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User Manual [nl]
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Google SketchUp User Manual [nl]

SketchUp User's Guide
©Google Inc. 2006 Page 1 6/16/2006
Table Of Contents
Welcome to SketchUp (Microsoft Windows)....................................................................................1
Using the Online User's Guide.................................................................................................2
Technical Support.....................................................................................................................6
Learning SketchUp...................................................................................................................7
Concepts............................................................................................................................................. 9
Designing in SketchUp...........................................................................................................10
Drawing Quickly......................................................................................................................15
Viewing Models in 3 Dimensions...........................................................................................22
Adding Detail to Your Models................................................................................................25
Presenting Your Models.........................................................................................................32
Modeling Terrain and Organic Shapes.................................................................................35
The SketchUp User Interface..........................................................................................................39
Introduction to the SketchUp Interface..................................................................................40
File Menu.................................................................................................................................44
Edit Menu................................................................................................................................48
View Menu...............................................................................................................................51
Camera Menu.........................................................................................................................53
Draw Menu...................................................................................................................... ........55
Tools Menu..............................................................................................................................56
Window Menu.........................................................................................................................59
Google Menu ..........................................................................................................................61
Help Menu...............................................................................................................................62
Toolbars...................................................................................................................................65
Context Menus........................................................................................................................ 68
Dialog Boxes...........................................................................................................................69
Drawing Axes..........................................................................................................................71
Inference..................................................................................................................................73
Principal Tools ..................................................................................................................................77
Select Tool...............................................................................................................................78
Eraser Tool..............................................................................................................................82
Paint Bucket Tool....................................................................................................................83
Drawing Tools...................................................................................................................................87
Line Tool..................................................................................................................................88
Arc Tool ...................................................................................................................................92
Freehand Tool.........................................................................................................................94
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Circle Tool ...............................................................................................................................98
Polygon Tool.........................................................................................................................100
Modification Tools...........................................................................................................................103
Move Tool..............................................................................................................................104
Rotate Tool............................................................................................................................110
Scale Tool..............................................................................................................................115
Push/Pull Tool.......................................................................................................................119
Follow Me Tool......................................................................................................................123
Offset Tool.............................................................................................................................127
Intersect With Model Tool.....................................................................................................130
Position Texture Tool............................................................................................................132
Construction Tools..........................................................................................................................139
Tape Measure Tool..............................................................................................................140
Protractor Tool ......................................................................................................................143
Axes Tool...............................................................................................................................147
Dimensions Tool...................................................................................................................148
Text Tool................................................................................................................................150
Section Plane Tool................................................................................................................153
Camera Tools.................................................................................................................................155
Previous.................................................................................................................................156
Standard Views.....................................................................................................................157
Orbit Tool...............................................................................................................................158
Pan Tool................................................................................................................................159
Zoom Tool.............................................................................................................................160
Zoom Window Tool ..............................................................................................................161
Zoom Extents Tool................................................................................................................162
Walkthrough Tools .........................................................................................................................163
Position Camera Tool...........................................................................................................164
Walk Tool...............................................................................................................................166
Look Around Tool .................................................................................................................167
Sandbox Tools................................................................................................................................169
Sandbox From Contours Tool .............................................................................................170
Sandbox From Scratch Tool................................................................................................171
Smoove Tool.........................................................................................................................173
Stamp Tool............................................................................................................................175
Toggle Terrain Tool..............................................................................................................176
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Table Of Contents
Flip Edge Tool.......................................................................................................................181
Google Toolbar...............................................................................................................................183
Get Current View Button......................................................................................................185
Toggle Terrain Button...........................................................................................................186
Place Model Button ..............................................................................................................187
Share Model Button............................................................................................................. .188
Get Models Button................................................................................................................189
Model Settings and Managers.......................................................................................................191
Model Info Dialog Box..........................................................................................................192
Entity Info Dialog Box...........................................................................................................202
Material Browser...................................................................................................................203
Material Editor.......................................................................................................................207
Component Browser.............................................................................................................210
Layer Manager......................................................................................................................213
Page Manager......................................................................................................................215
Display Settings Dialog Box.................................................................................................218
Shadow Settings Dialog Box...............................................................................................225
Soften Edges Dialog Box.....................................................................................................227
Outliner..................................................................................................................................229
Instructor................................................................................................................................233
Application Preferences Dialog Box....................................................................................234
Entities.............................................................................................................................................241
Arc Entities ............................................................................................................................242
Circle Entities.........................................................................................................................244
Component Entities..............................................................................................................246
Construction Lines Entities...................................................................................................255
Construction Point Entities...................................................................................................256
Curve Entities........................................................................................................................257
Dimension Entities................................................................................................................258
Face Entities..........................................................................................................................259
3D Polyline Entities...............................................................................................................260
Group Entities .......................................................................................................................261
Image Entities .......................................................................................................................264
Line Entities...........................................................................................................................265
Polygon Entities....................................................................................................................266
Section Plane Entities...........................................................................................................268
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SketchUp User's Guide
Text Entities...........................................................................................................................272
Context Menu Items .............................................................................................................273
Entity Info...............................................................................................................................279
Input and Output.............................................................................................................................283
2D Graphic Export................................................................................................................284
2D Graphic (DWG/DXF) Export..........................................................................................285
2D Graphic (PDF/EPS) Export............................................................................................288
2D Graphic (Epix) Export.....................................................................................................291
3D Model (DWG/DXF) Export.............................................................................................293
3D Model (3DS) Export........................................................................................................294
3D Model (VRML) Export.....................................................................................................298
3D Model (OBJ) Export........................................................................................................300
3D Model (FBX) Export........................................................................................................302
3D Model (XSI) Export .........................................................................................................303
3D Model (KMZ) Export.......................................................................................................304
Section Slice Export..............................................................................................................305
Animation Export...................................................................................................................307
2D Graphic Import................................................................................................................310
3D Model (DWG/DXF) Import..............................................................................................311
3D Model (3DS) Import........................................................................................................313
3D Model (DEM) Import.......................................................................................................314
3D Model (KMZ/KML) Import...............................................................................................316
3D Model (SHP) Import........................................................................................................317
Pages and TourGuide™................................................................................................................319
Printing ............................................................................................................................................320
Technical Info..................................................................................................................................325
Raster File Formats..............................................................................................................326
2D Vector File Formats ........................................................................................................328
SketchUp and OpenGL........................................................................................................330
Codec Lists............................................................................................................................332
Bug Splat...............................................................................................................................333
SketchUp Ruby API and Console.......................................................................................334
Color Pickers.........................................................................................................................335
Uninstalling SketchUp..........................................................................................................337
Common Tasks..............................................................................................................................339
Activating the Sandbox Tools..............................................................................................340
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Table Of Contents
Copying Geometry................................................................................................................342
Creating Models to Scale.....................................................................................................343
Creating and Using Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................344
Drawing Accurate Angled Lines ..........................................................................................345
Flipping or Mirroring Geometry............................................................................................346
Reorienting Materials............................................................................................................349
Using SketchUp With Google Earth....................................................................................350
Glossary..........................................................................................................................................351
Index ................................................................................................................................................357
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Welcome to SketchUp (Microsof t Windows)

