Sketchup For Dummies

The first step in making your ideas a reality

SketchUp offers a vast array of tools that help you get your building, woodworking, and design plans out of your head and into a real model. Even if you’ve never dabbled in the software, SketchUp All-in-One For Dummies makes it easy to get started as quickly as the ideas pop into your head!

Providing real-world insight from top SketchUp insiders, these six-books-in-one teach you how to tackle the basics of the program and apply those skills to real-world projects. You’ll discover the basics of modeling as they apply to either free or paid versions of SketchUp before diving into creating models to use for making objects, constructing buildings, or redesigning interiors.

• Navigate the SketchUp product mix
• Get familiar with the basics of modeling
• View and share your models
• Make your architecture, interior design, and woodworking dreams a reality

You have tons of great ideas—and now you can harness this powerful software to bring them to life.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started With Sketchup 5

Chapter 1: The SketchUp Setup 7

Picking a Version of SketchUp 7

SketchUp for Schools 9

SketchUp Pro 9

SketchUp for Web 10

Trimble Connect 12

Navigating SketchUp 12

Customizing settings to see better 13

Getting to know your mouse 13

Finding your Zen with click-release, click-to-finish 14

Working faster with keyboard shortcuts 15

Introducing Undo 16

Taking the 10-Minute SketchUp Tour 17

The SketchUp Frame of Mind 19

Chapter 2: Getting a Running Start 21

Making a Quick Model from Scratch 21

Slapping On Some Paint 28

Giving Your Model Some Style 31

Switching On the Sun 33

Sharing Your Masterpiece 35

Chapter 3: Establishing the Modeling Mindset 37

All about Edges and Faces 38

Living on the edge 38

Facing the facts about faces 39

Understanding the relationship between edges and faces 41

Drawing in 3D on a 2D Screen 43

Giving instructions with the drawing axes 44

Keeping an eye out for inferences 44

Using inferences to help you model 47

Warming Up Your SketchUp Muscles 49

Getting the best view of what you’re doing 49

Drawing and erasing edges with ease 52

Injecting accuracy into your model 53

Selecting what you mean to select 57

Moving and copying like a champ 60

Making and using guides 67

Painting your faces with color and texture 70

Part 2: MODELING IN SKETCHUP 73

Chapter 4: Building Buildings 75

Drawing Floors and Walls 76

Starting out in 2D 77

Coming up with a simple plan 82

Doing an inside job 83

Going from 2D to 3D 90

Adding floors to your building 95

Inserting doors and windows 104

Staring Down Stairs 108

The Subdivided Rectangles method 109

The Copied Profile method 111

Raising the Roof 113

Building flat roofs with parapets 115

Creating eaves for buildings with pitched roofs 116

Constructing gabled roofs 117

Making hip roofs 119

Sticking your roof together with Intersect Faces 121

Chapter 5: Falling in Love with Components 125

SketchUp Groupies 126

Working with Components 127

What makes components so great? 128

Exploring the Components panel 132

Creating your own components 138

Editing, ex