Using Shift and CtrlOption Keys
The previous exercise involved the use of mass-painting keys - Shift and Ctrl Option. As you've seen, Shift paints all faces that have the same material as the selected face. The Ctrl Option key will paint the selected face plus all faces that are connected to it. 2. Pick a material and use either Shift or Ctrl Option to select one face, which paints the entire form. 2. Pick a material and use either Shift or Ctrl Option to select one face, which paints the entire form. In this case, both keys...
Circle and Polygon
These two tools are grouped together because they are basically the same. Both create multi-segmented polygons a higher number of segments is a better approximation to a circle. The difference basically lies in the appearance of the faces that result when you use Push Pull. 1. Start in top view and activate Circle Draw Circle . Draw a circle in the red-green plane by clicking the center point and then a point on the circumference. You could also click and drag from the center to the...
Move and Copy
The Move tool can be used in two ways - to move objects to a different location, or to make one or more copies. Move can also be used to resize curves and curved faces. You can modify your model by moving edges, faces, points, or a combination of selected objects. 3. Click the edge shown, and drag it downward blue direction . You can also click the edge and then click its new location. 4. Move is still active. Move the point shown on the left down till it meets the corner point below it. 6. Use...
Inserting and Editing Predefined Components
Editing components is a simple procedure. We'll start with predefined components, to save you the trouble of creating your own for now . 1. Open the Transportation_Sampler category and insert an armored truck, a delivery truck, and a sedan. Open In Model. The three components you inserted will appear here. Open In Model. The three components you inserted will appear here. Switch to List View to see the components listed by name. Insert another armored truck, and open either truck for editing...
Soap Skin Bubble
This Ruby Script is similar to From Contour. It creates gridded faces between selected edges. The generated faces can be given a value to add bulge and curvature by adding pressure to the face, much like a soap bubble Fig. 12.22, Fig. 12.23 . The script was authored by Josef Leibinger. Website Fig. 12-22 Comparison between From Contour and Soap Bubble. From Contour requires two or more edges. Soap Bubble needs a closed loop of edges to stitch the faces. Fig. 12-22 Comparison between From...
Importing and editing strokes drawn on paper
Here are the steps for importing and editing the strokes drawn on a piece of paper. You need a graphics editing program to handle these chores that lets you organize your work in separate layers. The steps below explain by using Photoshop as an example, but you could use Adobe Fireworks, Corel Paint Shop Pro, or a free program like the GIMP www.gimp.org or Paint.NET http paint.net . If you used a graphics tablet to draw strokes, you need to do only the editing part of these steps 1. Scan the...
Changing Scenes
Why do I see a warning box when I create a new scene Occasionally when you create a scene, an ominous warning pops up, demanding attention before you can go on Figure 12-3 . Here's what's going on SketchUp keeps track of the Styles you're using. When you choose a style and then make changes to the style, SketchUp takes note. The change could be something like turning on shadows or hiding guides. When you create a scene, SketchUp remembers the style used in the scene. However, if you made...
Polygon Tool
The Polygon Tool is used to draw regular Polygon entities, inscribed within a circle, with 3 to 100 sides. Activate the Polygon Tool from either the Tool Palette, or by selecting Polygon from the Draw menu. Polygons can be placed on existing faces or separate from existing geometry aligned to an axes plane . To draw a polygon 1. Select the Polygon Tool. The cursor changes to a pencil with a polygon. 2. Click to place the center point of the polygon. You can also specify the number of sides for...
Specifying Precise Arc Values
The VCB displays the chord length of the of the arc after setting the starting point , then the bulge distance after setting the ending point . Use the VCB to enter exact lengths for the chord length, bulge distance, radius value, and number of segments. Note - SketchUp will use the current file units setting if you only type in a numerical value. You can also specify either Imperial 1'6 or Metric 3.652m units at any time, regardless the file's units setting. Units are set within the Units...
