How almost an identical object from scratch

SketchUp
1

Hi everybody.

I’d like to do from scratch almost an identical object to this one (it’s a chair leg):

Almost all the object seems to be made using the follow me tool.

I’d like to know what lenght and angle measurements I should do, and how many guide lines do I need.
is it possible to take note (make it impressed) about the angles with some tool?

This is the file if it was needed.

chair_leg.skp (207.0 KB)

Thanks in advance.

2

Protractor tool can help you here ether on the line used to make the follow me, or on the surface of the tube. Use arrow keys to lock it in a given plane.

702×642 720 KB

1 Like
3

Thank you, but I would like to take notes in the image itself like if I were to send the project to an architect or something like that.

But how can i take note of the angles in the same way I do for the lenght?

For example something like this for the shape of follow me tool could work.

461×619 3.37 KB

4

I guess I also can write the angle the protactor tells me using text label tool.
Thank you.

5

Or you could use the free Angular Dimension 2 plugin from Sketchucation Plugin Store. You can register free, then sign in and download that plugin and many other useful ones.

Or better, install the SketchUcation plugin first, then use it to manage the installation of others from the store.

1 Like
6

Thank you both for the recommendations, @john_mcclenahan and @endlessfix

7

There are plugins to do this ‘angular dimension’ for you…

or the newer

If you had ‘Pro’ you could do this directly within Layout…
However, your profile says you are using the limited version, ‘Make’…
BUT you talk of sending details to an architect - that suggests a commercial use, which is not allowed when using Make - but that is another issue altogether !

8

Thank you @TIG.

Anyway, about architect stuff it was only a supossition because what I wanted to make clear what I wanted was take meassurements for myselft to have references to reproduce a little model like that. I just know little basics about this program, and I do as a hobby, I don’t sell anything :slight_smile:

9

Ok, I think I got what I was looking aligning axes and using squares as guides:

1328×860 81.1 KB

And also this shape:

1328×860 36.2 KB

This has been the files involved (I divided it into four steps):

chair_from_scratch.skp (79.2 KB)
chair_from_scratch2.skp (79.2 KB)
chair_from_scratch3.skp (78.3 KB)
chair_from_scratch4.skp (205.8 KB)

The final result has been almost identical (identical to me):

What I was looking for with all of this is find a way in which you can give references the way you final result will be the same that other person do following instructions.

10

End result looks pretty good.

A few suggestions:
1 What are the uneven ends for inside the straight leg, that belong to the other combined leg and arm? You could delete them as they aren’t seen. Use Intersect Faces to split the arm where it joins the leg, then hide the straignt leg and delete the excess on the arm

You might need to work on a scaled up copy for the Intersect Faces, because SU doesn’t work well creating very small faces with edges smaller than about 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. Search the forum for ‘the Dave method’ of doing just that.

2 You don’t need nearly so many segments (though I know it was probably the default - six per quarter circle) in the FollowMe profile you are using. It creates many more faces than you need for almost any purpose I can think of. I’m guessing that no more than 6 segments per half-circle at the ends of the oval cross section would be plenty to look well, and even three or four might work well enough, too, depending on how close-up you want to view the model in the finished result. If it just for a chair as a subcomponent to ‘furnish’ a house, surprisingly few segments are quite enough for a room-scale view…

3 Why do you have the diameters inside the profile for FollowMe?

You shouldn’t need them to draw the oval, and I see you haven’t used them later (there would be lines on the tubes if you had).

4 You probably want ends on the tubes.

5 You should make both of the parts (leg, and arm plus leg) into components, and either include them in a finished chair as separate sub components, mirrored to the other side, or even make the pair into one component called something like ‘chair side frame’. Or at the least, make the whole object into a single component ‘chair side frame’.

But again, a nice looking result, and you’ve got the steps pretty well sorted.

11

Thanks again @john_mcclenahan for your time.

  1. I deleted some edges and I knew it had uneven ends, but I didn’t care as much they weren’t visible, I thought I could be more precise but it wasn’t necessary for me. I considered to delete them on a more precise way but I didn’t think about using intersecting faces, that’s a good point ;).

I’ll take a look at Dave method.

Thanks for the recommendation about working on a scale up

3) To find the center, is there a better way? I deleted diameters and the face before using follow me tool.

  1. During the process I run into this problem:

I used A and then B as way to apply the follow me, that causes that the bottom and top faces are not parallel to the ground. I had to use scale trying to fix it.

  1. Yeah, this leg belongs to one model from the 3d warehouse
    HF 798 | 3D Warehouse

I was inspecting in outline window how they did the model and they did a group for the leg, then I guess it copied it and mirrored, and then they made a group that contains the two group legs. (Components should be probably better choice).

Thanks in advance.

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