Created with Adobe Firefly by Travis Sciantarelli
Sketchup Free - 3D Online, from Anywhere
Managing Sketchup Files
Step 1
As always, we'll need make a new project folder to your Google Drive account. We'll have many files from different sources and really need to keep things organized. Make SURE you are in the main OneDrive folder in File Explorer and create the new folder by copying the text below:
240108 3D Modeling Project Folder
Step 2
Sketchup for Schools is the first web-based software we'll be using - it saves your work to your Google Drive account. Use Chrome to open your Google drive to make your online project folder. Select "+ New --> New Folder and make a new one in your Drive by copy/pasting the name of the folder below:
240108 Sketchup Project Folder
Online & Local Folder Creation
Everyone should be able to follow the written instructions above in a fraction of the time it will take to watch this video and follow along with it, but here it is in case you need it.
Mandatory Shortcuts
Working with Sketchup means switching tools constantly. The only way to get these projects done is by learning a handful of the most used keyboard shortcuts. No need to move the mouse off the area of your model where you are active - just press the key with the hand that's on the keyboard to change action that takes place as you move and click the mouse.
New Useful PC Background
Download this JPG and make it your new PC background. This way you can peek at the Sketchup shortcuts any time by pressing "⊞ - D", aka Windows+D (D stands for (D)estktop) to bring up the background and then again to return to Sketchup - much easier than rereferring to a written page of notes you will make for yourself if you don't get proficient with using them. It really is that important!
"Cubes Pre-Project
"Cubes" Pre-Project
As a way of demonstrating you are beginning to learn some tools and 3D space navigation, we'll make some cubes of increasing size using exact dimensions. To help you, I've made a sort of template you need to download, rename and move to your local Project Folder. You will then upload this QuickStart file to your online Sketchup project folder. Click on the Cubist QuickStart File to download your copy.
Sketchup First-Timers
Getting Sketchup for Schools running the first time has a few steps to get through. Pop-ups may be blocked, you have to prove you are a Human and get to your new Google Drive folder in a new way... I recorded these because I can't demonstrate all of them in class, since I already got past them. Once the file is opened, we'll be locking and hiding the guides until we are ready for them.
This is a sidebar about the latest Sketchup model, Sketchup project manager Casey Grothus. "Models" are there to help provide a size reference, change regularly and are based on real people. I found the story about Mr. Grothus to be especially interesting! Click on his picture or name to learn more.
Entering Shape Dimensions
When making a shape in Sketchup, you can enter specific measurements for it. Clicking and releasing the mouse button starts the process, then type the numbers on the keyboard without moving the mouse. Pressing Enter will then "execute" the command and the shape will be drawn to those measurements.
The Push/Pull Tool
Pulling a 2D face into the 3rd dimension is what Sketchup was built for, at its core. As with making a shape, you click once and let go, then nudge the face in the direction you want it to go. Type the measurement on the keyboard, and the face will head in that direction for that distance when you press Enter.
Show Off Your Dimensions
The snip tool is no good for Sketchup - they have a simple and effective download option for PNG screenshots that can even include transparency! (Don't use it now, though). These are the video instructions for turning in the GC assignment.
Mastering the Move
The trick to moving objects accurately is to move them along one axis at a time. If you try to move things straight to their destination, more often than not, it will not be where you think it is. Learn to orbit your view around and use your arrow keys to lock the move onto one of the 3 color axes.
Here's a bonus set of tutorials by Justin Geis I found for Sketchup Free. Not all of them apply (we won't be using the Warehouse for classwork, for example). Click on the image to see the playlist.
Customizing the Toolbar
You don't want to click on a tool's icon in the toolbar unless it doesn't have a single-key shortcut. You waste SO much time going back and forth! Left hand should cover the Shift and Spacebar keys, with the Right (or "dominant" hand, right? I mean... Left) goes on the mouse.
New File - Simple House
Create a new file for us to begin building our first model, one that looks like a, well, simple house. I will measure specific points on it that have to be 100% accurate. If you type in the three sets of numbers correctly and don't move things around carelessly, you will get full credit.
Official Measurements to be entered at the different stages of construction:
First rectangle: 12',30' (12 feet by 30 feet)
Second one: 20',10' (20 feet by 10 feet)
Push/Pull: 10' (pull up 10 feet from the ground
Offset: 6" (Looking up at the bottom of the house)
Measuring Simple House
If you follow all the steps precisely and don't accidentally move parts you aren't supposed to, certain distances will have specific measurements. This video shows you exactly how the Unpainted version is graded. THEN you will get to "paint" a COPY of this house.
SketchUp Navigation
This tutorial from the official Sketchup channel helps introduce you to getting around in this new environment. You may see the side menu being used for things that there are shortcuts for - remember that you will be required to use the keyboard shortcuts instead.
You will see many tutorials out there for Sketchup that look different from what we have at school. Most of the functions work equally well, but the menu system is different. The great news is the keyboard shortcuts are the same and speed things up a LOT. You MUST learn them - they are on your Useful Desktop Background.