Identifying Entries in the Component Outliner Hierarchy
The Component Outliner uses a combination of icons and text to identify groups and component status in a hierarchy. Component - Four black squares Locked Component - Four grey squares with small lock in lower right corner Locked Group - One grey square with small lock in lower right corner Open Component - Four hollow squares Open Group - One hollow square Hidden Component or Group - Name of component or group is in italics
Modifying Styles Using the Mix Tab
The Mix tab gives you another way to make changes to your styles. The way it works is unique and kind of clever. When you click the Mix tab, you see the settings shown in Figure 6-37. You're forgiven if you haven't got a clue about what you should do next. At the top of the Mix tab you see five sections labeled Edge Settings, Face Settings, Background Settings, Watermark Settings, and Modeling Settings. SketchUp calls these sections wells. In the bottom of the window, you see a selection pane...
Drawing Scale Size
These settings let you control the final physical size of your exported drawing. If you're in Parallel Projection view, you can assign a scale if you're in Perspective view, scale doesn't apply. You have the following options 1 Full Scale 1 1 Most people use SketchUp Pro's DXF DWG Export feature to produce nonperspectival, orthographic views of their models that they can use in their CAD programs. If that's what you're trying to do, you should select this check box it'll make opening your...
Time for action manipulating entourage in Kerkythea
Kerkythea has a slightly clunky interface, as do most rendering applications. That's why in Chapter 3, I suggested doing all design and composition of the scene in SketchUp. But once you learn the basics in Kerkythea it's perfectly possible to insert, move, and scale stuff in Kerkythea. Inserting entourage directly into Kerkythea has the advantage of keeping your SketchUp scene uncluttered, import the 3DS format better, and will also allow you to use the OBJ format not supported in SketchUp....
Adding Color and Texture
By striking a balance between solid colors and textures, you can make your model more visually appealing and expressive. Use colors and textures that best define the material that represents the surface. As a general rule, apply more solid colors than textures. This will help delineate between the surfaces Fig. 7-31 . Fig. 7-31 Colored areas on a site plan. Fig. 7-31 Colored areas on a site plan. You can adjust Hue, Saturation, and Contrast under the Materials Edit tab. Make the colors lighter...
Component Library
Compiling and organizing a component library made of both pre-made and custom components Fig. 3-24 is important. Organize your components by category types for example, trees, benches, buildings . The Components menu Window gt Components can be linked to a user component library for easy access Fig. 3-25 . Fig. 3-24 Tree component library compiled from various websites. Fig. 3-24 Tree component library compiled from various websites. Fig. 3-25 Organize your components into a coherent component...
Component Definitions and Instances
A Component Definition and a Component Instance are created when a component is created using the Create Component dialog box. Components Definitions define or provide a blueprint for how all components of a specific type, called instances, appear and behave within the drawing area whether they can be glued to faces, where insertion points appear, and so on . Component Definitions are represented by thumbnail images in the Component Browser. Component Instances are components definitions that...
Printing from Windows
After you have your view arranged properly, follow these steps to print from Windows The Print Setup window Figure 13-11 appears. 2. Adjust the Print settings to match your job. Then click OK. Windows remembers your printer's usual settings, so you usually don't need to change the choice of printer and paper size. However, you may want to double-check the Orientation options, since SketchUp images usually use Landscape orientation, and most other documents use Portrait. When you click OK, the...
Articulating the Buildings
Buildings provide context. You can add pre-made or custom window and door components to the buildings. Then you can further adjust and manipulate the volume of the building mass Fig. 19-25 through Fig. 19-27 . There are three types of buildings that should be included in a site plan 3 Any proposed building or structure that has been designed and modeled. 3 E xisting buildings adjacent to the site plan or proposed architecture. Google Earth and 3D Warehouse contain many pre-made existing...
Creating a TIN
There are several ways to obtain a starting TIN as the foundation of your model. These are Create or import contour lines and use the Sandbox From Contours Tool to create a TIN. Import an image of a site plan or contour map and trace its contours with the Freehand Tool. Then, adjust the contours to their proper elevation and use the Sandbox From Contours Tool to create a TIN. Import a TIN using the SketchUp ArcGIS Plug-in available at ArcGIS is an industry standard application suite or...
Playing the Scenes Animation
When you're working in SketchUp, it's great to be able to click a scene to jump from one predesigned view to another. When you're making a presentation, you may prefer to have SketchUp automatically show one view and then move to the next. That's a cinch just choose View Animation Play. An even quicker way to play the animation is to right-click any of the scene tabs and then to choose Play from the shortcut menu. You can choose which scenes are included or excluded from the animation, as...
