Google SketchUp Tips, Tricks and Need to Know Info

Google SketchUp is a simple-to-use 3D modeling tool that is gaining popularity in the commercial design world. It allows a user to create an artistic three-dimensional layout of just about anything, from buildings to machines to full fledged recreations of historic landmarks. Today, I will teach you some of the ins and outs of this program.

The free version of Google Sketchup can be downloaded at http://sketchup.google.com in just a few minutes with your standard broadband connection. Of course, before you proceed to do so, you need to make sure that your computer can handle the system requirements, as seen to the right. If you aren't sure, look in your computer settings. Once you have the installer file, simply run it and follow the on screen prompts.

You can open SketchUp from your Program Menu, or from a desktop icon if you opted to create one. When you start SketchUp for the first time, it will ask you to choose a layout. Simple template is best for beginners, and you can choose between the American system and the Metric system.

When you get to the main screen, you will see an open space, a human avatar, and three axes. Red is the X axis, blue is the Y axis, and green is the Z axis. On your toolset will be a selection tool (the mouse), some drawing tools (pencil line, square, circle and arc line), push/pull, move, rotate, offset, zoom, pan and so on.

You can use the selection tool to highlight the human avatar, and press the delete key to delete them. Then, you have free space to get to drawing!

If you look at the above image file, you will notice two building cross sections. One looks like a house of cards while the other has some true depth to it. What many novice users do is simply draw vertical boxes with the line or shape tools. I strongly advise against this as it’s not going to look all that real. Instead, I will show you how to make a foundation that results in “Good 3D.”

Here to the upper right we have a foundation. There is a square piece 4 inches by 4 inches on each corner of the 20 foot by 30 foot main structure. These squares will be joined to make the exterior walls. Inside, rectangles were made that are four inches wide (two inches wide for the closets).

When you have everything connected it would look something like the middle right (zoom in if you are unsure what I mean). The interior and exterior walls are all connected (save for the one freestanding wall on the center left. You’re ready to use the Push/Pull tool to lift the walls by eight feet (by selecting, typing 8’ and pressing enter on your keyboard). It will look like the bottom right.

As you can see, you’ve created a more realistic house cross section with just a few simple steps. Next, you may use the paint bucket tool to add flooring and wallpaper/paint. You can add components like furniture and water fixtures using the “Get Models” icon. You can draw out cabinets and doors and windows as you get more and more skilled. Eventually, you could create something truly awesome, like the photo above.

This bridge frame uses the same members tessellated across its span. Designs like this are really easy to make in SketchUp. Simply highlight an object you've created, press the G key on your keyboard, and press Enter. Instantly, the entire object is surrounded by a single box, and you can copy and paste it as many times as you need to, with every piece being identical.

By changing the face styles you can create some really interesting visuals. This photo to the right shows a chicken coop with X-ray view turned on compared to X-ray view turned off. By being able to see through the walls of the chicken coop, people can see how the coop is constructed in more detail.

By going to View -> Animation, you can find options that allow you to animate your 3D models. It works like this: when you add a scene, it takes a screenshot of your current viewing angle. When you orbit your camera, you can add another scene, and a transition animation will be made between the two scenes. In this manner you can link multiple scenes and create a video demonstrating your design from all angles. A scene toolbar will be displayed at the top. You can also go View -> Animation -> Settings to edit how fast you want transitions to be, and how long you want pauses to be.

When you finally want to create a video using the animations you made, you go to File -> Export -> Animation. You will be asked to save it on your computer with the filename of your choosing, but before you do that, you should click on Options on the bottom right. This gives you some extra customization.

- You can customize the width and height of your video. The bigger the width and height, the higher the quality. However, it will mean a bigger file size.

- Increasing the frames per second makes the animation smoother. However, it does mean more frames to render, and again, larger file sizes.

- You can have the animations loop back at scene 1, or stop at the last scene without looping back.

Once you have the settings the way you want them, simply accept them and click Export. Your video will begin processing. Once it's done you can upload it to the internet, use it in a presentation, or whatever your heart desires!

For added functionality, such as exporters to AutoCAD and professional architect layouts, you can purchase Sketchup Pro! If this interests you, go to http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsupro.html to learn more about the program, and how you can download a free trial to see if you're interested in the upgrade.

For those who do wish to upgrade from Free to Pro, it is $495. However, college students can get a 90% discount on the program by providing their college email address upon registration. In addition, educators at many schools, colleges and universities may be eligible for the Pro version at no cost!