A face
is always cut along a component’s gluing plane.

These windows are inserted so that their frames stick

out. We would like to change this so that the window
frame is flush with the wall (i.e. the window itself is
set into the wall).
10. Insert another window into the blank space and
Explode it. We will now see how to change the
insertion point and gluing plane of a component
while creating the component. 14. Here’s an easier way to do the same thing.
Right-click on either of the two original components,
and select Change Axes.Use the same steps to
change the window’s inserting point and 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.

4. Use Move with Ctrl/Option to copy the leg once.

The Outliner: Manipulating

Groups and Components
This exercise will show you how to move groups and
components around, and how to combine them.
1. We will start with a table that has nested components
(also called sub-components). In the red-green plane
draw a rectangle approximately 5’ x 2’-6” (look at 5. In the Outliner, select both leg components. (You can
the VCB to see the dimensions of the rectangle). use Shift or Ctrl/Cmd to select multiple items.) This
Push/Pull it a bit. selects both components in the model.

2. Make this box a component called Table Top. Open

the Outliner (Window / Outliner), and the
component is listed. The four-square symbol next to
the component name indicates that it is a component. 6. Copy both legs to the other side of the table.
(The Outliner can also contain groups, which we will
see later.)

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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.

8. Now some components can be nested into larger

components. Select all components of the base: four
legs and two rails. Right-click and select Make 11. Now to add some more components. Start by adding
Component, and call the new component “Base.” a floor under the table - this provides a reference
plane for adding more objects.

12. In the Component Browser, open the

Architecture_Sampler folder. Add a sofa and
bookcase, using Move and Rotate as needed. There
9. You can make groups and components directly in the are now three components in the model.
Outliner as well. Select Base and Table Top and
make it a new component called Table. Now the table
consists of two nested components.

In the Component Browser under In Model, all

components are there, whether they are nested or
alone.

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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.

14. Now highlight a sub-component of the

sub-component (such as Group#12). Both the sofa
and its first-level nested component 16. To change the component name in its definition,
(Component#15) are now open for editing. There are right-click on Left Half and select Entity Info. The
dashed lines surrounding all components and instance name is displayed above. Enter a new
sub-components, so you can tell where you are in the component definition name, such as “Sofa Half,”
heirarchy. under Definition.

Now both sofa halves have the same component

definition name.
15. The name “Component#15” is not very helpful if you
are looking for a particular object. Right-click on this
item and select Rename. Assign a name like “Left
Half.”

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.

18. Now select all three components in the Outliner and

make them a group. Now the furniture is placed 21. Highlight the table in the copied group. This opens
under the “Group” heading. Groups are indicated by the group, indicated by a single, open square
a single-square symbol. surrounded by a box.

19. Use Rename to change the name to something more

meaningful. The next step is to change the table top. This
component must be made unique, but Make Unique
is not available for this sub-component.

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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.

23. The table is assigned a new name (Table#1, but you

can change it). Now you can make the Table Top The group now has a lock symbol, as do all the
unique. components within the group.

24. Right-click on this new table top component and

The color of the bounding box and object outlines for
select Edit Component. Make some changes to the
locked groups and components can be set in Model
table top, like adding glass.
Info. Open the Colors page and set the color for
Lock.

To exit editing mode, you need to close

sub-components, then main components.

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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.

27. Look at the group’s Entity Info window - the

Locked box is checked. You can uncheck the box to
unlock the group.

This makes the table a first-level component - it is no

longer part of any other component or group. The
furniture group now contains only the sofa and
bookcase.

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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.

The table disappears from the display, but it still

appears in the Outliner, in italics. This is an easy way to change a group - otherwise
you would have to cut or copy the object you want to
add to a group, then open the group for editing, then
paste it in.

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.

33. The last feature of the Outliner is the Filter. Type

“leg” into the Filter field (Mac: Search field). This
31. In the Architecture_Sampler folder of the will highlight all items in the Outliner that contain
Component Browser, find the coffee table. Insert it this string. If the Outliner is collapsed, the
next to the sofa and bookcase where the previous highlighted objects will not be displayed.
table was hidden. The coffee table is a first-level
component.

34. Right-click on blank space in the Outliner and select

Expand All.

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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.

36. Do the same for the string “table.” This highlights

hidden tables, table tops, and the coffee table.

3. Insert another one of these from In Model; the wall

is not cut.

4. To resolve this, explode the component. The lines of

the window are thick, so fix this by redrawing any of
the window lines or segments.
Cutting Openings
Components can cut an opening on one face only, so if
you are working with double-faced (or double-sided)
walls, the back face will not be cut.
To create openings on both faces, you need a few extra
steps.

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.

TIP: Another way to create the cutout would be to explode the

window component, redraw a segment of the window on the
5. Recreate the back face. Explode both of the windows
front face, and Push/Pull to the back face. and resolve the thick lines.

Cutting Method 2
1. Starting with a box and a window like before.

6. Erase the window cutouts on the back face.

2. Because components can only cut through one face,

we can eliminate one of the cut faces. Erase the back
face of the wall.

3. Now when you make a component out of the window

objects, Cut Opening is available (and checked),
and the component will glue to Any face.

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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.

4. Select the entire window and make it a component

called Arch Window Frame. Glue it to None.
2. Create a post in the center of the window, and use Because we want to set the location of the insertion
Push/Pull to cut the window on either side of it. point, click Set gluing plane and set it like this:

5. Click Create to create the window component. Now

insert another copy of the component. It is inserted at
the correct depth, but there is no cutout. You cannot
see the post, and the wall face hasn’t been divided by
3. Push each of the four walls of the post slightly the window.
inward. This ensures that the post is contained within
the wall, so that you won’t see this post when you

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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.

7. The component axes will be changed one more time,

so that it will be inserted at the lower corner of the 11. Now insert a window component at the lower corner
cutout shape. Use Change Axes to place the origin of the cutout.
here:

Future insertions of the cutout plus the window will

8. Erase the window component, and only the arch now involve the following three steps:
cutout shape remains. Future insertions of the cutout plus the window will now
involve the following 3 steps:
1. Insert an arch cutout component and Explode it.
2. Push/Pull to create the opening.
3. Insert a window component at the corner of the hole.
The advantage of this method is that you can have a cutout
shape accompanying each window, so that you don’t have
to create intersection edges each time. The disadvantage is
that inserting each window now involves three steps.
9. Select the arch cutout face (double-click the face to
select it plus its edges) and make it a component.
Leave both Cut opening and Replace selection
blank.

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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.

7. Select the top window objects (be sure not to select

3. Select this arch and make it a component, called the bottom arch component) and make it a
Back Cutout. Make sure it can glue to Any face, with component called Front Cutout. Make the
Cut openings, and with Replace selection. parameters the same as the back cutout.
4. Copy this component 12” upward (or use any known 8. Open the Outliner (Window / Outliner) to see both
distance). Start copying the blue direction, type 12 front and back components in the list.
and press Enter.

The front and back cutouts are both set to cut

openings, but you don’t want to insert them
separately each time. So, you can create a component
comprised of these two components. This is called a
nested component (components within a
component).

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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.

The Outliner now shows one component with two

nested subcomponents. This type of component is a bit heavier to prepare than
simple windows, but once it’s done you can cut your walls
with one click. But the disadvantage is that the component
is dependent on the wall thickness. The next method
solves this problem.

Nested Cutting Components -

Any Wall Thickness
10. Now draw a 12” thick rectangle in the red-green This method uses nested components that can be used to
plane. The easiest way is to draw a long rectangle, cut walls of any thickness. It is similar to "Creating a
and then type “,12” to change the second dimension. Window Component Plus a Cutout Component" on page
155, which uses two separate components - the window
plus the cutout shape. This method uses a single
component, but does not allow for window frames on both
sides of the wall - only the front. (To use a component with
11. Push/Pull it up to create the vertical wall and insert a details on both sides of a wall means you need to have a
12” Arch Window component into the wall. set wall thickness.)
1. Start in Top view like before. (If you want, you can
start with a wall and create all the components
vertically - that also works here.)
2. Draw one arch shape (keeping the face within it), and
copy it. Make a window from the copy, using
transparent glass and another material for the
window frame.

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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.

4. Make a Window Front component from this framed

shape (not including the original arch shape). It
should be glued to None, and it does not cut
openings.

The new component appears in the Outliner,

consisting of one nested component. (The arch face
is also part of this component, but it does not appear
in the Outliner because it is not a group or
component.)
5. Move the original arch into this new component,
fitting it into the cutout area. (It might be easiest to do
this in X-Ray mode.)

7. Make a vertical wall of any thickness and insert the

Window and Opening component.

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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.

3. Make a component from this window and set it to cut

openings. Insert one of these components along
9. Check the window from behind. The wall has a neat another face. It properly aligns to the face, cutting an
cutout, and there is a face of glass where the window opening in it.
starts.

4. Now insert a component over a joint between two of

the wall segments. It cuts only one of the faces.
Cutting Holes in a Curved Wall
In order for a component to cut, its cutting face must be
entirely contained within the plane it is cutting. But what
if the wall is curved? A curved wall is actually a series of
connected flat planes, and if a component is placed over a
joint between walls, the component will not be able to cut
both walls.
1. First we need to create the curved wall. Start with an
arc. Use a small number of segments, such as 6 or 8.
Use Offset and Push/Pull to create a wall, and
display hidden edges.

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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.

9. Close the component and run Intersect with Model.

At this point you could finish up by creating the
intersection between the window and the walls,
exploding the component, and trimming. But we’ll
do another few things first in order to demonstrate
the Scale tool, which makes it a bit easier to visualize
the intersection edges later.
6. Because we will be scaling this component, it will be
easier to work with it if everything else is hidden
while editing. Open Model Info to the Components
page, and click Hide for Fade rest of Model and
similar components. 10. Before the window can be trimmed, it must be
exploded. Then you can erase the extra lines and the
window face.

7. Make this window unique Right-click on the window

and select Make Unique, edit it and activate Scale.
The bounding box doesn’t correspond to the
orientation of the window - the box dimensions are
relative to the axes of the overall model.
NOTE: You also could have exploded this cutout before making
it into its own separate component. The advantage to keeping it
a component is the ability to hide the rest of the model while
editing it.

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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.

Create the main building and one out-building. Make the

out-building a component. Use Scale to mirror the
3. Use Move with Ctrl/Option to copy all cutouts to the
outbuilding, and place it in the correct location. Edit either
adjacent face. You can do this in two steps: Copy
component.
loosely to get the cutouts aligned to the face, then
move Move to place them relative to the neighboring
cutouts.

Whatever you add to the edited component appears on the

other one, in the correct orientation.

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:

1. Create a tall box with a window cutout. Make a

component from the cutout and add several copies of
it.

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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.

6. Right-click on the new window component in the

If your file has a large number of complex
browser and select Replace Selected. This replaces
components, the speed can get bogged down. A good
all the selected components with the one that you
way to prevent a file from getting too heavy is to use
right-clicked in the browser.
simplified components as temporary placeholders.
9. Start by drawing a line and a circle to represent a tree.
Make it a reasonable height, like 20 or 30 feet. (If the
building size needs to be adjusted, use Scale - the
components will scale with the building.)

7. Make another window unique and open it for editing.

To make this window different, a canopy and a sill,
and give it a new color. 10. Make the line and circle into a component, and check
Always face camera. This means that 2D
components will always be parallel to the screen, and
will not look like cardboard cutouts.

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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.

As components go, 2D trees and people are “light”

12. To replace all placeholders (not just selected ones) components, and will not bog down your file too much. If
with a component, use Reload. You can access you have numerous 3D components, however, using
Reload by right-clicking any placeholder placeholders is a great way to keep up speed while
component, or by right-clicking the item in the working on the file. At the last minute you can switch out
Component Browser. the placeholders for the real thing.

Tips for Efficiency with

Components
• If you want to make a component of a symmetrical
object, it's handy to make a component of one half,
make a copy, then mirror the copy.
• As you may have noticed, when you delete all
instances of a component from your file, it still
13. To find a predefined tree, browse to where the appears listed in In Model. These components are
predefined components are installed still attached to your file, and having a large number
(...SketchUp5\Components\Landscape_Sampler). of them can slow down performance. Therefore, it’s
Choose any tree, and all tree placeholders are a good idea to purge the ones you’re not using.
replaced with Face camera trees. You can purge an individual component by
right-clicking it and selecting Purge. (Components
that are in use have this option grayed out - this can’t
be used as a way to mass-delete components.) In In
Model you can click on the right-facing arrow and
select Purge Unused. To get rid of all unused
components, materials, and layers, open Model Info
to the Statistics page and click Purge unused.
• The number of instances of any component does not
affect performance (since they are all copies of the
original). But if you use numerous and complex
components, this can get cumbersome. To solve this,
you can use substitute components - simple objects
like lines or boxes - as placeholders for the real thing.
Then when the model is ready, you can replace the
placeholders.

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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).

Windows Material Browser

(Mac users: see "Mac Materials Browser" on page 169.)
The Material Browser looks like this. It is one of 2. Click Roofing to see the materials in that category.
SketchUp’s stacking windows. Hovering over a thumbnail will open a tool tip telling
you the name of the material.

All materials are either a solid color or a graphic. The

graphics provided are jpg’s, and are located by
default in the folder ...\@Last
Software\SketchUp5\Materials. You can use the
browser icon to locate graphic files in any folder,
including those you make yourself.

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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3. Note that the default tab you’re in is called Library.

The library contains all the material included with NOTE: In Windows, you cannot click Edit because materials in
the library cannot be changed from within the browser. You can,
your installation, plus any you add to it. But there are however, edit materials in the In Model tab, as we’ll see later.
no materials yet defined in your model. Right-click
on any material and select Add to Model.
6. Clicking Create opens a window in which you can
create a new material based on the one you selected.

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.

• HSL: Hue, Saturation, Luminance values.

• HSB: Hue, Saturation, Brightness values.
5. Returning to the library, right-click on a material and • RGB: Red, Green, Blue values.
select Create. You can also click the Create button
at the top of the browser. 7. Change the material name (or use the name provided
by default), and then modify the color.

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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.

There is also a Delete option. Be careful not to delete

materials you might want! The deletion is not final
however; you will be asked if you want to save
changes to the library.

Mac Materials Browser

On the Mac, the browser is actually called Colors, but is
sometimes also referred to as Materials browser.
To show the Materials / Colors browser, click the Paint
icon, or select Window / Colors.
The browser appears, by default, on the right side of the
screen, but you can move it anywhere.

Colors Click Color Sliders to specify a color numerically by

The default color is initially blank, meaning that your RGB, CMYK, or HSB values.
faces are unpainted when created. There are several ways
to select colors and textures to assign to faces.