Developed for the conceptual stages of design, SketchUp is powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. We think of it as the pencil of digital design. This award-winning software combines a simple, yet robust tool-set that streamlines and simplifies 3D design inside your computer. SketchUp is being used by anyone with the desire to Dream, Design and Communicate in 3D!
From the entire SketchUp team, thank you for trying SketchUp, and welcome to the SketchUp user community.

SketchUp Versions

SketchUp is available in personal and professional versions. Google SketchUp (free) is a 3D design tool for personal use and is available for free on sketchup.google.com.
SketchUp Pro 5 is approved for commercial use and is available to purchase on sketchup.google.com. You need SketchUp Pro 5 if you want to:
• Export models in 3DS, DWG, DXF, OBJ, XSI, VRML, and FBX file formats
• Export animations and walkthroughs as MOV or AVI files
• Access the organic modeling (Sandbox) tools
• Print and export raster images at higher-than-screen resolution
• Receive free email technical support for two years after purchase
• Use the software for commercial purposes (the free version is approved for personal use
only)

Google SketchUp (free) and SketchUp Pro 5 Documentation

This documentation represents all of the functionality in both Google SketchUp (free) and SketchUp Pro 5. Functionality that is specific to SketchUp Pro 5 is identified with the pro icon
(
) in this documentation.

