Book Image

Getting Started with SketchUp Pro

By : David S. Sellers
Book Image

Getting Started with SketchUp Pro

By: David S. Sellers

Overview of this book

Owing to its ability to create models quickly and with high level of dimensional accuracy, SketchUp Pro has become a popular choice for many industries, including architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and video game design. If you are seeking to adopt Trimble's exceptional design software, Getting Started with SketchUp Pro serves as an ideal primer to prepare and equip you for its use. This book will help you lay the foundation of a project from scratch, set up appropriate units, and follow a guided path to structure your 3D models. You’ll explore the workflows used for creating designs from sketches, making CAD drawings (DWG), and even updating your existing 3D models. Finally, you’ll work with extensions and 3D Warehouse to find new workflows and models to add to your skill set. By the end of this SketchUp book, you’ll be able to confidently create and share models of your design through CAD drawings and 3D views, and even take them online through the 3D Warehouse
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1 – User Interface and Beginning Modeling!
7
Part 2 – Views, Animations, and Materials
11
Part 3 – Advanced Modeling and Model Organization
12
Chapter 9: Entity Info, Outliner, and Tags Dynamically Organize Your Models
13
Chapter 10: Model Info and Preferences

The Push/Pull Tool

The Push/Pull tool is SketchUp Pro’s version of Extrude, but it comes with some extra-powerful features! Push/Pull can do two different things—it can create or remove Geometry, as the name Push/Pull suggests. Push/Pull creates a 3D shape from a 2D Face in the perpendicular direction—it cannot go in any direction, unlike the Move/Autofold tool. Push/Pull can extrude new Geometry using any Face, and it can also cut holes into any watertight Geometry. Also, if two faces of watertight Geometry are in the same orientation, Push/Pull can cut a hole through the entire object. Push/Pull has one modifier key—Ctrl—to create new starting faces. The Push/Pull tool is represented by an arrow pointing up from a flat box:

Figure 5.59: Push/Pull Tool Button

The Push/Pull tool can be activated by doing the following:

  • Clicking on any of the Push/Pull tool buttons
  • Hitting P on the keyboard

The Push/Pull...