Raising the Roof
If you're lucky, the roof you want to build is fairly simple. Unfortunately, home builders sometimes go a little crazy, creating roofs with dozens of different pitches slopes , dormers, and other doodads that make modeling them a nightmare. For this reason, I'm going to keep things pretty simple The following sections are dedicated to showing you how to identify and model some of the basic roof forms. After that, I tell you about a great tool you can use to assemble complicated roofs from...
Modeling and Grading Tips
As you follow along with the tutorials to generate slopes and elevation, keep the following tips in mind. 3 As discussed earlier, all drafted edges and faces should be drawn on Layer 0. 3 G eometry generated using From Contour will be created as a group. Place the group geometry onto its own layer called Terrain. 3 When you are working with Groups and Components, make sure you are aware of group or component instances within which you are working, especially the Flatwork Base. 3 You will have...
Walk and Look Around
These two tools basically represent a camera moving around the model. The camera can simulate a person, but it can also be placed at any height, using any zoom angle. The Walk tool moves the camera, while the Look Around tool pivots the camera about its base. These tools are easy enough to explain in words, but you really have to play with them to get a feel for it. To walk forward, drag the mouse up holding the left mouse button . To walk backward, drag the mouse down. While walking or...
Some menu bar minutiae
Just like almost every other piece of software in the universe, LayOut has a menu bar. And just like SketchUp, you can use LayOut's menu bar to access the vast majority of its tools, commands, settings, and dialog boxes. Here's a brief description of each of LayOut's nine menus 1 File No big surprises here you use the items in the File menu to create new LayOut files, save and adjust settings for the document you're working on, and insert SketchUp and other graphics files. 1 Edit You use the...
Section Slices
The term section slice refers to the edges that are highlighted after intersecting geometry with a section plane. The following image shows a section slice in red. These edges act as dynamic virtual edges in that they continually change as you move the section plane through your model with the Move Tool. You can create a group from these edges, such as when slicing horizontally through a house, to create a wire frame of the model such the outline of a floor plan . Then, export this section...
Stopping to look around
Look Around is the third tool in SketchUp that's dedicated to exploring your model from the inside. If using Position Camera is like swooping in to stand in a particular spot, and Walk is like moving around while maintaining a constant eye-height, Look Around is like turning your head while standing in one spot. It's pretty well named, I think it does exactly what it says. Using Look Around is so simple it hardly merits these steps 2. Click and drag around in the modeling window to turn your...
Importing Site Plans
SketchUp lets you import several standard image formats JPEG images .jpg , tagged images .tif , bitmap images .bmp , and Portable Network Graphic images .png . When you use a site plan, make sure it was scanned or saved in a compatible image format. To import an image, go to File gt Import and select the file extension that supports the plan image. Several options will appear to the right of the file import screen. Select the Use As Image option. Click Open and the image will appear in...
PhotoReal Rendering
This chapter is mostly concerned with applying materials and textures for photo-real rendering with Kerkythea or other rendering software, or for output directly from SketchUp. If you're aiming for artistic styles such as pencil or watercolor, it is often better to use an untextured model, so skip this chapter for now and go to Chapter 6, Entourage the SketchUp Way. We're now going to work through the various texturing processes together. Texturing is a simple process of applying the techniques...
Working in the Styles Window
With colors and textures applied to your model, you can begin to see the differences between the face styles. The top image shows the Shaded face style. You see the base colors but no textures. The bottom image is the Shaded With Textures view. With colors and textures applied to your model, you can begin to see the differences between the face styles. The top image shows the Shaded face style. You see the base colors but no textures. The bottom image is the Shaded With Textures view. ft O O...
OBJ Export Options Dialog Box
The OBJ Export Options dialog box contains options for exporting OBJ files. Export only current selection The Export only current selection checkbox is used to export the currently selected geometry. The entire SketchUp model is exported when there is no selection. Additionally, the entire model is exported when this checkbox is not checked. Triangulate all faces The Triangulate all faces checkbox is used to break the output into triangles instead of multi-sided faces. Export two-sided faces...