Using this Guide

Familiarity with computer basics is all you need to use SketchUp. Continue with the Learning
SketchUp section of this guide for assistance with learning SketchUp. Or, read the What 's New
in This Release section of this guide to become familiar with SketchUp's new features.
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SketchUp User's Guide

Using the Online User's Guide

The SketchUp Online User's Guide is a Web-based help system designe d to introduce you to the SketchUp concepts and features. Refer to this user's guide to find explanations of each SketchUp feature or to learn how to perform common tasks using SketchUp tools. Select the SketchUp Help menu item from SketchUp's Help menu to access SketchUp Online User's Guide.
The online user's guide contains a toolbar on top, navigation panel (below the toolbar on the left), and content panel containing the actual user's guide content (below the toolbar on the right).

The Online User's Guide Toolbar

The SketchUp Online User's Guide's toolbar contains four option s for finding the information. These options are: The Contents button, the Index button, the Search button, and the Search field.

The Contents Button

The Online User's Guide is organized into topics. Topics can be combined with rel ated topics within chapters or can exist outside of a chapter. Additionally, topics can have subtopics. Click on the Contents button in the Online User's Guide Toolbar to view all of the chapters in the user's guide. Click on the chapter icon (a small book) to view topics within that chapter. The following image shows all of the chapters in the SketchUp Online User's Guide. This image also shows all of the topics in the Principal Tools chapter.
Click on a topic to see the user's guide entry for that topic. Topics can contain multiple subtopics. For example, the Eraser Tool topic contains the Erasing Entities, Hiding Edges, and
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Welcome to SketchUp
Soften Edges subtopics. The following image shows the Erasing Entities subtopic with in the Eraser Tool topic.

The Index Button

Click on the Index button to display a keywords search field and index entries in the online user's guide. Click on an index entry in the index list to navigate to that topic or subtopic.
An index entry can be used for more than one topic or subtopics. A sublist is displayed when an index entry is linked to more than one topics or subtopic. Select an item from this sublist to jump
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SketchUp User's Guide
to a topic or subtopic. The following image shows that the Copy index entry contains related subtopics in the Edit Menu topic and in the Move Tool topic.

The Search Button

Click on the Search button at the top of the online SketchUp Users Guide to search the entire user's guide for keywords and return the topics where those keywords exist. The following image shows the topics resulting from looking up the word "Copy." Notice that only topics are returned, not subtopics.

Conventions

The user's guide uses these special symbols and conventions:
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Tip - Use the Search button or Search only when you want to find all occurrences of a
specific word or phrase throughout the entire user's guide. Use the Index button to find specific index entries and their associated topics.
Note - The Note icon is used to indicate additional detail for a feature of SketchUp.
Video - The projector icon is used to identify a Video Tutorial that compliments the text by
explaining how to use a feature of SketchUp.
Caution - The Caution icon is used to identify issues that might cause you problems.
Tip - The Tip icon is used to identify a tip to help you optimize the way you use SketchUp.
Menu > Menu Item - Used to identify a location for a specific menu item. italics - Used to identify a term that is defined in the glossary. <a_value> - Used to identify a value you must supply.
Welcome to SketchUp
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SketchUp User's Guide

Technical Support

Google SketchUp (Free) and SketchUp Pro users have different levels of technical support. Review the following technical support explanation for the your product.

SketchUp Free

SketchUp Free is a self-supporting product. There are several options available to find answers to SketchUp your issues:
• Use the online user's guide index to find a topic.
• Search the knowledge base to find a topic.
• Post a question in our user forum.
Visit the SketchUp Help Center by clicking on the Help Center menu item in the Help Menu (Help > Help Center...). You must be connected to the Internet to access the user forums.

