The Google SketchUp Thread

[marc_reusser]

Since there have been questions raised in other threads about how to work with SU, I thought we could start a thread for questions , discussion and an SBS where needed/possible.

FWIW and as a absolute up-front clarification/disclosure; I am by no means an expert on the program, I am completely self taught, I never watched any of the tutorials, and I tend to take a very intuitive, pragmatic, basic, and construction process oriented  approach to the program/process, (instead of  the way a CAD operator might approach it)....I don't always use the simplest method...but I use what works for me, and ensures me the rust I need, I don't use or write routines or scripts (except a few that came with the program that I have needed to learn). I am always still learning or finding something new with the program. In my work use of the program, I use it differently and to far greater detail than most SU users do, so my way of doing things might not be the way the users intended it...but it gets me the particular result I am after....and suits my anal nature.

I hope that others here will contribute and participate as well, otherwise this is going to be a very boring and short lived venture.

I use SU. Pro v. 7.x, the pro version differs slightly from the free version in terms of some functionality, and it has add-ons/plug-ins such as "Podium", "Style Builder", and "Layout"......so some things I do on occasion may not be possible on the basic version.  I also am not sure what differences there are if any, or in command names/descriptions between the English and other language versions....so foreign language users may have to try and muddle through some of the command names/strings I list, on their own.

I am going to approach any answers in the most basic way, and not try to get into any fancy advanced concepts/approaches.

Some basics before starting:

After opening the program/new drawing, immediately Delete the little Gen-X/Y doofus that is in the drawing file when it opens...he like many Gen-X/Yers is completely useless. (using the arrow tool, click on him...this will select him with a blue box... and type 'e' (for erase.)

I am going to assume that everyone understands a 3D environment. In the case of SU the blue (vertical) line is the 'z' axis and the red/green lines (horizontal). For our discussion purposes we shall always consider the red/green plane the ground plane, bottom, or down. We shall also endeavor to draw above the "ground plane"  for ease of discussion and explanation.

Since IMO SU is somewhat lacking in keyboard commands/shortcuts (compared to ACAD) I tend to more frequently use the menus for my actions.  [I believe there is a printable menu/command sheet that can be downloaded/printed from the SU site. There is a way to go in and assign additional limited keyboard shortcuts/commands to certain functions (and change the ones auto assigned by the program)...I once did that, but when my HD crashed and I had to reload, I never went back and did that again]

SU, draws and operates in "Real World" dimensions...not in and selected scale dimension....so whatever dimension you enter is what exists in the real world.  IE...if you want to draw a 1/48 scale model/part, and you want something that is 6'x3' in the real world.....the size you need to draw it will be 1.5"x.75"

Once the program/file is open, there is a Help tab at the top that can come in handy to you. In there you will find : the "Help Center" which is an online help index/reference....and you will find, "Welcome to SketchUp" ...which has links to training videos, the 'help center' and 'tips and tricks'.....BUT most importantly, in the "Welcome to SU" window, you will find a tab that reads "Template".....this is where you can go to select the type of format IE. Architectural, Engineering... and the unit format; feet/inches, decimal feet, meters, millimeters etc. that you want to work in. [SEE IMAGE 1 BELOW], . As an example, I for instance will use  "Architectural-Feet/Inches" when doing things for work, but use either "Engineering-Feet" or  "Product Design-Inches"  when doing scale model related drawings (as I tend to work in decimal inches rather than fraction inches when doing my modeling). [don't worry about the color or lack of color for the drawing background...that can be adjusted /changed later....what you want to do here is assign the proper dimension/unit configuration.]  )(NOTE: In the English version which I have the default setting out-of-the-box was "Architectural-Feet/Inches"...so make sure it is set to what you will need.)

Once you have your proper template selected, you need to go in and very/adjust/modify the "Units" and tolerances you will be drawing with/in. To do this, at top, select :  Window>Model Info...and in the sidebar select "Units"......then set your preferences. [SEE  IMAGE 2 BELOW],

......now you are pretty much ready to start drawing and asking questions.



MR.


[EDIT: A quick note re the drawing set-up:

Instead of working/drawing things the actual size of the model, and having to convert all those real world dimensions into model scale dimension, you can leave the setting and draw things at the real world scale, and then come in at the end and "Scale" the entire drawing to the appropriate size......however, I prefer not to do this because I am often dealing in and drawing "model scale" plastic, stripwood or cutting dimensions.....and when you scale downd a full size drawing at the end, you may very well end up with model dimensions that do not match available material or mfg. tolerances.]