When you want to apply color, SketchUp uses the Mac

OSX internal Color Picker (Color Wheel) or any color
chosen from Color Sliders (Grey Scale, RGB, CMYK, or You can also click Image Palettes and select the
HSB sliders), Image Palettes, Texture Palettes, or preinstalled Spectrum image, then use the magnifying
Crayons. glass to pick out a color. Or click Crayons for an easy way
You can activate the Color Picker by clicking on any color to view and pick colors.
well in the SketchUp interface, such as in the Material Below the Color Picker Panel is the User Palette - an
browser pane. expandable palette of small color wells into which you
Below the toolbar is the Active Color Well, which shows can drag colors that you frequently use.
the current selection. You can drag and drop colors from
this well into your model or into any other visible color
well.
To add a color to the User Palette, drag a color swatch
NOTE: You cannot drag textures from this well into your model.
from any visible color well into one of the small wells.
If you do, you will simply get the solid color associated with the
texture. Dragging a color over an existing one will replace it. You
can delete a swatch by dragging an empty square over it.

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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.

If you want to be able to edit a material or image, you need

to create a “personal” palette. (Colors and textures used in
your model are automatically added to Colors in Model,
which is the only place they can be edited.) Open the List
dropdown menu at the bottom of any pane and click New.

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:

TIP: “Default” is always available. If you want to return any face

to its non-painted state, just apply Default as you would any
material.

5. Click one of the roof faces to paint it with

2. Open the Material Browser to the Roofing category CorrugateRust.
and add CorrugateRust to the model.

NOTE: Faces in SketchUp are double-sided, and when you

apply a material it generally paints one side only. The exception
is when you use transparent materials, as you’ll see later in this
chapter.

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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.

7. In Windows, look at the thumbnail in the In Model

browser. It now has a small white triangle at the
lower right corner, to indicate that it is in use.

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.

Mac: There is no indication for materials in use.

8. For the next material, go to the Stone category, and
click Stone-masonry. Now this material is active.

Now the edges are no longer black.

9. You can apply this material to each face separately,

but there are easier ways. Press Ctrl/Option and click
any vertical face of the large building. This applies
the material to the selected face and all faces
connected to it - directly or indirectly - that have the
same material as the clicked face (Default, in this
case).
You can continue to work this way, or set the edges
back to All Same.
In the In Model tab (Mac: Colors in Model), there
are now two in-use materials.

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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

13. Now activate a new material, like Concrete-warm.

18. Undo, and reapply the brick while pressing Shift.

Now each “Concrete-warm” face is replaced by
brick.

14. Click any one of the selected faces to apply the

material to all three.
Even though Concrete-warm is no longer used, it still
appears in In Model / Colors in Model. In Windows,
its “in-use” triangle indicator is gone.

15. Deselect all faces.

16. To demonstrate the use of Shift again, select yet
another material, such as Brick - dark grout.
19. Keeping lots of unused materials can bog down your
file, so it’s a good idea to get rid of the ones you don’t
need. Right-click on the thumbnail of
Concrete-warm select Delete (Mac: Remove). Or
right-click on the right-facing arrow in In Model and
select Purge unused (Windows only).

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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.

Mac: There is no dropper icon, so you must use the

Paint + Cmd method.
21. Select the face shown, and its material
(Stone-masonry) is indicated in the browser. (Sure,
you could have figured that out without using the
dropper, but imagine how useful the dropper is when 24. Now click the chain symbol, which unlocks the
you have dozens of materials in use!) aspect ratio.

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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.

NOTE: If Update Library Copy is grayed out, open the Library

and make the sure the active category is Stone (the category
where “Stone Masonry” came from).
26. Another thing you can change is color. Use the color
wheel, or adjust the RGB (red-green-blue) or HSL Be careful with Update Library Copy - you might
(hue, saturation, luminance) values to change the not want to overwrite library materials. And if you
color. This example uses a nice, deep green. use Add to Library, there will be two materials with
the same name.
Mac: You can change the name of a material in
Colors in Model by editing it and entering a new
name.
28. Don’t change any libraries, and go back into edit
mode. Change the name to something like
GreenStone.

Mac: While the Edit pane is available, you can

access any of the Mac color pickers (RGB, CYMK,
The new name is reflected in the tool tip.
greyscale, HSL, or Color Wheel) to change color.
You can also change any material in the browser by
editing it, then clicking on any other material in the
browser window. If the other material is a bitmapped
texture, the selected material will change to that
texture; if the other material is a solid color, a
bitmapped texture will be colored that color.

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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).

33. This opens a window in which you can choose any of

the materials in the In Model tab. (Note that this does
not open the entire library.) Select the brick, and click
30. Switch back to the library, and here is your new OK.
material. The material is placed in whatever category
is open under Library.

The selected face is now painted with siding.

31. In Windows, you can change a face’s material via its

Entity Info. Right-click on one of the GreenStone
faces and select Entity Info. (If the Entity Info
window is already open, you can use Select and
select one of the faces.)

34. One last thing: Draw rectangles on a couple faces,

and Push/Pull them in or out. New faces that are
created like this have the same paint as the face from
which they originated.

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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.

5. Undo, and use Ctrl/Option to paint the same face.

Only the faces above the already-painted face are
painted.

2. Pick a material and use either Shift or Ctrl/Option to

select one face, which paints the entire form.

This is because these top unpainted faces are not

contiguous to the bottom unpainted faces - the
continuity is broken by the painted horizontal face.

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.

4. Go back the previous material, press Shift, and click

the vertical face shown. This paints all faces that
have the same material as the selected face (in this

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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.

3. In the Materials browser, locate the Glass -

Transparent category. There are a few predefined
materials here, but as you’ll see, you can make any
color or texture image transparent.
4. Select a solid transparent material such as Dark
Green Glass and apply it to the lower half of the front
face.

Mac: Even though the opacity slider is present in the

browser at all times, adjusting the opacity will not
affect a selected material unless that material is
immediately painted onto an object. When that
happens, a new 'transparent' material is created in
the browser and the original material remains
unaltered. If the material is then edited, changing its
transparency changes the material itself, without
creating a new material.
The face is colored, but you can still see through it. 6. Just like any other material property, adjusting
opacity is reflected in real time on the model. Move
the slider closer to zero percent to see the
transparency increase. . .

7. . . . and move it closer to 100% to make the material

more opaque.

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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.

12. When you edit this material, its Opacity is 100%,

and its preview shows a solid swatch. Use the slider
to increase transparency. You can now see the sloped
form behind the cylinder.

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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.

The transparent stone material should now have

more of a multi-colored look. 17. Set the Opacity of the cylinder to a value greater
than 70%. Once this value is exceeded, the material
casts shadows.

14. Check Colorize, and the material color is uniform.

15. To return the texture to its original state, check Reset
Color.

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.

22. Switch to Shaded. This causes the textured materials

to appear in their solid colors.
Faces in SketchUp are two-sided. By default a
transparent material is first assigned to both faces,
but you can then apply a different material to the
opposite face.
20. Finally, we will adjust some transparency display
properties. Open the Display Settings (Window /
Display Settings) and deselect Enable
transparency.

23. Lastly, turn on X-Ray mode. Now the entire model is

transparent.

NOTE: If you need to expand the window to see this option, click
the down arrow at the top of the window.

This makes all materials appear opaque. Remember,

the top section of the preview swatch shows how the
material looks when opaque.

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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.

4. You can still make this face double-sided. Apply any

other material, transparent or not, to one side of this
wall. Orbit to the other side, and the original
transparent material remains.

2. To these four interior faces, apply an interior finish

like ceramic tile. This, in a nutshell shows how you
can have two different materials on any face.
5. You can change a solid material to transparent,
without affecting the material on the other side. Edit
the material you applied to the exterior walls, and
decrease its Opacity. Now you can see in, but you
can’t see out.

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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.

If the interior walls of the large house are transparent, and

its rear wall is transparent on both sides, you can see the
small house behind the large one.
The underside of the floor is still unpainted.

Project: Using Transparent Faces

7. Make this floor material transparent. Now both sides
of the floor are transparent.
to Simulate Fog Effects
Create a house with several trees behind it. Place
numerous large rectangular double-sided transparent
faces behind the house, and adjust the opacity to simulate
fog.

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Materials of Groups and 5. If you want to apply different materials to different

faces of the group, you must do it from within the
Components group. Edit the group, and apply a material just to the
The previous exercises demonstrated how to apply horizontal face.
materials using the Shift and Ctrl/Option keys. When
groups and components are in use, this can change the
way faces are painted. Just like individual faces, groups
and components can have their own default materials. The
exercises in this section will show you how this all works.

Overview of Materials and

Groups
This quick exercise will show you how groups are 6. Close the group. Now the only unpainted faces are
affected during mass painting, and how to handle painting the sides of the group.
groups themselves.
1. Create a form like this, and make a group of the
protrusion. Use Shift to apply a material to any face
of the box (not a face of the group). This applies the
material to all unpainted faces, including those in the
group.
7. Make a copy of the group. To paint the remaining
faces of the first group, choose another material and
select any of its faces (even the face that is already
painted). This material is applied to all faces of the
group that are not yet painted.

2. Undo, and use Ctrl/Option to apply paint to the same

face. This time the faces of the group are omitted.

8. Choose a different material to paint the copied group.

3. When you apply a material to any face of the group,

the entire group is painted. Activate a different
material and click any face of the group. All of its
faces are painted.
9. Just as you can always change a face’s material, you
can change the material of a group. Change the
second so that it looks like the first.

4. Undo to bring the group back to the unpainted state.

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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.

11. In the Material Browser, find the Default material in

In Model.

2. For one way to create the counter, use Push/Pull

with Ctrl/Option on the top face. This creates the
counter faces, but they have the same material as the
12. Edit one of the groups, and apply Default to the
cabinet, which is not what we want.
painted horizontal face. This face takes on the default
material of the group, and not the global default
(unpainted) material of the overall model.

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.)

5. For a nicer looking cabinet, edit the group and add

some doors. In this example, Move/Copy, Offset,
and Push/Pull were used.

This exercise will focus on how components themselves

are painted, and their default colors.
We will use car components, since they are already
created for you, and contain a variety of colors.
1. In a new file, bring in an armored truck. Some of the
Materials of Components faces of this car are painted (transparent windows
Using materials on components works pretty much the and black tires), but the body faces are created in the
same way as for groups. The main difference is that you default material - Face Front.
can implement material or color changes over all
instances of a component, whereas each group would
have to be edited separately.
As with groups, components can be omitted when
mass-painting faces. This building has one door
component and two window components.
If you change the default colors of the model, the
color of the truck body will change as well. This is
set in the Color page of Model Info.

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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.

3. Click on any body face of the truck, and Default is

indicated as the face’s material.
4. A component’s (or group’s) default material is also
listed in its Entity Info.

The In Model component browser still contains one

component - the basic definition of the truck is the
same.
10. Bring in two more trucks, and color each one
differently.

5. In the Materials browser, open In Model, where you

can see the various colors used for the tires,
windows, brake lights, etc.

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.

6. We will change the color of the truck body, but first

we’ll set the appearance of the edges. Open the
Display Settings and set Edge color to By Material.

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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.

17. In Model now contains two components, and the

new one is given a name automatically. You can
change its name via Properties (Windows only),
Entity Info, or using the Outliner.

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.

Default Component Materials

As you’ve seen when painting a component, the material
is applied to all faces of the component that have the
component’s default material. In the car exercises, all of
the components had Default (unpainted) as their material,
14. To change colors, you need to edit the component. so their unpainted faces took on whatever material you
Open it for editing, and apply the new color to all of applied.
the faces. Mac: The default material is the first thumbnail in Colors
In Model. You can change this color by changing the
Face Front color in Model Info. However, you cannot set
a texture as the default material. If you try, you only get
the basic color of the texture, not the texture itself. Note
that if you change this default color, that you must restart
SketchUp in order to revert to the original color.
Not all components have Default as their assigned
material, however. If a component has a specified material
or color, then it is faces of this material/color that will be
This color change does not affect the original replaced by an applied material. Confused? Try this short
component in the Transporatation_Sampler folder exercise.
(which is still gray), but it has changed the version in 1. Start with a four-legged table. Apply a wood material
In Model. to the legs.
15. Bring in another red sedan from In Model. 2. Make a component of the table and insert a few more.
Apply a different material to each table. The material
is applied to the table top only, because these are the

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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.

4. Right-click on the new component and select Entity

Info. Click on the material thumbnail.

8. In Windows, as you’ve seen, a component’s default

material can be changed without affecting the
component itself. Right-click one of the changed
tables to open its Entity Info. The default material is
no longer wood - it is the material you applied.
5. Select the wood material to make it the component
default.

Mac: Open Model Info / Colors and change the

Face Front color - this will become the new default
component material. You cannot specify a texture
here; only its base color will be used. Remember, if
you change this default color, you must restart
SketchUp in order to revert to the original color.
The table faces are now all wood.

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Texture Positioning 4. Return the face to its original position.

The rest of this chapter focuses on how you can 5. To set the texture so that it sticks to the face, you
manipulate texture files, including image files, to fit your must position it. Right-click on this front face and
model. To understand how this is done, this exercise gives select Texture / Position.
you the basics on positioning texture.
There are two modes you can use to position textures:
Fixed Pins and Free Pins.

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.

3. Select the smaller front face and move it from side to

side. The texture stays in place while the face moves
- the texture does not stick to the face. 7. Click anywhere on the texture and keep the mouse
button pressed. Move the mouse around to drag the
texture to a different location.

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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.

The green pin is used for overall scaling and/or

rotation. Right now we will use it just for scaling.
9. Drag the green pin to the lower right corner. Now
three full stone blocks fill the face horizontally.

The blue pin is for shearing (making diagonal), as

well as vertical scaling.
12. Drag the blue pin up or down so that four rows of
blocks fit vertically in 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.

15. Slope the front face by moving the edge shown.

18. To return to the original texture, right-click on the

face and select Texture / Reset Position. The blocks
return to their original size and position.

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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.

24. Leave position mode.

Now we will see how to apply this modified texture
to the rest of the model. The texture in the Material
21. Now drag the green pin outward to increase the Browser is the original one, so if you apply it to any
overall scale. This is how you can rotate and scale the face (including the changed one), you will get the
texture in one step. original, unscaled, unsheared, unrotated blocks.
25. To sample a texture, use the Paint tool with Alt/Cmd
pressed. In Windows, you can also click the dropper
(Sample Paint) icon.

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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.”

NOTE: To save a picture from a website, right-click on the image

and select Save Picture As. Some images are copyright
protected and cannot be saved.

1. Start with a house and an estimated rectangular

outline for the door.

TIP: You can also pick up a texture by pressing Alt/Cmd while in

Paint mode, and clicking on a face.

27. Now apply this material to the other faces. The

sloped blocks now appear on all faces.