SketchUp Pro

In addition to the self-supporting options for SketchUp Free, SketchUp Pro users can request installation and configuration help using email through the SketchUp Help Center (your serial number will be required).
Please include the following with your email:
• A copy of the SketchUp file you are creating
• A list of your computer system's resources (CPU type, RAM, video card details, and the
exact release of your operating system, such as Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2)
• A detailed description of your question or issue
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Learning SketchUp

As with any software tool, there is a minimum level of learning you must do to attain proficiency with SketchUp. The following information can help you learn how to use SketchUp.
Welcome to SketchUp

Video Tutorials

Google has created several video tutorials to facilitate learning of the SketchUp tools and drawing procedures. View these tutorials through the View Tutorials menu item in the Help Menu (Help > View Tutorials). You must be connected to the Internet to access these tutorials.
These video tutorials will also play directly from the CD-ROM if you have a SketchUp CD-ROM inserted into your drive. If the CD-ROM is not in your drive, your computer will attempt to access streaming versions of the tutorials from the SketchUp web site online tutorials from the Web site to your hard drive to ensure they play smoothly.

Self-Paced Tutorials

Google has also created several self-paced tutorials to help you learn SketchUp. Acce ss these tutorials through the Self-Paced Tutorials menu item in the Help Menu (Help > Self-Paced Tutorials). You must be connected to the Internet to access these tutorials.

Online User's Guide

This online user's guide contains a Concepts section for users who are new to working in three dimensions or new to SketchUp. This section is meant to be read sequentially before using SketchUp for the first time. You must be connected to the Internet to access this guide.

Menus

Most SketchUp commands are accessible using both tool buttons an d drop-down menus. Examine SketchUp's menus to become familiar with the breadth of features.
. You can also download the

Quick Reference Card

The SketchUp Quick Reference Card, available in the SketchUp Help Menu and on the sketchup.google.com, contains a list of all of toolbar tools and their modifier keys. Examine the
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SketchUp User's Guide
SketchUp Quick Reference card to become familiar with using SketchUp's tools. View the quick reference card the Quick Reference menu item in the Help Menu (Help > Quick Refe rence).

The Status Bar

The Status Bar, located at the bottom of the SketchUp Drawing Area, displays tips for the active tool, including special functions accessible using keyboard shortcuts. Watch the status bar while you are working in SketchUp to discover advanced capabilities of each of the SketchUp tools.

User Forum

The SketchUp forums are a great way to contact others in the SketchUp user community. These forums provide a unique environment for you to obtain help, suggest new features, offer advice, and share your models. Visit the SketchUp user forums by clicking on the SketchUp Community... menu item in the Help Menu (Help > SketchUp Community...). You must be connected to the Internet to access the user forums.

SketchUp Training

Google provides training courses for users who want extra assistance with SketchUp from the experts at Google. Visit http://www.sketchup.com/training to see a list of training courses available in your area.
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Concepts

This section of the user's guide covers the numerous 3D desi gn and SketchUp concepts found within the product and in the user community. This section was primarily written for users who are new to 3D modeling or SketchUp.
Note - This section does not cover how to do something in SketchUp, but covers
important concepts necessary to model in 3D.
This section is organized into the following topics:
• Designing in Sketchup - Introduces you to the basic concepts behind drawing accu rately in
SketchUp.
• Drawing Quickly - Introduces you to SketchUp tools and concepts necessary to draw
quickly.
• Viewing Models in 3D - Presents the concept of the camera and manipulation of a model in
3D space.
• Adding Detail to Your Models - Introduces you to mechanisms to quickly add realism to
your SketchUp models.
• Presenting Your Models - Presents concepts related to the presentation of your models to
clients.
• Modeling Terrain and Organic Shapes - Presents concepts related to working with me sh
tools to create both terrain and organic shapes.
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SketchUp User's Guide