Time for action creating spotlights in SketchUp
1. You will only be using SketchUp to set up and export lights. So you can hide all unnecessary geometry to help you place lights more easily. Your main scene is already open in Kerkythea. 2. Click the Insert Spotlight button on the SU2KT toolbar. 3. Click somewhere on the ceiling to place it. 4. Move the cursor down along the blue axis and click near the floor. 5. Click OK to accept the default settings. 7. Select Yes on Export Lights only. Leave the rest set to No. 8. Name the file spotlights...
Template
Use the Template preferences panel to designate a SketchUp file that you would want to use as a template for all of your subsequent models. A template file contains default settings from the Model Info dialog box and base geometry. To create a template 1. Select File gt New menu item to start a new SketchUp file. 2. Modify the Model Info settings to fit your particular needs. For example, you might want to set default units and snaps, activate a ground plane, and set a geographic location. 3....
Basic Follow Me
This exercise will show you the several ways you can use Follow Me. 1. Start with a form like this - a box with an arc form 3. The first way to use this tool is the real-time way. First, activate Follow Me Tools Follow Me . 4. Then select click and release the cutout face as the face to drive along the path. 5. Move the cursor to the back endpoint shown. . . 6. . . then move it along the back of the box and the opposite edge . . . 6. . . then move it along the back of the box and the opposite...
Creating a Dynamic Component SketchUp Pro Only
In Chapter 5 you saw how components give you a great way to create multiple instances of a single object like windows for a building or fence boards. If that's not enough SketchUp magic for you, you can use dynamic components, which let anyone using SketchUp change their properties. For example, you can change the dimensions of the window or change the color of those fence boards. In this section you'll learn how to create your own dynamic components. The only caveat is, you have to have...
At which stage do I introduce entourage
There are three options here, illustrated in the first column of this table Broadly speaking, the level of difficulty experienced with entourage will increase the further along the process you decide to introduce it. So, as already discussed in Chapter 3, Composing the Scene, it is best to set up entourage place markers at least in SketchUp right at the start. The disadvantage of introducing detailed entourage high polygon, detailed textures into SketchUp is that it tends to slow the program...
Cutting and Embossing
This exercise shows how you can use Intersect with Model to create the edges needed to make cutouts. 1. Start with an arc and use Offset to create an outer arc. Connect the arcs with lines to complete the face. Note If this option does not appear, open File Preferences to the Extensions page and check Ruby Script Examples. Note If this option does not appear, open File Preferences to the Extensions page and check Ruby Script Examples. This creates a construction point at the center of the arc....
Creating a Painted D Bus
This exercise uses a picture to create the side, front, and top of a bus. This will work for any vehicle, but a bus is handy because it's prismatic. You can do a web search for a bus picture, but the one used in this example is from the Greyhound web site - It's actually a toy bus, but it looks real enough Here is the picture www. f1help.biz ccp51 cgi-bin SU5StudentFiles.htm. Download the file bus.jpg. 1. First make a box in the general shape of a bus. If you care about making it realistic, use...
Portable Network Graphics PNG
ftoER Hooray for PNG Pronounced ping, this graphics file format is my hero. Unfortunately, it isn't as widely used as it should be. If I had my druthers I keep leaving them on the subway , every raster export from SketchUp would be a PNG. Why Because, at least as far as SketchUp is concerned, PNG combines all the best features of TIFF and JPEG. Why don't more people use PNGs Because standards are hard to change, and right now, it's a JPEG world. PNG details are as follows 1 PNGs compress image...
Finishing touches
1. As with the Dennis technique, add a Vignette layer to finish the composition. 2. Save a copy in GIMP .xcf format to allow you to edit it further some other time if desired. This format retains all the layers and masks. 3. Go to Image Flatten Image this will remove layers and masks . 4. Go to Filters Artistic Apply Canvas to get the paper affect. 5. Choose a depth setting to your own taste. You can see here how the paper grain shows up the smudged graphite just like when you do it by hand. 6....
Face Painting Rules
There are several face painting rules that apply when painting multiple faces or edges at the same time. These rules follow The side of the faces that will be painted depends on the side initially painted when more than one face is selected. For example, if all faces are selected and you paint the front of one face, the front of all faces will be painted. Conversely, if all faces are selected and you paint the back of one face, all back faces will be painted. All selected edges will be painted...