2. There are a few ways to insert a picture to be used as

a texture. One is to select File / Import / 2D
Graphic. Locate the picture where you saved it.
Place the picture on the door by first clicking the
lower left endpoint. Then size the picture
approximately to the door by clicking somewhere
along the right edge of the door. The picture probably
Free Pins won’t fit exactly, but it will be tweaked to fit.
Free pin mode is useful when you want to make an image
fit within a certain shape. It is not as exact as Fixed Pin
mode, but handy when you need to make adjustments by
eye.
Imagine you’ve designed a house and your client hands
you a picture of a friend’s house that has the exact door he
wants. You can use the picture as a texture on the door,
and use free pins to fit the picture exactly to the door in
your model.
This example uses the door shown below. It was taken
from the site www.spiritelements.com, in the “Custom
TIP: If you want to drop the picture onto a face at its current size,
Doors” category. just double-click on the face. Press Ctrl if you want to place the
picture by its center. Press Shift while placing the second corner
point if you want non-uniform scaling.

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3. Right-click on the picture and select Entity Info. The

picture itself has a bounding box, similar to a group NOTE: There is a more efficient way to bring in a material like
this, as you’ll see later in this chapter.
or component. Its entity type is “Image.”

5. Erase lines as needed to get one face - the face you

originally created for the door. The picture does not
fit yet, but we’re about to do just that.

4. Right-click on the picture and select Explode.

6. Right-click on the image and select Texture /
Position. To enter Free pin mode, right-click and
deselect Fixed Pins. In Free pin mode, there are four
yellow pins around one of the tiled images.

Exploding does two things. First, the picture is now

included in the model as a material.

TIP: While in either Free or Fixed Pin mode, you can switch
modes temporarily by pressing Shift.

7. Like in Fixed pin mode, place the cursor anywhere

on the image, and drag it to move the picture around.
Second, the picture is now a painted face - no
You can use this to place the door in its general
bounding box. This can be verified in Entity Info.
location.

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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.

9. Place the pin at the closest door corner, disregarding

(for now) the arch portion at the top.

If the picture isn’t perfectly aligned, you can

continue to lift, move, and drag pins until the
alignment looks good.
12. To keep this image “distortion” (you distort the
image to make it look right), right-click and select
Done. (Or click anywhere in the blank space.) Use
Arc to fill in the missing arch portion at the top.

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.

2. Explode the picture. Now it acts as a regular

15. Now move just the door edges, not the face itself. SketchUp face, and the picture appears in the
This places the door shape on another portion of the Material Browser.
door image, so be careful not to do this!
TIP: You also could have dragged the picture in right from your
browser, and then scaled it.

3. For this next step, it might help to change the edge

color. Open the Model Info window to the Colors
page and select a color for Edges that contrasts with
the tree.

Using Pictures to Create

Realistic Objects
If you have pictures handy, you can easily use them to
create photorealistic objects you can place in your models. 4. Now use Line and/or Arc to trace around the tree.

Creating a Painted 2D Tree

This exercise uses a picture to create a tree in your model.
Here is the picture that will be used:

If you want to use this exact image, you can find it at

www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm.
Download the file “pinetree.jpg”
Any picture of a tree can be used. If you don’t have tree
picture, try a person, street lamp, road sign- something
that you would always want to face you in a 3D model
(not appear as a 2D cutout).

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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.

NOTE: The picture is not positioned with respect to the edges

around the tree. Therefore, if you select only the edges (not the
face itself) and move them, the edges will no longer enclose the
tree - they will move along the original picture.

6. Make the tree a component, and insert a few more of

them around the house. Use Scale to make some
trees wider, shorter, or taller, or to make mirror
images.
10. Turn on shadows via the toolbar or by selecting View
/ Shadows. Adjust the month and time of day to see
the shadows cast by the trees. (Make sure the bottom
of the tree rests on the ground plane.) The shadows
have the correct shape and orientation.

7. Orbit the model around - the trees look like how they
were created - flat cutout faces.

8. This can be changed in the definition of the

component itself. Even when components have
different scales, their properties are still the same. In
Windows, open the Properties or Entity Info for the
tree component and check Always face camera.

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Creating a Painted 3D Bus Mac: Right-click on the texture swatches in Colors in

This exercise uses a picture to create the side, front, and Model and select New Texture. You can also click
top of a bus. This will work for any vehicle, but a bus is Image Palette, and select New from file to browse to
handy because it’s prismatic. You can do a web search for the image you want to import. This method should e
a bus picture, but the one used in this example is from the used only if you want to import an image from which
Greyhound web site - you want to sample colors particular to that image.
http://store.yahoo.com/greyhoundlogoshop/. (It’s actually 3. In the Mix New Material window, check Use
a toy bus, but it looks real enough!) texture image and browse to the bus picture. Make
Here is the picture: the size something realistic - if you keep the lock
symbol as is, you can enter 30’ for the length and the
height will update automatically. Finally, enter the
name of the new material (“Bus”) at the top left.

You can also find this picture at

www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm.
Download the file “bus.jpg.”
1. First make a box in the general shape of a bus. If you
care about making it realistic, use Measure to make
the length something like 30’. This new material now appears in the In Model tab
of the Material Browser. Paint this material onto the
side of the bus.

2. You can import a picture as a texture via the Material

Browser. Click the Create button at the top.

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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.

7. If necessary, move pins and drag them again to make

the picture fit the way you want. When finished,
5. Place Pins 3 and 4 the same way. right-click and select Done, or click in the blank
space.
The side of the box looks good, but the tires are cut
off.

8. Push/Pull the bottom of the box so that the wheels

from the picture are visible. Use lines and arcs to
trace the bottom of the bus to include the wheels.

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.

11. Undo. A better way is to “sample” the material on the

side of the bus and apply it to the front face. The 15. To apply the material to the opposite side face,
picture still needs to be adjusted, but its placement is sample the texture on the first side and apply it. It has
correct along the edge shared with the side face. the correct shape and orientation, only backward!

12. If your picture isn’t facing the right way, or is upside

down, you can right-click and select Flip /
Left/Right or Up/Down. Enter teture positioning
mode.

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Project: Creating a Clubhouse Project: Creating a Birdhouse

This picture is of a children’s playhouse, taken from The picture used here is of a birdhouse that you can find
www.thebeanbagstore.com/onlinecarlsclubhouse.htm. (If on several websites. Do a web search for “heartwood
this site disappears or changes, try a web search for “carl’s swiss chalet.”
club house.”)

You can also find this picture at

www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm.
You can also find this picture at Download the file “birdhouse.jpg”
www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm. In this example, bring in the picture and draw the 3D
Download the file “clubhouse.jpg.” model alongside it, approximating its dimensions.
Like with the bus, create a 3D model from this picture. It’s
easiest to start with a known rectangle like the front door.

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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Wrapping Images 3. Sample this positioned texture and apply it to

This exercise shows you how to wrap a picture along adjacent faces. The wrapping is correct, according to
planar faces from a set angle, and how to modify a picture the horizontal alignment of the original face.
wrapped around a curve.
The picture used here is a map of the continental USA, but
any image will work.

4. If you want an alignment that is not along one of the

faces, you must have a properly-aligned face for
sampling. Undo to return to the unpainted box.
If you want to use this exact image, you can find it at
5. Insert the image again by itself (make sure Use as
www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5StudentFiles.htm.
texture is unchecked). Place the image anywhere, at
Download the file “USAMap.bmp.”
a similar scale as before.
Planar Faces
1. Start with a cube and use File / Import / 2D
Graphic. At the bottom of the Import window is a
checkbox for Use as texture; make sure this is
checked. Browse to the map image.

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).

7. Explode the image. Now the image is a normal,

painted face.

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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.

12. Right-click again on one of the faces - Projected is

now checked.
9. To verify this, right-click and select Texture. In the
submenu, Projected is not checked. Curved Faces
1. Now draw a cylinder and apply the unskewed picture
to it. The image wraps smoothly.

2. Use Move to resize the cylinder. Now the image is no

longer smooth. This is because the image is actually
10. Undo. This time sample the paint on the tilted face applied to each planar segment separately.
and apply it to a face of the box. This time the image
is skewed.

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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.

6. For another example of a projected image, start a

new file and draw a box. Locate the map file in your
browser, and drag it right into SketchUp, placing it
along one of the vertical faces.

The picture wraps smoothly, but you cannot

right-click on the face to access texture positioning.
4. To change the orientation or scale of the image on a
curved face, first display hidden edges. You can now
access positioning for any segment. In Fixed pin
mode, use the green pin to rotate the picture.

7. Use Scale on the image and/or Push/Pull the box, so

that the image is enclosed within the face.

When finished, only the edited segment has the

rotated picture.
8. On the top face, draw two tangent arcs and Push/Pull
the front of the box all the way down.

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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. . .

. . . but in an isometric view you can see distortion

along the curved face.

10. Use Intersect with Model to get this result. Trim

extra edges and soften edges.

12. Just like with the cylinder, to manipulate the textures

on this wavy face, you need to first display hidden
edges. Then right-click on any face segment and
select Texture. Projected is indicated as the current
11. Sample the exploded picture, and apply it to the format; select this option to toggle it off.
wavy face.

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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.

NOTE: To use mapquest, type in any address and click Search.

Zoom in or out as needed, then right-click on the graphic and
select Save Picture As.

1. Start by selecting File / Import / 2D Graphic.

Browse to where you saved the map picture, and
insert it into the model. An image inserted this way
does not need to be placed on a face.

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.

2. Explode the image and use Freehand to draw a few

wavy lines on the face. If drawn correctly, (starting
and ending on the face edges), they will be thin-lined
and will divide the face.

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.

7. From the Sandbox toolbar, click From Scratch.

4. To smooth the face, we will join edges. First, select
This enables you to create a flat grid at a set spacing.
the edge shown. Activate Move and move the edge
Enter a value for the spacing (you can redo the grid if
up from Point 1 to Point 2.
the spacing doesn’t look right).

8. Click one corner, then move the cursor along one

edge to define the first grid edge. The tick marks
represent the spacing you defined. Extend to the first
This is the result - the step is gone and edges are tick mark past the end of the edge, and click.
added where needed.

5. Use the same method to smooth out the entire

surface.
9. Move in the other grid direction, and click to define
the size of the grid.

This is one method for creating a realistic-looking

topo surface. The advantage of starting with just the
image is that you do not have to start out knowing the
10. You can now erase the original four edges.
exact dimensions of the map - you can build the
model based on the picture. 11. The grid is grouped, so Explode it.

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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.)

13. Click somewhere on the grid and drag the points up

or down. Do this in a few places to get a nice topo
surface.

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.

19. Now to place a building directly on this topo surface.

Display the flat image if it was hidden (Edit /
Unhide / All). Draw the footprint of a building.

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.

21. Push/Pull the footprint down past the topo surface

and use Intersect with Model to erase all portions of
the building below the topo surface.

2. Apply the image to an adjacent flat face, and it wraps

correctly.

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.

9. Finally, edit the component and hide its edges. Now

place some more of these components in the model.
5. Alpha channel images can also be used as You can see through the trees to the building behind
components. Start with a vertical rectangle and apply them. And they are always facing you, no matter
the image to it. what viewing angle you use.

6. Use positioning and/or move the rectangle edges so

that only one instance of the image appears.

7. Select this face and its edges and make it a

component (Edit / Make Component). Make sure
Always face camera is checked.

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10. Here is one problem with alpha channel components.

Turn on shadows by selecting View / Shadows. The
Tips for Efficiency with
tree shadows are actually cast by their rectangle - the Materials
transparent background is not taken into account. When applying and replacing materials in your model, the
In Model tab (Mac: Colors in Model) lists all materials
that are both in use and not in use. Materials that are not
in use can either be materials that were replaced, or
materials that were imported into the model from a library
but not yet assigned to any face.
Having a large number of in-model materials can slow
down performance. You can speed things up by getting rid
of materials you’re not using. Right-click on any unused
material and select Delete/Remove. To remove all
materials, right-click on the right-facing arrow at the top
of the In Model tab and select Purge unused.
11. For now, the workaround is similar to what you did in Mac: Purge Unused is in the List dropdown menu at the
“Creating a Painted 2D Tree” on page 197. Edit one bottom of the Materials browser when Colors in Model is
of the trees and use Line to trim the background area open. You can also right-click on individual thumbnails
around the tree. This outline used here is not very and select Remove, if it is available.
detailed.
You can also open Model Info to the Statistics page and
click Purge unused. This also clears unused components
and layers.
If materials still remain after purging, they are probably
attached to components that are also no longer in use. Like
materials, when a component is no longer in use it still
appears in the Component Browser. You can purge
components the same way - right-click and select Purge
or use Purge unused.
12. Hide the edges again, and now when you display Working with lots of transparent materials can slow your
shadows, the are a bit more realistic. rendering. Switching off Transparency mode can speed
things up. This option is found in the Display tab of
Model Info.
Lastly, working with large texture graphic files can also
slow performance. If you find this to be the case, consider
using single-color materials while working in your model.
Then when the model is ready for presentation, you can
replace these materials with image files.

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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.

3. Explode the sphere.

4. Click Section Plane (Mac: Create Section Planes).
7. Select and erase the section plane.

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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.

Now the plane is hidden. If you have multiple section

planes, this command affects the display of all the
planes.

As you’ve seen, sections consist of two parts - the

section plane and section cuts (those thick
intersection lines).

11. Display and then erase the section plane.

12. Now add a section plane and hover on one of the
facets.

9. Click Display Section Cuts or select View / Section

Cuts.

13. Press Shift to lock the orientation, and locate the

plane a few corner points into the sphere. . .

NOTE: If you do not see the Section Planes toolbar, select View
/ Toolbars / Sections (Mac: Tools / Section Plane).

Mac: This icon can be added to the toolbar via

View / Customize Toolbar, or can be turned on by selecting
View / Section Cut.

The cut lines disappear (the entire model is

displayed), and the section plane is still visible.

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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.

14. Right-click within the section plane (on an edge or

within the empty gray area) and select Align View. 16. Reverse again.
17. You can also save the cut lines as a group. Right-click
and select Create Group from Slice. This leaves a
group of line segments on the model where the
section plane was. Erase or hide the section plane, or
click Toggle Section Plane display to blank it.

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.

Using Sections for Interior

Design and Presentation
If you are designing a closed building, you probably need
to get inside to design walls, stairs, floor layouts, etc. You 4. We now want to add a staircase along the right side
can hide and unhide walls, but for complex structures it wall. Start by add another section plane here, because
may be more convenient to use section planes. this wall has the right orientation.
This exercise will show a very simple house and a few
interior elements. The last steps involve using sections to
create a slide show presentation.
1. Start with a house like this. Create a door and apply a
transparent material to it.

5. You can’t see much from this small opening, so

select the plane and move it toward the other side.
Moving section planes is done the same way as
2. Click Section Plane and place the plane on the front moving any geometric object - with the Move tool.
face. You can now see inside 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.