Designing in SketchUp

SketchUp models are fundamentally created by joining lines as the edges of the model. Faces are automatically created when any three or more lines or edges are in the same plane (an infinite flat 2D space), or coplanar, and form a closed loop. These edge and face combinations are combined to create 3D models. The following image shows three unconne cted coplanar lines. These lines were drawn with the Line Tool
The following image shows four connected coplanar lines and the subsequently create d flat, 2 dimensional, face.
(this tool looks like a pencil).
Note - Everything you draw in SketchUp is generically referred to as geometry.
To create a 3D model, simply draw up or down in the blue direction (parallel to the blue axes). The coordinate system (axes) is covered later in this section. The following image shows the first line created in 3D space.
As you continue to draw lines, following the colored axes, faces are created. The following image shows three faces created simply by drawing lines parallel to the three axe s directions (red, green, and blue).
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Concepts
There is one line left to draw to finish a 3 dimensional box. Notice that when this one line is drawn in, two faces are created (the top and front faces).
You can do a lot in SketchUp simply by drawing lines to form faces using the Line Tool. And, you can draw lines starting anywhere (on another line, on a face, at a point, and so on). Can you recognize the previous 3D box within the model of the following house?
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Look around the room you are in. Notice how everything you look at has faces. Some faces might be rounded, some might be flat. Additionally, everything has edges that bound the face, such as the edge of a shelf in a bookshelf.
Note - SketchUp is not the same as Computer Assisted Design or CAD. CAD applications
are designed specifically for representing concrete information, while SketchUp is for exploration and design of concepts and ideas (though yo u are not prohibited from designing models that are as concrete or accurate as those designed in CAD).
SketchUp files can be imported into several different CAD applications for further processing and several different CAD files can be imported into SketchUp to qui ckly create 3D models.

Introduction to Entities

As mentioned previously, lines are combined to create faces in SketchUp. Lines (also called edges) and faces, are just two of the many building blocks (called entities) used for creating models in SketchUp. A full list of SketchUp entities follows.
Name Notes
Line Line s in SketchUp are straight. Lines, also referred to as edge s,
Face Faces are created automatically when three or more coplanar
Circle Circle, arcs, and curves are comprised of several lines or
Arc Polygon Curve
are the most basic building block for all SketchUp models.
edges form a closed loop. Faces have a front side and a back side. SketchUp attempts to put the front side of all faces on the outside (facing out) of all of your models, though sometime you might have to tell SketchUp the direction for your faces.
edges.
3D Polyline Group Group entities are used to combine two or more entities in your
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model for quick operations such as a copy.
Component Component entities are like groups but can be reused in all of
your SketchUp models. Components are just SketchUp models used within other SketchUp models.
Concepts
Construction Line
Dimension A notation indicating length of an edge or a radius. Surface Surface entities are the result of combining a number of faces to
Section Plane
Image An imported raster, or pixel-based, image. Text Text can be unattached (floating) or attached to a specific entity
A Construction Line entity is a temporary line used as a drawing guide.
give the impression of smoothness.
using a leader line.

The SketchUp Coordinate Systems

SketchUp uses a 3D coordinate system whereby points in space are identified by position along three drawing axes SketchUp, plus or minus X is represented by solid red and dotted red lines respectively; plus or minus Y are represented by a solid green and dotted green axis lines respectively; plus or minus Z (above and below the ground plane) are represented by solid blue and d otted blue lines respectively. The plane where the red and green axes lines lie is called the ground plane. Finally, the term origin, is used to define the place where all of axes lines start or originate.
: plus or minus X, Y, and Z (above ground/below ground) values. In
The following image shows the drawing axes in SketchUp (the lines have been thicke ned to make the axes easier to read). The black circle represents the origin.
Understanding SketchUp’s coordinate system is important because S ketchUp’s inference engine (explained next) provides you help with drawing accurately.
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Following the Inference Engine

SketchUp has an invisible inference engine to help you draw accurate and realistic models. The inference engine locates or infers points from other points in your model, such as the center of a circle, the midpoint of a line, a line that is perpendicular to the ground plane, a point on a face, a point on an edge, and so on.
SketchUp notifies you of these points by using both color indicators and tool tips, which are on­screen messages indicating the location of the cursor as you draw an entity. For example, SketchUp displays the string “On Face" when the cursor is touching a face. The following image contains five common inference tool tips.
Additional information on the inference engine section of this guide.
The first step to drawing in SketchUp is to learn how to draw accurately by following the cues of the inference engine. Simply select the Line Tool (it looks like a pencil in the toolbar) and start drawing. Pay attention to the on-screen tool tips from the inference engine as you draw. Most everything you will create in SketchUp can be created by inference using the Line Tool.
, including inference types, is in the User Interface
You can move on to learning how to draw quickly after you master using the inference engine.
= Functionality only available in SketchUp Pro
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Drawing Quickly

