How to Model with the Scale Tool in Google SketchUp 8
New Google SketchUp users assume that Scale is for resizing things in your model. That’s technically true, but most folks only use it to resize whole objects; the real power of Scale happens when you use [more…]
How to Combine Scale and Follow Me in Google SketchUp 8
One way to create organic forms in Google SketchUp is to use Follow Me. This technique is ideally suited to making long, curvy, tapered things like tentacles and antlers; it’s a little time-consuming but [more…]
How to Create a New Terrain Model in Google SketchUp 8
When modeling in Google SketchUp, you may need to create terrain. Whether you’re modeling a patch of ground for a building or redesigning Central Park, you can model terrain from existing data, which usually [more…]
How to Smoove Existing Terrain in Google SketchUp 8
No matter how you’ve made the terrain model you want to edit in Google SketchUp, it probably consists of lots and lots of triangles. Switch on Hidden Geometry [more…]
How to Place a Building on Your Terrain in Google SketchUp 8
After you’ve created a terrain in Google SketchUp, you may need to place a building on it. The Stamp tool provides an easy way to stamp a building footprint into a terrain surface, creating a flat “pad” [more…]
How to Create Paths and Roads in Google SketchUp 8
Perhaps you’ve created a gently sloping terrain in Google SketchUp and you want to draw a meandering path on it. The path has to follow the contours of the terrain, but because you want to paint it with [more…]
Understanding Solid Objects in Google SketchUp 8
Solid Tools provide a completely new way for Google SketchUp modelers to work. Solid modeling operations give you the ability create the shapes you need by adding or subtracting other shapes to or from [more…]
Exploring Solid Tools in Google SketchUp 8
Solid Tools provide a completely new way for Google SketchUp modelers to work. Solid modeling operations (or Boolean operations) give you the ability create the shapes you need by adding or subtracting [more…]
Using the Outliner in Google SketchUp 8
The Google SketchUp Outliner is a dialog box that’s basically a fancy list of all the groups and components in your SketchUp model. It shows you which groups and components are nested inside other ones [more…]
How to Avoid Problems with Layers in Google SketchUp 8
Layers can be really helpful; they control visibility and gather particular kinds of geometry so that you can easily turn it on (make it visible) and turn it off [more…]
How to Model with Repeated Elements in Google SketchUp 8
When building models in Google SketchUp, you may realize that some elements of your model are made up of a bunch of identical, repeated smaller elements. A staircase is a perfect example of an object that’s [more…]
How to Make Extruded Shapes in Google SketchUp 8
When adding extruded shapes, like gutters and handrails, to your Google SketchUp models, you use the Follow Me tool. A lot of the time, you want to use Follow Me to create geometry [more…]
How to Use the Scale Tool to Make Organic Forms in Google SketchUp 8
Making organic forms in Google SketchUp involves using the Scale tool in combination with a series of 2D profiles to create curvy, lumpy, distinctly un-boxy 3D shapes. An awful lot of the stuff in the [more…]
How to Use the Measurements Box in Google SketchUp 8
The key to accuracy in SketchUp is the little text box that lives in the lower-right corner of your SketchUp window. This box is the Measurements box, and here are some things you can do with it: [more…]
How to Use Guides in Google SketchUp 8
Guides are useful for lining up things, making things the right size, and generally adding precision and accuracy to what you’re building. In previous versions of SketchUp, guides were called [more…]
Using Layers in Google SketchUp 8
Layers in Google SketchUp are different from layers in most other graphics programs, and that’s confusing for lots of people. SketchUp isn’t a 2D program; it’s a 3D program. So how can it have layers? [more…]
How to Model Terrain from Scratch in Google SketchUp 8
When modeling in Google SketchUp, you may need to create terrain. Whether you’re modeling a patch of ground for a building or redesigning Central Park, you can model terrain from scratch. You don’t have [more…]
