SketchUp Tutor

News and Update

2010-12-11T17:48:00.000+07:00

December 11, 2010	There are two tools that are very often used in Sketchup: the circle and arc tool. A deeper discussion about these two tools is posted in Tool time: Circle and Arc Tool. This chapter also explains how to create a 'perfect' arc, one that merges seamlessly with a line or another arc.
December 4, 2010	Chapter on "Adding Roof Element" has been posted. Now the Project-One house final shape is complete, ready for some finishing work. However, I plan to talk about some tools first before continuing with this project.
November 21, 2010	Chapter on "Adding Interior and Exterior Details" has been posted. More to come.
November 19, 2010	Hello guys, sorry for not updating the tutorial for more than eight months now. Google has released a SketchUp version 8.0. (UN)Luckily, the update for the free version is more toward Google Earth modeling, which I don't plan to cover (at least for now). Other than that, the rest is almost completely the same. Fix some links to accommodate the update, and plan to catch up. See you soon.
February 14, 2010	I have uploaded some bathroom components to the 3d warehouse. We need these components for the next lesson: "Adding Some Details"
February 7, 2010	We are now ready to Place all Windows to our windowless house.
February 1, 2010	Let's add some doors to our 3D modeling
January 25, 2010	Let's start our 3d modeling tutorial by creating a floor plan and make walls and floors from the plan.
January 21, 2010	I have uploaded three Dynamic Components to the 3d Warehouse. These are the first batch of Quicky Components that are essential for creating the 3d model in Project One.
January 18, 2010	Need some time to translate components with the right English terminology. Meanwhile you may want to check your hardware and download some files to work with this tutorial. Afterward, you can start installing and setting up your SketchUp and find out about our SketchUp projects.
January 17, 2010	I use SketchUp quite extensively during the construction my new house. This may give you some ideas if you are planning or in the middle of constructing or remodeling a house.
January 14, 2010	More translation of Section: Welcome and Introduction to SketchUp have been posted. More are still to come. For the time being, you can browse: Improving Model Accuracy and see an example of a SketchUp model I have created.
January 13, 2010	Google issues SketchUp Release 7.1 Maintenance 2 (7.1.6860). It fixes some bugs, security issues and some language interface.
January 12, 2010	This Welcome page is first posted. This blog is officially born.
January 10, 2010	One Chapter per week target is achieved, The final Chapter of Project One of the Indonesian version of this blog is completed and this English version is started.
November 17, 2009	Google issues SketchUp 7.1.6087. Although this is a not a major update, it has a better texture management for better spanning and orbiting (But ... 3D import is missing).
November 5, 2009	SketchupTutor blogspot, a sister site to this blog to born

Welcome

This blog is not intended to discuss architecture but rather to explore and learn an excellent yet free 3-D modeling software from Google: SketchUp. However with its surprisingly ease of use, this application might be just the one you need to reveal "the architect in you".

The users of this Sketchup tutorial are absolute beginners who do not have prior knowledge of any 3D modeling software or anyone else who wants to learn SketchUp from square one. What you need is just a general knowledge of using Microsoft Window applications, a little bandwidth and a lot of time to have fun. Anything else is free ...

This Sketchup tutorial blog is structured more like a book with sections and chapters, than journal like postings as you would see in a normal blog. Therefore you can use this blog as you usually do when reading an e-book. The main organization of this Sketchup tutorial is as follows:

Main Page. The Home page of this blog will always be this Welcome post. At the top of this page, news regarding updates to this blog will be posted along with information regarding SketchUp updates released by Google, or any news that I believe is relevant to this blog readers.
The Left column. The left column is the Table of Content of this book, which will be divided into Sections and Chapters. Except for the first two sections (Welcome and What is SketchUp), all Sections and Chapters are designed as step-by-step tutorials and that are to be done in sequential order as each chapter is started where previous chapter left off. However, a link to a base model is provided at the beginning of each chapter in case you want to start directly with the chapter.
The right column. This column will contain a General section. Here we will discus Tips & Trick and SketchUp techniques which are too lengthy to be part of any of the chapters. Another section in this column is Freebies. Every now and then I would post 3-D models and components that I have created that might be of interest.
Each posting in this column can be read separately since each is an individual topic by itself.

This is a "show and tell" Sketchup tutorial. For each step in the modeling process, there will be a general explanation in how and what tool you need to use to finish the step. At the end of each step, an animation is shown to have a clear understanding how it is done in SkecthUp. I also provide you with a detailed list of steps taken in the animation (especially in the first few chapters). In order not to clutter the pages, these detailed steps are hidden until you click the "Detailed Steps" button .

It is expected that by doing this Sketchup tutorial you can make 3d model of your current and/or planned home and.or can seek inspiration from various sources to put into your SketchUp model .

As I am also writing a sister blog in Bahasa Indonesia, I hope this is not a way too tall order.

Cheers,

Harrynov

Tool time: Circle and Arc Tool

2010-12-11T08:00:00.023+07:00

Circle Tool and Arc Tool

We previously used the Arctool to make convex/concave lines to create profile for the ceiling molding. However, up till the the end of this Sketchup tutorial, we are not going to use the Circletool. Since this is a rather fundamental tool, we are going to have a rather thorough discussion regarding the Circle tool at this section.

There are also two other tools at the 'Drawing toolbar', namely Polygontool and Freehandtool. There is nothing special about the Polygon tool since its usage is largely similar with the Rectangletool. Polygon tool will create a regular Polygon entities, with 3 or more equal sides. This tool provides us with option to enter the number of edges to create and the radius of the polygon. Freehand tool is somewhat similar with Linetool. Freehand tool is used to draw irregular hand-drawn lines which are comprised of multiple line segments that are connected together. When the the starting and ending points of the lines coincide, a face will be created.

I have no plan to discuss the Polygon, and Freehand tools. Their usage are rather simple. Besides, I hardly use these tools. In the contrary, Arc and Circle tools are used quite frequently and some aspects should be known to optimally use the tools, so I will explain these two tools in a more detail fashion in this section.

Getting to know Circle and Arc Tool

SketchUp can only recognize straight lines and faces (flat surface). Hardly there is any object that consists of only one straight line. No wonder, in SketchUp, there is no function or command to thicken or to color one particular line.

Circles and Arches are basically just a number of straight lines of the same length stitched together to appear like a circle or an arc. Each line is called as a segment. The more number of segments created, the smoother the circle or the arc will appear. However, it will affect the file size and therefore heavier burden to the computer processor.

Circle Tool

Below is the Entity info window when the outline of a circle is selected (just the outline, not including the face)

Right after the Circletool is activated, we are given the opportunity to change the number of its sides (segments) by typing in the desired number and then press [Enter]. Initially, the number of segment provided by SketchUp is the default circle's segments (24), or the last value that we set for the this tool. The circle radius is determined after we choose its center point using mouse click and move out the cursor or by typing in a length value followed by [Enter].

The strictest work flow of a circle creation is:

Find a plane that will be used as the reference for the new circle orientation. You can use one the main axes, any existing face, or create a temporary face for the reference.
Determine a point in the model that will be the center point, or create a guide(s) using Tape Measuretool and/or the Protractortool to obtain a precise location.
Click the Circletool and, if necessary, change the number of segments to your liking.
Move the cursor over the area to be used as the reference (as in point 'a'). If the circle plane is different than the referenced plane, press and hold [Shift] key to lock the orientation.
Click at the point you want as the center point of the circle (point b) and,
Move the cursor away to any direction, then click after the circle radius seems appropriate or type in any number using the keyboard then press [Enter] to set the radius precisely.

Step (f) can be made at any time using the entity info window as shown previously. Step (c) can only be done if the circle has not been converted into 3-dimensional shape. For the rest of the steps, editing can be done using the Move/Copytool. Note that point (a) must be done correctly from the beginning, since changing the orientation sometimes is not as simple as creating a new circle from scratch.

Determining the plane where the circle will be created

Once we select the Circletool, before clicking the mouse to determine the position of the circle's center point , we must first determine on what plane the circle will reside, or which plane will be used as a reference. If we use the standard ISOview and there is no other object that can be used as a reference, then the circle can only be made on the plane perpendicular to the Blue Axis. Reference to any other axis can only be done on the appropriate camera angle as shown in the animation.

Tip & Trick

Determining reference for the rotation plane
If the new circle will not be placed at any of the existing geometry (existing faces) we need to find a reference for the rotation plane of the circle. The same principle applies to the Polygontool, Rotatetool and Protractortool. Any of existing faces and one of the main axes can be used as the reference.

Normally, a circle is made on a face of an existing object. So just need to click at the face and the circle orientation will automatically follow the referenced face. Otherwise you need to select a particular face or one of the main axes as a reference and then lock the face orientation by pressing and holding the [Shift] key and then choose any position to be the center point of the circle.

Animation below shows, when the standard ISOview is selected and no other object can be used as a reference, the orientation of a new circle can only be set to the blue axis. We can change the view as shown at the end of the animation, or create a temporary object that can be used as references. As usual, after we obtain an orientation reference, we press and hold [Shift] key until after we click a certain point to set it as the center point of the new circle.

Creating various circles with different orientation.

What about Oval shapes?

SketchUp does not provide us with a special tool to create an oval or ellipse shape. To create an oval shape, we first create a circle, then reduce or enlarge one or both of the diameters to get the desired oval shape.

To resize a circle diameter, we use Scaletool available on the Edit toolbar. Click once on the circle ,then select the Scale tool so that a yellow bounding box with eight green grips is displayed around the circle. Click one of the grips in the middle of one of the bounding box edges (not one of the corner grips), and then pull the grip out or in until the desired oval shape is achieved.

Tip & Trick

Scale Tool
Scale tool is used to resize an existing object in the model by dragging one on the available sliding points. There are two modes of scaling using the measurement box: By specifying the sizing coefficient (default) or by determining the final dimensions of the altered aspect. For the second mode, we must add a value and its notation before pressing enter (such as 5' 3" for five feet and three inches).

To obtain an accurate shape/size of the oval, it is better to type in the desired final value of diameter along with its unit notation (e.g. 150 cm) using the keyboard and then press [Enter]. Then the diameter we resize will have the final dimensions of 150 cm. Or, enter a value (e.g. 0.5) and press [Enter] then the new size of the diameter will be exactly half of the original.

Arc Tool

The illustration below shows an arc and a dimension information along with the Entity info of the arc. .

Radius information indicates the radius of the circle that forms the arc. As we know, an arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle.

In contrast to the circle tool, the information on the Entity Info window of an arc is different with the parameters available during its creation (as displayed in the measurement box). Bulge is not available in the entity info window and scaling will not always result as expected. This indicates that most of the time it is easier to create a new arc than editing an existing one using the entity info. Normally we first prepare two lines that will hold the starting and ending points of the arc, then determining the curve between the two lines.

The strictest work flow of an Arc creation is:

Decide which line end(s) to start or to end the new arc.
Activate the Arctool and, if necessary, change the number of segments of using the Measurement box.
Click on the first point and click on the second point to set the beginning and the end of the curved line (both ends of the green line at the above picture), or enter its length using the keyboard and press [Enter]
Move the mouse cursor towards any position between the two points and click or input the height of the protrusion (the red line at the above image), or type in the bulge value through the keyboard and press [Enter].

Step (b) can be done at any time using the Entity info window as shown above. As you can see the information on the Entity info window, one aspect that can be changed directly is the segments (point b). The other aspect that can also be changed is the radius of the arc (not included in the Measurement box). However, we usually are concerned more with how to make a seamless curve to a line/curve or a corner, not with the exact size of the arc itself.

Creating a perfect connection between an arc with a line or another arc.

Connection of an arc to a line or to another arch will look seamless if the two objects share a common characteristic.

The Cyan and magentaa line d on the second picture). The arc connection would be perfect if b (and c) is the radius of each curve and b perpendicular to the line a. For the second image, c is perpendicular to the line d.

Colored curves in the picture are arcs with a certain radius. These curvature form smooth curves that the arc is a continuation of the red line (or that connects line Similarly, between two curves / arches. An arc (the black arc) can connect with another arc (the cyan act) seamlessly when AC is a straight line, and AB and BC is the radius of each corresponding curve. The illustration indicates that the cyan arc starts at the end point of the black arc AND the radius of the cyan arc is in line with the radius of the black arc.

The connection point between the curve and another object is referred to as a tangent to the curve. You don't to need to even remember this, because SketchUp will provide color information when the connection is perfect with the inference "Tangent at Vertex." cyan inference indicates the arch merge perfectly to a line or to another curve, and magenta indicates that arch fits seamlessly with two lines and/or other arch.

To invoke the Magenta inference, the starting and ending points of the curve should form an isosceles triangle with the peak lies between these two points. When isosceles is achieved, the inference color will turn into magenta as seen in the animation below.

(Note: Line b, c and AC in the above illustrations are provided for explanation purpose only. If any of these lines does exist, no inference information will appear)

Creating curves with a smooth continuation from another curve or line(s)

In another part of this General section, we will learn to create three-dimensional shapes based on circles and arches, e.i. to create balls, rings, tires and so forth.

Keep on Sketching ...

Harrynov

Adding Roof Element

2010-12-04T05:00:00.001+07:00

The house has a simple gable roof with ceramic roof shingles. Both sides are enclosed with ridge verges and the top is enclosed with ridge shingles, all with the same material with the roof shingles. The roof has a 30° slope and is positioned exactly in the center point of the west wall. Fascia will be added to cover the bottom end of each roof. The roof will be extended 60 cm downward to create roof eaves for added protection to the wall.

In this tutorial, I do not include the roof truss because the detail of this structure is best left to experts. However, you can draw the truss when its design has been completed, i.e. to study available space for roof storage, and superimpose it to the final 3D model.

Steps taken to create the roof are as follow:

Previous 3D Model

Chapters in this Sketchup tutorial are expected to be done in chronological order. However, if you want to start from this chapter, please download the last model created from previous lesson(s) at the the 3D warehouse.

Separating walls and floors from the back and front yards before adding the roof element

Creating basic shape of the roof.
Creating roof shingles component.
Creating ridges and ceiling.
Adding decorative molding to the ceiling.
Roof finishing.

Separating Walls, Floors and Yard Elements into groups

At this tutorial stage there are already quite a lot of objects that we have added to the SketchUp 3-D model. In general, these objects can be be grouped into:

Floors and Walls
Walls and floors including every object attached to them, such as doors, windows, bathroom and terrace.
Front yard and back yard.
The remaining empty area in the lot that we will fill with outdoor objects and vegetation.

To ease further editing the 3D model, we need to isolate these objects by putting them into separate groups. One by one, we will select similar objects using Selecttool and make them a group.

Tutorial Animation for Creating wall and floor group.

Creating the roof basic shape

We want the roof to have a 30° slope, with its axis positioned right at the middle of the western wall. For that, we will create a prism based on an isosceles triangle as the basic form of the roof. With available dimensions and slope specification we can find the roof high using trigonometric formula. But that's not SketchUp, in this tutorial we will only use Tape Measuretool, Protractortool and Linetool to help us create triangle.

Tutorial animation to create the roof basic shape.

Creating detail shape for roof shingles

Creating Roof Tile Component.

Although technically, we can easily make each shingle as a component with the shape and size similar to a real shingle. This can make a lot of burden to the computer processor. Therefore in this tutorial we will only make the overall shape of the roof shingles and later we will add a pattern that will cover this shape.
The roof shingles of the house is comprised two identical parts, front and rear. At this stage we will prepare only the detail shape of the roof tile parts and we will add tile patterns in the next chapter of this tutorial. We will add ridge verges on the left/right side of the roof and fascia to cover the bottom edge of the roof shingles. We will the same material patterns for the all the shingles verges, and therefore we need to make this part of the roof a group or component (More about this in "Finishing"). Since the front roof is shaped exactly the same with the rear, we will make it as a component so that it can be reusable for the rear side.