7. Right-click on the first section plane you created and

select Active Cut. This returns you to the section at
the front of the house. Though you can have an
infinite number of section planes, only one section 10. Select View / Tourguide / Add Page. The current
can be active at any time. view is saved as Page 1.

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.

19. Select View / Tourguide / Play Slideshow for a

running presentation moving along the pages.
Mac: You can also click the Start Slideshow icon.

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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Exporting Section Slices Drawing Scale and Size:

You can export an active section slice as a 2D file in the • Full Scale (1:1): Outputs your section slice at a true
*.dwg or *.dxf format. This enables you to export vector 1:1 scale. If Full Scale is not checked, you can
information, which will reflect the precise measurements specify the overall dimensions of the slice output.
of your model. These will update depending on the slice being
exported and its scale.
NOTE: See "Export and Import" on page 307 for details on other • In Drawing: The measurement of the exported
ways to import into and export from SketchUp.
geometry.

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.

NOTE: You can't export a perspective screen projection section

These are the options you can set for section slice to scale. Also, even if perspective is off, many projection
conversion. They are explained below. angles available via the Orbit tool cannot be measured once
printed out. Scale is only available for paraline projections of the
standard orthographic and isometric views.

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.

Project: Using Section Planes

with Model Intersection
This exercise shows how to create a “Follow Me” series
of striations along a drafted form.
2. Locate the first section plane at the endpoint of the 1. Create the drafted pyramid form with one arc face.
first segment of the subdivided edge, and copy the Draw a small vertical circle on one of the faces, place
section plane to the remaining segment endpoints. a construction point at its center, and group it.

3. Right-click on each section plane and select Create

Group from Slice. For each of these slice groups,
offset the shape slightly inward and give it a different 2. Place a horizontal section plane at the circle center.
color. Make a few copies of the circle group and section
plane.

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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.

4. For each slice group perform these steps:

• Explode the group. This leaves the path around the
model ungrouped and selected.
• Activate Follow Me.
• Right-click on the circle group and select Edit
Group.
7. Now for the tedious cleanup - some tiny edges that
• For the section to drive around the path, click on the remain. The easiest way to remove them (for me
circle face you are editing. It is driven around the anyway) was to zoom in very closely and use
path surrounding the building. numerous right-to-left selection windows to select all
extra edges and delete them.
After getting all the edges - even the tiny ones along
the cutout border - here is the pyramid with the
evenly-spaced, perfectly located striations.

5. When this is done for all slice groups, Explode all

the Follow Me groups. Then Intersect them with the
building. Finally, smooth the edges.

If your original form or cutout shape had no curves, there

would be a lot less cleanup!

TIP: In Select mode, if you double-click on an edge, it selects

the edge plus any adjacent faces. If you double-click a face, it
selects the face and its edges. Be careful if you use this to delete
faces of the outer tube, however, because the edges along the
pyramid form will also be selected. You would need to delete
these one by one, which would be easiest in Wireframe model

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Simultaneous Section Cuts 5. The group members are contained in a dotted-line

bounding box. (If there were other objects in the
So far you’ve seen that, although you can have many
model, they would be displayed as faded.)
section planes, only one can be active at any time. There
Right-click on the section plane and select Active
is a workaround for this, involving the use of groups.
Cut.
1. Start with a form like this.

2. Add a section plane to one face and move it to the

desired position.
6. Close the group.

TIP: An alternative to deactivating the section plane would be to

move it away from the form before grouping. Then, while editing
the group, you would move it to the desired position, thereby
automatically activating it.

7. You can now add another section plane. This second

plane can be moved easily, but to move the first one
you would have to edit the group once again.

3. Deactivate the plane (make it non-cutting) by

right-clicking it and deselecting Active Cut.

To add more section planes, you would have to create

more groups. These would be progressively nested
4. Now select both the form and the section and group groups - i.e. the next group would consist of both the
them. To activate the plane, it must be done within previous group and the latest section plane. For
the context of the group, so edit the group. numerous sections, this can get confusing. But then
again, there aren’t too many cases in which you’d
need dozens of section planes.

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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.

2. The dimensions will be placed on their own layer.

Currently there is only one layer in the model - Layer
0 (the default layer for every file). To create new
layers, select Window / Layer. Then click Add. Setting up the Model
In this section you will complete the model by adding a
floor and adding some furniture and other components.
1. Add a floor halfway up the house - each floor should
be 11’ high.

3. Name the new layer “Dimensions.”

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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.

3. For a staircase, you can find one in the

Construction_Sampler folder of the Component
Browser.

7. Complete the house with some doors and windows,

and add some materials to the house itself, if you
like. If the door and window glass seems too dark,
you can adjust its transparency.

4. Place the staircase like this, using Scale to size it

correctly. Add a cutout for the stairs.

5. Now add some components. The ones here come

from the Architectural_Sampler folder, and color
was added. Add a dog at the top of the staircase, and
maybe some kids on the bed. These can be found in
the People_Sampler folder.

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8. On the back wall, add a patio door. Create a patio or

lawn off the back, and throw in some trees and a
Pages
Pages are the equivalent of saving views. In addition,
picnic table (found in the Landscape_Sampler
pages can be added to a slide show, which presents an
folder).
animated view of the model.
1. Open the Pages window by selecting Window /
Pages. Click Add.

2. This page is automatically assigned the name

“Page 1.” Assuming the current view is where you
want it (isometric, filling the screen), assign a more
useful name such as “Iso.”

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).

• To walk forward, drag the mouse up (holding the left

mouse button). 4. The VCB now shows Eye Height, which you can
• To walk backward, drag the mouse down. change. Enter 6’ to represent a tall man.

• While walking or turning, you can press Ctrl/Option

to move faster (this is called the “run” feature and is Now you can start walking into the house. When you
handy for large models). click and drag the mouse, you will see a “+” symbol,
representing where the feet start. To move straight
• To turn left or right, drag the mouse to either side. ahead, keep the footprint directly above the cross.
• To move (not turn) left or right, hold Shift while Keeping it slightly above the cross moves you
dragging the mouse to either side. slowly, farther above it speeds you up. If you move to
either side of the cross, you will veer off to the side.

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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.

6. At some point, you cannot go any further - Walk has

collision detection and stops you from walking 8. Now press Alt/Cmd and Walk forward again. Now
through walls. The cursor becomes a person symbol. you can walk through the door (and any other
If you are the right height, you will actually hit the barrier). Once inside, you should be able to see the
door glass - you can see in through the transparent light-colored walls and the downstairs furniture.
glass but you cannot go inside.

9. Make this view a new page - “Inside front door.”

10. Now switch to Look Around (Camera / Look

Around).

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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.

12. An easier way to Walk and Look at the same time is

to return to Walk. Now when you drag the mouse
with the middle mouse button pressed, you switch to
Look. Use these two tools together to maneuver to
the bottom of the staircase. Make a new page - “Foot
of steps.”
14. While in Walk, you can press Shift while dragging to
move up, down, right, or left. The cursor turns into a
hand. You can use this to center yourself on the
staircase if you find yourself veering to one side.
Using Shift may change the eye height, but you can
type 6’ at any time during Walk to reset it.

At first it may be difficult to walk to exactly where

you want. You may find yourself going backward
through walls, ending up outside the house. These
tools take a little practice, but an advantage of saving
views as pages is that you don’t have to start all the
way at the beginning!

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.

21. Before assigning the view a name, use the down

arrow to move it to the last slot, after “Top side
window.”

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.

22. Then change this view’s name to “Facing Living

Room.”

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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.”

2. Activate Position Camera (Camera / Position

24. One last view - standing at the back of the patio Camera).
looking in on the house. Call this one “View in from
Patio.”

The Height Offset is automatically set at 5’-6”,

which we will accept. This is the height of the camera
above the floor.

3. Place the base of the camera at the foot of the dog.

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.

8. Then Look Around until you see the front door.

Create a page here called “On Steps facing front
5. Then drag the mouse downward until you are door.” Even though the page will be placed in the
looking down the stairs. wrong order, create it anyway.

6. Now we can walk down. Switch to Walk, and the

cursor switches back to the footprint.

This should be the order: “On steps” directly after

“Top of stairs” - the view you started from.

9. To move this page, right-click it and select Move

Right.

The Eye Height readjusts to 5’-6”.

The “On steps” page moves one page over, but it

needs to be placed before “Facing Living Room.”

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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.

Another use for Position Camera is to get the exact

view between two known points. We will use this to
change the “Facing Patio” page.
11. Start in the “Facing Living Room” page.

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.

12. We will now use construction lines to approximate a

person standing in the middle of the room. Switch to
Hidden Line mode, so that it will be easier to see
construction lines.
13. Use Measure to drag a construction line from the
back edge of the house. Place it between the kitchen
set and the coffee table (or a place that makes sense
in your model).

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17. Drag the mouse to a point on the picnic table.

WARNING: Be careful when using Update - there is no Undo for
this! So make sure you are updating the correct page, or you will
have two pages to fix.

2. Switch from the “Facing Living Room” page, then

back to “Facing Patio.” The display switches from
Shaded to Hidden Lines.

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.

The reason for the mode switching is that all

properties of “Facing Patio” were saved with the
page. This includes its Hidden Line setting. If there is
a property not saved, the relevant property of the
previous view will be used.
18. Release the mouse and here is the exact view. This 3. In the Pages window, for “Facing Patio” uncheck
will replace the “Facing Patio” page you created Display. This means that its hidden line property will
before. no longer be saved. If the view before it is shaded,
this page will also be shaded.

19. Unhide anything you hid before.

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.”

5. For another example of properties to change, we will

look at layers. Create a new layer called something
like “Extras” and make it invisible. Place anything
that does not come with the house on this layer:
furniture, trees, people, etc. 8. Now when you switch views in order, starting from
“Iso,” no extras will appear on those pages you
modified. They will appear again for pages that were
not modified.

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.

1. For the “Iso” page, update it with the “Extras” layer

displayed.

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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.

• Enable page transitions: Smoothly and

dynamically transitions between adjacent pages. If
not checked, the slideshow will jump from page to
page.
• Transition Time: The seconds for each transition.
• Page Delay: The amount of time each page will be
visible (not including transition time).
3. Set the options so that page transitions are enabled.
4. Right-click on any page tab and select Slideshow
(Windows only), or select View / Tourguide / Play
Slideshow. Each page will appear on the screen, in
order, starting from the active page.

Mac: You can also click the Start Slideshow icon.

You can add this icon via View / Customize Toolbar.

5. The current page is indicated by the page tabs at the

top of the screen. You can press Pause or Stop any 6. Press Stop to end the slide show, or it will continue to
time. (Mac: Stop is available if you added the Start scroll between slides.
Slideshow icons to the toolbar.) Once your slide show has been created to your
satisfaction, you can export it to an animation file. Among
other things, this enables you to share your designs with
those who do not have SketchUp installed, and without
having to transfer *.skp files.

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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.

Windows: The shadow commands are available on the

Shadows toolbar. If you don’t see this, select View /
Toolbars / Shadows.
Mac: There is a Shadows icon on the toolbar. You can also
select View / Shadows, or Window / Shadow Settings /
Display Shadows.
1. First, set the sky and ground conditions so that the
shadows will look more realistic. Open Model Info
to the Colors tab and check Sky and Ground. This
The shadows also depend on the location of the
examples uses a brown color for the ground plain.
model. This can be set in the Location page of the
Model Info window.
At the bottom of the Shadow Settings window, you
can choose how shadows will be created:
• On Faces: Casts shadows on faces. This may impact
performance on slower computers, or those using
software rendering.
• On Ground: Casts shadows onto the ground plane.
• From Edges: Casts shadows from stand-alone edges
This is how the “Iso” page should look with a sky and (lines drawn in space that are not connected to any
ground added. faces.
• Light: Controls the tonal balance of the lighting in
the SketchUp display. Light controls the amount of
diffuse lighting, and Dark controls the amount of
ambient lighting.
4. Move the Time slider from morning to afternoon, to
reverse the direction of the shadows.

NOTE: Keeping these background effects active will slow down

the performance of the model, so you might not want to use them
all the time.

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8. You can use the Shadow Settings window to control

TIP: If you make two pages, each with the same view but how dark the shadows are. Adjust the Light and
different shadows from different times of day, you can scroll
between the pages to view effects of the sun passing over the
Dark sliders to brighten up the room.
sky.

5. Update the “Iso” page to include this shadow.

Now the room is more inviting, and still has its

6. For the “Facing Living Room” page, uncheck shadows.
Shadows. As you know by now, this means the
shadow information originally saved with this page
(i.e., no shadows) will be overridden by the shadows
of the page you view before this one.

This chapter covered several topics, but by now you can

see how they are all related. You can combine the
walk-through tools, layers, pages, shadows, and/or slide
show to create a masterful presentation of your model!

7. Now switch from “Iso” to “Facing Living Room.”

The afternoon shadows can be seen inside the house.

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238
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.

4. You can use the VCB to enter an exact length, Type

100 and press Enter. The side is extended to be 100m
long, and you may have to zoom out to see it.

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.

3. If the Sandbox toolbar does not appear, select View

/ Toolbars / Sandbox.

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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.

The grid points that will be affected (those within the

circle radius) are highlighted by squares. The largest
square is where you placed the circle center, and the
squares get progressively smaller farther out.
6. To work on a sandbox, you must either open the
group to edit it, or explode it. Do the first -
double-click the group to edit it.

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.

4. You can move these grid points up or down. The

2. A red circle appears around the cursor - this is the Offset value is indicated; you can do it by eye or
tool’s area of influence. The radius of this circle is enter an exact value. Raise the center of this area
listed in the VCB. Enter 30 to set a 30m radius circle. about 10m upward.

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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.

The two largest squares are at both ends of this edge.

8. Again, the endpoints of the edge have the largest

squares. And there are now fewer grid points
affected.

6. Pull this area up as well. You’ve now created two

hills.

9. Pull up one more small hill by placing the center on

one of the triangular faces. These faces also 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.

From the side, your TIN should look something like

this: 13. Check Soften Coplanar, and edges along flat areas
also disappear.

11. Display hidden geometry to see all edges that

comprise the TIN. Each triangular face is flat, but all
together they create a smooth look.

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14. Check Smooth Normals to remove the faceting. 2. Make vertical copies of this rectangle. In this
example, the rectangle spacing is 4m.

3. Select all rectangles and run Intersect with Model.

Erase the rectangles, and you are left with the
intersection edges. These are the topographical
contours.

Sandbox from Contours

Another way to create a TIN is to create it from contours
you already have. These could be curves you create within
SketchUp, or curves you import from another application.
Because we already have a TIN surface from the previous
exercises, we can get its topographical contours and then
re-create the TIN. 4. Erase the TIN (easily done since it should still be a
group). Contours that are closed loops may contain
NOTE: If you want to compare the From Contours TIN to the faces - erase these as well.
From Scratch one, make a copy of the TIN to work on, keeping
the original.