[marc_reusser]

Since there were no questions I decided to show the process for something I needed.

For the PAP thread I needed a lamp shade, so this will show how one can go about the process of modeling one in SU.

I feel that SU lacks a certain amount of finesse and functionality in its drawing tools for circles, splines and ellipses, I prefer to draw items containing such in a 2D CAD program [any CAD or drawing program that allows files to be saved in .DWG or .DXF format will work]. 

IMG 1:
This shows the line drawing section of the shade I want to create. The depression at the top, is where the .020 wire/duct will be inserted in the final model, and the stepped impression/detail will hopefully simulate the porcelain light socket on the inside of the finished model.

IMG 2:
By going to the tabs at the top,  I went to  File>Import, then found the file I wanted, clicked OK/Open, and it has now been inserted/imported  into SU as a "group".  Notice that t was inserted flat onto the x/y plane (red/green plane)

IMG 3:
I always like to place/form/work with, objects the way thay would generally exist in the real world....in this case the light shade opening would be at the bottom...or facing the x/y plane.  To do this I need to reorient the grouping 90-degress. So....using the "Orbit" tool I adjusted my view so the U was looking primarily at the right side of the grouping. Then selecting the protractor tool, I place it on the bottom side/corner of the grouping....making sure the protractor is "red"  noting that the grouping will rotate around the red axis direction.

IMG 4:
This is a bit hard to see, but I then pull the rotating line out along the green axis (in the same plane as the 2D grouping)....in the image you can faintly make out a green line running parallel/along the blue edge. When doing this you will see a pop-up box that reads "On Green Axis"

[marc_reusser]

IMG 5:
The image is then rotated to the 90-degree....the indicator box will pop up and tell you that your "On Blue Axis".

[IMG 6:[/b]
To now work with the inserted drawing, I need to  "Explode"  the group. (select the group then go to: Edit>Group>Explode,  or simply right click on the mouse and select "Explode".) Because of the previously noted finesse issues that SU can have, you can see in the image that because of mu use of ellipses in the original drawing some of them did not quite extrapolate as I wanted....and so I have some holes and overlaps in my line-work. Since I only need half the line drawing in order to extrude a circular shape, I will erase all the lines to the right of the Center-line, and crop and patch (using the eraser and pencil tools) the problems on the left.

[IMG 7:[/b]
This shows the resulting "Face" that gets created once the half is deleted and the holes are patched. Note how the face is aligned with the blue/z axis.

[marc_reusser]

IMG 8:
When drawing circles in SU, I feel it is often easy to have them fall out of axial/planar alignment...so for my own peace of mind, I approach them in this manner. I am going to need to draw a circle in the x/y (red/green) plane that has its center point on the CL of the lamp shade, and its tangent (radius) on the inside edge of the lamp shade.  To make sure I am "in plane" I simply use the pencil tool to draw a random sized square/rectangle in the x/y plane where I will need the circle [in this case I drew the line from the CL, along the red axis to the interior of the shade, then along the green axis for a random distance, then back along the red for a random dist.......and so forth.  This then gave me what you see in the image.....you will note as is typical with SU when I closed the line-work between the  CL and the shade edge it created a "Face" inside the shade.

IMG 9:
This shows the circle being drawn from the CL to the inside edge of the shade.....note the blue color of the circle as it indicates it is in plane with the surface face I just drew.

IMG 11:
Here you can now se e the circle in place, and I have gone through and deleted the face inside the lamp shade, as well as the rest of the horizontal plane. I have left the face in the circle, as I have found that the "Follow Me" tool sometimes works better along a line in a plane or along the edge of a face.

IMG 12:
Using  the "Follow Me" tool I select the section face of the shade, and run the tool along the edge of the circle. Until the little pop-up tab eventually reads "To Endpoint"

[marc_reusser]

IMG 14:
This is then the resulting model/object that is created.

IMG 15:
Note that when the shade is looked at from underneath , the opening is close (because of the circle/face we previously drew. Simply select the face and hit erase. This will open the bottom of the shade the way it should be.

IMG 16
You will note  in the previous 2 images  that the shade is "blue" in color. This denotes the back or interior face of a plane/surface.....so you need to select the entire model by using the arrow tool and crossing-box (or if there are just a few surfaces, select them individually) and then right click and choose "Reverse Faces"....this will then re-orient the faces so they show as white. Then while the model was still selected, I right clicked and selected "Make Component" to make all the individual lines and faces as one well...component; this makes objects easier to manage, move and work. Lastly, while the component was still selected, I wanted to flip it along the blue axis [the reason being, so that I could mount it in the proper direction on the PAP sprue)....to do this I right click, Flip Along>Components Blue (the blue/z axis is the vertical axis and I needed to invert the part 180-degrees)

IMG 17
Lastly, here is the part after being inverted, located on the PAP sprue, and unsmoothed (in CAdSpan).