Tip & Trick

Component
If a rather intricate object is going to be used for more than once in a model, it is better to define it as a component since edits to a component will be reflected in every instance of the component in the model, thus more efficient modeling.

The roof shingles shape will be based on the the front face of the roof basic structure. Create a new box by pulling the face 10 cm high (the thickness of the entire structure of the roof and battens) using the Push/Pulltool. Make the box a component and change its the axis consistent with the roof slope. We also need to lengthen the lower part of the component by 60 cm to create roof eaves to cover the upper part of the front and rear wall.

Tutorial animation for the front section of the roof shingles.

Rear roof shingles and finalizing the roof element

The rear part of the roof is exactly the same with the front. So, we only need to copy the front component and fix its orientation it by rotating the component copy by 180° using the Rotatetool. Later we will fascia at the front side of the roof shingles with a thickness of 2 cm and a height of 25 cm using of Push/Pulltool.

Tip & Trick

Rotate Tool
We also can use Move /Copy tool to rotate an object at its designated rotating point(s). To rotate an object at any other point, we use the Rotate tool.
To use the rotate tool, first we need to specify its rotation plane, then select the rotation point and specify the rotation angle.
The Cursor shape will appear as illustrated . The cursor color is black if the rotation plane is not parallel with any of the three main axes.

Copy the roof tile component using Move/Copytool and [Control] key and put it somewhere on the back.

Rotate the new copy of the component so it will be a mirror image to the front roof using Rotatetool.
- Select Rotatetool and focus the mouse to the horizontal plane until the cursor turn blue and press [Shift] to lock the orientation.
- Move the mouse over the topmost line of the component copy and click at any point along that line and release the Shift key to set the point as the center of the rotation.
- Move the the mouse again along that same line and and click to set the line to rotate.
- Make a right rotation using the mouse and type in [180] to make a half circle rotation.
Move the new roof tile component so it will touch perfectly at the top with the original copy of the component using Move/Copytool.
Fixing the lower side of the roof shingles component.
When creating the roof shingles component (1c), we only selected the upper faces of the roof tile block, so at the moment the bottom face is still missing.
- Double click at the roof shingles component to enter edit mode of the component.
- Using Linetool, create a new line along the bottom edge of the component and a face will be created covering the bottom part of the component.
Add fascia to cover the bottom side of the roof tile set.
- Select Push/Pulltool. and press Control key to add a new face and pull the face forward by 2 cm.
- Still using Push/Pulltool, click at the bottom face the newly created square and pull it down to crate fascia with 2 cm thick and and 25 cm high along the tile lines.
- Exit the component edit mode using Selecttool and by clicking anywhere outside the component.
Notice that, the front side roof component also will be automatically fixed and added the fascia.

Tutorial animation for rear roof shingles.

Adding Ridge Shingles

Ridge shingles are added to the top edges between the two sections of the roof. The ridge is shaped as a half circle bulge positioned along the top edges as illustrated below.
To create the ridge shingle shape, we will also us the Arctool to form a semicircular curved line connecting the two peaks of each roof section. Then add two lines using Linetool along the top edge of each roof section to create a face. The face is then pressed down along the width of the roof sections using the Push/Pulltool to create the ridge shingle shape.

Tutorial Animation to add Ridge Shingles

Creating Gable Ends and Ceiling

Gable ends are the wall structures above the gable walls that support a gable roof. At this point this area is mostly blocked by the roof shingles components. Therefore we need to temporarily hide the roof tile group using Context Menu -> Hide.

Tip & Trick

Hide
We can hide one or a few objects temporarily in order not to obstruct view to objects located behind the object(s). To hide object(s) we use Context Menu or menu View -> hide. Use menu Edit -> Unhide to unhide the objects.

The gable end outer shape is exactly the same with the east/west side of the roof basic shape. We just need to add thickness similar to wall thickness using the Push/Pulltool and remove any excess line using the Erasetool. We will rename this group as "Gable Ends".

Tutorial Animation to Create Gable Ends and Ceiling

Adding Molding to the Ceilings

All room ceilings have decorative molding around their edges. This moulding is usually made of woods or gypsum casts. For modeling simplicity, I do not add thickness to the ceiling and position the ceiling right at the top of each wall, which may not be appropriate in real situation.

The detail shape and size of decorative molding is illustrated in the picture. The flat sections on top and right side are the part that will be attached to walls and ceilings. To create the profile, we need to divide the hypotenuse into five equal segments. The first two segments for the bulge and the next two segments for the depressed part. Both are 1 cm away from the original line.

To create this profile, we just need to make a right triangle of 8x5 cm using the Linetool and decorate its hypotenuse with a convex and concave lines. To divide the hypotenuse into 5 segments, we just use the Divide function available in the context menu, and using the Arctool we add a convex line and a concave line each covering two fifth of the hypotenuse. When the 2- dimensional profile is made, we will use Follow Metool to create this profile along all the ceiling edges.

Focus the view on to the east part rear corner of the bathroom ceiling. If necessary, hide any object that may block your view block using Context Menu -> Hide.
Create a right triangle with a height of 8 cm and width of 5 cm using Linetool at a temporary location in such a way that the lower end of the triangle is positioned right at one ceiling corners.
Divide the sloping line into 5 segments
- Select the sloping line using the Selecttool and activate Context menu and select Divide. Several dots will appear along the active line indicating the number of segments it will create when the mouse is clicked.
- Move the mouse along the sloping line and click when the segments indicates 5. There will be five equally spaced intersection points along the line as if the line is comprised of 5 continuing separate lines.
Add a concave line to first two segments.
- Select the Arctool and click to bottom point of the sloping edge and make another click at the end of second segment to measure the arc as 2/5 part of the hypotenuse.
- Move the mouse to the right so a bulge is created and type in [1] to create a concave with 1 cm height. As usual, a face is automatically created when the area is completely enclosed.
Add a convex line to next two segments
- Click the mouse at the top point of the concave and move the mouse upward until it cover another 2/5 of the slope and press click at the segment point.
- Move the mouse to the right so a dent is created and type in [1] to create a convex with 1 cm deep.
Remove unnecessary lines so the final shape of the object is similar to the above illustration.
Prepare the new object to be pasted at the appropriate positions by Double clicking the face to select the whole shape, and cut it using Edit -> Cut or Control-X (a standard window short cut for Cutting) to store this object into computer memory.
Paste the profile shape contained on the computer memory to a corner of the bathroom ceiling.
- Select the Move/Copytool and move the mouse to the left most corner of the bathroom ceiling and press Control-v to place the profile shape at this corner.
- Still using Move/Copytool, position the profile to its proper location by clicking the top left corner of the profile and move it so it be attached to the upper left corner of the ceiling.
Paste this object to a corner of any other ceiling .
- Focus your mouse to the corner of the living room ceiling and press Control-V at the point of this angle, nudge the mouse a little so that the profile shape appear at this position and press click to put the profile on this face.
- Repeat this procedures to the rest of the room ceilings.

Tip & Trick

Follow Me Tool
We can change a two- dimensional face into a 3-D object using Push/Pull tool by pushing/pulling the face along a perpendicular path to the face. To change a two-dimensional face into 3-D following path other than perpendicular, we use Follow Me tool. First, preselect the path, and then select Follow Me tool and click at the face.

Create moulding for the living room ceiling.

Focus the camera so that the corner where the profile is attached can be clearly viewed.
Click at the living room ceiling and activate Context menu then choose 'Select Boundary' to select all the edges of the ceiling.

Select Follow Metool and click at the profile face that is attached to this ceiling. Automatically a profile will sculptured around the bounding edges.

Repeat the above processes to other areas of the ceilings to complete all the ceiling molding. (The tutorial animation does not include these steps)
Exit the Gable group to finish.

Tutorial animation to create molding for the living room ceiling

Finalizing the roof

Although from the outside, the roof already seems finished, there is still a small part missing, the rear wall of the living room still has not reached the roof so that there is a big opening above the wall that needs to be filled. Add two wall sections to the opening so that all the walls will touch the roof. The wall addition is done within the “Garble” group so that the top of all the walls will still be flat. (We need to keep the upper side of the walls flat to prepare for the second floor addition).

To do this section, I will only show you the animation of the process for adding these walls. Notice the tools I used, since you have to to do this by yourself.

Tutorial animation for finalizing the roof shingles element

We have Accomplished ....

No	Tutorial Topics
1	Performing three different ways of selecting object using mouse click(s) .
2	Applying standard window shortcuts to do: Select All (Ctrl-A), Cut (Ctrl-X) and Paste (Ctrl-V)
3	Creating Guides with a specified slope using Protractor Tool.
4	Adding, changing component axes, copying and editing a simple component.
5	Selecting object(s) using context menu: Connected Faces and Bounding Edges.
6	Using Rotate Tool to spin an object on a preselected plane.
7	Dividing a line into several equal length lines using context menu Divide.
8	Using Arc tool to create a concave or convex line.
9	Temporarily hiding an object using Context Menu-Hide and bring it again back using Menu -> Unhide.
10	Using Follow Me tool to draw profile along the edges of a face to create moulding around the face.
11	Reversing a face using Context Menu -> Reverse Face

We are almost done with the Project I. We only need to add details to the front and the backyard and apply appropriate materials such as ceramic shingles, and wood patterns so the 3-D model will look a lot more realistic.

Cheers

Harrynov

Adding Interior and Exterior Details

2010-11-21T12:34:00.005+07:00

Prior to adding a roof, we will add a few details to the model we have created:

Previous 3D Model

Chapters in a project are expected to be done in chronological order. However, if you want to start from this chapter, please download the last model created from previous lesson(s) from the 3D warehouse.

Adding details to the bathroom.

Adding front terrace
Adding details to the front bedroom windows.
Creating rear terrace.

Detailing the Bathroom

In this tutorial, there are only two objects reside in the bathroom: a toilet and a shower corner. Both are downloadable from Google 3D Warehouse. (See: Freebies: Bathroom Components).
As usual, in order to prevent water from spilling out, the bathroom floor is always lower than outside floor. At the shower corner area, the floor is also lower than the rest of the floor, so the bathroom will be relatively dry.

Changing the field of view

Tips and Trick

Field of View (FoV)
By default, SketchUp will provide you with a 35° perspective. This is assumed to be the "normal" perspective of human eyes. The number can be set between 1° and 120°. The main reason we have a larger FoV is that we can set our view closer to objects while keeping more object(s) in our view. Therefore, the camera can be moved more freely in a small space. However, the farther the camera from the object(s), the more distorted they appear.
FoV can be modified from menu Camera -> Field of View. Type in the desired number using your keyboard and press enter.

Editing in a very small space, just like this bathroom, is not easy because most of the time our view will be blocked by walls. One way to overcome this is to widen our view by increasing the field of view. The effect is similar with viewing through a wide lens camera. From the same distance, area included in our view will be wider. However, just like in photography, the wider the lenses, the more distorted the object will appear.
Change the Field of View (FoV) to 60° and set your view so the whole bathroom floor and the bathroom door can be seen clearly. Later in this tutorial, we will revert our view back to 'normal'.

Lowering the bathroom Floor

The bathroom floor is 3 cm lower than the living room floor. In order to do that, we need to isolate the bathroom floor from the rest of the floor by adding a line along the inner side of the door using Linetool. Afterward, we will push the floor by 3 cm using Push/Pulltool.

Animated Tutorial - Lowering the bathroom floor.

Detailing the bathroom.

The shower corner floor is 6 cm below the bathroom floor, with an area measuring 80x80 cm. The shape of the floor is not completely a square. We will first create a rectangle measuring 80x80 cm using the Rectangletool. Then, using the Linetool, we will add a sloping line to finalize the shape. When the shape is completed, we will push the face by 6 cm using the Push/Pulltool.

Placing the toilet and the shower corner set.

If you have not downloaded the toilet and table components, please open Freebies: Bathroom Components for links and saving folder.

Tip & Trick

Zoom-in and Zoom out
If points/intersections are too small to select, you can Zoom-in / Zoom-out your view using the mouse Scroll Wheel. The zooming will not affect currently active tool/objects.

The toilet component must be positioned so its back will rest at the middle of the remaining wall next to the bathroom door. Place the component toilet somewhere in the middle of the bathroom floor and rotate it so it will have the appropriate orientation. Then, move the toilet using the designated wall as the reference.
The shower corner set will also need reorientation. Place the component in the middle of the bathroom floor. Rotate the component so the shower head/tap will be placed on the bathroom south wall. Then move the component so the curtain rod will be attached to each wall.

Animated Tutorial - Detailing the bathroom

Restore Field of View setting back to 35°.
Restore the FoV to 35 using similar steps as detailed in (1) so the view is back to the "normal" perspective.

Adding the Front Terrace

The front terrace is designed to look as illustrated in the image. The terrace consists of three main objects:

The floor, including a small step on the west side to enter the terrace
The roof terrace made of concrete cast. The roof width is the same with the width of the front/door window.
Two terrace posts with connecting overhead beam to appear like a gate.

Detail dimensions of each objects will be provided during each object creation.
For easy editing/modification, all the three main objects will be made into one group so editing this object will not effect any of the surrounding objects.

Preparing a initial shape for the terrace.

We are going to use floor and roof terrace as the initial reference. To ease placements and sizing of objects, we will prepare a box (colored in blue in the adjacent image) with the following measurement:

Length is similar to the floor length of 120 cm.
Width is exactly the same with front door and window widths which is 171 cm.
Height is based on the lower part of the roof cast which is 275 cm above Point zero.

We are going to use Rectangletool and Push/Pulltool. However, we want to apply Grouping technique so new object(s) will be isolated from existing walls, windows, etc, therefore, editing will be done without fear of unintentional modification to these existing objects.

Animated Tutorial - Creating initial "block" for the front terrace

Creating Floors, Roof and Column Elements

Measurement details of each terrace elements are shown in the illustration. We are going to make the elements within the group we created earlier.
Notice that, of the three terrace elements, the column element touches both the floor and the ceiling. Therefore, we are going to make the columns also as a group so each elements can easily be edited without disturbing any other element.
We would first make the front face of the box a group. Then create the terrace roof and floor and finish the column elements of the terrace.
For the purpose of the animation efficiency, we will start editing the columns though the roof and the floor are not completely done.

Move the camera as we did in step (1a).
Double click at the group and make the front rectangle a group by itself. This group is designated to hold the terrace columns.
Erase the two vertical lines on the back using the Erasetool so the bottom face is now disconnected with the top face.
Using the Push/Pulltool., pull the top face by 15 cm, then pull the front of the newly created box by 50 cm to finish the terrace roof.
Finishing the right side of the terrace floor
- Raise the floor until it is at the save level with the interior floor, then push it by 3 cm to set the level to its final position. Or just type in [47] immediately after raising the face.
- Extend the left side of the floor by 12,5 cm to the left using the Push/Pulltool. to finish the left part of the floor..

Add a stair step of 30 cm long and 10 cm below the terrace floor.

Tip & Trick

Push/Pull & Control
Push/Pull tool can be used to move a face so the object will be bigger or smaller. If Control key is pressed while the Push/Pull is active, then the selected face will stay and a new face, and its surrounding wall(s), is created parallel to the starting face.