1. Switch to Top view and draw a rectangle around the

TIN you created in the previous exercise.

Here are the curves from the side:

From the side, it should look something like this:

5. Select all contours, and click From Contours (Tools

/ Sandbox / From Contours).

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The TIN is created, and it almost exactly matches the

one you had created from scratch. The contour lines
Drape and Stamp
Drape and Stamp are two tools that enable you to project
are thick because the TIN itself is a group, and the
objects onto a TIN. Drape projects boundary curves only,
contour lines do not align to it.
while Stamp pushes a 2D or 3D object into a TIN.
1. Create a lake by filling in a contour near the bottom.

6. Display the hidden edges. These are more complex

that those of the From Scratch TIN.

2. The projection curves can now be created, and they

will be placed on a flat rectangle. To prevent the
rectangle from sticking to the TIN, make it a group.
3. Now create a flat rectangle that encloses the TIN, and
move the rectangle directly above the TIN.

7. Turn off hidden edges, and Explode the TIN (it may
take a minute or so). Now the contour lines are thin.

4. Switch to Top view and turn off Perspective. This is

so you can create lines directly above the relevant
points on the TIN, with no depth distortion. Switch to
X-Ray mode so that you can see the TIN through the
rectangle.

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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.

9. To compare Drape and Stamp, make a copy of the

entire model so far. Drape will be used on one,
Stamp on the other.

6. Do the same for a point on the other side of the lake.

Drape
1. Select the roadway boundary curves - there should
be six total.
2. Click Drape (Tools / Sandbox / Drape).

7. Now complete the road line with two arcs on either

side of the line.
3. Click the TIN. Even though it is grouped, you can
still select it as a whole (you could select it
ungrouped as well).
4. The roadway lines are projected onto the surface.
Explode it to resolve the roadway to the TIN. (If you
are still in X-Ray mode, you can see the roadway
lines through the lake.)

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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:

6. To create a bridge, draw lines between two sets of

intersection points, all of which should have the same
elevation. Erase any extra lines, and apply colors if
you want. Now you have a roadway over hilly
terrain, with a bridge crossing the lake.

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.

TIP: If there is a surface of the TIN you do not want to be

affected by Stamp, such as the face of the lake, you can Group
it in advance.

All the new material on either side of the road above

the lake should be removed. Here’s a way to do it that
involves creating vertical abutment faces. In this
example, color was added to match the previous
example.

2. Click Stamp (Tools / Sandbox / Stamp).

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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.

3. Select the oval tube (for lack of a better term) and

activate Stamp. Set an offset and push it down into
the TIN. It creates something like a concave ramp
within the grid.
6. Select both faces and run Intersect with Model. You
can then erase all material between the abutments.

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. . .

. . . and move them up or down.

3. Select these curves and use From Contours to create

a TIN. Explode the TIN and display hidden
geometry. In this example, there is one large
triangular face (if yours does not have a large face, . . . and click. Three “hard” edges (not softened) are
any face will do). created, and you can move their center up and down.
The offset distance is listed in the VCB.

6. Press Esc to keep the elevation as is. Here are the

three new edges.
4. Click Add Detail (Tools / Sandbox / Add Detail).
This tool enables you to subdivide a triangular face
into smaller faces.

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7. Soften them to match the rest of the TIN. 11. Click a hidden edge of a facet. . .

12. . . . and it flips.

8. You can also select one or more faces in advance for

adding detail. Select the three new faces.

13. Another use for Add Detail is smoothing out sharp

ridges or bumps. Activate Smoove and use a radius
like this one:

9. Then click Add Detail. The three faces were

subdivided into several smaller faces.

14. Click on a valley edge and move it up. This creates a

wide hill.

10. Flip Edge is used to change the shape of a single

triangular facet. Click Flip Edge (Tools / Sandbox /
Flip Edge).

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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.

3. To create small impressions, use Add Detail to

16. Now you can use Smoove to create a smaller hill. subdivide the faces, then use Smoove to push down
two circles.

Project: Organic Shapes

The most common use for the sandbox tools probably 4. Finally, use Smoove with a large radius to give the
involves topography and terrains, but they can also be entire TIN some curvature.
used to create organic shapes. As a simple example, try
the following:
1. Start with a square From Scratch grid and place a
circle on it. Push/Pull the circle out on either side.

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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.

8. The next line is to be perpendicular to this last line.

The 40’ line is created. When the perpendicular inference appears, type 10.

5. The next line will be diagonal. Angle brackets are

used to specify relative distances - distances from the
line’s start point. Type <7.5, 20, 0> and press Enter.

9. Too short; type 22.

As long as another line has not yet been started (so

don’t move the mouse), you can still change the line
you just drew. Assume we know the desired slope
and total length.
6. Start with the slope. For a 3: 5 slope, you can simply
type <3,5,0> and press Enter.
10. Add two more lines in the red and green directions to
complete the footprint.
This line is too short, but it establishes the correct
direction.

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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.

Just as you can change line lengths after they are

created, you can do the same for rectangles. You can
change both lengths or just one length. Assuming the
12. If you draw a rectangle now, it will be aligned in the 25’ length is to be fixed, we can still adjust the other
red and green directions, but we want a diagonal length.
rectangle. So use the Axes tool to set new axes. 16. To leave one length as is, leave it blank in the “red,
green” format. Type ,19’8” (note the comma at the
beginning) to change the width only. Press Enter. The
width changes, but the length remains 25’.

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.

17. To change the other dimension, type 12.5, (comma at

the end). Note that the lengths change relative to the
first point you selected for the rectangle - (Point C).

14. Look in the VCB. Two lengths are displayed - red

and green lengths. The first (red) length should be
25’ - the length of line A-B. The green length updates
as you move the mouse.

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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.

19. Let’s modify the first form to be symmetric. To

mirror line A-B, first use Protractor to measure its
angle from vertical. The angle (31.0 degrees) appears
in the VCB.
Now we’ll create a mirror image of the rectangle, on
the other side of the larger form.
23. Assuming you don’t remember how far the rectangle
is from line A-B, use Measure to measure it.

20. Press Esc to release the protractor. Use it again to

create a 31-degree construction line from the
opposite corner. 24. Create a construction line the same offset distance,
from line D-E.

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.

This is the perimeter of the 6-edge building.

The window tells you that an edge is selected, and its

length is 12.5’.

4. Now select only the face (no edges). This gives you
the area of the selected face.

The length is listed in the units and precision you set

at the beginning of the exercise. If you change the
units (in Model Info), you need to reselect the edge
to see the change.
2. Now select the other three edges of the rectangle.

If you select a combination of edges and faces,

Entity Info will tell you how many total entities are
selected. But length and area are only listed for
entities of the same type.
5. Select all three faces created so far. You get the total
area - the footprint of the three buildings.
Entity Info now informs you that four edges are
selected, and their total length is listed (12.5 + 12.5 +
19.67 + 19.67 = 64.33).

This works for curved edges as well.

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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.

5. Press Enter to create the rectangle. Because the

horizontal legs were initially longer, the first
dimension (1700) is applied to this side. So the
rectangle switches from horizontal to vertical.

2. Double-click the other two forms to pull them up to

the same height.

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.

Before, or immediately after, clicking the second

corner, you can specify the dimensions. You can also
use units other than the default units. This can be
useful, for example, if you use certain components
that are in metric dimensions, but you design
buildings in English units.

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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.

8. Erase the dividing line, and erase the face to create a

cutout. This cutout shape will be used for the 11. At this point it’s useful to go back to Architectural
windows and another door. units, so do this in the Units page of Model Info.
12. Make a copy of the door and activate Scale. Shrink
the window so that the scale factor snaps to 0.5. You
can also type this value manually.

9. To make moving and copying easier, make the door a

group. Entity Info tells you how many edges, faces,
etc. are contained in the group.
13. A bit small for the window we want, so type 0.67.
This is a more reasonable size.

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.

19. This won’t work at the current spacing, so try 5’-4”.

16. Copy this window anywhere in the lateral direction.

Type 6’ to set the window spacing.

TIP: Even though you’re working in architectural units, you can

still type in decimal values - in this case, 5.33’.

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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.

If the offset edges are thick, zoom in closely to see if

there are slight overhangs, and fix them. This would
21. Type 6/ (note the division symbol) to divide this 32’ happen if there were slight innaccuracies when
length into six spaces between windows (seven total creating the footprint, such as rounding digits of
windows). angles.

NOTE: Like with the other tools where exact values are used,
you can continue to update the offset distance.

24. Push/Pull this face upward 13’.

22. The windows are a bit crowded, change the number

of windows by entering 5/.

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.

If you want, you can verify the new width by

4. Push/Pull this parapet to a height of 1’-6”. You can
switching to decimal mm units, and measuring the
type 18, or 1’6, or 1.5’.
width. It should be 2125mm, which is 1.25 times
1700 mm. If you do this step, be sure to switch back 5. We will now add some railing posts. Zoom in on the
to architectural units. first segment of the parapet wall. To place the post
exactly in the center of the wall, create a construction
Exact Rotated Copies line parallel to Edge A-B, that passes through the
midpoint of Edge A-C.
1. Now for the roof deck. Draw a horizontal half-circle
arc whose diameter is Edge A-B.

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 Using Exact Dimensions

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.

7. Place a circle centered on the construction line, in the

red direction from the midpoint of Edge A-B. Either
before or after clicking the second point to create the Mac: Entity Info tells you only that a group has been
circle, type 3 to define the radius as 3”. selected.
10. Use Rotate to make rotated copies of the post.

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.

13. Not enough to go all the way around, so type 11x.

17. Now type 8/ to create eight spaces (nine posts).

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.

15. Undo the copies.

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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.)

It should be about one foot - a pretty safe clear

distance.
20. Now for the top rail. Copy the top face of the parapet
wall to the top of the posts..

22. To soften these vertical segment edges, use Erase

with Ctrl/Option on the edges. Here is what your roof
deck should look like.

TIP: You could also enter a relative move value of <0,0,2’>.

Note the circles on this face, indicating where the

posts meet the face. If the posts had not been
grouped, these circles would be separate faces within
the rail face. But since they are groups, the posts do
not affect this rail face; the face is a single face.

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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.

You can now create a bridge linking these two

doorways. One way is to draw the shape for the
bridge on one face (like the larger building) while the
other building is hidden.

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6. To place the same bridge on the other side, make a

copy of the bridge plus the adjacent doorways and
Measuring Length and Area
You can check lengths of edges and areas of faces, and use
walls. Reset the axes, then flip the copy
the Text tool to label these measurements.
inside-out.Use Scale to turn this copy inside out.
1. On one of the out-buildings, check the Entity Info
window for the edge shown. The length of the edge is
displayed, in the current units

The units should still be Architectural, which is the

format of the measurement.
7. Erase the faces on the main building and box where
the copied faces will be placed (moving a face on top 2. Do the same calculation on the edge shown.
of another face can get unnecessarily messy).

3. Now activate the Text tool. Click first on the 24’

8. Select the copy again, and move it into place. Easy! edge and move the cursor away from the edge. The
length of the edge is shown.

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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.

8. To label the face, use Text and click anywhere on the

face for the first point. The default text for a face is its
5. Apply a similar label to the 19’-8” edge. area.

The Area / Selection method works for a multiple

NOTE: Text works well for labeling dimensions, but labels are
not associative (they will not update if there are geometric or unit faces as well. If you want the area of multiple faces,
changes). A better way to show measurements is to use you can also use Entity Info (which can also
Dimensions. calculate the length of multiple edges). Or you can
assign materials or manipulate layers, as described
6. Now for area measurements. Right-click on the face below.
and select Area / Selection. 9. Open the Materials Browser and assign any material
to the four front faces shown below.

The area is displayed: 24.00 * 19.67 = 472.

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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.

13. Right-click on either of the faces. Select Area /

Layer to see the combined area of the faces.

NOTE: You can also right-click on the material thumbnail in the

In Model tab of the Material Browser, and select Area.

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.

Because this handle allows non-uniform scaling by

default (though you can change this by pressing
Shift), you can change the scale factor in two
dimensions - red and green.
3. Move the cursor to see how this handle can be
moved, and note the two comma-separated values in
the VCB. Enter 0.5,3 to reduce the red dimension to
one-half, and multiple the green dimension by three. Note that adjacent faces are automatically folded
when required by the scaled faces.

4. Now click the corner handle shown. By default this

handle scales uniformly. But press Shift, and you can
change the scale in all three directions.

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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.

3. Why does this happen? Undo and activate Follow

Me, then select the arc face. Zoom in closely and
manually extrude the face along the arc. The face is
Push/Pull’d along the first arc segment - a
straight-line extrusion, not a curved one. This first
1. Create the base as a half-cylinder. Create a vertical extrusion segment is the reason for the notched
construction line starting from the center of the result.
cylinder. Group the base to keep it from sticking to
other objects.

2. Use arcs to create the shape of the dome. Try using

Follow Me (you need to first explode the base to use
its arc edge.) 4. Undo back to the point at which the base is still
grouped, and we’ll try this using another method.

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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.

8. Rotate-copy the dome wedge enough times to cover

the base. This is how the apse appears with softened
6. Select the inner arc face, and activate Move. Press edges.
Alt/Cmd for Autofold, and move the inner vertex of
the dome slice to the inner vertex 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:

3. Rotate-copy these two faces over the 180-degree arc.

Replace the front faces by creating lines. You can
now soften the edges without the facets.

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.

2. Create any two construction lines on this face. Select

the cube and move it by dragging one of its corners to Edge BC should now sit on Construction Line D.
meet one of the construction lines.

The cube must be rotated three times to have the

correct orientation. The first two rotations will
reference the construction line where the cube now
sits.

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5. The last unaligned face can now be rotated. Align

with Face H, place the protractor on Point B, orient
Curvy Things
SketchUp can be used to model almost anything, using
toward Point I, and rotate to the other construction
some simple tools and a bit of creativity. This exercise
line (J).
will create a mouse, but the method can be applied to
anything.

1. In the red-green plane, draw a few tangent arcs plus a

line across the top, to approximate the bottom face of
The cube now has the correct orientation. Move the the mouse. Erase the face enclosed by the curves.
cube to sit atop the cylinder.

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.

3. Now draw an arc to represent how the mouse

changes shape from top to bottom.

An example of a case in which you’d have to use this

method would be inserting a window into a rotated face -
perhaps a skylight. Obviously in such a case you’d
probably rather draw the window directly into the face,
but if you need to use a certain component you may need
to know how to align it.

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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.

5. Push/Pull the section face out. You can use the

endpoint of the first segment of one of the profile
curves as the limit. Or you can just use an offset
distance that feels right. Select the front face of this
“slice” and activate Scale.

8. And do the same on the right side.

6. You want to scale this face so that it meets each of the

three profile curves. First, drag the top center handle
up so that the face meets the top profile curve.

