Book Image

Taking SketchUp Pro to the Next Level

By : Aaron Dietzen aka 'The SketchUp Guy'
Book Image

Taking SketchUp Pro to the Next Level

By: Aaron Dietzen aka 'The SketchUp Guy'

Overview of this book

Anyone who’s worked with it will know that SketchUp is the quickest and easiest way to create 3D models. While its approachable interface makes it super easy to learn, this book will show you how the extremely capable SketchUp software can take you far beyond what you may have initially thought possible. Get ready to level up from a basic user to becoming a SketchUp ninja! Each chapter will take you through the capabilities of SketchUp, challenging you to use tools in innovative ways. This includes organizing your model, modifying native commands, customizing your interface, utilizing inferencing, and much more. Additionally, you’ll learn about the extensions that can be added to SketchUp to supplement the tools you have been using, allowing you to make your 3D modeling process quicker, easier, and more powerful. By the end of this SketchUp book, you’ll have an enhanced understanding of how to use the impressive range of tools and be on your way to customizing SketchUp for your one-of-a-kind workflow.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting More Out of Native Tools
7
Part 2: Customizing SketchUp and Making It Your Own
13
Part 3: Extending SketchUp’s Capabilities for Modeling

Modifying tools

Modifying a tool can completely change the functionality. If the native tools count for 16 items in your SketchUp Toolkit, then learning to add modifiers adds another two dozen tools! A handful of these tools will allow you to modify geometry in ways many new users do not even think is possible. In this section, we will review every tool and see how and why to use each modifier.

Unlike modifiers for Select or most of the drawing commands, almost all modifier keys for tools function as toggles. This means you tap the modifier key once to change the state of what the tool is doing. Unless otherwise noted, you can simply tap the key once to activate/change the modifier.

Eraser

The Eraser command will allow you to do so much more than just delete items from your model. With the modifier key, you can change the way that geometry looks and behaves by hiding, softening, and smoothing geometry.

I Have a Small Confession to Make

Back when I was first teaching...