As mentioned in the Design in SketchUp topic, you can use the Line Tool and the inference engine, to draw just about anything in SketchUp. It is recommended that you use the Line Tool and inference engine to create your initial models.
Tip - Learn to draw accurately before you learn to draw quickly and you will m aster
SketchUp in a shorter amount of time.
SketchUp implements several concepts which you will use to help you draw quickly. These are dividing and healing, pushing and pulling, sticky geometry, autofold, and intersections.

Dividing and Healing Geometry

Some tools speed up design dramatically by allowing you to perform modifications on existing geometry. For example, the Line Tool allows you to split faces and edges to create additional independent faces and edges. Simply divide the face or edge with another edge. This con cept is similar to cutting a piece of paper in half and having two separate remaining pieces. The following image shows how two faces are created when dividing the face with a line. No tice the image on the left has one solid top face, while the image on the right has two independent faces when split with a line. Note that the dividing line does not cut through the model from top to bottom, but just cuts the top face in half.
Concepts
The following image shows how the edges at each end of the face have been split to create additional edges. Note four edges bounding the face in the left image, while four edges bounding each of two faces in the image on the right (the middle edge being common to both top faces).
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If you remove the line that shared by the two faces in the image on the right, the two faces will be glued back together or healed back into one face. It is common in SketchUp to perform these dividing and healing operations to your model.

Pushing and Pulling

The Push/Pull Tool allows you to take any non-curved face in SketchUp and push it away or pull it toward a starting point (these operations are also referred to as extrusions). Pushing is the process of reshaping a portion of your model by shrinking the portion away from its starting point and along a single axis. The following image shows the right-most face of the split face (shown earlier) pushed down toward the ground plane.
In the previous image, there are eight faces that can be pushed, can you find them (some are hidden out of view)?
Pulling is the process of expanding a portion of your model away from the starting point along a single axis. The following image shows the same face having been pulled up toward the sky. Any face in SketchUp can be pushed and pulled (with some minor limitations).
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In both of the images, the left side of the cube remained the same size, while the right side was pushed and pulled (shrunk and expanded) independently. The Push/Pull Tool is one of the most commonly used tools in SketchUp to add the sense of volume to your model.

Manipulating Connected Faces

Geometry in SketchUp is sticky meaning that it can be manipulated (skewed, distorted, or folded) by selecting an edge or face and moving the edge or face with the Move Tool all entities attached or "stuck" to the edge or face to move too). Following are three examples of sticky geometry in SketchUp:
Concepts
(causing
1. The following image shows a line dividing the top face of a box being moved up with a Move Tool. The faces that were connected to the middle line followed the line as it was moved to create a roof-like effect.
2. The following image shows the left-most top face being moved down in the blue dire ction. This action causes the left-most top face to angle to create a slant on one side.
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3. Finally, the following image shows the left-most top-edge being moved to the left. The model is skewed into a trapazoid-like shape.
Be sure to use the Move Tool to grab and move edges and faces while you begin to experiment with modeling in SketchUp.

Autofold

Faces must remain planar at all times in SketchUp. Therefore, SketchUp will Autofold, or score, faces as necessary to accommodate any operation that will result in warped faces.
In the left-most image above, a six-sided polygon volume's top face (created with the Polygon
Tool followed by the Push/Pull Tool) was rotated using Rotate Tool. Because of SketchUp's
sticky nature, the sides of the shape, which share common edges with the top face, twisted and folded with the rotate operation (right-most image).
Tip - Experimentation and play is highly important in learning how to draw in Sketch Up!
Learn how to draw accurately first, then learn how to draw quickly using the concepts in this portion of the user's guide.
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What you are not seeing is that SketchUp has created hidden geometry when performing this Autofold operation. The following image shows the 3 dimensional shape with the hidden geometry shown (dotted lines). Notice that each twisted faces are actually comprised of two triangular faces.

