Correct approach to drawing

SketchUp Pro
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1

Hello,

I’ve got a bit of a problem here.

So I’m still new to SketchUp and have had some good and bad days.

On NYE, I was practising for work and could understand and see the importance of making 3D objects a component.

Now: I believe I am either missing or confusing steps.

All I am seeking is advice on when to make geometry a component to draw on & if it’s safe to draw on a component (editing a components face to draw upon) to repeat the process of building a sofa.

My aim for the file provided is to create a sofa to be rounded. - I know how to round as I have to use the rounded corner plug-in tool, which I am accustomed to now.

The problem is that I would somehow edit my component and have to either remove lines, add lines, or delete faces, which would then showcase floating lines of removed geometry.

For example: when you draw first i.e a rectangle shape and you want to section this rectangle to be something else i.e the back of a sofa or the arm of a sofa etc. - at what point do you make it a component?

Is it a bad approach to draw within a component so that this new form of geometry that is being drawn and built on, becomes another new object?

and another thing:

I believe that I have made some 2D geometry a component first before drawing anything else and still along the way of manipulating the geometry, that a line or face is not a component or the component changes along the way. - can that happen?

Also, please never mind about the hidden stuff. Please just focus on the semi- curved model.

Thanks.

CARWOOD SOFA.skp - WAT THE HEck did I do here[6329].skp (439.6 KB)

2

A few questions first. Are you trying to create a Dynamic Component or is this a general modeling question? I asked because you’ve posted in the dynamic component category.
If it’s general modeling advice I’ll start with some broad advice. Bye the way sorry I can’t check your model as I’m on older versions of SU. The way folks approach their modeling can vary quite a lot. Everyone tends to develop their own work flow while still trying to maintain good general modeling practices. Try to model in the same order in which you would build the object in real life. Model individual parts and as you complete one select it and make it a group or component. This will keep your geometry from getting all “tangled up” with other parts. Keeping your parts well organized makes it easy to enter an individual group/component for editing if needed. Posting a link to the SU learning page. Spending time going over various tutorials is time well spent.

https://learn.sketchup.com/

1 Like
3

Hiya,

Apologies, I believed that the dynamic component was a form of the “nesting” technique.
I’ll try to change the tag if I can.

This is a general modelling question regarding properly drawing geometry correctly and components.
Yes, I understand what your saying.

Will definitely do so. Thank you.

4

No worries. I went ahead and moved your post into the general SU Pro section. :+1:

5

Thank you sir.

A

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6

Tracing along existing components or edges is fine. Creat a cushion, make it a component, then start making a new shape to create an arm for the sofa… that’s normal.

Your model looks fine…you’re on the right track.

For example: when you draw first i.e a rectangle shape and you want to section this rectangle to be something else i.e the back of a sofa or the arm of a sofa etc. - at what point do you make it a component?

There are no “rules” when making components (or groups). They are used to make your modelling process more convenient, for you. Components are usually helpful for repeated objects (cushions).

Nesting is a bit harder to explain by text…best to look for some videos (SketchUp Campus is a good place to start…google it).

When you are modelling, you are creating what we call “loose geometry” using the various modelling tools (line, rectangle, circle…).
Whenever you feel like it would be more convienient to copy & paste parts of your model, or to resize them, rotate them, hide them, or alter them on a regular basis… that’s when you need to make them into a group or component.

Your cushions are a perfect example. You could choose to create them all as loose geometry… or you can create one cushion, and copy & paste it several times. That’s much easier. And, if it’s a component, then you can create one cushion first and make it nice and simple…a plain box with 6 sides. Later, you can come back and add more detail (rounded edges, colour, buttons, whatever…) and all the cushions will be edted simultaneously.

In your model, if you want to extend the overall lengh of the sofa, then its’ easier to edit the frame or the arms by moving them farther apart, then adding more cushions - or resizing your cushions to fit. If all the geometry is “loose” then you’ll find that sort of process much more difficult because one change to an arm location will also drag all the cushion geometry along with it…not ideal.

However…There are no rules here, really. A very experienced modeller may create an entire sofa without actually making any components. In their model, each cushion may be joined together and without any repetition…so the entire sofa is 1 component with no individual parts. You can model that way, but it’s not easy.
Alternatively a simlarluy-experienced modeller may choose to create a sofa with lots of components…the arms, the backing cushions, seat cushions, parts of the frame, legs, even the individual buttons on each cushion… Then, if they wanted to make 10 different versions or variations of the sofa (or 10 tyoes of buttons), then it’s super easy to do that.

There’s no harm in making lots of groups or components and then Exploding them later if you dont need them.

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