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

Editing Existing Geometry and Creating New Geometry

As you work through your projects, a common consideration is when to create new Geometry, and when to edit existing Geometry. This will all depend on what objects you are creating, where you are in the workflow, and what shared data or distances you might have between different objects.

The number-one thing to remember when working on your model is to separate different objects into Groups or Components—if they are not the exact same material in the real world, then they should not be stuck together in SketchUp. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule, but this is a good one to follow 99% of the time. Even if multiple objects will eventually be glued together in the real world, they can always be Grouped in Nested Groups in your SketchUp model.

Note

One exception to this might be a picture frame that is made up of four connected pieces of wood. If we consider the picture frame to be one “object...