Hey guys, this is Aaron.
Today I want to take a look at importing image or .pdf files and using them as reference
for architectural drawings.
And this is, we're using architectural as an example, but anything where I need to draw
a model, or create a model, with high precision.
So, while we did this with our scale figure drawings, we pulled in images and traced them,
I'm talking about a model where I want a little bit more precision than just a general outline.
So what I'm going to do, brand new model here, I'm going to go File>Import.
And we'll look at a couple different file types.
First I'm going to look at images.
So right here I have a .jpeg file.
I can select that because All Supported Image Types is selected.
I pick that, make sure Use As Image is turned on and Import.
That's going to come in connected to my cursor, and I can click to a point, and initially
I can drag it out a little bit if I want.
This is an okay thing to do, but it's not really going to get you to precision which
is what we're looking at in this example.
To get a precise image I have to actually scale the drawing.
And I can see before I go any further I want to talk about this image.
This is an image that was literally hand drawn on a piece of graph paper, I took a picture
of it with my phone, and put it on my computer.
So there is nothing precise about this.
There's no specific dimensions.
I can actually see that the grids of the graph paper aren't orthogonal.
So this is the image I'm starting with.
Yes, an argument could be made to go take this into Photoshop and square it up, that
sort of thing, but I'm just going to go with what I have.
I'm going to use this image.
So, first thing I'm going to do is scale the model.
Before I can scale I do want to have some sort of a reference line on here.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to draw a line across the front of this, what I assume
is a garage.
Click right there.
And then, because when I scale this I don't want scale Chris here too - I just want to
scale the drawing - I'm going to grab both the drawing and the line, I'm going to right
click, and make it a group.
I'm going to double click into the group so when I grab my Tape Measure, it tells me that
is 7' 6 1/8", but I'm going to say that based on my years of experience with modeling and
drawing and all that sort of stuff, I think I want that to be 12'.
I'm going to hit Enter.
It comes up and asks if I want to resize the active group.
I'm going to hit Yes.
So now that redrew, or resized, and I can tell that's 12' right there.
So at this point, I can Explode the group and delete that line.
Now, it's a matter of tracing this drawing and getting the dimensions in I want.
Now, one of the things I can do here is I could just click around, just kind of arbitrarily
pick points, snapping orthogonally and using this as sort of a reference for my drawing,
but the other thing I might want to do is I might want to actually draw actual lengths
at this point.
So if this is supposed to be a 2' section right here I can type in 2' Enter, and continue
on around.
So right now this is coming out a little over 18', I might want to make that 18' even.
I continue around here, typing in dimensions using the drawing as reference, or I can actually
just if I'm just trying to get a mass in here, something that I can just can kind of conceptually
work with, I can just click around like that as well.
From here on it's pretty much up to you.
You can do this however you want to, but the goal of course is just to get my footprint
in from that reference drawing.
So I'm going to take a look at that once that's in, and see okay yeah, I got the general shape
even though the lines weren't straight and I didn't have exact locations or dimensions.
But this is good enough to start working from right here.
So that's great as an example of like a napkin sketch, like I said.
But what happens if I have actual plans that I want to pull in?
So I have a set of plans.
I don't have them as a CAD file, but I do have them as a .pdf or image file.
Now, a quick disclaimer before we go a whole lot further, .pdfs can be natively imported
on Mac, but not on Windows.
In Windows what you'll have to do is open your .pdf in a .pdf editor like Acrobat or
something like that, and save it out as an image.
There's no way to natively import those files through Windows so we can't pull .pdfs in directly.
In that case, rather than going to Import and picking the .pdf file, you can see that
shows up under Supported Image Types because it's treated like an image, you would have
to save it as a .jpeg or .gif or something like that and open it that way.
In this case I'm just going to click Import, I'm going to bring it in, and I'm just going
to click twice to place it where it is.
Alright, so this is good it gets me and image, I can go through the same process of scaling
and tracing this, not tracing necessarily, but using it as a reference to draw, but first
thing I want to look at is these dimensions.
So I'm going to have to have a dimension that I'm going to reference.
And this is, obviously, an issue.
I really don't even know what that number is.
This is because of a setting.
If I go to Preferences, under the SketchUp window in Mac, or under Windows in...
Windows, and click on Open GL I have this option "Use Maximum Texture Size."
If I turn that on I get a little warning that says "This is potentially going to slow down
SketchUp."
That's okay, I'm just using it as a reference right now.
When I click Yes you'll see what shows up is a much clearer file.
So this I could actually use to come in and, say, place a reference line, and use that
to scale this drawing.
From that point then I can actually come in here and I can, again not be able to snap
because there's not actually points.
It's a bunch of pixels rather than actual lines.
But I can use it as a reference and type in my dimensions as I go.
In this case I'm going to be 26'.
If I wanted to just draw the garage in I could come over the dimension at the bottom, 24'.
Get that square in there.
Offset my wall width, and then bring that up, maybe 9'.
So you can see how that can be used really quick and easy, it's great I don't have to
have a set of plans next to me that I have to refer to constantly.
I can actually look at the dimensions right on the screen and draw a very precise dimensions
around this plan.
So now, because I used those dimensions rather than just clicking I can tell this is an exactly
26' wall.
This is exactly a 24' wall.
So there you go!
Just a quick overview of using images as references for detailed drawings.
Again, remember Import, draw a line, group and scale.
Use maximum texture size.
And then don't be afraid to use dimensions rather than just snapping on points to get
accurate dimensions into your drawing.
Thank you!