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

Sections

SketchUp Pro allows you to cut the model along a 2D plane to see inside the model. This can be done by placing a Section Plane! Sections are common tools used in professional drawings to show how the inside of a part or building works, and SketchUp allows this Section functionality in real time in working models. Sections do not require you to Move or Hide any Geometry to see inside the model – the Section Plane tool takes care of that automatically. Active Section Planes hide all Geometry on one side of the Section Plane in the current model, Group, or Component, while showing the Geometry on the other side.

The Section Plane tool can be found on the Large Tool Set with the Camera tools, but all of the Section View options can be found in the View dropdown in the Menu and the Section toolbar. The Section Plane tool is represented by a section callout, which is a circle with the view name inscribed and a section arrow pointing to the right:

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