A general question

SketchUp
1

Using SU 2026 for 4 months daily. I’m just wondering about how to approach building an object. I use SU at work and we are building various types of existing electronic equipment. Tomorrow I’m supposed to work on an object that is mostly a box shape, but each face curves somewhat - curves for me have been the hardest. In addition to the curves we then add details like knobs, displays, levers, etc - so we generally add things to mostly but not always flat faces.

My question is how would an experienced designer tackle this - would you try to make all of the curved surfaces first? But then it’s hard to do additional work on the faces due to the curved surfaces. Or would you make a box shape first, add the displays, knobs, cords, and other parts and try to add the curves at the end? I would probably be using curviloft to help me but I’m just wondering how you might approach something like this (I know you may to know the specific object, but my boss doesn’t want us in public forums saying what we’re doing. It’s nothing fascinating but she doesn’t want to give competition a heads up so…)

sorry if this is a beginner question, but I this will probably help me to get better. Thanks!

2

Do you want to model something like a Ps5?

3

Don’t apologies for asking questions, it’s what the forum is for. There are many talented people in here to help.

There will be many ways of doing this. If you end up with the object you want at the end, then there is no wrong way of doing it.

Do what you find is more compatible for you. It sounds like you want to model the box first as its then easier to measure the knobs and display positions.

You could model the box. Make that a group. Then model the knobs and displays and make them into individual groups. You can now go back into the box and add the curves. Make sure all the parts are Solids.

Now you can use Solid Tools to combine all the parts, if you want.

4

It would help a lot to give you advice if you could show a picture or drawing of what it is that you want to model..