In this tutorial I will teach you how
to draw a simple 3D object in SketchUp
and export it as an image file. You will
learn how to first set up your SketchUp
program and toolbars and how to use them.
I use this program for
my own exporting business all the time
SketchUp allows users to imagine spaces
in three dimensions, this being the
foundation to many successful entrepreneurs that are
able to apply 3D design to their everyday LIFE
Let us begin
3...2...1...
Initially SketchUp displays a few basic tools in the custom toolbar.
Once you have displayed the large toolset you do
not need these duplicated tools so in the next few steps you will replace them
with some more helpful tools
Choose View and then Toolbars to open the customized
toolbar window. Here you will see dozens of tools you can add. After adding you
can move them around but try not to move them constantly as you will get used to
their placement and find yourself clicking tools and zipping right along
so let us go ahead and add some toolbars. Tick off Large tool set. Here you can see
it displayed on the left side of your screen. A nice feature on SketchUp is the
"instructor window" Go to Window and select Instructor
The Instructor Window combines brief step-by-step text with simple animations. It is helpful when you
are learning a new tool or technique and is not too disruptive or distracting.
Let me demonstrate
Previously known by Sketchup fans as the Value Control Box abbreviated as VCB but
now more commonly referred to as the Measurement Toolbar is a very important
tool that will save you a lot of time if you can master it. You can toggle it as a
Toolbar or use it in its default position at the bottom right of your screen
Depending on where you reside in or
unit of measure in your country, you may want to change this right away.
Go to the top menu bar and click Window then Model Info
to change the unit of measure.
The other information can be viewed as well to update your preferences
In the Unit tab I selected Length Units and
changed it to decimal and importantly under precision I selected Nil millimeter
We need to now add another toolbar. Go to View→ Toolbars and look for Styles.
Select the tick box next to it and the Styles toolbar will appear at the top of the screen
With this tool you can make the object see-through as we will demonstrate later.
Let us now draw a
simple shape in order to get to know some more of the tools on the toolbar.
Select the Line Draw tool and left-click on the so-called point of origin
which is the point at which all the axes converge. Do not hold in the button, only
click once. On the bottom right of the screen and the VCB you will see the line
length being displayed. See how the program tells you in what plane you are
drawing? It will switch between red, green and blue
depending on your mouse movements.
Look what happens when I hide the
drawing axes. It is almost impossible to tell in which direction the line is
drawn in a 3D environment.
The lines being drawn have properties
that can be changed under View→Edge Style whilst the flat faces can also be
made to look differently and this was briefly discussed earlier when we added
the Styles toolbar on the top right of the menu bar where this tool can be
accessed to change the appearance of the object too. I am not sure if you noticed
but the object or point of origin is actually quite far away into the
distance. I can tell this by how long the line being drawn is measuring in the VCB,
at the bottom right of the screen. If I wanted to make an object to be 1,000
millimeters long in other words about the size of a cardboard box I would have
to move closer to the object. To do that you have to scroll down with your scroll
button on your mouse. See how I zoomed in. At first it may seem that nothing is
happening but if I now redraw the line it can clearly be seen that the line
measuring more than 6,000 millimeters before now measures around
1,000 millimeters
Notice how the program recognizes where
the end point of each line or corner is making it easy to snap onto it
As soon as a shape has four corners on the same drawing axes, it will
automatically form a side with its own clickable surface.
Let us continue now to draw the Cube shape
Remember to use the VCB at the bottom right of the screen and typing the
desired line length on the keyboard and pressing enter. In this example I entered
the value of 1000 and the line was created to that length
{finishing the other side}
{using Orbit tool for a brief moment}
{finishing the other side}
We now have created two sides or flat surfaces
connected to each other
Let us now explore viewing angles by
clicking on the View toolbar at the top of the main screen on the Menu bar.
See what happens when we select different views
Also notice that the model seemed to have spun around 180 degrees.
What actually happened is that we the viewer is now viewing it from the opposite
angle. In other words we have changed position and not the model.
To restore yourself to the original viewing angle use the Orbit tool. This tool is situated
on the left of the screen on this side toolbar or click and hold the scroll
button whilst moving the mouse and restoring the view point to a point
closest to where you first started. Now click on the ISO view short for
Isometric view and the original view is restored if that is the view you started in.
Let's just recap: The Orbit tool is activated when holding the Scroll button
down. If you want to position the object towards the middle of your screen then
click the Pan button or the Hand icon. To zoom in and out
use the mouse scroll button or go to the side toolbar and select the Magnifying Glass
Let us continue now to draw the cube shape.
Notice how the program recognizes where the endpoint of each line or
corner is, making it easy to snap onto it.
After drawing the lines for the cube all
the sides will automatically snap together to form an enclosed object.
I would like to now make the object stand out more against the background
Left click to highlight the surface followed by right-click and select the top option
namely Entity Info. Click on either the inside or outside face. Click Edit and
pick a color or as shown here click the Paint Bucket icon and see all
the available options for giving a skin to your object
Now we can see our object more clearly. There are a few more view options
available to the SketchUp user. One of those is called Perspective View and the
other is called Parallel Projection. Parallel projection is great if you do
not want to see a slightly skewed image caused by viewing an object in
perspective. Closer object surfaces appear larger than more distant object
surfaces in perspective mode. It is sometimes important to view an object in
Parallel View especially to get a clear front, side, and top view
It is always a good idea to consolidate all the sides and lines into one object
so that it cannot be accidentally changed. Do this by highlighting the
entire object with the left mouse click, hold and drag movement. Right-click and
select "Make Group" or on the top menu bar select Edit and "Make Group".
The entire object has now been isolate from any other objects that you still want
to draw and cannot impact on each other. It is also handy to group an object so
that it can be manipulated as a whole. In this instance I selected the Scale tool
and one click on the grouped model will activate pull points in order to grow or
shrink the object in a desired direction along an axis. With the dimension tool
apply dimensions to the object. The object can be scaled about opposite
point to increase or decrease the length of the object. Make the object
see-through as shown here.
Your first instinct may be to type in
the required length in the VCB but this is what happens:
It extends the object by a factor of 1500 instead the correct action should
have been to apply a ratio of 1.5 times 1,000 which will extend the object
length to 1,500.
An easier way would be to use the
Push/Pull tool make sure the object is centered on the axes convergence point.
The push-pull tool does not work when the object is grouped.
Ungroup the object.
then select the push-pull tool from the
side toolbar.
Now you can type in a value
into the VCB, hit enter and increase or decrease the object in that way.
{Make Group}
Once you are happy with the object you created along with dimensions,
a two-dimensional image of the object can be exported as a PNG file
{Loading...}
Note that on the bottom right of the screen there is an Options tab, select it
and specify your preferred image resolution. The files should also be
saved as a SketchUp file. If it needs to be shared with others make sure to save
an in a format that they can open in their own SketchUp versions. For instance
a file saved in a newer version cannot be opened in an older version so save it
in an older version for selected customers.
Now that the file is saved I would like to highlight
another advantage of grouping objects together
let me show by example:
Note that once an object is Ungrouped and touches an
adjacent object, it will impact on that object.
I hope you benefited from this Tutorial.
Please Like and Subscribe to my Channel.
Let me know what you want to see
in future tutorials in the comments below.
There are a lot of ways in which
your business can benefit from this software,
just like mine did.
Thanks for watching.
"YOUR BUSINESS IN 3D"
Till next time.
Goodbye