Still using the Push/Pulltool, move the camera to the left side of the terrace floor. We need to add a floor step by extending the floor. Prior to pulling, press Control key so the cursor will change into . This will maintain the original face. Select the left face and pull by 30 cm. Now we have a new box adjacent to the existing floor.

Push the newly created box by 10 cm using Push/Pulltool to finish the stair step.

Finishing the right side of the floor terrace.

Tip & Trick

Line tool to recreate missing face(s)
Sometimes, when we are manipulating an object, SketchUp can inadvertently delete one of its faces.
To get the face back, just use the Line tool to redraw a line over one of the existing sides of the missing face.

Remove the unneeded vertical face by deleting the vertical lines using the Erasetool.
As shown int the animation, this may lead to erasing both of the right side of the roof and the floor. Use Linetool, and create a line over one of the sides to reclaim the missing faces.

Add the floor width by 12,5 cm to the left using the Push/Pulltool to finish the floor.

For the sake of the animation flow, this step is 'postponed' until we have finished working with the left column (point h).

Creating the left and top side of the column element.

Tip & Trick

Exiting a Group
Use Select tool and click any area outside the group to exit the group.
To exit a group you will need to click a few times if the group is within other groups (nested group)

Using Selecttool, double click at the front terrace group to go inside the group.

Thicken the front side by 20 cm using Push/Pulltool. and also the left side by 25 cm.
Heighten the top side by 75 cm so now the total height is 350 cm.

Finishing the terrace columns
- Get inside the column group.
- Thicken the right side of the column block by 25 cm using the Push/Pulltool..
- Select Guidetool to draw a Construction line at 40 cm away parallel from the top. Click at the top side and move the cursor downward the type in [40].
- Select the Linetool and click at the intersection point between the column group and the top left of the terrace roof. Move the mouse downward parallel to the blue axis.
- When the line turns blue, press the Shift key to lock the inference. Move the cursor downward and click at the bottom of the group. While still pressing Shift key, move the mouse upward and click at Construction line to finish the line.
- Press Esc key to create a new line, starting from the intersection of the column group and the top right of the terrace roof using the same method for the right line. After finishing the left and the right line, connect the top of the two lines using Linetool to finish drawing the inner rectangle of the column block.
- To finish the column elements, press the inner side of the column block using the Push/Pulltool. until the block is completely hollow.
- Delete the construction line (Guide) using Erasetool
Click twice outside all the groups to finish editing the group(s).

Animated Tutorial - Finishing all the terrace elements.

Adding ornamental detail to the front bedroom windows

Detail shape and dimensions of the front window ornaments are shown at the following picture.
There will be no detailed steps for adding ornamental detail to the front bedroom window. Since the process itself is quite simple. The tools required during this process are the Rectangletool and the Push/Pulltool.
The key is, after a rectangle is created, the dimensions are immediately entered using the measurement box to obtain the required dimensions. You can use double click to repeat a pulling operation when creating the vertical ‘pole’ of this window ornament.

You can watch the modeling process on the following animation.

Animated Tutorial - Adding ornamental detail to the bedroom windows.

Rear terrace detail

There are not many details for the rear terrace. We just need to add a 160x80 cm floor. To avoid rain water from spilling into the house, the terrace floor will be 3 cm lower than the interior floor. This floor area will be covered by main roof, so no additional roof is required.
No detailed steps will be provided to add this terrace.

We have accomplished ....

No	T o p i c s
1	Changing Field of View (FoV) so editing an object can be done in close distance without being obstructed by other objects.
2	Separating a flat surface using the Line tool.
3	Entering value(s) using the measurement box using Windows format
4	Fetching components from the Google 3D Warehouse.
5	Placing an object/component at the middle of a face using Midpoint reference.
6	Creating a new object as a group so its entities will be isolated from surrounding objects outside the group, and editing will not disturb those objects.
7	Using Push/Pull tool to create a new face.
8	Creating a group within another group (nested group)
9	Creating a line using the Line tool utilizing main axes inferences.
10	Entering and exiting group using the Select tool.

By now, we have completed all the floor and wall elements of the house. The next step of the tutorial is adding a roof and adding some finishing material to the floors and the walls so the model will appear more realistic.

Cheers

Harrynov

Prepare Yourself

2010-11-19T20:14:00.000+07:00

Hardware and software requirement

To start working with this tutorial, you need to check whether your computer specification is capable of running SkecthUp and to download SketchUp software, as well as some additional files which I will provide.

Hardware and Operating System

Google SketchUp is released only for Windows XP /Vista/Window 7 and Mac OS X. However, this blog will only deal with the Windows version.
The minimum specifications required to run SketchUp is actually quite low. Minimum requirements for running SketchUp in Microsoft Windows XP are:

Processor: 600 MHz Processor (Version 7), 1 GHz (version 8)
128 MB RAM (Version 7), 512 MB RAM (version 8)
Available disk space: 128 MB (Version 7), 300 MB (Version 8)
3-D Graphic Card that supports OpenGL version 1.5 or higher

(More information on this link)

Currently, it is very difficult to find computers with such low specification, even from used computers. On-board graphics card with 3-D capability and Open GL 1.5 have been around for quite sometime. Therefore, in general, hardware is not an issue to model with SketchUp. However, the above minimum specification will restrict you from modeling rather large / complex 3d models.

Actually, the computer requirement will depend on the complexity of the model you are making. Most of the time, I use a 1.83MHz Dual Core Notebook, with 1 GB RAM, nVIDIA Graphic Processor On-Board running under MS Windows Vista Business. This is sufficient for my modeling needs.

Up to the current version (version 8.0), SketchUp has not been able to take full advantage of parallel procesing capability of multi core computers. Thus, there is no guarantee that SketchUp will be running faster on a computer with dual core processors compared to a single core one (e.i. Pentium IV).

It is not the case with video card (GPU). SketchUp will definitely works faster if your computer has a dedicated video card (in notebook computer it is often mentioned as dedicated memory for video). Even if it is only 128 MB. It should be noted, it is suggested that the video card should be nVIDIA processor, not ATI nor Intel

So is with your computer memory (RAM), the bigger the better. The maximum memory is only limited by your operating system. Though, Microsoft Windows XP/ Vista 32-bit can only hold a maximum of 4 GB RAM.

Software Requirement and other files

The only software required is a Google SketchUp (free) for Windows. Actually, you can also install SketchUp Pro from the beginning. You can use the Pro version for 8 hours (usage time) without a license. Thereafter, if you don't enter a valid license key, it will automatically become a free version. But I suggest for the moment, you need to install only the Free version. When you have some mastery with SketchUp, you may need to install the Pro version since there are some features that are only available in Pro Version, such as making neat hardcopies of your model (with scale, annotation, and all).

Download

(All SketchUp 8 documentation and support content is currently maintained online and isn't available for download)

also provide you with some ready made Sketchup components (Quicky). As the name suggest, they can speed up the modeling of your home.

The components are a hinged door component, a sliding door (both can be set a to be a single/double leaf door), a window component that can be configured with each other to have some alternative shapes. Each of this component can be configured down to the jamb/header and rabbet dimensions.

Another Quicky is a stair component (with option for straight and letter-u stair) that can also flexibly be configured to shape the most crazy stair design you can imagine. The final quicky component is a spiral stair components. This will come handy if you want to design a stair in a rather restricted area. Just like a straight/u-shape stair, the height of the each rise, the total height is also configurable to your liking.

All of these components are Dynamic Component, a new breed of component introduced since SketchUp version 7.0. These component can be sized simply by mouse clicks and drags, while maintaing their core specification such as jambs/threads etc. Doors and Window component has opening/closing animation ability for you to play around. A more detaled discussion about this will be available in Quickies Anyone (Part One and Part Two)

Recomendation

Which version?
This blog was prepared using Google SketcUp version 7.x free version, However it is no longer avalailable on their site. I've used the 8 version and confirmed that all the steps and instructions provided in this blog are still valid.
If you are not too sure, you can dowmload and install SkectUp 7.x pro and use it untill the pro trial expires AND also install Sketchup 8 just for the fun of it since different versions can co-exist.

Requirement for Internet Connection

In version 6, SketchUp by default will install several basic components (such as doors, chairs and other items) to our computer (local hardisk). Since SU 7.x, components are no longer stored locally, but are available on demand from Google 3d Warehouse.

I do not really like this workflow. Up till now I still keep all the components that I like locally. Whenever there is a need for another component, I'll look through the internet (not just on Google 3d Warehouse) and then save it in local a folder. For me, "always on connection" is not required.

Google still provide you with all previous components and materials for you to download and install onto your computer (Sketchup 6 Bonus Pack). This component is 100% compatible with SU Version 7 and above.

Harrynov

Bathroom Components

2010-02-15T07:20:00.003+07:00

There are hundreds of bathroom related components ready to download from the 3d warehouse. Some are of high quality and some are not. Nevertheless, I still need to create some bathroom components for my house modeling projects.

The main reason is that I need to model with objects that are as close as possible in size and shape with the real sanitary ware / plumbing hardware I am going to use during the house construction. So, I will be able to study room ergonomics more accurately. This is not always fulfilled by the warehouse. By creating the components, I can also control the file size since I need to compromise between shapes and file sizes.

Notice that there are no small appliances, such as faucet added the bathroom, since such detail may only be required when we need to design a detailed bathroom interior.

All components that I refer here are available in the Google 3D Warehouse

Project One Bathroom

The bathroom is very small so can only be filled with two components: a set of shower corner and a toilet.

The shower set consists of one shower head and a mixer. To keep water from splashing everywhere, a plastic shower curtain is installed covering the entire corner. The floor corner will be recessed so the rest of the floor will be relatively dry.
The lower part of all the wall will be covered with ceramic tiles, also to keep the bathroom dry.

Bathroom Toilet

Most of the toilets in the Google 3D Warehouse have rather large dimensions, and the model is not always available in my country. So I made myself a toilet component based on a toilet made by Toto, a 6/3L Dual Flush CW821J types as shown in the photo. I like this model because it only has a footprint of 71x40 cm. Suitable for a small bathroom.

Size wise, this toilet component is very close to the real toilet because it is made based on an existing CAD files available on their website. However, some of the curves are omitted to make its file size reasonably small.

Click at the toilet image to open the respective component's page in the 3d warehouse. Save the component to sub folder \Components for easy access.

Shower Corner

As the name implies, this component is used for a corner bathroom shower with a plastic curtain to contain water splash. The shower set included in this component is created by Google. I just added a shower rail and a plastic curtain. This 80x80 cm shower box is 200 cm tall.

You may need to rotate and/or to flip this component so it will fit into any bathroom corner you choose.

Click at the toilet image to open the respective component's page in the 3d warehouse. Save the component to sub folder \Components for easy access.

An alternative for the Shower Set

This is a of more realistic shower set in term of shape and size. I made this component based on a 3D model downloaded from the Grohe site. I import the 3d model into SketchUp and reduce its polygons so that its file size is not too large.

The shower set consists of a Tempesta shower head and shower bar and a Concetto single-lever shower mixer. This component is based on a 3d model available from Grohe official website, so the size and shape are close to the original. I suggest that this component is only used when the house modeling is finished so as not to burden the processor.

Click at the toilet image to open the respective component's page in the 3d warehouse. Save the component to sub folder \Components for easy access.

Downloading the Components

We can download each component directly to our model from the Google 3d warehouse using the Components Browser as if they were in your local folders. Since there are thousands of components already in the warehouse. We need to enter a few unique keywords to filter our search.

Open menu -> Window -> Components. Enter the keyword "freebies harrynov bathroom in the search field and click Search, it will display the model / component that I have posted in the warehouse with bathroom tag. Select any component just like you normally do when adding a component from your local folder. The component will be downloaded when it is placed in the model.

Tip & Trick

Saving components downloaded suing the Window components to your local folder
Components added directly to your model using the window components are stored only in your model. To save them to your local folder we must go back to the Components Window and click the In Model button to display all components stored in the model. Right Click at the component you want to save to activate a context menu and choose 'save as' to save it to your local folder.

To avoid having to always download the same component over and over again from the 3d warehouse, you should later save each of these Quickies to a local folder. Save all the components to sub folder \Components for later use.

Enjoy!

Harrynov

Placing the Windows

2010-02-07T15:22:00.006+07:00

Quicky-Window Component

Previous 3D Model

Windows in Project One modeling have different shapes and sizes. However, we will only use and reuse one of the Quicky components: Quicky-Window. Some windows consist of a single window component, and some are stitched with other window/door component(s) in order to produce different variations of the window.

Just like a Quicky-door, this component does not have ornamental detail that normally appears in window assembly such as raised panels or moldings. However, this component includes detailed typical specifications of a wooden window, except for glass thickness.

The main options of a Quick-window component are as follows:

(a) indicates the side of the window structure where its sash will be pivoted. This side is labeled as A. All other sides (B, C, and D) are labeled clockwise. The term “width” is applicable when side A or C are on top.
Also labeled as “D”, indicates the “height” of the component.
Thickness of the jamb/head, measured at the sides that will be attached to a wall.
Depth of the rabbet, the recess or offset formed in the jamb/head to receive window sash.
Sash thickness.
Sash width.
Sash net width.

Windows Basic Dimension

To simplify the house modeling, some windows will have the same dimension but with different variations. You can modify windows dimension to your taste later.

Windows common specifications are as follows:

Jamb/head width/thickness: 5 × 15 cm.
Sash thickness and width: 4 × 8cm
Windows height: All windows are placed so the uppers side of each window is parallel with the top side of the doors.

Placing Front Bedroom Windows

The front bedroom has two identical windows with these specifications:

Each sash will pivot at the window head.
Structural height and width are 150 cm and 75 cm respectively.
The west window is placed 40 cm away from the west wall.
Space between windows is 15 cm.
Maximum opening is 20° (Optional, for animation purpose only).

We will start by adding the west window by placing a Quicky-Window in the location and change the dimension to its specification using Component Options window. To distinguish it from other windows, it will be renamed to Window_W1.
After Window_W1 is placed at its designated location, it will be copied to create the other window using Move/Copytool.
Unlike when installing doors, during windows installation, we immediately create a hole in the wall with Rectangletool and Push/Pulltool.

Placing Window_J1
This window is obtained directly from the Quickies folder in Windows components:
1. Set your view/camera so the bedroom front wall and the front door can be seen clearly.
2. Open Component window and select Quickies folder.
3. Click at Quicky-Door component and place the component at a temporary location on the front bedroom wall
4. Right Click at the new placed Quicky-Window to activate the Context menu and select Dynamic Components -> Component Options.
5. Change some of component’s option (see image, highlighted in yellow) to adjust to the required specifications.
6. Click Apply and close Component Options window.
Renaming the Window into "Window_W1"
It's a good practice to always give a unique name to each component/group we created/added that could easily identify the actual object it represents simply from its name. This will make it easier - for example - to make a purchase list and to manage the model later.
1. Right click at the Quicky-Window component to active Context Menu and select Entity Info.
2. Rename "Definition Name" entry with [Window_W1] then close the window. (Leave the Name entry blank for the time being).
Placing the window to its designated location
1. Select Move/Copytool and click at the top right corner of the window.
2. Move the mouse up or down, parallel with the blue axis
3. When the green inference appears, press and hold the [Shift] key to lock the inference. Point your mouse to any of the front door top corners and click at that point to make the window has the same height with the front door.
4. Next - still with the Move / Copy Tool - click the top left corner of the window and slide the window component to the left/right parallel to the red Axis.
5. When the red inference appears, press and hold the [Shift] key to lock the inference. Point your mouse to the inner corner of the left wall and click at that point to place the window temporarily at the wall corner.
6. Since the window is supposed to be 40 cm away from the present location, move again the to the right parallel with the red axis. Without clicking the mouse, type in [40] and press [Enter] to place the window at its designated location.