TIP: Non-uniform scaling is required here, so that the bottom

face will stay flat. You can drag using a corner handle to scale
two sides at once, but be sure to keep Shift pressed.

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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.

Usually a right-handed mouse has an indentation on

the left side for your thumb. The way to handle this is
to scale the left arc gradually so that it turns from
convex to concave. We’ll do this over three segment
iterations.
10. Activate Scale on this arc, and drag the outer side
handle slightly inward.

11. For the remainder of the mouse, do the Push/Pull

and Scale step, but leave the left arc as is - it is scaled
enough. For the last segment, you may want to use
divide the area into two or three iterations. You can
fill in the last few lines by hand, or you can

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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.

The basic shape is complete, but we can dress up the

mouse a bit.
This method is so flexible - it can be used to make
12. Use hidden edges as a guide and edges, and unsoften anything. Here’s another example with a section face and
some edges to block off the button areas. three profile curves:

To add another “twist,” you can even rotate the scaled

faces.
13. Use your Materials browser to color the mouse and
its three buttons.

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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.

5. End the line at the center of an adjacent face.

2. Between the diamond shapes on each face is a

triangular pyramid. Erase the edges each of these
pyramids. You should be left with a series of
connected squares and equilateral triangles. This is
called a cube-octohedron. 6. Continue like this, connecting centers of the four side
faces. Then connect each corner of this new face to
the center of the top face. This creates a tetrahedron -
a four-sided pyrmaid.

3. For more facets, perform the same steps: connect

midpoints on each square and triangular face, then
delete the pyramids.
7. You could copy the tetrahedron, flip the copy over
and join it to the first one to make an octohedron.

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4. Do the same for the third copy: rotate-copy the

TIP: If you had created the cube using four-sided circles or original rectangle 90 degrees about the red axis, then
polygons, you could have easily found the center of each face.
rotate this copy 90 degrees in blue.

5. For display purposes, you might want to assign a

Starting from a Golden Section different color, or transparency, to these rectangles.
1. Display the axes and in Top view, use Rectangle to 6. The corner points of these three planes can be
draw a golden section. Move the rectangle so that it is connected to create 20 equilateral triangles. In this
centered at the origin. view, add lines to connect A-C, B-C, D-F, and E-F.
Two triangles are created. (Extra faces will be also
created - you can keep these or erase them.)

2. We will now create two rotated copies of the

rectangle. First rotate-copy the rectangle 90 degrees
about the green axis.
7. Spin around to the other side and create similar
triangles.

3. Rotate this copy 90 degrees about the blue axis.

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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.

The next few steps are performed to find the rotation

angle you need to use when folding over the
pentagon faces.
5. From the center of the top pentagon, draw a line to
2. We will be rotating often about the center of the one end of the common edge. Draw another line in
pentagon, so right-click on it and select Point at the same direction, going past the copied pentagon.
Center.

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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.

Now for the tricky part. We will use Follow Me to

drive the copied pentagon along a circle that is
normal to the common edge. Sounds confusing, but
when you do the steps it should become clear!
7. Activate Circle and specify a high number of sides,
such as 120 (the higher the number of sides, the more 10. Close the group. Then right-click the vertical face
it approximates a real circle). Lock the circle preview and select Intersect with Model.
so that it is normal to the common edge between the 11. This gives you the intersection edge where the
pentagons. In other words, it should be vertical and extruded pentagon meets the vertical face. To see this
red. Press Shift to lock this orientation. better, erase the vertical circle and the Follow Me
group (this is why you grouped it in the first place).
What’s left is the vertical face and a few intersection
edges. The important one is shown here:

8. Place the circle center at the common endpoint, and

make it large enough so that it sticks out past the
12. Erase everything but this edge. This edge tells you
pentagon (this makes it easy to delete later). Here’s
how far to fold the flat pentagons that are placed
what you should have now:
around the center pentagon.

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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.

Here’s the final result, a dodecahedron.

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.)

16. With the folded pentagon still selected, and still in

19. Here’s something neat you can do with a
Rotate, create five rotated copies about the center
dodecahedron. Like you did with the cube to make a
pentagon.
tetrahedron, use lines to connect the centers of
adjacent faces. These faces should still be polygons,
so you can easily find their centers.

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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.”

Project: Creating a Spiral

Staircase
Spiral staircases look complex, but they are actually pretty
4. Rotate-copy this step component for make a total of
easy to create using the components and the Outliner.
four steps (a partial staircase for now).

5. Select the second step and move it straight up to set

the riser height.

1. The first step is to outline one step. Start in Top view

with a circle or polygon which has a small number of
segments (12 in this case). Align it to the red or green
direction. Draw a second concentric circle aligned in 6. Select the third step and move it straight up as well
the same direction. (Shift-lock the blue direction). Use Points 1 and 2 to
set the vertical distance.

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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.

8. Edit any step and Push/Pull to give it some height.

11. Select both posts and make them a group. (If you
assign the posts a different color, do this before
grouping.)

9. Use Push/Pull with Alt/Cmd to pull out the front

face of the step. This will overlap the steps
horizontally so that vertical connector posts can be
created between steps.

The Outliner should look like this: four step

components and one group of posts.

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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.

13. In the Outliner, select and drag the group of posts

below the step that was highlighted.

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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Between the beams run C4x7.25 channels:

The columns are TS8x6x1/5: Multiple channels run between beams.

Edit the channel webs to extend back to the beam web,

and connect each channel with two angles.

And the connectors are angles L1.5x1.5x1/4:

The beam-column connection is made with two angles.

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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.

Project: Creating a Log Cabin

Use components to make notched logs, then assemble
them into a house. Make cutouts for an arched doorway
and windows.

Add another beam and column, and connect the channels

to the new beam.

Start with a basic cylindrical component, overlap them

and trim.

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Create the notch at the end by rotating and moving into Flatten the top and bottom logs.
place.

Use Intersect with Model to cut notches. Each notch

should extend 1/4 the height of the log.

Make cutout shapes for the door and window.

Stack logs and create the corner.

Intersect, explode and trim to get the final result:

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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.

1. As an example, open the Component Browser. You

can place it anywhere on the screen.

5. Now open some more windows (Material Browser,

Outliner, etc.) With all the windows open like this,
your screen quickly gets cluttered.

2. You can also drag it by its title bar to dock it to any

edge of the screen, or any corner. Dock it to the top
left corner (not that you’d want to work with
windows placed right here).

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6. To make the windows “sticky,” drag one window by

its title bar directly above or below another window.
Display Settings
There are several places in the user interface that control
aspects of how the model is displayed.
• The toolbars contain icons for adjusting shading,
textures, and transparency display. You can also
define hotkeys for these functions.
• The Display Settings window is one that you may
want displayed all the time. You can toggle the
display of this window by selecting Window /
Display Settings, or you can set up a hotkey to show
and hide this window (see "Preferences > Shortcuts"
on page 304).

Now when you move the top window, any window

below it moves with it.
7. Make a stack of windows and minimize them all. If
you work with these stuffed down in a corner, you
can keep most of your screen available while you
work.

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.

Click the title bar of the window if you want to

You can change the order of the stack by dragging a
collapse it. This is useful if Display Settings is
title bar to its new location. And to unstick a window,
“stuck” to other windows and you want to save
just drag it away from the stack.
drawing space.

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 Program Settings

Rendering Modes Hidden Line

This section covers various ways to display your model.
Shaded

Looks like wireframe display, but lines behind faces

are hidden. Faces are displayed, though they are not
Color and shading is applied to the faces. The front colored. In other words, you can select or Push/Pull
and back of a face can have different colors, which a face, which you cannot do in wireframe.
are set in the Colors page of Model Info. If any
materials were applied to faces, the default render
mode is Shaded with Textures. If you then switch to
Shaded, the materials will be represented by single
colors.

Shaded with textures

Wireframe

Displays any material that has been applied to faces.

Displays the model as a collection of simple lines.

There are no faces displayed, and faces cannot be
selected.

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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.

All faces become transparent. This is a good way to

see the interior of a model.

You can also check only Profiles.

Displaying Edges and Profiles

You can use Display Settings to control edge display, as
well as the thickness of profile lines.
The default setting displays both Edges and Profiles.
Profiles are outside edges. Edges between two faces are
also considered profile edges when only one face can be For a slightly more photorealistic look, uncheck both
seen in the current view. The profile thickness can be Edges and Profiles.
adjusted as well.

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 Program Settings

Edge Effects Endpoints

The following four settings can add some Adds additional thickness along ends of edges.
non-photorealistic effects to your model.
Depth Cue
Thickens edges closer to you, while farther edges are
thinner.

You can get thick extension lines if you combine

Extension with Endpoints.
Extension
Extends each edge slightly past its endpoints, similar to a
hand-sketched drawing.

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Jitter: Applies a hand-sketched look to edges. It looks By Material

good with or without extensions. Edges are colored according to the applied material. For
this to work, material has to be applied to both faces and
edges. Applying material only to faces will not affect
edges.

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

Face Display Settings When Faster is selected, Face 3 appears to “jump” in

Use sun for shading: Uses the current shadow settings to front of Face 2.
shade the faces. The faces look the same as when shadows
are enabled, but shadows are not actually created.
Enable Transparency: Enables you to see through
materials defined as transparent.

Use Nicer if you want to maintain sorting accuracy,

thereby requiring heavier calculations and possibly a
slower render. In this case, the display order of transparent
materials is accurate.
If this option is not checked, transparent materials will be
displayed as opaque.

Quality: Choose Faster for a render that is quick, but

with less sorting accuracy. In this example, Face 1 is
above Face 2, which is above Face 3. It’s easy to see the
sorting order when Enable transparency is not checked.

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Perspective Mode Model Info

In Perspective mode (Camera / Perspective), which is To set properties of your model, select Window / Model
the default, the model appears to shrink in the distance, Info or click the Model Info icon.
representing how the human eye actually views 3D
objects.

TIP: If you access this window often, you might want to set up a
shortcut for it - see "Preferences > Shortcuts" on page 304.

The alternative is Paraline mode, in which parallel lines

NOTE: If you want to set up global properties for SketchUp itself,
remain parallel on the screen. This is also referred to as see "Preferences" on page 302.
axonometric projection, and reflects what is usually
presented in construction drawings.
Model Info > Colors

You can switch between these modes by toggling Camera

/ Perspective, or by setting a hotkey for it.

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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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.

Component axes: Check Show component axes to show

the origin and axes for each component.
• Align to Dimension Line: Dimension text is aligned
to the plane of the dimension itself.

Model Info > Dimensions

For aligned dimensions, select whether the

dimension text appears Centered, Above, or
Outside the dimension line.

• Hide when foreshortened: Hides dimensions that

Text: Click Choose Font to set the font, font style, and are oblique to the viewing plane. The slider sets the
font size of dimension text. For text color, click the color tolerance angle at which dimensions are hidden.
box to set the font color. • Hide when too small: Hides dimensions that
Show Radius/Diam. Prefix: Displays an “R” in front of become hard to read when you zoom out. The slider
arc dimensions, or a “DIA” in front of circle dimensions. controls the size of dimensions that will be hidden.
Leader Lines: Choose from five types of arrows.

Dimension

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Troubleshooting Model Info > Location

• Highlight non-associated dimensions: Highlights
dimension whose geometry has changed, or
dimension text that has been edited. Click the color
box to select the highlight color.

Model Info > File

Geographic Location: Select the country and city in

which your model is located. A vast number of locations
around the globe is provided, but you can add a custom
location. Click Custom location and enter the relevant
information: latitude, longitude, and time zone.
Solar Orientation: Enter the north angle manually, or
General: Information about the file itself: where it is click Select to set the north direction on the screen. To set
saved, the version of SketchUp in which it was created, it this way, first click the reference point and then any
file size, and description. point in the north direction. To show the north angle on the
Alignment: If the file is saved to be used later as a screen, click Show in Model.
component, this is where you can set its component
properties.
• Glue to: Sets the type of face to which the
component will align.
• Cut opening: Should be checked if the component is
a window or door (or something similar) that cuts
through walls.
• Always face camera: Keeps a component facing
you no matter the orientation of the camera. This is
handy for 2D components like people, signs, trees,
etc.

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Model Info > Section Planes Model Info > Statistics

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

Model Info > Text Model Info > Tourguide

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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Decimal: 106.5”, 3.25’, 1042mm, etc. You can use

Imperial or Metric units.
Preferences
SketchUp Preferences are settings that apply to the
Engineering: 32.5320’ Only Imperial units (feet) application itself. You can open this window by selecting
are used. Window / Preferences (Mac: SketchUp / Preferences).
• Precision: Depending on the type of unit, controls
the degree of accuracy. You can use up to 1/64” and NOTE: For settings that apply to the current model only, see
6 decimal places. (For architectural work, you don’t "Model Info" on page 296.
need more than 1/8” precision.)
• Enable length snapping: Enables you to snap to Preferences > Drawing
drawing increments set by the Snap Length (the box
to the right). Snap Length must be greater than
Precision.
• Display units format: Relevant for Decimal units.
When creating dimensions, the unit will not be
displayed after the dimension number.
• Force display of 0’: Relevant for Architectural
units. When creating dimensions, a zero will be
displayed for inches, even when the value is an even
foot value (12’-0” vs. 12’).
Angle Units: Controls the measurements of angles.
• Precision: You can specify zero or one decimal Click Style: Controls how you draw lines with the Line
place. tool.
• Enable angle snapping: Enables you to snap to • Click-drag-release: Draw lines by clicking on a
increments defined by the Snap Angle (the box to point, dragging the cursor, and ending the line when
the right). This angle may be 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 45 the mouse button is released.
degrees. • Auto detect: Both techniques will work - SketchUp
will figure it out by how you draw.
• Click-move-click: Draw lines by clicking on each
endpoint.
• Continue line drawing: Automatically starts a new
line at the endpoint of the previous line. Otherwise
you are free to draw from any point. If you use Auto
Detect, lines are continuous when using Click-
Move-Click, but not with Click-Drag-Release. This
way you can draw single or multiple lines at will.
Display Crosshairs: Displays the red, green, and blue
axes with the cursor when drawing. This can help orient
you in 3D space, but will also add a lot of lines to the
screen.
Auto-activate paint tool (Mac only): Causes SketchUp
to automatically activate the Paint tool after you select a
color swatch.

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 Program Settings

Preferences > Extensions Preferences > General

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.

NOTE: If this is unchecked, you can manually check for

problems using Fix Problems. This is found on the Statistics
page of the Model Info window.

Automatically fix problems when they are found:

Problems are fixed automatically, without a message
window.
This page displays the default paths in which certain types
of SketchUp files are stored. To change a path, select it Additional Mac options:
and click Modify.

