Sams Teach Yourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes

by Holzner, Steven

• ISBN13: 9780672335471
• ISBN10: 0672335476
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-13
• Publisher: Sams Publishing

Summary

A clear, super quick, easy-to-understand guide for new Google SketchUp users Fast access to instructions for every common task, plus reliable, concise answers to the most widely asked questions Organized into lessons that distill the most crucial information on each Google SketchUp topic Tips and cautions point out shortcuts, solutions, and help you avoid common pitfalls. Google SketchUp is a suprisingly powerful 3D modeling program that allows you to design anything from a new house, to new landscaping design. While SketchUp Pro is powerful enough to be used by architects, civil engineers, game developers and other hardcore professionals, its free, less powerful cousin, Google SketchUp is perfect for beginners and casual users who want to design smaller scale products (gardens, room layouts, building projects and more).Sams Teach Yourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutesoffers straightforward, practical answers for fast results. By working through the 10-minute lessons, you learn everything you need to know to quickly and easily get up to speed with Google SketchUp 8. Step-by-step instructions walk upi through the most common questions, issues, and tasks... "Did You Know?" tips offer insider advice and shortcuts... "Watch Out!" alerts help them avoid problems.Sams Teach Yourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minuteswill provide beginner and experienced users with fast at a glance tips pointing out helpful shortcuts and solutions, cautions to help avoid common Google SketchUp 8 pitfalls, and is written in a clear easy to understand format.

Author Biography

Steven Holzner is the award-winning author of more than 100 books, specializing in online topics such as Google Buzz, Gmail, and more. He’s been a contributing editor of PC Magazine and has specialized in online computing for many years. His books have sold more than 2.5 million copies and have been translated into 18 languages. Steve graduated from MIT and earned his PhD at Cornell. He’s been a very popular member of the faculty at both MIT and Cornell, teaching thousands of students over the years. He also runs his own software company and teaches weeklong classes to corporate programmers around the country.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Welcome to SketchUp

Getting Started with SketchUp ..................................................5

Drawing Lines..........................................................................7

Drawing Simple Figures ............................................................7

Pushing (or Pulling) for 3D ........................................................9

Panning and Orbiting ..............................................................10

Rotating and Moving ..............................................................15

Painting ................................................................................17

Using the Component Libraries ..............................................18

Zooming................................................................................19

Creating Guides and Dimension Indicators ..............................22

Lots of Cool Stuff Coming Up ................................................23

Chapter 2 Up and Running with SketchUp

What SketchUp Is All About ....................................................29

Getting and Installing SketchUp ..............................................30

Starting SketchUp..................................................................33

Understanding the Parts of SketchUp......................................36

Using the Orbit Tool ..............................................................37

Using the Pan Tool ................................................................39

Using the Zoom Tool ..............................................................40

Selecting a Work Template ....................................................42

Understanding SketchUp Axes ................................................44

Understanding Edges and Surfaces ........................................45

Drawing Edges ......................................................................48

Inferring Edges ......................................................................50

Chapter 3 Drawing Shapes: Lines, Rectangles, Polygons, and Circles

Getting Started ......................................................................55

Drawing Lines........................................................................56

Drawing Multiline Shapes ......................................................57

Drawing Measured Lines ........................................................59

Drawing Rectangles................................................................60

Drawing Circles......................................................................62

Drawing Polygons ..................................................................65

Setting the Number of Sides of Circles or Polygons..................67

Orienting Shapes ..................................................................69

Getting Information About Shapes ..........................................70

Saving Your Work ..................................................................72

Chapter 4 Drawing Shapes: Arcs, Freehand, Text, and 3D Text

Arcs, Freehand, and Text ........................................................73

Drawing Arcs ........................................................................73

Drawing Measured Arcs..........................................................75

Drawing Arcs Tangent to Corners ............................................76

Drawing Multiple Tangent Arcs ................................................79

Setting the Number of Arc Segments ......................................80

Drawing Freehand ..................................................................82

Drawing Surfaces Freehand ....................................................83

Drawing Text ..........................................................................84

Annotating Objects with Text ..................................................86

Setting Text Properties ..........................................................88

Drawing 3D Text ....................................................................91

Chapter 5 Going 3D

Getting Started ......................................................................95

Pulling Objects into 3D ..........................................................96

Pushing Objects into 3D ........................................................98

Using Measured Push/Pull ..................................................100

Inferring Push/Pull ..............................................................101

Cutting Openings ................................................................103

Erasing Edges with the Eraser Tool........................................106

Selecting Edges and Surfaces with the Select Tool ................109

Copying Objects ..................................................................110

Moving Edges and Surfaces with the Move Tool ....................112

Drawing 3D by Subtracting Elements ....................................115

Chapter 6 Creating Components and Groups

Getting Started....................................................................119

Using Sticky Geometry ........................................................120

Creating a Group ................................................................121

Creating Components ..........................................................125

Editing Components ............................................................127

Understanding the Difference Between

Groups and Components......................................................129

Exploding a Component........................................................132

Managing Components ........................................................133

Using the Component Sampler ............................................135

Using the 3D Warehouse......................................................136

Chapter 7 Painting Your Objects

Painting ..............................................................................141

Using the Paint Tool ............................................................143

Selecting Materials ..............................................................145

Eliminating Automatic Shading..............................................146

Drawing in Solid Color ..........................................................148

Painting Multiple Surfaces at Once........................................149

Examining All Materials in Your Model ..................................151

Creating Materials ..............................................................152

Editing Materials..................................................................154

Replacing All of a Material in a Drawing ................................156

Sampling Existing Materials..................................................157

Undoing Changes and Canceling Operations ..........................160

Chapter 8 Using the Rotate, Scale, and Follow-Me Tools

Using Some New Tools ........................................................161

Rotating Objects ..................................................................161

Rotating Parts of Objects......................................................164

Locking the Rotate Tool’s Orientation ....................................168

Scaling 2D Objects ..............................................................171

Scaling 3D Objects ..............................................................172

Tapering Objects in 3D ........................................................175

Scaling from the Center of Objects........................................177

Setting Exact Scale ..............................................................178

Using the Follow-Me Tool ......................................................179

Chapter 9 X-Raying Objects, Creating Guides and Offsets

Getting Started....................................................................183

X-Raying Objects ..................................................................184

Offsetting Edges with the Offset Tool ....................................186

Selecting Edges to Offset ....................................................189

Creating Exact Offsets..........................................................192

Repeating Offsets on Other Surfaces ....................................194

Measuring Distances with the Tape Measure ........................195

Creating Guides with the Tape Measure Tool..........................198

Drawing Guides at Specific Offsets ......................................200

Deleting Guides ..................................................................204

Chapter 10 Dimensioning, Drawing Angles, and Getting Cross Sections of Models

Dimensioning Distances ......................................................206

Dimensioning Arcs ..............................................................208

Freezing Dimensions ............................................................209

Configuring Dimensioning Labels ..........................................211

Measuring Angles ................................................................214

Creating Guides at Specific Angles........................................217

Creating Cutaway Views of Your Model ..................................220

Reversing the Direction of a Section Cut ..............................222

 

 

9780672335471   TOC   12/17/2010