Adding the Second Window

The second window has the same shape and size to Window_W1. Therefore, we simply need to copy the window using Move/Copytool and place the copy to have a 15 cm space from the original.

Tip & Trick

Move/Copy Tool
Move/Copy tool can be used to move or to copy objects already in the model.
Press [Ctrl] key to toggle between Move to Copy or vice versa. During Copy mode, the cursor will change into
We will use this move/copy method when both the original/ target locations are within our view

Select the Move/Copy tool and immediately Press [Ctrl] key to toggle Copy mode

Click at the top left corner of Window_W1 and slide it to the right (parallel to the red axis).
Without clicking the mouse, type in [85] using the keyboard and press [Enter] to make a duplicate copy of Window_W1 with a 15 cm space between both windows.

Creating Wall Opening

As in placing door components, we need to manually create a wall opening for every window we place in the model using Rectangletool and Push/Pulltool. Simply because screen capture reason, I create the wall opening from inside the room. You can do it from the outside. .
1. Select the Rectangle tool and click at the top left corner of one of the windows and click again at the bottom right corner of the window. SketchUp will provide you with information when the mouse is at the right point by generating "End Point" or "End Point in Component" hints.
2. Do the same procedure to the other window so each will be covered with a rectangle.
3. Select Push/Pull tool and press the inner side of the rectangle according to wall thickness to create wall opening. Use the top edge to the opposite wall side as a reference.
4. Repeat (c) to the other window.

Adding the Front Bedroom Windows

Adding the Front Door Window.

The front door window sash has the same dimensions with the front bedrooms sash. However, this window is actually part of the front door, since this window is attached to one side of the front door jamb.

We are going to copy one of the front window using Move/Copytool. In addition, since the window is attached to one of the front door jambs, we need to “remove” one of the window jambs so it can be stitched nicely as if both the window and door is one component.

Move the camera/view so that both the front door and the bedroom windows can be seen clearly.
Click the Selecttool and click again at the right front bedroom window
Select Move/Copytool and immediately press [Ctrl] to toggle copy mode. Click again at the left top corner of a bedroom window.
Move the mouse parallel to Red Axis. When the red inference appears, lock it with the [Shift] key.
Release the mouse at any temporary location to the right of the front door.

Tip & Trick

Dynamic Component Option Window
Dynamic Component Option can also be activated through the Dynamic toolbar Component.
Leave this window open when you often need to see/ edit Dynamic Component options.

In order to seamlessly attach the window to the front door, the window left jamb must be hidden, since it will use the door’s jamb

Click at the window using the Select tool
Press Component Optiontool to open Dynamic Component Options Window.
Change the Hidden Side selection from “None” to “Side D”.
Press [Apply] to finish the option change.

Attach the window to the Front door:
1. Select Move/Copytool and immediately press [Ctrl] and click again at the left top corner of the window.
2. Move the cursor and click at the front door top right corner to attach the window to the door.

Create a wall opening so the window will completely go through the wall:

Tip & Trick

Push/Pull Tool
Pushing/puling process may be suspended when it is blocked by other object(s). Sometimes the push / pull will stop altogether if the blocking object is a line or an edge of another object.

Choose the Rectangletool.
Click at the top left corner of the window and make another click at the bottom right corner to create a rectangle the same size with the window.
Select the Push/Pulltool and push the inner face of the rectangle until on face or offset limited to 15 hint appears ob your screen. The push/pull operation is blocked by the inner side of the wall.
Release the mouse button to finish.

Adding a Window to the Front Door

Adding the Rear Door Window

Tip & Trick

Components Browser's In Model Tab
The In-model tab lists all components that are attached in the model. We can copy, remove and edit any of these components.
Notice that, this library contains all components including those that have been previously deleted. Components will be completely removed from a model if the model is purged.

The rear door window is a mirror image of the front door window. We will make another copy of Window_W1. However, instead of copying directly from the window, we are going to use the Components window’s “In Model” tab. We will also\o create a wall opening prior to copying the window using the Rectangletool and the Push/Pulltool.

Creating a wall opening.
At the moment, we don’t need to make an accurate wall opening size, since it can easily be adjusted later after the window has been installed.
1. Set your view/camera so the rear door wall can be seen clearly from the outside
2. Select the Rectangletool and click at the top left corner of the rear door.
3. Move your mouse down to the left to create a rectangle that approximately larger than the window size. Ensure that the rectangle is not exceeding to the floor or to the bathroom wall. Undo and recreate the rectangle if necessary
4. Choose the Push/Pulltool and push the rectangle face until "on face" or offset limited to 15 hint appears.
5. Click the left button to finish.
Copying Window_W1 and hide one of the jambs.

Since the Window_W1 location is quite far, it will be a bit difficult to copy directly from the window. So, instead, we will make a copy of the window from The In model tab of the Components browser..
1. Reveal the Components browser using Window -> Components and click at the "In Model" button to show all components currently in our model.
2. Select "Window_W1" and place it in the wall opening.
  Make sure that the window is laying flat on the wall.
3. Using the Dynamic Component Option window, hide Side-B side of the window jamb using so that it can be attached seamlessly to the rear door.
Moving the window to its location and resizing the wall opening.
We created the wall opening to have the same height with the rear door.
1. Select the newly added window using the Selecttool.
2. Select the Move/Copytool and click at the top right corner of the window.
3. Click once again at the top left corner of the door to attach the newly copied window to the rear door.
4. Select the Push/Pulltool And click on part of the wall opening that should be attached to the bottom of the window. Drag the mouse to the bottom and click on the position.
5. Repeat the same procedure to close any gap between the wall and the window.

Adding a Window to the Rear Door

Adding the Bathroom Window

The bathroom window has a difference specification:

Height/Width : 50/70 cm.
Sash Width : 6 cm.
Location of the window is right in the middle of the bathroom interior wall.

Similar to the installation of the rear door window, we will first make a wall opening and then place a new Quicky window in it.

Creating a wall opening.
Make a hole in the wall approximately larger than the bathroom window. The upper side of the hole must also be parallel with the upper side of any of the doors.
1. Move the camera so that the bathroom exterior wall and the rear door can be seen clearly.
2. Select the Rectangletool and click on the bathroom wall somewhere between the floor and the east bathroom wall
3. Point your mouse at the upper left corner of the front door window until “End point” or “Endpoint in Component” hint appears. Do not click your mouse just yet.
4. Move the mouse horizontally to the left parallel to the Red axis direction. When the red inference line appears, immediately press [Shift] key to lock the inference.
5. Move the mouse to somewhere near the bathroom interior west wall and click to create a rectangle.Ensure that the rectangle is not exceeding to the floor or to any of the bathroom walls. Undo and recreate the rectangle if necessary
6. Select the Push/Pulltool and push the rectangle face until "on face" or offset limited to 15 hint appears.
7. Click the left button to finish.
Adding the Bathroom Window

Add a new Quicky-Window from the Components browser and place it so that it will lay flat somewhere near the hole we just created.
Right click the newly placed Quick-Windows to activate the Context Menu and select Dynamic Components -> Component Option.
Set some of the component’s options as specified above.
Click [Apply] and close the Component Options window.

Moving the window to its designated location.
The location of the bathroom window is right in the middle of the bathroom wall. Placing an object in the middle of something can be easily done in SketchUp because its inference engine will automatically show a small blue point and display "Midpoint" inference when we hover our mouse using some of the tools near/at the middle point of an edge. See the following image to see where the middle point of the bathroom wall. .
1. Choose the Selecttool and click at the new window.
2. Select the Move/Copytool and point the mouse to somewhere near the middle of the top edge to the window. Click once when a blue dot and “Midpoint” or “Midpoint in Component” inference appears to grab the window by its top midpoint.
3. Move the mouse horizontally to the right/left parallel to the Red axis direction. When the red inference line appears, immediately press [Shift] key to lock the inference.
4. Next - still with the Move/Copy tool - point your mouse to the bathroom middle point as indicated in the above illustration.
5. Click your mouse when the blue dot and "Midpoint" inference appear. This will place the new window exactly in the middle of the bathroom interior wall.
6. Still using the Move/Copytool, click at one the window top corner and move the window using the blue axis inference to place the window as to have the same height with the rear door/window.
Resizing the Wall Opening
Fix the wall opening so there will be no gap between the bathroom window and the wall opening using Push/Pulltool just like we did with the rear door window.

Adding the Bathroom Window

Adding the rear Bedroom window

The rear bedroom window has these following specification:

This is a casement window with two sashes that swing open on side hinges.
The net width and net height of the window pane are: 52 and 92 cm.
Sash width : 6 cm.
The window vertical position is exactly in the middle of the rear bedroom wall.

From the above specifications, it can be determined that the window is made from two Quick-Window components. The two window components have the same dimension but will be mirrored to each other. First, we prepare a Quicky-Window as the left window, and rotate it so the hinged side will be on the left. Afterward, we set its dimensions as specified earlier and hide the connecting side of the jambs. For the right part of the window, we will make a copy of the left window and rotate it by 180° so they will mirror to each other. Finally, we will attach both windows before placing it at its designated location. Everything is done using the Move/Copytool.

Placing a Quicky-Window.

Move the camera/view so that the bedroom wall and the rear door can be seen clearly from the outside.
Add a new Quicky-Window from the Components browser and place at a temporary location on the rear bedroom wall
Select the Move/Copytool and point your mouse to the middle of the window until a blue bounding box with four red plus signs appear as illustrated.
Click at the right plus sign and move it upward. Then, without clicking your mouse, type in [90] and press enter. This will rotate the window exactly 90° to the left.

Changing the window dimensions and options.
The window pane dimension is 50x90 cm. Taking into account the the jamb width and the rabbet depth, we will come up with a 60x90cm window size. Since the window has been rotated by 90, the structural width and length must be interchanged.
1. Choose the Selecttool and click at the new placed window.
2. Click at Component Optiontool and change this options:
  - Change the structural width to 100 cm and length to 60 cm. (Remember we previously rotated this component).
  - Set "Hidden Side" to [Side-D]
  - Set "Max Opening to 180°.
3. Press [Apply] to finish.
Adding the right side of the window.

The right side of the bedroom window is a mirror image of the left side. Therefore, we only need to copy that part of the window and rotate it by 180° and attach them into one window.
1. Choose the Selecttool and click at the new placed window.
2. Select the Move/Copytool and immediately press [Ctrl] key to toggle Copy mode.
3. Move your mouse parallel with the red axis and click at a temporary location where the copied window does not overlap with the original.
4. Point your mouse to the middle of the window until a blue bounding box with four red plus signs appear, as we did in 1(c).
5. Click at the right plus sign and move it upward. Then, without clicking your mouse, type in [180] and press enter. This will rotate the window exactly 180° to the left.

Combining the two components.

In addition to attaching both windows together. it will be easier to manage these two components, for example to find their midpoint, or paint it with material, if we combine these two separate components into one group.

Tip & Trick

Group
We can combine several different objects into one group so it will be easier, for instance, to move/copy or to paint all objects in the group in as if they were only one object.

Select the Move/Copytool, click at the top left corner of the new added window and move it to the right top corner of the original window so both window will attach to each other.

Choose the Selecttool and click at the left Quicky-Window component until it is selected (with blue bounding box). Then, immediately press and hold [Ctrl] key and the cursor will change into . At this state, any other object clicked will be included in the selection.
After both windows have been selected, activate the Context Menu and select “Make Group”.

Moving the window to its designated location
Move the window using the Move/Copytool. Use its top edge’s midpoint and rear bedroom wall midpoint as reference. (See: Placing the bathroom window)
Create a wall opening

As usual, create an opening on the wall using the Rectangletool and the Push/Pulltool.

Adding the Rear Bedroom Window

Lesson Learned ....

No	T o p i c
1	Renaming an object using the Entity Info window.
2	Create a copy of a component using Move/Copy tool and [Ctrl] Key
3	Creating a hole on a wall using "on Face" or " offset limited to ..." inference.
4	Hiding one of jambs/heads of a Quick-Window Component so it can be attached to other door/window.
5	Copying/Adding a component from other components already attached in the model using "In model" tab of the Components browser.
6	Finding middle point of an edge using Midpoint inferences to drag and to place an object in relation to other object's midpoint.
7	Rotating an object by its center point using the Move/Copy tool.
8	Combining two or more objects into one group using Context Menu -> Make Group.

We are almost half way to finishing our 3d model. Next we will furnish some detail to this model prior to putting some roof to the model.

Enjoy

Harrynov

Adding Doors to Our 3D Model

2010-02-01T11:26:00.010+07:00

Quick-Door Component

Previous 3D Model

The one and only door component used for the entire Project I is a Quick-Door dynamic Component. Although you can use other components, but I suggest we stick with this component because of it can be sized accurately and scaled easily.

Because the goal is to create SketchUp 3-Model quickly and accurately, these components do not have ornamental details such as panels and fancy handles. When you have finished the entire house design and satisfy will all the dimensions, you can replace them with more better looking components or may be you can be happy by applying some wood pattern to these components.

The main options of a Quick-Door component are as follows:

Structural width.
Structural height
Jamb thickness. For wooden frame, usually the same with wall thickness,
First door leaf net width (non editable)
Door leave thickness.
Second door leave width (0 if none)
Rabbet depth
Jamb width.

Doors Basic Dimension

Here are some common door specification we use during the Project One modeling:

All doors height are 210 cm.
Jamb thickness is the same with wall thickness (15cm).
Jam width: 5 cm.
Door leaves thickness: 4 cm
Structural opening varies between 80, 90 and 100 cm.
When a door is placed near a wall corner, a 3 cm space will be added between the door and the wall corner,

Adding bedroom doors.

Additional specification:

Tips and Trick

Placing and Moving Component
Placing component into a model will automatically invoke Move/Copy tool. Active at its insertion point.
An insertion point is the component's axes. Normally, the axes is placed at one of the component's corner. Use this point as the focus when placing a component to your model.
If somehow the new placed component is not selected because you click something else, select it using Move/Copytool tool and proceed with the component placement.

Both bedroom doors are 90 cm wide.
The rear bedroom door has left hand swing and the front bedroom door has right hand swing.

First, add the rear bedroom door by placing a Quick Door component on the designated wall right at the floor line. Adjust door specification using Component Options window. Move the component so it is exactly 3 cm away from a wall corner and use Measurement Box to ensure accuracy by typing [3] from your keyboard immediately after moving the component.

Use the same procedure for the front bedroom door and change it to a left swing door by flipping it using Context Menu -> Flip Along -> Component’s red.

Adding the rear bedroom door.
1. Set your view/camera so most the east bedroom wall can be seen clearly
2. Open Component window and select Quicky folder.
3. Click at Quick-Door component and point the mouse to the line separating the floor and the bedroom wall. Left Click to place the component on that temporary location.
4. To see the component’s dimension, active Context Menu by right-clicking the door component and select Dynamic Components -> Component Option.
5. Since all options do not need further adjustment, close the Component Options window.

Placing the rear bedroom door to its designated location.

The doors is positioned 3 cm away from the wall separating the two bedrooms. Move the door along the floor line to a point which is parallel to the corner. If the component is already selected, you may start from (b). Otherwise you will have to start from step (a) and use Selecttool and Move/Copytool.

Tips and Trick

Auto Select
Most SketchUp tools are able to auto select an object just by hovering on it, An object is selected if it is highlighted in blue box/lines. Auto select is active only when no object is already selected. Press [Esc] to unselect any object or use Selecttool to individually select an object.