Cascade main windows: New file windows will appear

cascaded below the previous file windows. If disabled,
new windows will appear directly on top of previous
windows.
Save current window size: Saves the size of the current
window as the default size for SketchUp.

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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.

Preferences > Shortcuts

Use Hardware Acceleration: Enables SketchUp to use
the 3D hardware acceleration features of your system.
SketchUp defaults to using software rendering
(acceleration disabled) While this option may impact
speed and quality, it dramatically increases your chances
of SketchUp working correctly. Also, if you are lucky
enough to own a graphics card that truly supports
OpenGL acceleration as advertised, all you have to do is
enable the checkbox.
Depending on your card and driver, hardware acceleration
may only be available at certain resolutions and color
depths. In Windows, you can control this in the Windows
Control Panel / Display / Advanced / Performance. You can set up keyboard shortcuts, otherwise known as
accelerator keys or hotkeys, to enable you to invoke
commands faster than with the mouse or menu.
WARNING: Please be careful when changing this setting! The
majority of drivers shipped today do not fully support the All the SketchUp commands are listed in the Commands
OpenGL specification, yet routinely advertise otherwise. menu. If a shortcut has already been defined for a
command, it will appear in the Accelerators window. To
add your own shortcut, select the command and place the
TIP: If you notice artifacts appearing on faces when you apply cursor in the Add Accelerator field. Then simply type the
materials, try turning off hardware acceleration. shortcut (i.e. F2, G, Ctrl+B, Shift+Ctrl+P, etc.) and click
the + icon. Numbers cannot be used, since they could be
Correct Reversed Picking Driver Bug (Windows only): confused with data entered in the Value Control Box.
Some drivers exhibit a strange bug that makes SketchUp Once shortcuts are defined, they will appear in the
select the reverse of faces with the Select tool. This setting pull-down menus.
provides a work-around. Do not change this setting unless
you are experiencing this problem.
Use Fast Feedback: For large models or complex renders
due to shadows and materials, this setting can speed up
your file. Fast Feedback will automatically engage only
when rendering is slow. You may see a flicker when
creating large elements.
Capabilities (Windows only): Certain OpenGL modes do
not fully support shadows cast on faces. Some modes may
exhibit rendering artifacts in low precision modes. Please

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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.

TIP: If you want to download a ready-made set of shortcuts, see

"Shortcuts You Can Download", this page.

Mac: Commands are listed under Function. Assigned

shortcuts are listed under Key.

Shortcuts for Render Settings

If you switch often between X-Ray, Shaded, Wireframe,
etc., you should set up shortcuts for this. These commands
are found under the View header.

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.

Shortcuts for UI Windows, Toolbars

In addition to defining shortcuts for tools like Line and
Push/Pull, it’s very handy to define shortcuts for toggling
TIP: The F keys (F4, F5, etc.) are great to use as shortcuts for
the display of windows you use often. There is also a quick view-switching.
command to hide all windows.
These commands are found under the Window header.
Shortcuts You Can Download
If you use Windows and you want to download a set of
shortcuts (actually, the ones I’ve set up for myself), go to
www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/SU5Files.htm and
download the file “PreferencesBonnie.dat.” To load these
into SketchUp, open Window / Preferences to the
Shortcuts page and click Import.

TIP: To make it easy to remember the shortcuts, use a pattern

according to the first letter of the window. For example, define
Shift+C for Components, Shift+D for Display Settings, Shift+E
for Entity Info, etc. Shift+H could be used to hide all windows.

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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.

Toolbars / Tool Palettes

Windows users can customize the icons that appear by
selecting View / Toolbars. Select a toolbar to toggle its
display on and off.

Mac: These are called Tool Palettes, and only Standard

and Sandbox can be toggled.

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 Program Settings

Export and Import File / Export / 2D Graphic

You can save (export) your model in multiple formats, and You can export a SketchUp model into numerous graphic
import certain formats into SketchUp. formats, which are listed below. Click the Options button
In most cases, the Import and Export windows have an of the Export window for a list of adjustable parameters
Options button, by which you can control certain for each format.
conversion settings. Please refer to SketchUp’s online
help for descriptions of these options.

TIP: For advice on importing and exporting to various CAD file

types, see SketchUp’s FAQ page. From www.sketchup.com,
click Support, then FAQs.

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.

File / Export / Animation

If you create pages of your model and save them as a slide
show, you can export the slide show as an animation file.
To specify conversion settings, click the Options button
This enables you to share your designs with those who do
of the Export window.
not have SketchUp. You can burn a DVD, so that you
When exporting, SketchUp uses the current units as a don’t even need a computer to view the animation. For
reference for translation. For instance, if the SketchUp large and complex models, a movie file may play back
unit setting is Decimal/Meters, SketchUp will export the more smoothly than the SketchUp slide show. And, you
DWG file accordingly, and AutoCAD must be set to can use video editing applications to enhance your
Decimal in order for the units to translate correctly as animation by adding music, voice, or text.
meters.
The main disadvantage of animation export is the large
resulting file size. While a typical *.skp file is small and
TIP: Refer to SketchUp’s online help for information on all export easy to transmit via the web, the video from such a file
options.
could be prohibitively large. Therefore, it helps to know
how you can control video file size, primarily by
manipulating frame size and frame rate.

TIP: Before creating an animation file, read about animation and

exporting animation in the SketchUp online help.

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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.

NOTE: Certain applications have exact frame rate requirements,

To specify output parameters, click Options.
such as 29.97 fps for television in the US and other countries, 25
fps for television in Europe, 24 fps for film, etc.

Loop to Starting Page: Generates an additional video

segment that transitions from the last page back to the
first, making an infinite loop.
Codec: Enables you to specify which codec (compression
plug-in) to apply to your video, as well as adjust quality
settings. For detailed information, refer to the Codec List
and Video Compression pages in SketchUp’s online
help.
Play When Finished: SketchUp will start your default
video player and play the file immediately after it is
created.
Anti-alias: The technique by which software softens the
transition between the edge of an object and the
Format (Mac): Specify the codec (compression plug-in)
background. Without anti-aliasing, the edge is composed
and adjust quality settings. There are preset
of a single color while the background is a different single
configurations designed for common cases, or you can
color. The result on a diagonal line is a stepped or jagged
select Custom to specify settings.
look; a vertical or horizontal line could have a harsh edge.
Anti-aliasing samples the edge color and the background
color and interposes a range of transitional colors between
them so that the edge 'blends' into the background in such
a way as to minimize the jagged effect. This creates a
much more realistic image, but requires more processing
power. So, while anti-aliasing is highly desirable in a still
image, it takes a heavy processor to run a smooth
animation that has been anti-aliased.
Width / Height: Frame size in pixels. 320x240 is a good
size for CD-ROM and for transfer to videotape. 640x480
is considered a “full screen” frame size, and usually
requires robust compression. Values larger than 640x480
are not recommended unless specifically required.

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 Program Settings

Importing By default, the file is imported as an image object, which

You can import a model from other CAD formats into is basically a rectangle with the image mapped on it. You
SketchUp, and you can import graphics to be used as can move, rotate, or scale this rectangle, but it stays a
backgrounds or textures. separate object unless you Explode it (at which time it
becomes a regular face with material on it).
File / Import / 3D Model
When you bring a 3D model into SketchUp, it is imported TIP: You can also import a graphic by dragging it directly into
SketchUp from your browser.
as a component, and must be exploded or edited before it
can be changed.
Models from the following formats can be imported into If you want to import a graphic as a texture, be sure to
SketchUp: click Use as texture at the bottom of the window. The
image will be placed in the Material Browser, in the In
Model (Colors in Model) tab.

By default, image objects retain the aspect ratio of their

original file. You can press Shift while importing to
TIP: You can also import a 3D model by dragging it directly into change this. You can also press Ctrl to scale it about its
SketchUp from your browser. center point.
The image file becomes embedded into your SketchUp
Because SketchUp must translate the contents into usable document, which enables you to send your SketchUp files
drawing elements, importing may take some time for to others without any information loss, but it also means
large CAD files. To specify conversion settings, click the that file size can increase dramatically. Therefore, be very
Options button of the Import window. careful not to insert immensely large files. You can also
adjust resolution to control file size, or even convert the
TIP: Refer to SketchUp’s online help for information on all import image to gray-scale.
options. Another way to limit file size is to use compressed file
formats such as *.jpg and *.png.
Once a file is imported, you may have to use Zoom Image objects have their own local (right-click) menu:
Extents to see it. Imported files come in with their layer
system intact and all elements are grouped together.

File / Import / 2D Graphic

You may want to import an image file so that you trace
over a scan or photograph. You can insert images of the
following formats:

• Entity Info: Displays a window containing

information such as source file, dimensions,
shadows, visibility, and layer.
• Explode: Enables you to use the image as a texture,
and to project it onto a non-flat surface.
• Export: Enables you save the embedded image to a
format you can edit in another graphics package.

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• Reload: If you change the image’s source file, and

the link still appears in the Entity Info, you can use
Reload to update the image in SketchUp.
• Shadows: Cast will cause the image to cast shadows
on other objects; Receive enables the image to
receive shadows cast by other objects.
• Unglue: If you attach an image to a face, the image
cannot be removed from that face, unless you use
Unglue.
• Use as Material: Creates a material from the image,
and places the thumbnail in the In Model tab of the
Material browser.

TIP: Because importing a large file can be time-consuming, and

because a large file can slow SketchUp’s performance, you may
want to crop the imported file so as to import only necessary
entities. You could also import different layers as different
Groups. You can then use Pages to control visibility.

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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.

This creates the line as before, from the defined “from”

point to the defined “to” point.

Creating a Script that Requires

Creating a Script User Input
Every time you want to create a line between two points, What if you want to create a line between two points with
you will not want to bother typing in these four lines. This different coordinates each time? We can change the script
time we will save these lines to a text file, and then run it to include prompts, then take the input values to run the
from within SketchUp. This is a script - a file external to same line creation tool.
SketchUp that can be called when needed. The “line_from_to.rb” script will now include some extra
The script is a text file with the extension “rb.” It will be lines. Here is the new script, in which each line is
placed in the SketchUp\Plugins folder, since scripts in this numbered for reference. (Do not include these numbers in
folder are loaded automatically when SketchUp is your actual script!)
launched. Mac: the folder is in Contents\Resources\
Create a text file with the six lines below. This creates a 1. def line_from_to
routine, referred to in SketchUp as a method.
The first line assigns the name “line_from_to” to the 2. prompts = ["From X", "From Y",
method, and the last line tells SketchUp to end the "From Z", "To X", "To Y", "To Z"]
method.
3. values = [0.inch, 0.inch, 0.inch,
def line_from_to 10.inch, 0.inch, 0.inch]
from = [0, 10, 0] 4. results = inputbox prompts,
values, "Start and End Points"
to = [30,20,0]
5. fromx, fromy, fromz, tox, toy,
model = Sketchup.active_model toz = results
model.entities.add_line(from, 6. from = [fromx, fromy, fromz]
to)
7. to = [tox, toy, toz]
end

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 Ruby Script

8. model = Sketchup.active_model Lines 6 and 7:

9. model.entities.add_line(from, from = [fromx, fromy, fromz]
to)
to = [tox, toy, toz]
10. end
Defines start point “from” and end point “to,” based on
Here are the explanations of the new lines of code: the input variables.

Line 1: Lines 8, 9, and 10:

def line_from_to model = Sketchup.active_model
Same as before, assigns a name to the method. model.entities.add_line(from,
to)
Line 2:
end
prompts = ["From X", "From Y",
Same as before - creates the line from the “from” point to
"From Z", "To X", "To Y", "To Z"] the “to” point.
Defines the names of the six values the user will be
prompted for. TIP: If you want to add text in your script that will not be read as
code, simply place a # symbol at the start of the line. This is
helpful when you want to add text to explain what the lines of
Line 3: code are for.

values = [0.inch, 0.inch, 0.inch,

10.inch, 0.inch, 0.inch] Now close and restart SketchUp once again and run
“line_from_to.” You now get a prompt window asking for
Defines initial, default values. It’s a good idea to include two sets of coordinates, which have default values.
units, because the inputbox method tries to return the
same kind of object that you give it. If the default values
are lengths, then it will parse your entries as lengths. This
means that if your units are set to metric, the script will
parse the entered values in the correct units. You can also
enter values in other units, like 10' 6" or 100cm .

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

Using the Help Files to Create 5. radius, height = results

Code 6. center = [0, 0, 0]
Ruby Help can be accessed by selecting Help / Ruby
Help. This opens an *.htm file in your browser. (If this file (Line 6 sets the center of the base at the origin.)
does not open automatically, your web security settings
may be interfering. You can open this file manually by Next, we will draw the circle. We need to consult the Help
browsing to ...SketchUp 5\Ruby\Docs\index.html.) file for the syntax of the “add_circle” command. Open
As an example of another very simple script, we will Help / Ruby Help, scroll down, and click the link for
create a vertical cylinder. This involves three steps: SketchUp Ruby Method Index.
Creating a circle in the red-green plane, completing a face
within the circle, and Push/Pull’ing it up. The provided
Help files can tell you what the syntax should be for each
command.
Here is the complete script. When you create yours, name
it “cylinder.rb” and save it in the Plugins folder.
Explanations of each line follow:

Scroll to the “adds” and locate “add_circle.” Click

Entities.

Here is the syntax you need to provide in the code:

First, like in the “line_from_to” script, create a UI box that

asks for all the needed values. This method will be called
“vertical_cylinder.”
Remember, do not include the line numbers below in your
actual script.
1. def vertical_cylinder
You need to provide a center point, normal vector, radius,
2. prompts = ["Radius", "Height"] and, optionally, the number of circle segments. The input
box of this script doesn’t ask for the number of segments,
3. values = [10.inch, 2.feet] so the default value of 24 will be used.
4. results = inputbox prompts,
values, "Cylinder settings"

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To get the syntax for a vector, this time go back to the

main page and consult the Ruby Class Index. Lines 8 and 9:
model = Sketchup.active_model
entities = model.entities
These two lines initialize what’s included in “model” and
“entities.”.

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.”

Now we will create a face within the base circle edges.

Look up “add_face.” With the first option you can define
There are three ways you can create a new vector. We will an array of edges, which is what “basecircle” is.
use the second one, because we know the coordinates of
the vector parallel to the X, Y plane.

