Hi all. I’m a complete beginner in SketchUp, tho I’ve used MS-DOS Autocad in the distant past. Just wanted to get a newbie question out of the way. I’d rather not have to bother experienced people for a comparatively dumb question that’s been answered a million times.
In other Windows programs, I often find that if I click on “Help”, I get a User’s Manual of sorts, that explain how to use the program and what the various commands or clicks do. Does SketchUp (free) have anything like that?
P.S.: The web interface also has it’s Help menu driven from a button at the lower left on the status bar. This button is a question mark within a circle.
Thank you! These are a great help. They showed me how to lay out a rectangle on the green-red axis, with the long dimension parallel to the green axis and the short dimension parallel to the red axis.
But then when I tried to rotate it (still in the green-red plane), only one of the four lines it was made up, rotated. The result was something that wasn’t a rectangle anymore.
Is there a way to tell SketchUp to freeze the rectangle in the size and shape it presently is, so that I can click on it and move the entire thing with one stroke of the mouse, instead of moving only one of its lines while the other three stay still?
And then how to rotate the whole thing (all four lines at one) to a new angle in the red-green plane? So that now none of the four sides are parallel with either the green axis or the red axis, but the rectangle is still the same size and shape as what it started?
Other thing I’d like to do is to “lift” the rectangle (that is, move it in a direction parallel to the blue axis) to make a 3-dimensional box. This would form a second rectangle, directly above the first and at the same angle.
To help me out with a shortcut(s), can anyone clue me in on what mouse/keystroke moves would accomplish that? Hopefully when I get those basics in my head, I can carry on from there and start figuring out more and more stuff.
Window select all the members … right-click on the selected objects, … choose Make Group from the context menu.
Geometric rotation is done “about an axis” (singular). In this case about the blue (Z) axis.
Learn how use the axis lock (arrow) keys within tools. For the Rotate Tool, you can tell SketchUp what the rotational axis will be by click+dragging. So if you wish to rotate around one of the corners, you’d click and hold the corner desired, and whilst still holding, drag the mouse directly upward. When you see the “On Blue Axis” inference mouse tip, you let go and the rotational axis is set.
Now the tool is ready for the next step. Pay attention to the tool help in the status bar as you work with tools. It tells you what you can do next. In this case it wants you to align the protractor to the start of the rotation. (Ie, the “from” point.) Users usually choose one of the vertices of the geometry they are modifying.
Once that is done, the status bar ask to pick the “end” point or enter an angle. (Do not click in the measurements box, just begin typing and press ENTER when done.)
Lastly, as you learn, you should probably have the Instructor panel open so it can guide you in the use of SketchUp tools.
Just use the PushPull Tool on the face of the rectangle. Pull it directly upward.
If you wish to specify an exact amount, just pull it any amount upward, let go of the mouse and begin typing a dimension followed by ENTER. (The value entered will override the last amount pulled.)
SketchUp is generally a tool driven interface not a command driven interface like many big name CAD applications. There are shortcuts to activate tools, but after this, it’s all on you.