Use Select Tool and click at the newly placed door component then select Move/copy tool. (see: Tips and Trick).
Click at the top left corner of the door and move it parallel to the floor line.
When a green dotted line appears press and hold the [Shift] key. The line is an inference indicating the movement of object is parallel to the green axis. Pressing [Shift] will lock the inference to limit to movement only according to the inference.
While keeping [Shift] key pressed. Point your mouse to the corner point to use it as reference and left click to place the door at a new temporary location.
Select again one of the door corners and move it away from the wall corner parallel to the green axis.
Without clicking the mouse button, type in [3] using the keyboard. This will complete a measure box procedure to enter the length of the movement by 3 cm from the origin (the wall corner).

Adding the front bedroom door

The front bedroom is a mirror image of the rear bedroom door. Therefore, we just need to place a door component into its designated location and reverse its opening.
1. Place another Quick-Door component using the Components window and on wall and the floor line somewhere near the rear bedroom door.
2. Click at the top left corner of the door and move it parallel to the floor line (parallel with Green axis) When the green inference line appears press and hold the [Shift] key.
3. While keeping [Shift] key pressed, point your mouse to the corner point to use it as reference and left click to place the door exactly at the room corner.
4. Select again one of the door corners and move it away from the wall corner parallel to the green axis.
5. Without clicking the mouse button, type in [3] using the keyboard. This will complete a measure box procedure to enter the length of the movement by 3 cm from the origin (the wall corner).
Reversing Door Opening

As you can see, the front bedroom door opening needs to be reversed to be a right hand swing door. To reverse the door opening from right to left, we need to flip the whole door using Context Menu -> Flip Along -> Flip Along Component’s Red.
1. Point your mouse the front bedroom door and activate Context menu by pressing the right mouse button and the following pop-up menu will appear.
2. Select Flip Along -> Components' Red and the whole door component will be flipped so that the handle now is at the right position.

Adding the bedroom doors

Placing the Rear Door

The rear door is also 90cm wide. Since its location is adjacent to the bedroom door, it has to open away from the inside (out swing door) so both door leaves will not bump to each other. To do so, we need to place the door component from the inside. As usual, place a Quicky-door to a temporary location at the floor line on the designated wall. Move the door to exactly at 3 cm away from a wall corner. Just like in bedroom door placement, we need will use axis inference, but this time we are going to use red axis inference. If necessary, use Selecttool and Move/Copytool.

Placing the rear living room door.

Adding the bathroom door.

The structural width of the bathroom door is 80 cm (or 70 wide door leaf). Customary, the bathroom door is an in-swing door. This is a rather small bathroom. Therefore placement of the door and the way it opens is important so it will not bump with other objects in the bathroom. The door is a right-hand swing door.

After a Quicky door component is placed at a temporary location on the designated wall, change its width to 70 cm using Component Options window. Afterward, place to its final location which is exactly 3 cm away from a wall corner and flip it using Context Menu - Flip Along -> Component’s Red. If necessary, use Selecttool and Move/Copytool.

Adding the bathroom door

Placing the Front Door

The front door is the main door so it will have a bigger width of 100 cm. Since the door is in-swing door, we need to place it from the outside of the house. However, after the door is placed at a temporary location at the front wall, we need to change our view/camera (orbiting) so the wall is viewed from the inside. We need to change this view because we want to place the door right at the floor line, which can not be seen from the outside.

As usual, after placing the door component at a temporary location, we will move it to so it there will a 3 cm space between the door and the wall corner.

Placing the main door

Door Opening

At this point, all doors have been placed at their designated locations. Notice that each door will automatically create an opening on the wall. This is the Cut Opening feature of a SketchUp component. The opening will also move when the component is moved. However, SketchUp components can only make automatic opening only on one face. Since the Quicky Door component has opening animation, when we click each door to animate door opening, we will see that the other side of the wall still exists.

Select ToolInteract from the Dynamic Component toolbar and click at the front and read bedroom door. Since the dynamic components has animation feature, the doors will open by 45° (half of maximum door opening we set earlier)
Notice that after each opening, the other side of the wall still blocking the door entrance, especially when they are viewed from inside the room as seen on the following animation. Repeat the process so all doors are open

Bedroom doors opening animation

Creating wall opening manually.

To have more realistic model of the house, we need to manually create an opening for each of the door. Creating opening in SketchUp is a straight forward process. Just make a rectangle the same size with the door and push it as deep as wall thickness and voila … a hole is created.
However, since manually created opening will not move when the component is moved, you have to also move it manually when you move the component.

Make a rectangle the same size with the door structural opening using Rectangletool. Then, push the inner side of the rectangle using Push/Pulltool. To ensure opening, use the other side of the wall as reference when pushing the rectangle.

Manually Create Wall Opening

Lesson Learned ....

No	Topics
1	Using Quicky-Door dynamic component and modifying its options to add doors to modify it to our specification's.
2	Moving a new placed component to its designated position using component insertion points.
3	Selecting an object using Auto select or by using Select tool and move/Copy tool.
4	Moving an object by a specific length using the Measurement Box.
5	Flipping an object to be its mirror image by flipping it around a specific axis using Flip along ... command.
6	Understanding insertion point behavior in Dynamic Components.
7	changing camera/view without clicking the Orbit tool or the Pan tool.
8	Using Interact tool to animate the animation feature of a Dynamic Component.
9	Manually creating a hole/wall opening using Rectangle Tool and Push/Pull Tool.
10	To heal two coplanar faces into one by erasing a dividing line between the two faces

This is the image of the 3-D model we have created so far. The next chapter will adding windows to this model.

Enjoy

Harrynov

Making Walls and Floors

2010-01-25T15:18:00.005+07:00

.. a sweet little home ..

One who wants to start making a 3d model of a house using SketchUp often feels discouraged when she/he realizes that there is no special tool to make wall. Everything must be made from scratch. Knowing that there are so many walls to build make some people get the idea that SketchUp is probably not the right tool to create 3D models of a house. This following tutorial will show you how easy it is to make wall and floor.

These are the steps I normally do to make walls and floors in Google SketchUp:

Draw all room boundaries based on a floor plan so that each room is represented by one (or more) rectangle(s).
Transform each rectangle into a 3 dimensional block by pulling its face to a height that consists of the wall height and the floor raise.
Draw outlines on top of each block separating the floor line and half of the wall thickness.
Push the inner section of each floor outline according to wall height. The outer section will be the wall.
Remove any excess line on top of the wall and fix some of the walls to have the same thickness.

Create a Local Component Collection

As previously discussed in Freebies: Quickies Anyone? , we are going to use a dynamic component to help us draw a floor plan. As suggested in the posting, all the Quicky components are to be saved in Quickies sub folder. Since we are going use the folder quite frequently, we need to set the folder as Favorites. Therefore, we don’t always have to find the physical folder every time we want to use one of the Quickies.

To add sub folder Quickies as Favorites, select menu Window -> Component to open the Components window. From there, click on the Details button and select “Open or create local collection component” and find Quickies sub folder in your local hard disk. Once the folder is opened, click once again at the Detail and select “Add to Favorites”. From now on, Quickies folder will appear in one the favorites and can be accessed without having to open the physical folder.

Creating a new SketchUp file

Tip & Trick

SKP and SKB
SketchUp puts all the elements of a model (material, components) in one single file with SKP file extension.
SketchUp by default will also create a backup file with SKB extension. To open this backup file you need to rename its extension back to SKP.

Whenever SketchUp application is opened, it will automatically open a new empty file Untitled.skp. Environment setting of the new file will be based on the default template you previously selected. To intentionally create new file, select menu File -> New.

Creating a floor Plan

We can draw a complete floor plan using Linetool or Rectangle tool. In fact, theoretically, you can draw anything in SketchUp using only the line tool. However, lines (or entities) stick to other lines when connected. So, moving one entity might move or alter the another line. This will mess the floor plan. Not a good way to start modeling. For that reason, in this tutorial I will use Quicky-Rectangle components to make room boundaries.

Each room will be represented by a Quicky-Rectangle. Rooms that are not completely rectangle will be made from several rectangles. Excess lines can be removed later. We will edit the rooms to their actual shapes prior to making walls.

Notice that in the following example, the floor plan consists of five rectangles within one big rectangle that represents the boundary of the entire land. To draw the floor plan in SketchUp, we will put a Quicky-Rectangle with the size of the land lot, then add five more Quicky rectangles, each sized to the exact dimension of each room. Once the floor plan is completed, these components will exploded to convert them to lines and faces

Draw the land area (7×13 m).
The land area is represented by one Quicky-Rectangle..
1. Open Components window (menu Window -> Component) and select Favorite: Quickies.
2. Click at Quicky-Rectangle component. Place it at Origin (intersection point of the three main axes) and press Left Click to place the component.
3. Open Component Options window by right-clicking the component and select Dynamic Components - Component Option. Change the width and height to the size of the land as shown in the image.
Draw a rectangle for the front bedroom.
To ensure that the front bedroom is exactly 5m away from South border line, we need to add a guide (construction line.
1. Select Tape Measuretool and click at any point at the border line.
2. Move the cursor parallel to the red axis and type in [500] and press Enter to create a guide 500 cm away from the border line.
3. Place another Quicky-Rectangle at intersection between the guide and the red axis.
4. Change the component measurement to 300x300 using the Component Options window.
Draw a rectangle for the rear bedroom.
Since the rear bedroom is located adjacent to the front room, we can use it as a reference to place a Quicky-Rectangle.
1. Place another Quicky-Rectangle at the top left corner of the front bedroom rectangle.
2. Change the component measurement to 300x250 cm using the Component Options window.
Adding a rectangle to make the living room.
The living room is also located adjacent to the front room, we can use it as a reference to place a Quicky-Rectangle.
1. Place another Quicky-Rectangle at the bottom right corner of the front bedroom rectangle.
2. Change the component measurement to 400x450 cm using the Component Options window.
Creating a rectangle for the bathroom.
Since the bathroom is located at the top right corner the living room rectangle and initially the Quicky-rectangle insertion point is at its bottom left corner, we need to place it at a temporary location.
1. Place a Quicky-Rectangle at a temporary location.
2. Change the component measurement to 150x175 cm using.
3. Select Move/Copytool and click at the top right corner of the new rectangle and place it at the top right corner the living room rectangle.
4. Erase the guide by clicking it using Erasetool.
Explode all Quicky-Rectangle components.
Previously, we use Quicky-Rectangle to avoid lines sticking to each other so resizing of rectangles is not easy to do. In SketchUp almost all 3d shapes are created and edited using the push and pull tool and the push and pull techniques. It will be easier to push/pull if faces are connected to each other. Hence, we are going to explode each component into mere edges and faces.
1. Select all the rectangles using menu Edit -> Select All.
2. Right click on any of the selected rectangles to activate the context menu and select Explode (see picture).

Creating the Floor Plan

Making Walls and Floors

Tip & Trick

Push/Pull Tool
Most 3D shapes in SketchUp are created and edited using Push/Pull tool. Any flat face can be pulled and pushed to make or to change its 3d shapes in the direction perpendicular to the face. For a 2d shape, a new face identical to the selected face will be added and its outline will make the 3d object thickness

Since floor shapes exactly like wall (minus wall thickness), we will create both wall and floor within a single procedure. In general, the easies way to tinker with SketchUp objects is in its 3-D form. Therefore, once the two dimensional floor plan is completed, we will convert each rectangle into 3 dimensional block simply by puling its face to a height.

Push/pull technique is a patented technology owned by SketchUp. With this technique (re)shaping objects is almost like dealing with real physical objects than can be pulled and pushed, but without physical barriers. Application of push/pull techniques is done using Push/Pulltool included in the Edit Toolbar.

All wall have the same height, which is 285 cm above floor surface. And all floor is raised by 50 cm from road level. For this purpose we will change each room 2d shape into its 3d shape by selecting its face and pulling it by 335 cm using the Push/Pull tool.

Making 3d shape of rooms with the right height

Now you have your first 3-D model, as easy as "pull it here and put it there".

Preparing Outlines for Wall Thickness

Tip & Trick

Room dimensions and wall thickness
Room Dimensional is always measured from the midpoint of each wall. With 15 cm thick wall, a 3m wide room will have a net width of 285 cm.
(excluding the wall).
Room that sided with land boundary, will be measured from its outer side of the wall. Therefore, the same 3m wide room will have a 277.5cm net width if one of its is on the land boundary.

The 3-d shapes we created has formed room height and boundaries. Of course the real boundary should be walls with some thickness. The next procedure is to create inner outline that reflect thickness of the wall.

In this design, all walls are 15 cm thick. Convention used for room dimension that it is measured from the middle of each wall as shown in the Tip & Trick. Therefore we need to create floor outlines at exactly 7.5 cm away from each room boundary. Wall side that is not adjacent to another room will only have half of the required thickness, we will fix this later.

Floor outlines are drawn using the Offset tool in the Edit toolbar. Using this tool, we will create another polygon within on top of each room with the same contour and at a certain distance from the parent edges to represent half of the wall thickness. Some room boundaries will two set of this wall lines while other will only have one.

Creating floor and wall outlines

Notice in the above animation that walls that are not adjacent to another room has only 7.5 cm thick. We'll fix this later.

Creating Wall and Floor

Tip & Trick

Undo the last 100 operations.
Do not worry of mishap. Because you can always undo everything as far with Undo (Ctrl-Z). The number of possible sequential Undo commands is limited to 100 steps or to the last time you saved your model (which ever is later)

If you have already guessed that the next step is pushing the inner area of each room to make floor and the wall height then you are 100% correct.

If you also have predicted that the tool to use is the Push/Pulltool then it's time for you to replace me writing this tutorial. To create the floor, we'll push inner part of each room top face 285 cm deep.

Create Rooms' Wall and Floor

Correcting Wall thickness

Tip & Trick

Orbiting your model without pressing a tool button
Orbit Tool is used to rotate the camera (your view) about the model. Using orbit tool, the object will stay at its position but you view it from different angle. This tool can be activated at any time without using the tool button by pressing middle mouse button while moving your mouse to a desired position. When the button is released, you will return to the previous command without any interception whatsoever

The above animation indicates that some walls are only half thick. Once again we will use the Push/Pulltool to pull some faces by 7.5 cm and repeat the operation by double-clicking on all faces that require thickening.

For walls that are bordering with land boundary, the 7.5 cm pull will be done inward toward the room. Others will done outward. Therefore all walls will have 15 cm thickness.

View of some wall faces are blocked by other wall. You need to move your camera (your view that is} using Orbittool and continue double clicking until all wall have the required thickness.

Fixing All Wall to Required Thickness

Saving Your SketchUp File to Local Disk

To ensure that your modeling work is not lost, save your work by clicking Save tool.

Select previously created "Sketch" sub folder and set filename into "House Project I" and press enter. By default, SketchUp automatically creates a backup file (.skb). But it's good practice if you often press the save tool for save keeping

We have Accomplished ....