Continue the code:

7. vec = Geom::Vector3d.new(0, 0, 1) 11. baseface = entities.add_face
8. model = Sketchup.active_model baseedges

9. entities = model.entities Creates a face called “baseface” from the “baseedges”

edges.
10. baseedges =
entities.add_circle(center, vec,
radius) Now look up “pushpull.”
Explanations:

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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12. baseface.pushpull height Provided Scripts

13. end SketchUp comes with several scripts already provided.
These are in the Plugins folder of the SketchUp
installation. There should be several scripts in this folder,
If you run the “vertical_cylinder” script now, it will work plus sub-folders named Examples and Utilities.
but the cylinder will be created downward. If you want it
upward, add the following line before the pushpull line
(before Line 12):
height = -height if
baseface.normal.dot(vec) < 0
Make sure the script file is in the Plugins folder, and run
the script in the Ruby console:

Type in the values, or leave the defaults:

This section describes the scripts that are included with
SketchUp. You can open a script in any word processing
program. Any line that starts with the # symbol is not read
as code - it provides explanatory information for the user.
If you are looking for a way to learn how to use Ruby in
SketchUp, it’s a good idea to look through these files. The
And get your vertical cylinder. scripts contain numerous comment lines to explain the
code lines. You can test your understanding by changing
some things around, and you can also use these files as a
base for new script files.

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Ruby Script Examples Estimating

For these functions to be available on your UI, open File These tools come from the “attributes.rb” script found in
/ Preferences to the Extensions page. Check Ruby the Examples subfolder. These three tools are found on the
Script Examples. Plugins menu.

As an example, the following model uses two materials

and has one rectangular face with no assigned material.

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.

To assign a unit cost to specific faces, regardless of

material, first select the face(s). Then run Assign
Estimate to Faces. In this case, only the 6’ x 10’ face was
selected.

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 Ruby Script

To get the entire cost, run Compute Estimate. Animation

These tools come from the “animation.rb” script found in
the Examples subfolder. They are found on the Camera
menu.
This script creates two new functions, one for spinning the
model and one to stop spinning it.
The last section of the script is the code that assigns
Check the results: command names and places them in menus. By default,
Top face: area = 200 the Spin View and Stop Spinning commands are placed
cost = 200 x $1.20 = $240 in the Camera menu.

Side faces: area = 2(200) + 2(400) - 60 = 1140

cost = 1140 x $2.70 = 3,078

Inner face: area = 60

cost = 60 x $3.00 = $180

Total cost = $240 + $3,078 + $180 = $3,498

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.

Then to run the actual method (or routine), type the

method name in the Ruby console:
linetool

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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examples.rb do_select {|e|

This file contains explanations of what can be found in e.kind_of(Sketchup::Edge) &&
some of the other script files, as well as a few short e.layer.name == "Joe"}
examples of additional scripts:
Selects all edges on layer Joe.
setLayer(layerName): First, select objects you want to
move to another layer. Then use the syntax setLayer
"layername". If the layer you type does not exist, it will be select_by_layer: Brings up a window that lists all the
created. layers used in the model. Select the layer, click OK, and
all objects on that layer are selected.
totalArea: Calculates the total area of all faces in the
model.
perimeter: Calculates the perimeter of all selected faces.
Edges that are common to more than one face are only
counted once.

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.

322
 Ruby Script

Where to Find More Ruby

Scripts
The first place to check for more scripts is SketchUp’s
website - www.sketchup.com. There is a link for
Downloads, and then a link for Ruby Scripts. At this
writing the library is small, but check back often, since
@Last intends to place a number of scripts here.
Also check the SketchUp User Forum
(www.sketchup.com/forum). Click the link to the Ruby
Forum, where users have posted their scripts for public
use. You’ll find scripts to create windows, spiral stairs,
helixes, fog - the possibilities (and scripts) are endless.
You don’t have to be a programmer, or even proficient at
SketchUp, to download and use these.
A simple web search for “sketchup ruby scripts” will
provide a few more places for script downloading. One is
http://amazone.crai.archi.fr//Ruby/RUBY_Li
brary_Depot.htm, and another is
www.ohyeahcad.com.

Scripts for Film and Stage

SketchUp has gained so much popularity within the
entertainment industry, particularly set and stage design,
so @Last has created Ruby scripts specifically for this
purpose. Go to www.sketchup.com, and go to the
Downloads page. Under Plugins, there is a download that
includes a series of Ruby scripts for enhanced camera
features.
Under component downloads, you can install a wealth of
cameras, dollies, props, etc.

323
the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

324
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

Dodecahedron . . .281 Aligning . . .272 Hide when foreshortened . . .70, . . .298

Domed apse . . .269 Connected . . .127 Hide when too small . . .76, . . .298
Double inferences . . .6 Dividing . . .7 Hiding edges . . .59
Double-click . . .29 Healing . . .8 Highlight non-associated dimensions . .
Drag handles . . .53 Fade . . .297 .74, . . .299
Drape . . .244 Fast Feedback . . .304 Horizontal on Screen . . .74
Draw notes and labels . . .64 Faster . . .295 Hotkeys . . .304
Drawing preferences . . .302 Field of View . . .226 HSB . . .168
Drawing tools Field of view . . .3 HSL . . .168
Arc . . .21 File preferences . . .303 Hue . . .168
Circle . . .16 File settings . . .299
Freehand . . .25 Film industry . . .323 I
Line . . .4 Filter . . .152 Icons . . .303
Polygon . . .16 Fix problems . . .300, . . .303 Customizing . . .306
Rectangle . . .9 Flip Edge . . .249 Icosahedron . . .279
DWG Export . . .307 Floor plans . . .220 Image
DWG Import . . .309 Focal length . . .3 Exporting from SketchUp . . .309
DXF Export . . .307 Fog . . .183 Importing . . .309
DXF Import . . .309 Follow Me . . .79 Image export . . .307
Dynamic rotate . . .2 With components . . .84 Images for materials . . .170
With groups . . .82 Import
E Force Display of 0" . . .75, . . .302 Insert . . .307
Edge color by direction . . .9 Foreshortened dimensions . . .70, . . .298 Importing
Edge dimensions . . .69 Format (units) . . .301 3D model . . .309
Edit text . . .66 Frame rate . . .308 Image . . .309
Enable length snapping . . .251, . . .302 Freehand . . .25 In Model
Enable Page Transitions . . .235, . . .301 With Shift key . . .26 Materials . . .171
Enable Transparency . . .295 From contours . . .243 Inaccurate dimensions . . .74
Endpoints . . .298 From Point inference . . .5 Include in slideshow . . .234
Engineering units . . .302 From scratch . . .239 Inferences
Entertainment industry . . .323 Double . . .6
Equidistant . . .17 G From Point . . .5
Erase . . .30 Gluing plane . . .145 Golden section . . .11
Estimates . . .318 Golden section . . .11 Locking . . .6
Exact dimensions . . .251 Graphic export . . .307 Midpoint . . .5
Examples script . . .322 Ground . . .297 On Axis . . .5
Expanded components . . .137 Transparency . . .297 Parallel . . .6
Expert . . .308 Groups . . .127 Perpendicular . . .5
Explode Curve . . .20, . . .24, . . .25 Cutting with . . .130 Square . . .11
Export . . .307 Materials of . . .184 Tangent at vertex . . .21
Exporting Using Follow Me . . .82 Tangent to Edge . . .21
Animation . . .307 GUI . . .1 Inserting components . . .132
Embedded image . . .309 Interior design . . .216
Sections . . .219 H Intersect with Model . . .88
Extension (edges) . . .293 Half circle . . .22 Invert selection . . .322
Extensions . . .303 Handles for dragging . . .53 Irregular objects . . .273
Extrude . . .12 Hardware Acceleration . . .304
Eye Height . . .226 Healing faces . . .8 J
Height Offset . . .230 Jitter lines . . .294
F Hemisphere . . .86 Joining windows . . .289
Face color . . .296 Hidden leaders . . .67
Face highlight workaround . . .304 Hidden line . . .291 K
Faces Hide rest . . .322 Keyboard shortcuts . . .304

326
 Index

L Tourguide . . .301 Predefined components . . .133

Units . . .301 Preferences . . .302
Labels and notes . . .64
Move . . .38 Drawing . . .302
Lathed forms . . .98
Exact dimensions . . .258 Extensions . . .303
Lathed objects . . .86
Move Camera . . .2 Files . . .303
Layers
Movie files . . .307 OpenGL . . .304
Select by . . .322
Moving axes . . .58 Shortcuts . . .304
Leader lines . . .298
Multiple active sections . . .222 Templates . . .306
Leaders . . .64
My Textures . . .170 Prefix for dimensions . . .72, . . .298
Length
Problem dimensions . . .74
Measuring . . .32, . . .265
Length snapping . . .251, . . .302 N Profile objects . . .273
Nested components . . .137, . . .157 Prompt . . .1
Line . . .4
Nicer . . .295 Protractor . . .36
Dividing a face with . . .7
Non-associated dimensions . . .74, . . Exact dimensions . . .254
Exact slope . . .252
.299 Purge unused . . .173, . . .300
Linetool script . . .321
Non-uniform scaling . . .53 Push/Pull . . .12
Location . . .299
Notes and labels . . .64 Exact dimensions . . .256
Locking components . . .150
with Ctrl key . . .15
Locking inferences . . .6
Pushpin leader . . .65, . . .301
Look Around . . .2 O
Loop to starting page . . .308 Octohedron . . .277
Luminance . . .168 Offset . . .56
Q
On Axis . . .5 Quality . . .295
M Opacity . . .178 Query Tool . . .321
Make Component . . .138 OpenGL preferences . . .304
Manipulating the view . . .2 Orbit . . .2, . . .6 R
Manual dimensions . . .74 Orthographic section . . .219 Radius . . .18
Marquee selection . . .27 Outliner . . .146 Radius dimensions . . .69
Match Screen Display . . .219 Oval . . .53 Radius prefix . . .72, . . .298
Material display . . .291 Overriding dimensions . . .74 Raster image export . . .307
Materials Recovery files . . .303
Applying . . .171 P Rectangle . . .9
Browser . . .167 Page delay . . .235, . . .301 Exact dimensions . . .253, . . .256
Editing texture image . . .174 Page transitions . . .235, . . .301 Vertical . . .10
Importing images . . .170 Pages . . .217 Relative distance . . .252
Of components . . .186 Pan . . .2 Reset axes . . .58
Of groups . . .184 Panes . . .289 Resize . . .53
Select by . . .322 Paraline mode . . .296 Reverse Faces . . .297
Transparency . . .177 Parallel dimensions . . .70 Reverse section . . .215
Measure tool . . .32 Parallel inference . . .6 Reversed Picking Driver Bug . . .304
Measuring Pencil . . .4 Revolved objects . . .86
Angles . . .36 Perimeter . . .322 RGB . . .168
Length and area . . .265 Perpendicular inference . . .5 Rotate . . .2, . . .47
Midpoint inference . . .5 Perspective mode . . .296 Defining axis . . .50
Mirroring . . .162 Phi . . .11 Twist . . .52
Model Info . . .296 Picking Driver Bug . . .304 Round objects . . .86
Color . . .296 Picture export . . .307 Ruby console . . .311
Components . . .297 Point at Center . . .320 Ruby script examples . . .318
Dimensions . . .298 Point at center . . .18, . . .22
File . . .299 Polygon . . .16 S
Location . . .299 Polyhedrons . . .277 Sandbox . . .239
Section planes . . .300 Polylines with Width . . .219 Drape . . .244
Statistics . . .300 Position Camera . . .230 From contours . . .243
Text . . .301 Precision of units . . .302 Stamp . . .244

327
the SketchUp Workbook Version 5

Saturation . . .168 Square . . .11 Unglue . . .310

Save Backup File . . .303 Square inference . . .11 Unhide . . .60
Save current window size . . .303 Stacking windows . . .289 Uniform scaling . . .53
Saving automatically . . .303 Stage design . . .323 Units . . .251, . . .301
Scale . . .53 Staircase . . .282 Unlocking components . . .150
3D exact values . . .267 Stamp . . .244 Unsoften . . .63
Changing axes . . .55 Statistics . . .300 Update selected text . . .301
Exact values . . .257 Status Bar . . .1 Use face highlight workaround . . .304
Screen . . .1 Stickiness of faces . . .127 Use Fast Feedback . . .304
Screen Projection . . .219 Sticky windows . . .289 Use Hardware Acceleration . . .304
Section Line Width . . .219 Stop Spinning . . .319 Use large tool buttons . . .303
Section Plane . . .213 Suffix for dimensions . . .72 Use sun for shading . . .236
Section plane Suppress Units Display . . .68 User Interface . . .1
Reverse . . .215 Survey . . .304 Utilities . . .320
Section plane settings . . .300
Section planes . . .213 T V
Align View . . .215 Table leg . . .98 Value control box . . .1
Interior design . . .216 Tangent arcs . . .21 VCB . . .1
Simultaneous . . .222 Tape Measure . . .32 Vertical axis . . .7
Sections Templates . . .306 Video . . .307
Exporting . . .219 Terrain . . .239 View-based leader . . .64, . . .301
Select . . .26 Terrian modeling . . .239 Viewing tools . . .2
Select All Text . . .301 Tetrahedron . . .277 VRML Export . . .307
Select by layer . . .322 Text . . .64
Select by material . . .322
Selection script . . .322
Settings . . .301 W
Texture display . . .291 Walk . . .2
Semi circle . . .22 Textures
Set design . . .323 Wide Line Entities . . .219
See Materials Window selection . . .26, . . .27
Set gluing plane . . .145 Tilda symbol . . .74
Shaded . . .291 Window size . . .303
TIN . . .239 Window zoom . . .3
Shaded with textures . . .291 TIN surfaces . . .239
Shadows . . .233, . . .236 Windows . . .138
Toggle Section Plane Display . . .214 Cutting faces . . .153
Shortcuts . . .304 Tool buttons . . .303
Show component axes . . .298 in curved walls . . .160
Tool palettes . . .306 Wireframe . . .291
Show ground from below . . .297 Toolbars, customizing . . .306
Show nested components . . .300 WRL Export . . .307
Topography . . .239 WYSIWYG projection . . .219
Show Radius/Diam Prefix . . .72, . . .298 Total area . . .322
Sketching . . .25 Tour guide . . .234
Sky . . .297 Tour Guide settings . . .235
X
Slideshow . . .218, . . .234 Tourguide . . .301 X-Ray . . .292
Slope of a line . . .252 Transitions . . .235, . . .301
Small dimensions . . .76, . . .298 Transparency . . .295 Z
Smoothing edges . . .59 Ground . . .297 Zero inch display . . .302
Smoove . . .240 Transparent materials . . .177 Zoom . . .3
Snapping . . .251, . . .302 Triple-click . . .29 Zoom Extents . . .3
Snapping windows . . .289 Troubleshooting Zoom window . . .3
Soften . . .61 Dimensions . . .299
Soften coplanar . . .63 True Section . . .219
Sorting . . .295 Turn . . .2
Specify Section Line Width . . .219 Twisting . . .52
Spectrum . . .168
Sphere . . .86
Spin View . . .319
U
Spiral staircase . . .282 Unblank . . .60

328
 For questions, comments, and
information on updates,
contact Bonnie Roskes
202-243-1046
bonnie@f1help.biz

For information on more books

by Bonnie Roskes, see
www.f1help.biz

Published by:
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