The shade dimensions are ID.349" (about 12" in 1/35) by .278 overall height (about 9.5" in 1/35)


So... now get out there and give it a try....drawing a part like that takes about 15-20 min....creating the SBS took about 4 hours!

[Malachi Constant]

Since there were no questions I decided to show the process for something I needed.

Okay, likely that there are no questions cuz those like myself who really need this don't know what to ask (at least till we start trying it) ... however, having the entry-level SBS stuff is a great point to start.  Keep it rolling ...

Thanks!
Dallas

[eTraxx]

Anyone using Sketchup and wanting a better rendering engine, check out Kerkythea. It's free .. and fully capable of very high quality renderings. Did I mention it is free?

Kerkythea

Kerkythea Sketchup Exporter
P.S. It put an icon on my Sketchup that allows me to export directly to the kerkythea renderer .. pretty sweet.

Here's a 'Rusty Farm Truck' I downloaded from Google 3d Warehouse ..

As rendered and a 2d export from Sketchup (reduced to 800 px width for posting to this forum)..


As the same view exported and rendered in Kerkythea (default settings .. bumped up with higher raytracing and applied a Ferarri red paint from the Kerkythea bucket for the fenders. The rest is whatever Sketchup had. You can see though what it is capable of ..) ..

[marc_reusser]

Interesting results on the render. I have had  Kerkythea downloaded for some time, but have not gotten around to trying. I guess I need to get of my but and give it a go.


Marc

[eTraxx]

Interesting results on the render. I have had  Kerkythea downloaded for some time, but have not gotten around to trying. I guess I need to get of my but and give it a go.


Marc

If you goto that second link it will put an icon on your Sketchup's .. uhhh ... icon menu. Note that if you just use the Kerky defaults it renders pretty quickly .. the more you play with the Ray tracing the longer. There are a bunch of materials you can download .. like that Ferrari Red I painted the fender with. If you look through the examples there are some world class renderings done.

[Ray Dunakin]

Great stuff, thanks for posting it, Marc!

Question: In the final step you "unsmoothed" the lampshade. Why? And can it be "unsmoothed" within SU (ie, without using another app)?

[marc_reusser]

I know some people had mentioned that they don't care for the Video Tutorials for SU, and wish that there was a printed instruction book, I ran across a PDF version of one on-line that seems to be for MAC.....BUT.....even though some of the command strings for MAC might be different, the book is still a good source for basic understanding and answers as to how to work with SU.
http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/sketchup.google.com/en/us/pdfs/ug_sketchup_win.pdf

Ray:
The unsmoothing is a step in the CadSpan STL conversion process...don't as me exactly why, but I am sure it has something to do with creating the polygons needed for printing. Otherwise, I have actually never tried to unsmooth something in SU.....never occured to me. Other users have noted that it is possible do say it is possible by using the Shift+Ctrl, or Shift+Options, or Ctrl+Alt key combinations....some even mention by the adjusting of the "smooth surface" slider bar.....none of which I have found to work...so I could not tell you how to do it.  Maybe those things help on a full size (1:1) model...but it certaily did not seem to work on the small parts I have been drawing.


MR

[Gordon Ferguson]

Marc,

Thanks for putting in the time and effort to do this, much appreciated I'm sure not only by me but by a lot of others!

I am determined to try this soon ... works keeps on getting in the way but I have a completely free week-end on my own soon so thats the target ...... you'll know when I have had a go, not from the posted finished drawing but more likely from the emergency call for help!

[Gordon Ferguson]

Got carried away for the last hour reading and trying Marcs' notes - and then thought I had better check for 3 D printers in UK ..... anyone over here got any experience/recommendations?.

During the search came across this ... Marc you probably already know about this but thought it might interest others

http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/index.php/architecture/the-worlds-first-printed-building/

[lab-dad]

Marc,
Thanks for doing the SBS, I know it took lots of time away from doing things for yourself.
I "think" I am starting to get it, will also look at the PDF manual, may be just what I need!
I guess I need to download it on the PC and see if I can make something.......
Now to come up with something I need in plastic and not brass 
Thanks again!
-Marty

[Chuck Doan]

Yes, thanks very much for taking the time. This will come in handy if I lose my Solidworks connection.