No	T o p i c s
1	Creating a folder that contains SketchUp components to always appear as one of Favorites / in the Components window.
2	Starting SketchUp from scratch by creating a new SketchUp (.skp) file.
3	Using and entering parameters of Quicky-Rectangle component to make floor plans in a quick, flexible and accurate manner.
4	Adding Guides (construction lines) using Tape Measure tool to accurate put an object at its.
5	Moving object to its designated position using the Move Tool
6	Removing redundant lines using the Erase tool
7	Exploding components/groups to their basic elements using Context-Menu -> Explode
8	Using Push/Pull tool to transform a 2-dimensional object into 3-dimensional.
9	Entering objects’ parameters using the keyboard to create objects with accurate dimensions (Measurement Box)
10	Redoing the same operation to another object using mouse Double Click.
11	Using Offset tool to create copies of edges with a uniform distance from all sides of the original.
12	Using Push/Pull tool to add volume to or subtract volume by moving the face an object.
13	Using Orbit tool to change the camera position/ view without pressing the designated tool.
14	Canceling operation by pressing Undo (menu Edit -> Undo, or [Ctrl-Z]).
15	Storing / Naming the model using the Save Tool

Congratulations, now you have accurately created a 3-dimensional model of a house. I will soon post the next chapter: Adding doors.

Enjoy

Harrynov

Quickies Anyone?

2010-01-21T20:11:00.004+07:00

Quicky Components

To speed up the house modeling, I provide a half-dozen dynamic components for you to download from Google 3d Warehouse. These component have predefined options that can be modified so they are reusable to the degree that you will only require one of these components for every application ( for example for all the windows of your house, even when each has different shape and size).

There are three Quickies components used during Project One modeling: A Rectangle, a Door and a Window components. Three more Quickies will be available before we start Project Two Modeling: A Sliding door, A Straight/U-shape stair and a Spiral Stair components.

I will discuss where and how to download the three Quickies at the bottom of this posting.

For now, I believe the six components will cover our need for quick and accurate modeling. Give me a shout if you think some other kind of dynamic components are also essential. (Just a teaser, I'll throw in a by-fold door Dynamic Component later during the Project Two modeling).

Tips and Trick

Dynamic Components
Unlike its predecessor ,
a Dynamic Component (DC) can accept entries from users to modify predefined options to control some of its elements.
A DC may also has some logic as to what each defined component element would behave when it is clicked and/or resized.

I made all these component to help quickly find the right dimension of windows and doors while keeping all element in the right proportion. If we do this in the simplest way possible, we can concentrate more on other modeling/designing aspect. For instance, you may want to resize a window overall dimension to fit to an existing wall. Just like in the real word, the resizing must not effect the dimension of the sashes or the jambs except for their length to accommodate the new overall window size. For such reason, the door and window components are detailed in dimension down to rabbet depth but are missing all ornamental details such as raised panel.

If so required, after you are comfortable with the doors/windows dimensions, you can to replace them with more detailed components.
However, these dynamic components is "technical drawing ready" for you to give to window/door manufacturers. You can also edit the components, but if you edit it using SketchUp free, you will loose their dynamic feature since Dynamic Components can only be edited using SketchUp Pro.

Measurement Unit

By default, the measurement unit used is in Centimeter. You can enter as many decimals as required. You can also enter units other than Centimeters, as along as the entry is followed by appropriate notation, such as [3.5"] or [39.15m]. It will be automatically converted into centimeter. Any of the measurements can be modified anytime you please.

Animation

The window and door components have opening / closing animation capability. So far, nothing technical about this feature, but it is fun to watch.

Scaling / Change the size of the public

Tips and Trick

Reversing Door Opening
A single leaf door component will have right hand opening. To make it left hand opening you can ether flip the component by activating the Context Menu (Right Mouse Click) and choose Flip Along - Component's Red.
or you can use Scale to and drag on side of to the door across to another side.
The first approach is favorable if dimensions are already set to the door.

Each of the components has its width and length setting to accurately size the model. In addition, the size of these
components can also be modified using the Scaletool. Changes to the components using this tool will modify the overall length and width of the components but will not effect all other dimensions that are not directly related to the overall size.

More on Scale tool is discussed in: Improving Accuracy.

Scale tool can also be used to reverse opening of a single leaf door (see Tip and Trick above)

Quicky Rectangles (1)

The first Quicky component probably is the simplest dynamic component ever made by human. However, I find this component useful when helping SketchUp beginners to create floors plan because I can skip some SketchUp concept in order not to overload with theories and go straight into modeling.

This simple component is mainly used to make a rough floor plan quickly and accurately. Based on this rough floor plan, a refined floor plan is made and the walls and the floor of the building are created.

Normally, one room will be represented by one Quick Rectangle. You may need to use more than one Quicky Rectangle if some of the rooms have irregular shapes.

During usage, you will set the component option (width and length) according to room dimensions. You can also resize the rectangle using scale tool and drag from one its sides. However, I suggest that you use another object as a reference to ensure accuracy.

After all the rooms are represented, these components will be exploded into lines and rectangles and will disappear from the model (more on this will be discussed later). Prior to making the wall, some wall outlines may require editing, such adding sloping lines and curves to shape exactly like the actual floor plan.

The figure shows Quick-nine Rectangles that are arranged into one floor plan. Dimensions of each room are added for clarity.

Quicky Door (2)

This component can be used to accurately model a single or double leaf door with opening/closing animation.

The structural opening will define the overall dimension of the door.
Change to the height (a) or width (b) of this component can also be done using Scale Tool. While other settings, such as Jamb/Head's width (h), thickness (c) and Rabbet (g) must be set using this Component Options window. So are the leaf's thickness (e) and the width (f) of the second door leaf. Naturally, with this intended restriction, scaling the overall door dimension will not change other dimension proportionally as it would happen if this component were not a dynamic component.

As you can see, the width of the first door leaf is not editable since it will be automatically calculated based on the overall dimension, some other settings. So if you want to have both leaves have equal width, you need to find the net width when there is no second leaf. Divide the number by two and enter the result as the '2nd Door Net Width' value.

Without any apparent reason, I set the degree of the second door opening - when animated - as half of the first door maximum opening value.

Quicky Door Examples

Quicky Window (3)

I try to make this component as a "one for all dynamic component" that it can be 'stiched' to make different shapes of window design. This may not be completely achieved, but they surely are flexible enough to appear as different set of windows as illustrated in the example.

Options available of this component are almost similar to that of a Quick-door. One important difference is that in Quick window we can hide one side of the jamb so there will only be three sides of the jamb. Side A is the side where the hinges reside. Side B, C and D are all other sides clock wise.

We need to hide one side of the jamb if we want to attach this window component to another window or door component. So the merged component will look like one

We can rotate each Quick window so the hinged side can be anywhere else other than upper side of the jamb.

Quicky Window Examples

Downloading the Components

The three components are ready to download from the Google 3d- Warehouse. There are two alternative in how to download the component:

Visit the Google warehouse
Add directly to your model using the Window Components

To visit the Google ware house, just click each of the Component Option for each of the component and it will open the respective component's page in the warehouse. Save each of the component to sub folder \Quickies for easy access later.

We can also add each component directly to your model using Window Components as if they were in your local folders as if they were in your local folder. Since there are thousands of components already in the warehouse. You need to enter a few unique keywords to filter your search.

Open menu Window -> Components and type [harrynov DC]. Click the Search button (the magnifying glass) to display all my DCs component. Click to download a component and place it to your model.

Tip & Trick

To avoid having to always download the same components over and over again from the 3d warehouse, you should later save each of these Quickies to a local folder. Save all the components to sub folder \Quicky for later use.

Enjoy!

Harrynov

The Projects

2010-01-19T08:03:00.003+07:00

The scenario and designs discussed in the projects are based on a Question and Answer that appears in Consultation Section of Indonesia's Tabloid Rumah Edition: 148/VI, November 2008. This reference is based on a high appreciation to the architect that can provide with excellent solution in regard with restriction of available land.

In this tutorial, we will try to learn to use SketchUp to step-by-step "build" a new house and later “renovate” the house. In order to do so, we will separate the modeling into two projects:

Project I : Building a two bedroom house.
Tip & Trick

For layouting and editing purposes, it is assumed that the house is facing South.

It is assumed that we are going to build the new house from square one:
1. Adding walls and floors.
2. Installing doors and windows.
3. Adding roof and ceiling.
4. Adding details and other ornaments.
5. Doing finishing work such as adding floor tiles, painting and a little landscaping.
Project II : House Remodeling
The remodeling job will include:
1. Adding another floor
2. Adding more room and renovate existing bedrooms.
3. Remodel the roofing.
4. Create a better façade.

Project I : A Little house in .........

The initial model is a type 36 house on 7×13m land with following details:

Two bedrooms.
A multipurpose room that includes living room, family room, dining room and a kitchen.
One bathroom.
Front and rear terraces.

Specifications and other details, such as the height of the walls and floors, will be explained thoroughly when we model the corresponding objects.

Detailed floor plan of the building can be viewed by clicking the floor image.

Project II : A Nice Compact House

The remodeling / rooms addition are as follows:

Another service door
Living Room
One bedroom
One master bathroom
A Storage room
Kitchen Area
A small garden
Laundry room/area
A staircase

Solution given in the magazine is reflected in the following floor images.

Apart from the dimensions given above, all shapes and dimension used in the model are based solely on my humble interpretation to the illustrations provided in the tabloid.

Here is a 360° visual image of 3D model home after renovation.

360° view of the 3D model of the final Stage

I believe the design solution not only has been able to meet the expectation of the requester but it also still allows some more rooms addition on the second floor

Futher modification and development

When the final 3-dimension model is completed, you can analyze the position of the staircase since some of the stair treads and landing are protruding into the front room. You can study how it effects people sitting in the room and what furniture to use in the area to compensate such stair shape.

You could also consider removing the wall between the front room with the living room and replacing it with some type of a divider to maintain privacy. You can also experiment by replacing the u-shape stair with a spiral stair and place it somewhere in the back.

Using SketchUp, everything can be done easily and analyzed thoroughly without having to place a single brick.

Harrynov

A Fresh Start

2010-01-19T05:32:00.001+07:00

... New to SkecthUp ...

Installing Google SketchUp

There is no special settings required during SketchUp installation, simply run GoogleSketchUpWEN.exe and follow all instructions on the screen. Select installation folder as suggested by the installation program.

Because Sketchup is a free program, you do not need to enter any serial key number or to follow specific activation procedure. You are only required to accept the term of use.

That's all there is to it.

Prepare the Working Folders

You need to prepare a few folders to manage files created and downloaded during modeling with this tutorial (see in illustration)
Folder "\Sketch" will be used for SketchUp (*. skp) files we create. Sub-folders "\Components" will be used to store downloaded and created components, and Subfolders "\Quickies" will be used to store Quickies Components

Detail in how to download and store all the component to their corresponding folder will be provided at Freebies: Quickies and other Freebies postings.

Running SketchUp for the First Time

The first time you run Sketchup, you must choose one of the available templates. Templates are files that store various settings of the modeling environment such as units of measurement and screen style .

Tip & Trick

Who is Sang
Sang is the figure that appears when we start a new model. This 5'9 tall "(175 cm) person can be used as a guide to position and determine the size of the first object you create. You can delete Sang afterward.

Select "Simple Template-Meter"as the initial template (we will customize this later).

Uncheck "Always show on start-up" at the pop-up "Welcome To SkecthUp" screen in order to prevent it from reappearing.

After clicking [Start Using SketchUp] button, the followin screen will appear. This is your design desk. A popup will also appear (Instructor) that briefly describes some SketchUp concepts. Read on or you can immediately close it because we will discuss the concept in lot more depth later on.

The above picture shows the three main elements of SketchUp that we will use intensively during a modeling:

Main Axes (Red, Blue and Green)
Toolbars, and
Measurement Box

1. Main Axes

Main axes are the three colored lines are used as a virtual axis of the model we make. The position of the axes above are not related to the building orientations. Generally, the modeling is almost always begins with 0 point Axis, the crossing point of the three axes, and front side of the model is facing towards us.

Main Axes Color Convention

Red Axis indicates X axis to display left and right of object

Blue Axis indicates Y axis to display up and down

Green Axis indicates Z axis to display front and rear of models.

Setting the real orientation of a building is done by entering North Angle value, where as a value of 0 indicates the building is facing South and a value of 90 indicates the building is facing East. This is needed primarily to simulate the fall of the sun/shadows on the building. The simulation is accurate as per the minute of a certain date, as long as the building location is also provided. You can select one of the predefined location or you can enter specific Latitude and Longitude values manually with the help of Google Map or Google Earth or even a GPS. (More of this concept is discussed in General section)

2. Toolbars.

Majority of our communication with SketchUp is done through toolbars. By default SketchUp will display only the Getting Started toolbar as shown in the above picture. There are many toolbars that can be displayed. Step by step, we will add more toolbars as needed.

3. Measurement Box.

One important aspect of modeling is the setting of dimensions of whatever objects we are adding to our model. In SketchUp almost all dimension can be determined by means of clicking & dragging with the mouse and the result is shown in the Measurement Box. In this way, modeling will be made very quickly, but not necessarily accurate.

Tip & Trick

Measurement Box
Measurement box is used to display measurement(s) of object we are creating. For example when we select Circle tool, the measurement box will display the number of side/segments the circle will be constructed and after we click a position, it will display the radius of the circle.
Measurement box main purpose is to set dimensions and other parameter by keying the a number to change the displayed value. This will ensure accuracy of the model.

You can use Measurement Box to make object dimension and position accurate by typing in the desided number(s)/length through the keyboard.

Unit used in Measurement Box is in agreement with the choice of measurement units that you have set in Model Info. However, you can enter any type of unit of measurement as long as you add the appropriate notation. For example, if you want to make a circle to make 2.5-inch pipe, simply type in [2.5"] and press [Enter]. Automatically SketchUp will convert the measurement into whatever unit you previously set. No need for any calculator to convert measurements.

Setting the Model Environment Model

Before we use SketchUp, we need to modify some settings, so that everybody will have the same modelling environment setting in order to obtain relatively similar input/output.

When we first run SketchUp, we chose one of Simple templates. We need to make some adjustment before we move on with the modeling.

Changing Units and Dimensions

Unit of Measurement and Display Dimensions can be changed through Model info window that can be accessed via menu Window -> Model info.

Changing measurement units will not modify the dimension of the objects that are already in the model.

Change the settings of Units by changing the highlighted fields with values shown in the following figure.
This change is made in order to reduce the number of digits that must be typed in when setting objects' dimension, and in order to the have a neater display if we want to show dimensions of objects.

In relation to that, we can change the look of the standard dimensions of the "Align to Screen" (the numbers are always facing the screen) to line with the objects measured.
With this appearance, dimensions are displayed neater and the 3d effects is also reflected in the dimension display.

Change the value of the highlighted fields with values as shown in the above figure. Appearance of dimensions can be changed individually anytime directly to the object.

Style Setting

Style settings is used to change how the model is displayed on screen. Every aspects of display such line shape and color, background, ground and sky color, can be modified to your liking. Normally, during adding and editing objects, we use one of the Default Styles. My style of choice during this stage is the Engineering style (sharp lines with white background) Every other style is only used mostly during presentation or to create fancy printouts of your model.
The above picture uses one the available styles to make the model as if it were drawn by hand using pencil and stationary paper with a pretty hard line strokes. Style settings does not affect objects’ attributes, other than their look on the screen.

You can modify every element of a Style using Styles Window than can be accessed from menu Window -> Styles. Regardless of your style selection, during modeling, it is recommended we make objects look sharp and the line is not too thick. Change the Edge setting by clicking the highlighted symbol at the Edit Tab and make all other highlighted settings as shown in the figure.

Of course you can experimen with various settings to see which one best suits your taste.

Saving Environment Setting Permanently

The above modification applies only to your current model. If you create a new model, it will use the default template.

If you want to save this style setting permanently and to make it as the default template then activate Save as Template window from menu File -> Save as Template. Change the content of the window similar to the following figure.

The default template will also store every existing object included in the model. I suggest that at this early stage you don’t delete the SANG character.

