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In this tutorial, you will get started with SketchUp by building a small house in order to learn the basic tools of the program.
In this tutorial, you will get started with SketchUp by building a small house in order to learn the basic tools of the program.
What you'll need:
What you'll need:
Internet Access
A Google or GNSPES account
A computer with Chrome installed (Chromebooks work just fine!)
A mouse with a scroll wheel
A burning, and fiery passion to create 3D designs (optional)
STEP 1
To begin, open Google Chrome and go to http://my.sketchup.com/app to launch the web version of SketchUp.
Once the app has loaded, click Launch.
You may get a pop up that asks you to take a tour or start modelling. You can choose either option.
You may also want to check out the printable SketchUp Cheat Sheet to help you find the tools you're looking for.
Sep 13, 2017 2:24 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:52 PM.webmSTEP 2
You can login to the app to save your work by clicking on the three horizontal lines in the top left corner.
A pop-up will appear (you might need to disable your pop-up blocker) and you can log in with a Google account, such as your GNSPES account.
STEP 3
When you first open SketchUp, you'll notice a person just kind of standing there. I've taken to calling him Steve. As far as I can tell, Steve is a nice enough guy, but he's also kind of in the way.
Use the cursor tool to select Steve and then press "delete" on your keyboard. Bye Steve!
Sep 13, 2017 2:57 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:25 PM.webmSTEP 4
Now that Steve's gone, we're going to get building.
Begin by selecting the rectangle tool and draw a square.
You can click on any point on the SketchUp work area and, drag your mouse and click again to make the square. I prefer to begin all of my work by starting at the XYZ intersection.
STEP 5
To make your square a 3D shape, you are going to use the Push/Pull tool.
Click anywhere in your square and drag up to make your 3D shape.
Sep 13, 2017 2:26 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:29 PM.webmSTEP 6
We're going to give our house a garage.
To do this, use your rectangle tool again to draw a rectangle of any size on the side of the cube (or cube-like shape) that you drew last step.
STEP 7
Now that you have a rectangle drawn on the side of your house, use the Push/Pull tool to pull it out and make this 3D.
Sep 13, 2017 2:30 PM.webmPro-Tip:
Pro-Tip:
You can click and hold the wheel of your mouse in order to orbit around your image to see it from different angles.
To get your line directly in the centre of your roof, hover over the edge of your roof until you see a blue dot. This dot is the centre point.
You can also make sure that your line is straight by making sure that the line turns either RED, BLUE, or GREEN. This means that the line follows the direction of one of your three axes.
Sep 13, 2017 2:30 PM.webmStep 8
We're going to give our house a gable roof. To do this, we're going to use the Line Tool. With that tool, draw a line across the centre of the roof of your house.
Pro-Tip:
Pro-Tip:
Start to pay attention to the Distance box in the lower right hand side of your screen. This box gives you the dimensions of the object that you are drawing, moving, or push/pulling.
Step 9
In order to make your gable roof pointy, you need to use the Move Tool to grab the line you drew, and drag up and to a point.
Sep 13, 2017 2:31 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:31 PM.webmStep 10
We're going to give the roof of your garage a slope so that it doesn't cave in from snow load. Something about insurance regulations... anyway...
Use your Move Tool again to select the outside edge of your garage and drag it down.
Step 11
Like any good house, we need to add a door and a window.
Use your Rectangle Tool to draw these on the front of your house. Remember that you can click on your mouse wheel to orbit your model around.
Sep 13, 2017 2:31 PM.webmPro Tip:
Pro Tip:
When using the Push/Pull tool, you can click on the surface of another part of your model to give them the same height or depth. The video in Step 12 shows an example of that.
Sep 13, 2017 2:32 PM.webmStep 12
In order to give our window and door some depth, we are going to use the Push/Pull tool to push the door and window in some.
Step 13
For our next trick, we're going to create an interesting feature for the roof. To start, use your Line Tool to draw a line across the front of your house.
Sep 13, 2017 2:40 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:41 PM.webmStep 14
Now you are going to use the 2-Point Arc Tool to draw a half-circle on the line that you just drew.
Step 15
Using the Push/Pull Tool you are going to select the part of the roof that you just drew on and you are going to pull it out to create an overhang for your house.
Sep 13, 2017 2:41 PM.webmSep 13, 2017 2:42 PM.webmStep 16
Sure, you have a pretty sweet overhang on your house, but without the proper support you're not going to get this house approved by the local building inspector.
To solve this problem, you're going to add support posts to your overhang.
Start by using the Rectangle Tool to draw squares on the underside of your overhang. After this, use your Push/Pull Tool to extend these posts to the ground.
Adding colours, materials, and models.
Adding colours, materials, and models.
You can go a lot further with SketchUp than this tutorial takes you by using the Paint Bucket icon to add colours and materials to a surface of your design.
Additionally, you can add components to your design that are pre-made and stored in SketchUp's library. You can add things like kitchens, cars, doors, windows, or almost anything else you can think of.
3D Printing with SketchUp
3D Printing with SketchUp
One of the really great things about using SketchUp for 3D modelling is that you can now download these designs as .STL Files. With this file, you can print your design using almost any 3D printer! Just click on the folder icon and click Download > STL File and insert it into your 3D printer's software to print.
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