SketchUp Primer Tutorial

SketchUp Primer Tutorial

Today we’re following up on a tip and trying out a 3D Modelling suite of software called SketchUp on a MacBook Pro using Mac OS X. SketchUp can also work with the Windows operating system.

Reading “PC & Tech Authority” June, 2017 (“the tip”) we’re looking forward to the idea of a 2D model being able to become 3D by “pulling up” the walls …

as an upwards swipe of the mouse with the Pull tool

The other great thing about SketchUp is that it is free … yayyyyyy!

And so, what were the steps getting today’s tutorial picture to happen?

• installed SketchUp from this link
• because of my lack of experience piecing together 3D models, followed this great advice at Creating your first 3D model in SketchUp (paragraph) starting out with SketchUp
  

  1. Select the person, context-click the selection, and select Erase in the context menu that appears.
  2. In the Getting Started toolbar, select the Rectangle tool ().
  3. On the ground plane, in the space between the red and green axis, click the Rectangle tool cursor (). Then move your cursor to the right and click again. A rectangle appears on the ground, as shown here.
  4. A rectangle drawn on the groundplane
  5. On the Getting Started toolbar, select the Push/Pull tool (), and place the Push/Pull cursor over the rectangle you just created, as shown in the following figure.
  6. Click and drag your rectangle up into a 3D shape. Keep an eye on the Measurements box and release the cursor when your shape is about 5 feet tall.

• experimented with Orbit view
• experimented with Move tool
• experimented more with the addictive Pull tool after more 2D Rectangle tool usages
• experimented with 3D Warehouse … some of the prebuilt models there are amazing!
• experimented with Paint Bucket
• experimented with the Camera menu options
  1. Parallel Projection
  2. Perspective
  3. Two-Point Perspective
• tried File -> Save As … SketchUp model (FirstTry.skp)

Perhaps SketchUp is a good option for 3D Modelling work you are undertaking? We definitely recommend it on a first look. That look, for you, ahead of time, could be today’s “stream of consciousness” PDF presentation.

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