Toolbar Docking

As mentioned previously, majority of our communication with SketchUp is done through the toolbars. Various toolbars have been provided and organized according to function groups.

Initially, SketchUp only displays Getting Started toolbar. This toolbar is meant for introduction purposes only. It combines several different groups of functions into one toolbar. This toolbar should be replaced with more consistent grouping of toolbars to make tools easier to find. For beginners, I recommend that only some of this toolbars be displayed so as not too confusing. For a start, select toolbars shown in the above pictures to always show using menu View -> Toolbars and unselect Getting Started toolbar.

Tip & Trick

Docking Toolbars
Normaly, instread of floating, every toolbar is docked onto one side of the Sketchup Screen. Any of the four sides of the screen can be used to dock toolbars. My toolbars are arranged this way: Toolbar associated with editing and construction are docked on the left side, while toolbars associated with view are docked on the upper side the screen. At the bottom side, I sometime dock toolbars that are rarely used such as Shadow.

Now you are ready. Grab a drink! We'll be too busy very soon.

Harrynov

SketchUp in Home Building

2010-01-17T20:01:00.001+07:00

I use SketchUp extensively during the construction of my new house. Almost for every aspect of the construction, from designing to supervising. Some of the applications are:

Grand Design.
Detailed Design and Technical Drawing
Interior Design.

Grand Design

I call it the Grand Design since I am planning to build the house in several stages to match with my budget. I need to have everything well planned so every stage will not look like unfinished building and no building material is wasted.

The grand design is the final stage of the construction. I myself designed the house layout down to the placement of bathtub, toilet and walk in closet. To finalize the design, I ask a professional architect to give "the look" of the house by designing the roof and the façade. The architect also provides my with a better main stair placement so it is not only functional but it also blends with the interior nicely.

The architect provide me with 3D design of the house but only in hardcopy, or pdf of the hardcopy. To have thorough understanding of all designs submitted by the architect, I always make a SkecthUp model of every design and send it to with comment to the architect (if a picture is better than a thousand words, than 3D model at least 1001 times better right ..). Therefore, consultations can be done mostly by email since not much verbal communication is required. At the end of the consultation, Architect send me some 2-D AutoCAD files. This is the final input to the Grand Design.

Structural Design and Dividing the construction into several Stages

Based on the Grand Design, I ask a civil engineer to design the proper structure of the house. The structural design is required not only for obtaining building permits, but it also required to find alternatives on how to split the construction into several stages.

From the structural design, it is determined that the house will be built in three stages. All structure that must be build at the first stage is identified in order not to compromise overall structure of the final design.

Detailed Design and Technical Drawing

I prepare detailed designs and technical drawings for almost all aspects of the house construction. From detailed size of windows, doors, and architrave, placement of toiletries, to detailed design of staircases; even to the laying of tiles.

All of the detailed design and technical drawing is made as detailed and as accurate as possible. Some manufactures, such as Grohe and Grundfos, have already provided 3-D models in CAD formats for some of their products. They can be imported into SketchUp version 6.x/7.0. Some manufactures, such as Kohler, have already provided SketchUp models of their products in Google 3d Warehouse.

Try Googling what you need or you can always make them on your own. The staircase above is a made according to specification from a handrail producer in Indonesia that I plan to use.

SketchUp has the ability to simulate the movement of the sun for every minute of the day to study how the shadow fall to your building specific location. This is very handy to design how to get most out of the sunlight to your building and to keep away heat (this is important in tropical countries such as Indonesia) by adding plantation at specific locations or adding shade to Windows.

Plumbing Design

I myself design the plumbing system. There are four groups of water piping: (a) water that goes straight up to a water reservoir system installed on a roof platform. (b) cold water to supply water from the reservoir system for all toilets and all the first floor water installation, (c) pressurized cold water and (d) hot water (trough a booster pump) for two main bathrooms. A looping pipe design is use to maintain pressure of the hot water supply.

Sound complicated? Not really, because I use 3skeng pluggin (free version, valid until April 2010). From the design I can determine all the piping accessories. The focus is on pressurized water piping that use relatively more expensive PEX pipes.

Determining Electrical Switches & Receptacles .

Electrical design and installation is done by designated experts. What I make is just detailed drawing the location of all points for lamps, switches, receptacles and other electrical equipment. Hopefully no extension cord will ever be used in the house since to the receptacles of each room is pretty much in accordance with the IEE recommendations. From the drawing, electrical installations is designed and installed by experts.

I use Panasonic for switches and receptacles. This manufacturer sells their product as parts that can be self assembled according to your specification I define function for each switch and outlet and made SketchUp components based on relevant product part numbers. SketchUp can list all the part numbers and their quantity for your Shopping Lists.

Laying Out Tiles and Parquets

In order to have the highest efficiency for floor covering while maintaining good design, all floor covering are modeled in details. Before buying any of the of tiles, I make a detailed measurement of the room and the tile and create a SkecthUp model for the specific room floor.

I use dynamic components obtained from the Google 3D Warehouse. So designing the laying of tiles and parquets are quite easy.

The illustration shows the laying of 60x60cm tiles for my daughter bedroom. From the this model, I can calculate the number of tiles required and which part of the design that are more prone to damages due to cutting. So I can allocate some tiles for spare and avoid buying more than required.

Technical Drawing

For fieldwork, I prepare technical drawing of each of design. It requires some getting used to for the field supervisor to work with 3-D drawings. However, with a little explanation, this obstacles can be easily removed.

Some technical drawing is also be done in 2-dimension like those produced by architects (Especially for works that is done by third parties.)

Interior Design

I also use SketchUp to make some interior design such as: bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, including kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

The following picture is one example of the interior aspect I created then rendered using Kerkhythea.

There are many more aspects of home building that I do with SketchUp. It is more than likely that you will be able to do the same by learning from this blog. Trust me. But beware, it's addictive.

Harrynov

A Two Bedroom House at Grand Wisata, Bekasi

2010-01-15T13:37:00.000+07:00

Every now and then, I will post a 3-D model of building/object to give you examples and/or ideas what you can do with SketchUp. Although some detail might be omitted to save bandwidth, all shapes and dimension are maintained as realistic as possible.

This is a model of a 75 square meter house on 162 square meter land in one of the clusters at Celebration Town District, Grand Wisata Housing Project, one of the biggest housing projects Eastern of Jakarta.
The model is created based on a promotional flyer provided by the Developer. Apart from the floor plan, all shape and dimensions are all estimates based pictures provided in the flyer.

This two bedroom house has a separate access to its service area that includes a small bathroom, a bedroom and a kitchen.

A 2 Bedroom House at Grand Wisata, Bekasi, Indonesia

Download the model from Google 3d Warehouse : Rumah Grand Wisata

Enjoy!

Harrynov

Getting to know Sketchup Free

2010-01-15T08:22:00.004+07:00

What is SketchUp

Sketchup is a computer software to create 3D models (3-D) of physical objects such as buildings, home appliances, landscapes, to name a few. Architectural design is one of the applications of SketchUp.

Before Google Building Maker, SketchUp was the only software that is used to make 3-D buildings that you see on Google Earth.

Recommendation

Want to see some example of Sketchup models? What about thousands of them. You can visit:

to see thousands of examples of 3-D models that have been made by individuals and companies. Everything can be downloaded for free.

Actually, Some 3-D modeling softwares have been around long before SketchUp, particularly those that are developed for professionals such as Autodesk 3ds Max, ArchiCAD, or those that are specifically targeted at home owners such as Punch Home and Landscape Design.

Before I was aware of SketchUp, I tried 3ds Max and found out that it required a certain power of Graphic Cards (GPU) to run. Since this has been always just for a hobby, I stopped trying any of those serious 3d modeling softwares.

Of course, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some are not even comparable with Sketchup in term of sophistication. But all of the above are paid softwares. Google offers us with a free SketchUp. This definitely put more weight to our consideration to make SketchUp as our weapon of choice.

Why SketchUp?

Kenapa harus Sketchup sih? Bukannya ada yang lebih bagus?
Yang lebih mahal ....... banyak!

It is Surprisingly Easy

What makes it stand out compared to other 3D modeling softwares is SketchUp modeling is accomplished by tools and techniques that are very intuitive to use. It is almost like dealing with real physical objects, but without physical barriers. No formula to remember, no parameters to enter (We will talk about this later in this tutorial).

Modeling in SketchUp is more like 'molding' than 'constructing'. For example, if you want to raise the height of an object to match the height of another object, simply select a surface and then pull it up to the same height with the other object.

It's soooooo easy

Wanting to make a hole on a surface, just create a circle on the surface and push down its inner face as deep as you want, or pull it up, if you want a cylinder shape protruding from the surface.

Lots of activities can be accomplished merely by mouse clicks and drags, yet the results can still be accurate. (More details see here: Improving Model Accuracy)

With such ease of use, we can concentrate more on designing and turning our creativity into our model efficiently ... and having fun while doing it.

Which is often considered as a challenge for new SketchUp users is that everything has to be built from scratch: line (edges) and polygons (faces). In contrast, some home architecture softwares provide you with objects like walls, columns etc. None is available in SketchUp. This was very confusing when I first tried SketchUp to model a house. This tutorial will show you that such challenge is very easy to overcome.

And lucky for us, we don't always need to build everything from scratch because there are a lot of good Samaritans out there that provide us with ready for use 3d models, from a chair to an airplane, to add to our model for free.

Almost like Air, It is Free.

Google provides a free version of SketchUp which can be downloaded from the Internet. The software is absolutely free, so you don't need to fear of being raided by the policy for using pirated software.

After SketchUp being acquired from @Last Software, Google released a free version of SketchUp, along with the Pro version. Please note that Google does not restrict the use of Sketchup. There used to be a clause that "you can use Google SketchUp for your personal and commercial use" but it seems to have disappeared from the TOS. Therefore, my personal interpretation, it still can be used for any purpose, including for commercial purposes. For a hobby - in my opinion - we don't need SketchUp Pro. (For more details see the difference at this link).

Some noticeable differences are: In SketchUp (Free), we can not easily make scalable printout like those produced by architects, and the free version has no ability to export (and import, starting from version 7.1) from/to standard CAD formats like .dwg or 3ds. Things that we can live without.

In summary, to create models like those we want to accomplish in this tutorial, what can be done by SketchUp Pro, can be also done by SketchUp Free.

Notice that Sketchup Pro is a trialware, in the sense that it will work as a fully functional Sketchup professional version for 8 working hours and will turn into a free version after the 8-hour expires.

It is Ridiculously Good with Endless Possibility (.. sort of)

Of course "free" is not always a good reason enough for us to choose anything. If you notice, some (Indonesian) national magazines/tabloid that discuss home construction/renovation use SketchUp to model houses discussed in their publications. The results are very good and can be quite accurate to a few points behind a coma (That is in millimeters!).

Another uniqueness of Sketchup is its openness. Google provides programming interfaces (APIs) so anybody can write a script (a relatively simple programming language) to do things from a simple task to a quite complicated operation as shown on this youtube video.

Surely you don't need to do this because many of such scripts (aka. plugins) are free. As we can see at , at Smustard.com™, there are lots of free plugins.

Another aspect of 3d modeling is the output. With the help of rendering softwares, you can produce photo realistic pictures of your model. The limit is your artistic sense and the speed of graphics processor you have (and / or a lot of waiting). Because rendering software can take hours, even days, to finish, depending on complexity of your model, textures and light setting. Free rendering software that I sometime use is Kerkythea. Visit their site to see amazing examples how you can make your SketchUp model into photo realistic pictures.

It is Pleasantly Light on Your Hardware

SketchUp does not require very sophisticated hardware specification, unless you want to create complex 3-D model (High poly). For a two-story house with 4 rooms, a regular notebook with 1GB of memory is sufficient. (Aren't we all 'weekend architects " in this category?).

Details about hardware and software requirements can be read in the Chapter: Prepare Yourself.

What is a SketchUp 3-D Model?

A SketchUp 3d model is basically a set of polygons (edges and faces) 'stitched' meticulously to look like solid objects. So is with Circle or Curve. Both are really just lots of small identical straight lines arranged to appear like a Circle or an Arc.

Tips and Trick

Scale of SketchUp Model
SketchUp models are always made with a 1:1 scale to its original size. Sometimes a modeler make bigger scale than the original. This is usually done for a model with high complexity and / or very small. SketchUp is not accurate enough to create intricate models with a size of few millimeters / centimeters only.

A block of wood is composed from six square-shaped polygons attached to each other and painted with wood pattern. A ball is composed of many polygons of different shapes with each edge is hidden to appear like having smooth curves. The more polygon we use (high poly), the more realistic models will look, but also more burdensome to the processor and graphics card.

There is no point in Sketchup, literally. Sketchup only recognizes edges and faces. Edges/Line will forms the boundary and faces make the surface of a polygon.

Sketchup version 8 introduces solid objects. A Sketchup solid is any 3d model (component or group) that has a finite closed volume. A SketchUp solid cannot have any leaks (missing faces or faces that do not meet at an edge). However, Sketchup free does not allow you to manipulate such objects, so this concept and its associated tools will not be discussed in this tutorial.

What SketchUp is Not.

Most people will not classify SketchUp as a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software used for modeling 2-D / 3-D that demand for high level of accuracy. SketchUp is very clumsy for 2D-modeling.

SketchUp basic purpose is for making 3-D models quickly (sketching) and relatively accurate. SketchUp is not to create organic models such as the human body. (However, there are plugins that can help us create organic shapes such like this).

Most of house 3d-models are formed by regular shaped objects like rectangles, blocks, cylinders, curved profiles. Those are things that can be done in SketchUp easily. Because our topic is to model a house. we can definitely stick to SketchUp.

Happy Sketching

Harrynov

Improving Model Accurary

2010-01-14T19:47:00.002+07:00

.. accurate "no sweat" modeling ..

SketchUp is not intended for engineering purposes that demand for high accuracy modeling. However, it is accurate enough to make 3D models larger than a few centimeters. For the purposes of architecture modeling, of course, SketchUp's level of accuracy is sufficient.

Warning

Non Planar Face
SketchUp automatically creates a face when a set of lines make a closed loop and are all in the same plane.
However, Sketchup also makes a little approximation that even when some of the lines are a little off (not exactly in one plane), a face will still be created.
This can be difficult when we try to do push & pull on the face. The results can be messy or not possible at all. Using inferences will avoid such problem.

There are three aspects that determine whether models you create are accurate:

Accuracy in measurements
Accuracy of object positions
Accuracy of object slopes.

SketchUp provides us with various information and techniques in the form of reference to another object and inference from existing objects or axis. This will facilitate the making of an accurate model without always having to specifically enter dimensions and slopes of objects being created/edited.

Accuracy in measurements

Measurement Box

The surest way to make accurate dimensions and slopes is using Measurement Box. Almost every object has its own set of parameters depending on the current tools we choose (context sensitive). Here are some examples:

Tip & Trick

Measurement Box
As indicated in "A Fresh Start", Measurement Box is one the three elements of SketchUp.
Notice that there is no blinking cursor to make input or to edit value(s) in the input field.
There no other way to enter parameter(s) other than typing blindly using the keyboard.

Linetool : [Length]
Rectangletool : [Wide, Length]
Circletool: [Sides] [Radius]
Polygontool : [Sides] [Radius]
Arctool; [Sides] [Radius] [Bulge]
Freehandtool: None
Tape Measuretool : [Length]
Protractortool : [Angle]
Scaletool [multiplier], or with the unit symbol, [Desired dimension].

[Bracket] indicates that you have to press [Enter] after each entry.