Stretching a photo over a face
The basic metaphor here is one of a photograph printed on a piece of really stretchy fabric. You stretch the fabric until the photo looks the way you want and then you hold it in place with pins. Follow these steps to stretch your texture using the Texture Tweaker's Stretch Texture mode 1. With the Select tool, click the face with the texture you want to edit. 2. Choose EditOFaceOTextureOPosition. A quicker way to get to Edit mode is to right-click the textured face and choose TextureOPosition...
Edge Extensions
The Edge Extensions section of the Export Options Dialog box contains options for exporting extension lines. Show extensions Some CAD applications might have problems recognizing endpoints and intersections of lines with SketchUp extensions. The show extensions option is used to toggle the export of line extensions. Length The Length field is used to specify an exact length for line extensions. This option is only available when Show extensions is checked and Automatic is unchecked. Automatic...
Creating eaves for buildings with pitched roofs
My favorite way to create eaves roof overhangs is to use the Offset tool. Follow these steps to get the general idea see Figure 4-31 1. Make a group out of your whole building before you start modeling the roof. This makes it easier to keep your roof separate, which in turn makes your model easier to work with. Retrace or Copy and Paste the roof line Retrace or Copy and Paste the roof line Eaves are the parts of the roof that overhangs a building's walls. Eaves are the parts of the roof that...
The coolest things since radially sliced bread
You can model objects that exhibit radial symmetry just as easily as those with bilateral symmetry you just start out slightly differently. The only thing you have to decide before you start is how many wedges how many identical parts your object is made of. To set yourself up to model something with radial symmetry, you start by modeling one wedge, then you make it into a component, and then you rotate copies around the center. Follow these steps to get the hang of it yourself 1. Draw a...
Making hip roofs
Believe it or not, building a hip roof is easier than making a gabled one. Hip roofs don't have rakes, which makes them a lot less complicated to model. Follow these steps to find out what I mean see Figure 4-35 1. Follow Steps 1 through 5 in the section Constructing gabled roofs to begin making a hip roof. 2. Measure the distance from the midpoint of the gable to the corner of the roof. Because hip roofs have pitches that are the same on all sides, you can use a simple trick to figure out...
Edge Panel
SketchUp contains a variety of edge rendering styles allowing you to manipulate the edge appearance on the screen. Note - Endpoints and Jitter edge rendering styles are not available for NPR Edges. ' s Tip - Models with perfectly straight digitally drawn lines are often perceived to be in a finished state. Edge Rendering Styles are useful in conveying that a model is still in conceptual state and, therefore, is open for feedback.
Adjusting the Building Components
Components placed on buildings can be scaled, copied, moved, arrayed, rotated, and edited the same as other components. Select the door component and adjust its size using the Scale tool Fig. 6-37 . Adjust the door to match the length of the steps. You can see the completed building in Fig. 6-38. Fig. 6-38 The completed building with component detail. Fig. 6-38 The completed building with component detail.
Intersecting Moldings
This exercise may not represent a typical or practical design a funky picture frame , but it's useful to know how to handle objects that intersect. It demonstrates how to use Follow Me to easily create interesting edges, and uses Intersect with Model to trim them to one another. 1. Start with a flat box for the frame itself, then draw a vertical arc starting from the endpoint of one edge. This arc will be driven along two of the frame's edges. 2. Another section will be driven along the other...
Speeding Up Construction with Arrays
Once you create a component, it's easy to add a copy of it to your model. Open the Components window Window Components , and then click the In Model button it looks like a house . In Model shows the components that are in your document. In the Outliner window, two things distinguish components from groups. The name of a component appears in brackets, and the icon for a component consists of four small squares. In the Outliner window, two things distinguish components from groups. The name of a...
Walking the Camera
Like other SketchUp tools, the Walk tool helps you do a very specific task. You use the Walk tool to move around your SketchUp model in a way that mimics a person walking from one place to another 1. In modern_house_scenes_begin.skp, move to a camera view where you can see the front stairs. For this exercise, you can use a fresh copy of the file, or you can use the version you modified during the previous exercises in this chapter. After you choose Camera Field of View, type a value in degrees...