Intersections (Boolean Operations)

SketchUp allows you to easily create complex geometry by intersecting two geometrical forms, such as a box and a tube, creating new edges where the elements intersect, merging the geometry, and subtracting parts of the combined geometry.
Concepts
In the left-most image above, a cylinder shape was moved into a cube shape. Notice, that no lines appear where the two shapes intersect, indicating that the shapes have not truly merged. A special tool, called the Intersect with Model Tool middle image), merging the two shapes together to form one new shape. Finally, the cylinder shape is deleted (using the eraser tool on the cylinder's edges) a nd because the intersection lines were created, the resulting curved face is left within the cube creating a new complex geometrical shape (right image).

SketchUp Tools

Most entities in SketchUp, including arcs and circles, are actually just a combination of small lines or edges. Thankfully, you do not have to use only the Line Tool to sketch your models.
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, is used to create intersection lines (the
SketchUp User's Guide
Instead, SketchUp provides many other tools to help you draw quickly. Some of these tools are for creating common entities such as a circle, arc, polygon, or freehand line. Other tools allow you to quickly draw complex models by modifying your models (splitting, skewing, and even merging geometry together).
Tools in SketchUp are divided into five categories: principal tools (tools that are used a lot to select and modify geometry), drawing tools (tools used to create geometry), modification tools (tools used to modify existing geometry), construction tools (tools used to create construction lines or points, and document your model), camera tools (tools used to view geometry; discussed later), and walkthrough tools (tools to explore your model). The following table lists all of the Drawing and Modification tools:
Tool Type Notes
Line Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Arc Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Freehand Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Rectangle Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Circle Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Polygon Drawing Can be used to create, intersect, or divide
a face or other line (edge)
Select Principal Used to select entities Eraser Principal Used to delete geometry and heal faces Paint
Bucket Position
Texture*
Principal Used to apply materials (combinations of
color and texture)
Modification Used to manipulate materials painted on a
surface.
Move Modification Used to move, distort (autofold), and copy
entities
Rotate Modification Scale Modification Push/Pull Modification Used to expand and shrink geometry Follow Me Modification Used to duplic ate a profile along a path Intersect
With
Modification Used to create complex geometry by
piecing together separate geometry
Model* Offset Modification Tape
Measure
Construction Used to get a measurement and create
construction line entities
Protractor Construction Used to set angles
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Concepts
Construction
Axes Dimensions Construction Used to calculate and display a dimension Text Construction Section
Construction Used to create section cut effects
Plane
*These menu items are available in menus, not from the toolbar, and are discussed in the tools sections of this user's guide.
Each of these tools is discussed further in this guide. As a recommendation, however, learn the Line Tool and Eraser Tool first, followed by the Orbit Tool (discussed in the next section), Push/Pull, and Move Tools.
Note - Most drawing tools can perform modifications as well, such as the Line Tool being
used to draw a line to divide a face.
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SketchUp User's Guide

Viewing Models in 3 Dimensions

SketchUp implements the concept of a camera to represent your point of view of the model. Simply, you (the user) are treated as though you were a camera looking at your model as you work. This concept is particularly important when your model is something that you want to tour, such as a house, as though you were walking through it in the real world. In this case, SketchUp allows you to change your point of view to a specific height and angle to the model and walk through the model as though it were real.

Manipulating the Camera

SketchUp starts at a camera angle (the angle at which you view your model) that is facing directly down at the ground as though you were looking directly down the blue axis from the sky at the ground plane. This camera angle is the default because the majority of SketchUp models, houses and landscapes for example, begin on the ground or red/gre en plane. Notice you only see the ground plane in the following figure. This figure suggests you are looking down at the image as though looking down the Blue axes (you, the camera, are hanging in the sky and looking right down at the ground).
However, you will not get the sense of modeling in a 3D space until you orbit the camera using the Orbit Tool after having been orbited.
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after opening SketchUp and drawing a starting form. Following is the same model
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