Measurement Box is active only during an object creation, until we do another mouse operation. As long as we have not done any other mouse operation, we can continue changing the last entered parameter through the keyboard. The size (or slope) of the object will automatically change every time [Enter] key is pressed.

Scale Tool

Tip & Trick

Scale Tool
Scale tool is used to change the size of existing objects in the model by dragging one on the available sliding points.
Combining Scale tool with [Ctrl] key will scale object from its geometry's center point. Combination of Scale tool with [Shift] key will scale the object with some uniformity.

Measurement Box can be used only during objects creation. For existing objects, change in size can only be made by changing object directly. One of the methods is by using Scaletool in Edit toolbar.

When an object is selected using the Scale tool, there will be a bounding box with several scaling points that can be selected and dragged by the mouse. There are 24 scaling points for 3-dimensional objects, and 8 points for 2-dimensional objects. as seen in the figure below.
To get an accurate scaling, Scale tool must also be accompanied by entering parameters through the Measurement box. There are two ways to use Measurement Box with the scaling tool. First, by entering a value as the scaling factor, second by inserting a value complete with dimensional unit(for example: 125cm) in order determine to final dimension of the aspect being scaled.

Editing using Reference

I am not a fan of Scale tool because sometimes some aspects are not completely controllable so that the result sometimes would not be as expected. I prefer using one of the Edit tools and cutting and slicing the object so that elements of an object can be individually changed.

Referencing is the next best thing in SketchUp after Push/Pull. By using references, we can make an object as accurate as possible (dimension, location, slopes) and use the object as a reference to make or to edit another object. This saves a lot of time.
Therefore, my work flow to create objects accurately is: Create initial object(s) and maintain its accuracy using Measurement box, and reference the object(s) during creating/editing of subsequent objects.

Reference to Another Object

The most effective and efficient way to edit an object is by referencing its change to an existing object. If the referenced object is accurate, then the edited object will also be accurate.

Push/Pull by referring to other object

When pushing/pulling a face of an object, we drag it to a new position to lengthen/ shorten its overall size.
If we move the cursor to a face or any other point in another object to use it as reference, the face being edited will be at the the same plane with the referenced face/point. Again, this means that if the reference is accurate, then the change we are doing to the object will also be accurate. This is a time saver since we don't need type in any value whatsoever to make it accurate.

Redoing Last Operation to Another Object

Sketchup has the ability to apply one operation to separate objects with identical result. This is done by double-clicking other object(s) after an operation is completed with the initial object . The editing operation can be repeated as long as we do not select any other tool.

Redo Operation with Double Clicking

With double clicks, the same operation will be applied to all of the objects.
So if the first editing operation is measured accurately (i.e. using Measurement Box), all other operation will also be accurate
without having to make any entry with the Measurement Box.

The animation shows how we can repeat an OFFSET operation on several face shapes. For each double clicking, another shape with the same contour will be created exactly with the same distance from the original edges. If we specifically entered a certain length with the Measurement Box as the offset distance, then all the new shape will also have the same accurate offset distance. This is how I often do to make walls in SketchUp.

Adding Guides with a Certain Distance from a Known Position.

Another method to ensure accuracy is to add guides in the form of lines or dots to a model to be used as reference in making changes or adding objects. The guide will be positioned a certain distance from a known line/point in the model (i.e. one of the Main Axis).
Guides is created using Tape Measuretool or Protractortool. Tape Measure tool is used to create a parallel guideline at certain distance from another line, or to create a point at a certain distance from another point. Protractor tool is used to create a guideline with a specific angle to a line, (or two points) that can be used as reference. Guides are usually removed immediately after their use so as not to obstruct your view.

Creating "Guides"

The following animation shows examples how to add guides using the Tape Measure tool and Protractor tool to an object. Note that when Protractor selected, the cursor changes into an arc /protractor shape. The usage of this tool should also be followed by entries to the Measurement Box to ensure accurate position of the guides.

Accuracy of Object Position

The easiest way to ensure accuracy of any object placement is to put the object in reference to existing object (its midpoint, it's corner, etc). If the referenced object has been positioned accurately than the edited object will also accurate to that position. If there is no object that can be used as a reference, of course, you can always make Guides to place your object on the location of the guide.

Slope and Angle Accuracy.

We could always set every slope(s)/angle(s) of an object using Protractortool as previously discussed. Accurate but not too practical. If you want to create a line that is parallel or perpendicular to another line, it is much faster, yet still accurate, to utilize SketchUp's Automatic Inference.

Tip & Trick

Automatic Inferencing color
By default, Black line indicates no inferencing is detected. Blue, Red, Green indicates that inference is made parallel to one of the main axes. Magenta and Cyan indicates parallelism, tangent or perpendicular with a certain existing line.
Note that inferencing behavior is affected by your mouse clicking and hovering. Some can make a certain inference fail to appear.

Intelligently, SketchUp will always try to inform you whether your drawing direction has a unique sloping characteristic (parallel, perpendicular or and tangent, or even equilateral) to one of the main axes or another nearby line/curve in the model. Therefore, if you want to make an object which is parallel, perpendicular or tangent to an existing object, or create equilateral triangle, we don't need to use Protractor tool at all. With this automatic inference, 3D modeling can be done easily and quickly, but still be able to maintain accuracy.

Parallel to one of the Main Axes

Most of the time, Main Axes are the main references when adding/editing an object. Therefore, it is advisable to always use them as the axes of your model (most of lines are in the model are aligned with one of these axes). Otherwise, main axes referencing may not as useful.

Parallel to one of the Main Axes

When we want to make a straight line with the Linetool, Sketchup will automatically indicate whether the line is parallel with one of the existing axis. Black indicates the line does not align with any of the axes. The color will change to the color of the axes it is parallel with. This is very useful, for example, when we want to make a line perpendicular to the a floor, then we will move the cursor upward until the resulting line turns blue and click at desired position.

Referencing to a line not parallel to any of the axes

In addition to the Main Axis inferencing, we can also obtain inferences from a curve or line that is not parallel to any of axis

Parallel to another line

Parallel another line

Creating a line parallel to another line is accomplished by clicking the starting point of the new line that we want to make and then hovering your mouse towards the midpoint of the line will be used as a reference. This will induce inferencing from the line. Next slide the mouse in the direction approximately parallel to referenced line. Continue your line when the color turns into Magenta.

Continuing a sloping line.

Continuance of a sloping line

During model creation, we often need to make shape as a continuance of a sloping objects. For example we want to add eaves to the existing roof. Instead of creating a new object using Rotate tool, it is far more quicker to create a line with the same slope with the roof. I.e. by determining the starting point (end of the sloping line) and then draw a line using Linetool. Move your mouse in the direction that approximately extending the slope and click only when the line turns Magenta.

Finding other inferences.

Perpendicular to to an edge.

Perpendicular Line

Making a new line perpendicular to another other line is accomplished simply by clicking at any point in the referenced line as a starting point of the new line and and move the cursor to a direction which is approximately perpendicular to that base line. Click at the destination point only when the resulting line turns into Magenta. That indicates that is has a perpendicular characteristic to the starting line.

Tangent and Perpendicular with an Equilateral Triangle

Creating a perfect curve

Automatic Inference will not always provide you with hints regarding the inference made during an operation. I.e.. when you move your mouse too fast. However, the inference color will always appear.

The animation shows the following when we use the Arc tool. The first Magenta inference indicated that the starting and end point of the curve that will form an equilateral triangle from a point located between the two sides. Once we click that position, we will determine the curvature of the arc we are making. The curve color is Magenta to indicate that the radius of the circle that forms the curve is formed are tangent at the start and at end of the curve.

(...whew ... I need to brush up my trigonometry know....)

Harrynov

How Do We Go About It?

2010-01-14T07:12:00.000+07:00

.. Just Do It ..

From my own experience in learning and teaching topics related to computers, computer knowledge will be more easily understood if we go straight with the keyboard (and mouse). Set a complete yet attainable goal and start with something small. During the process of achieving the goal, we learn various aspect of the application.

In this tutorial, the goal is to model a small house, and later will do some remodeling to the house by adding rooms and floors to the original model. Where do we start: Floor plan.

What is the Plan?

Here is what we are going to do. We'll start this tutorial by learning how to put your floor plan into SketchUp. From the floor plan, we will create floors and walls, add doors and windows, roofs and some other details. After the physical form of the house is completed, We would do some finishing work by adding material such tiling, paint, grass as you normally would to finish a home building.

During the making of the model, we will gradually learn concepts, tools and techniques for making 3-D model using Google SketchUp for Windows. Certainly at this tutorial stage, the house should be quite simple yet detailed so we can utilize most of tools and technique available in SketchUp.

In this scenario, this initial model is a two-room house on a 91 square meter land. At the end of this project, we will have a 3-D model of a small house that will look like this following:

For those of you who are wondering whether this tiny house is only made conceptually to introduce you with SketchUp modeling. Nope, this is a typical building size in suburban housing projects all around Indonesia.

Although the building is small, I have managed to make it as detailed as possible down to wall thickness, dimension of window/door frames, to approximate size of the tiles we use.

We would assume that the the 3D model we just created as the house that in need for some additional rooms and facilities. Because space limitation, the development will have to go upward by adding another floor. The final 3d model of the two-story house will look this following picture.

Later we will see how easy this is done using SketchUp. As easy as "pull it here, push it there ", seriously …

End Target

The end target end of this tutorial is to help you learn to make 3-dimensional model of the house you live in, and afterward how to remodel the house. I believe by the end of this tutorial, you will have all the skill you need to do this with SketchUp and show it off to your family and friends.

Harrynov

Planning to Model Your Own House?

2010-01-13T11:22:00.001+07:00

.. or just wanting to rearrange your furniture ..

Many of us want to make additions / changes to the house we live in. From planning to add a room or two to adding another floor, or simply want to change the interior or the look of our house.

Whatever the reason, all have to start with a design. The easiest way is to obtain services from experienced architects who will explore your needs and styles and translate them into architectural designs. The more experienced the architect the more expensive the fee. However, the exploration of needs and styles is not easy. Depending on the communication skill of the architect and our ability to articulate thoughts.

Designing is Fun

Actually, designing is one of the most exciting parts of a home remodeling project. (The least exiting: cost overrun) Why not do it yourself. There are a lot of books, magazines out there that you can use as references. Internet and Google will overwhelm you with ideas. Or just go to some neighborhoods for some inspiration. Visit websites managed by architects. Some housing projects provide you with detailed enough plans you can adopt. Most of all, who know you and your family better than yourself. Moreover, the amount of time you could spend designing may be far more than the architects’ who must also work on other projects. What we need is a good and easy to use tool to help us with the design process.

Tips and Trick

Need for Expert Advices
It is necessary to have your house comply to building codes applicable in your area. So you still need to consult with experts regarding building structures, house safety, wiring and plumbing plan,etc

I'm not saying the architect is never needed at all. If you are willing to adopt someone else’s design, chances are you can do your own home design. If you want to have a house that does not look like every other house in the block, you need to get expert help. When I build a bigger house, I asked for architects help to do the retouching of my design. My intention was to have a house façade which was not attached to a certain era and yet not outdated. I love minimalist design but everybody is doing it. All of the room layout that I created was adopted by the architect. For such tasks, I choose architect that was relatively more affordable.

Making 3-Dimension (3-D) Model

Humans are used to see objects with perspectives. In 3-D models, we can maintain perspective of object at every angle possible, compare objects to another object so we can “feel” its size and presence. Objects can be evaluated with its surrounding. For example, if we want to make a small lavatory under a staircase we have to considers things such as the minimal height of the lavatory ceiling, and the maximal height of the stair landing. We must evaluate how deep the floor must be recessed in order not to make the stair too steep. You will need a lot of two-dimensional drawings to be able to analyze this comprehensively.

There were times that we could only make model house using cardboard, toothpicks, plastic sheets, and some paints. If you wanted to add objects to the model, such as furniture, human figures, you had to look for objects with the same scale with the house. Not too easy a task. Some people can make very realistic model house as shown in the pictures. Drawback: difficult to make, not easy to modify, costly and need a lot of time to finish. Not to mention prone to damage by a flying ball.

Nowadays, we can make 3-D models with the help of computers. Today’s home computers are so sophisticated that in general they can be used to create 3-D models with ease.

Too ambitious?

The above story may sound "too ambitious". How could we – mere human – who have never studied architecture or understand any CAD software – do that? It is hard .... if we don’t know SketchUp. SketchUp will help you make three-dimensional model with very good results, fast and easy. This SketchUp tutorial will take you there, step by step.

SketchUp is very powerful modeling software with very intuitive usage. Their motto once was "3D for Every One". It is believed that the learning curve is shorter than a more serious CAD such as ArchiCAD and the like. With such ease of usage, your creativity will not be handicapped by the tool you have. This is very important in designing

A car made with SketchUp (Source: Wikipedia)

If you are not planning to create 3D models of organic shapes (such as human form), or other complex shapes (like the Sydney Opera House or the car in your garage) then the "SketchUp is exactly for you". If you want to add stuff to your model (appliances, trees, a gazebo, or even a plane), you just need to search it in the internet. Chances are, they have already been made. Most are free. In fact, Google already hosts a warehouse of 3d models for you to download and upload 3D models, free of charge.

Harrynov

SketchUp Tutor

News and Update

Welcome

Tool time: Circle and Arc Tool

Circle Tool and Arc Tool

Getting to know Circle and Arc Tool

Circle Tool

Determining the plane where the circle will be created

What about Oval shapes?

Arc Tool

Creating a perfect connection between an arc with a line or another arc.

Adding Roof Element

Separating Walls, Floors and Yard Elements into groups

Creating the roof basic shape

Creating detail shape for roof shingles

Creating Roof Tile Component.

Rear roof shingles and finalizing the roof element

Adding Ridge Shingles

Creating Gable Ends and Ceiling

Adding Molding to the Ceilings

Finalizing the roof

We have Accomplished ....

Adding Interior and Exterior Details

Detailing the Bathroom

Changing the field of view

Lowering the bathroom Floor

Detailing the bathroom.

Placing the toilet and the shower corner set.

Restore Field of View setting back to 35°.

Adding the Front Terrace

Preparing a initial shape for the terrace.

Creating Floors, Roof and Column Elements

Adding ornamental detail to the front bedroom windows

Rear terrace detail

We have accomplished ....

Prepare Yourself

Hardware and software requirement

Hardware and Operating System

Software Requirement and other files

Requirement for Internet Connection

Bathroom Components

Project One Bathroom

Bathroom Toilet

Shower Corner

An alternative for the Shower Set

Downloading the Components

Placing the Windows

Quicky-Window Component

Windows Basic Dimension

Placing Front Bedroom Windows

Placing Window_J1

Renaming the Window into "Window_W1"

Placing the window to its designated location

Adding the Second Window

Creating Wall Opening

Adding the Front Door Window.

Adding the Rear Door Window

Creating a wall opening.

Copying Window_W1 and hide one of the jambs.

Moving the window to its location and resizing the wall opening.

Adding the Bathroom Window

Creating a wall opening.

Adding the Bathroom Window

Moving the window to its designated location.

Resizing the Wall Opening

Adding the rear Bedroom window

Placing a Quicky-Window.

Changing the window dimensions and options.

Adding the right side of the window.

Combining the two components.

Moving the window to its designated location

Create a wall opening

Lesson Learned ....

Adding Doors to Our 3D Model

Quick-Door Component

Doors Basic Dimension

Adding bedroom doors.

Adding the rear bedroom door.

Placing the rear bedroom door to its designated location.

Adding the front bedroom door