Getting started with SketchUp - Part 2

Please be sure you have watched the 1st Getting Started video, we'll build on the concepts learned there.
In this video we'll create a more detailed house, learning about accuracy, drawing tips
and using offset and the follow-me tool.
To start this model let's draw a basic rectangle. As we learned before, everything you draw
in SketchUp has real dimensions, we need to control what the dimensions are.
In SketchUp, to enter dimensions, you start an operation, then simply type in the desired
dimensions. Try this, undo your rectangle if needed, then start drawing a new rectangle
and type 10 apostrophe, comma, 20 apostrophe, and press the enter key. This creates a rectangle
10 feet by 20 feet. Now start a line from this corner and draw in the red direction,
type 2 M, and press enter. This creates a line that is 2 meters long.
Working accurately in SketchUp is simple, you just start drawing and then type in the
dimensions as needed. Rectangle dimensions are separated by a comma. Here are a few examples
of some dimensions you might enter.
Now that you are familiar with entering dimensions, erase any existing geometry and draw a new
rectangle that is 12 feet by 30 feet. Now starting from this corner, draw another rectangle
adjacent to the first that is 20 feet by 10 feet.
We can combine these two surfaces by erasing the separating edge. There, now this is one
surface that we can push/ pull. Start pulling it up and enter 10 feet.
To create the roof we'll use the line tool and draw all the edges we need before pulling
the ridge up. Using the line tool, find the mid-point and start drawing back in the green
direction. This will be our first ridge and we need it to connect exactly with the 2nd
ridge. To do this simply hover, but don't click, on the mid-point here, telling SketchUp
we are interested in this inference point. Once you see the tool tip telling you it's
the mid-point, follow the original green direction and SketchUp will infer to the new mid-point,
telling you exactly how far to draw the first edge. Make sure you see both inferences and
click to finish the first ridge, then draw the second ridge to this mid-point. Now that
we have both ridges in place, simply draw the lines where the roof will fold when we
move the ridge lines.
Use the select arrow and click on one of the ridges, then hold the shift key and watch
the icon, there is now plus/ minus that indicates you can add to or subtract from your current
selection. This allows you to select other entities, and de-select them as well while
holding "shift". Add the other ridge line to your selection, making sure only these
two edges are selected.
Now you can use the move tool to pull up the roof. When you are happy with your roof, use
the select tool and click away from your model to deselect the ridge lines.
Let's explore a new tool, the offset tool. If you don't see the "Large Tool Set"
go to the view menu: Tool Palettes: Large Tool Set. This opens the complete tool set
in SketchUp.
To see how the offset tool works, click on the side of our house and pull inwards or
away. All the edges of the surface are offset. Click to finish. You can try this on different
surfaces to see the results, or if you wanted to focus on one surface, you could use the
select tool to pick a single surface, then the offset tool will only work on that surface.
Time to get back to our house, so undo any previous offsets and navigate so we can see
under the house. Let's offset the base of the house inwards. Select the bottom surface
to focus the offset tool, then offset the base inwards by 6 inches.
Push this new surface upwards to create a roof overhang but don't push it all the
way, leave a few inches for us to work with later.
Offset can help us add some quick detail to other elements as well. Use the rectangle
tool to create a door and window. Be sure to start the door from the bottom edge. The
window is simple, offset it once or twice and use push/pull to make the window frame.
The door is a little more tricky however. Offseting the door creates some extra geometry
that we don't need. It's easy to erase these extra edges, but there is another way
to use offset that will solve this problem for us. Undo back to our simple door.
Use the select tool to pick one door edge, then holding the shift key add the two other
edges. With these edges selected the offset tool will focus and only work on those edges,
so we don't have any problematic edges below our house and can correctly create the door
frame. Pull the door frame out so we can use it in our next example.
Now that you understand the offset tool, lets move on to the follow-me tool. Zoom into the
lower corner of the door frame we just created and draw a line between these two edges. We
could use push/pull on this new surface, but what if we wanted this to be trim that turns
this corner? That is what the follow-me tool will do. Hit the escape key to cancel your
push pull, or undo it, then select the follow-me tool and click once on our trim surface. Pull
along this lower edge and it looks similar to push/pull, until you meet the corner and
continue in a different direction. You can pull upwards, or around the corner and follow
any joining edges then click to finish.
The key to follow-me is having a continuous edge to follow. Let's undo and navigate
so we have a full view of the base of our house. Now use follow-me, to start following
this trim all the way around the house, till it meets up with the other side of the door.
Just carefully follow along all the edges and click to finish when you reach the inside
corner of the door.
Sometimes it's tricky to end the follow-me tool at the right point, but a more sure way
to use the tool is to pre-pick the path we want to use. Undo the follow-me action we
just finished and this time use the select tool to choose our path. Hold the shift key
down like before, and select all the edges that go around the house, but only the edges,
and make sure they are all connected or the tool won't work.
With our path selected, now choose the follow-me tool. It looks like we lost our selection,
but don't worry, just click on the trim surface to pull it around the path. If your
example doesn't work, try again and make sure you pick all the edges and have nothing
else selected.
We are only scratching the surface of what can be done with follow-me and other tools,
so please look into more of our videos and learning resources to explore these tools
to their full extent.
To finish our house example, lets turn our attention back to the roof and some drawing
aids in SketchUp.
Use the line tool and start drawing a line from this edge. Now hover over the roof edge
for a few moments and as you continue to draw you'll see a new inference that is purple
in color and parallel to the edge we just hovered over. We can easily find out how far
to draw this parallel edge by hovering over the ridge point to focus attention there,
then as we come back to drawing our original line SketchUp will tell us where these points
meet up. Click to finish that edge, then continue drawing and hover over the far roof line to
tell SketchUp we are now interested in that edge. SketchUp will now show us the parallel
inference to that edge and we can follow it down to meet up with the lower on-edge inference
point.
At this point you should keep drawing on your own. In the next video in this series we will
create an interior room and fill it with items from the Google 3D Warehouse.