I just discovered the Sketchup free web platform and am trying to build a 3D house floorplan to provide a visual walk-thru reference. I’m making pretty good progress, but have several questions and need some help. What do I do?
Download the .skp file to your computer and upload it here so we can see what you’ve got and ask your questions.
Thank you so much, Dave, for your prompt and helpful reply! I’ve tried to follow your instruction and downloaded my Sketchup floorplan as an .skp file and upload it below. I’m not sure if I’m doing this correctly, but here are my questions:
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From the 2D view, you can see that the “face” plan of one of the two vaulted ceiling walls is NOT complete. I’ve tried to use the “line” tool to redraw and connect the points of this plane but I can’t seem to connect it.
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I’m not sure if I’m creating the windows correctly. I’m following instruction from a video that I watched, but it appears that the windows – though pulled out slightly on the inside – are only drawn on the inside and don’t appear on the outside. The video says to paint a translucent material on the window panes to make them see-thru, but do I need to “push out” that section of wall as well?
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I don’t see any option for selecting translucent “paint” on my Free version of Sketchup. Do I need to subscribe to have that option in order to make my windows see-thru? Also, I want to select “log” material for this log house model, but I don’t see that available in this Free version either; do I need to have a paid subscription to have that option?
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The small triangular window in the upper-left corner of the Great Room is NOT a component object; however, the larger triangular window immediately to the right of that IS a component object. I’ve tried to “select” the smaller window and make it a component so that I can copy and “flip” it to the right side of that window display, but when I draw a rectangle to select those individual parts of the window, it also selects the 3D wall itself. I don’t know how I was able to make the adjacent triangular window a component, but that’s what I’m trying to do.
I REALLY appreciate any advice you can offer. I’m not sure if I’m doing any of this correctly! I’m happy to upgrade to a paid Sketchup subscription, but I’m not sure if that’s what I need or which version I should purchase. I’d welcome any suggestion you have in that regard, as well.
Have a great day! And THANKS again!
floorplan minus doors.skp (260.5 KB)
Also, my Free version of Sketchup keeps reloading which is getting annoying. Is that because I’m maxxing out the capacity of the Free version and need to upgrade, or am I doing something wrong, or is that just a glitch with Sketchup?
Some general observations first:
You are not using layers/tags in a safe manner. You should always leave Layer0/untagged active and create all edges and faces to use that layer/tag. Only assign groups, components, or images to use other tags. Confusing issues usually result when one (especially a newbie) violates this practice. On the desktop, there are extensions that can repair misused tags quickly. On the web version it is a bit more tedious as you have to select edges and faces (opening a group or component for edit to access them) before assigning them to use untagged.
You also have almost all of the faces in the model reversed. That is, their back sides (shown blue) point outward and their front sides (shown white) inward. In SketchUp, the orientation of a face’s sides is a cue to what is exterior vs interior to solid objects. So, the front side should be outward on a wall and the back side toward the space between the two planes of a wall. You can reverse a selected face or set of faces by right-click->Reverse faces. You can cause a connected set of faces to match their front and back by right-click ->Orient faces.
You should be making groups or components for your walls, not just for the windows. This will avoid issues with portions “sticking” to each other as you edit.
I presume you are referring to the two white areas on this screenshot (they are actually interior sides of faces seen through the unclosed holes)?
They are not forming faces because the corners are not coplanar. It can also happen if there are tiny gaps in the border or tiny edges protruding into the border. A quick test is to draw a line between diagonally opposite corners. If triangle(s) form, the corners are not in the same plane. You can use this technique to track down where the problem(s) lie. Sometimes they can be subtle to fix and redrawing a portion of the model is the simplest course.
Your windows are drawn on the interior of the walls and project slightly out. They have no structure that passes inside or through the wall cavity to the outside of the walls. You need to add this part to the windows. You will also need to cut openings through the walls on both interior and exterior. You have the glue-to property set, but not the cut opening property. That will cut through the one face the window lies on, but not through the opposite side of the wall. Then if you paint the glass parts with a translucent material (or delete that face), you will be able to see through.
I have the Shop version so I’m not sure if this also applies to completely free, but if you open the materials panel on the right side (icon looks like a cube with an X on one side) and then click the little magnifying glass icon at upper right on the panel, it will open a larger set of materials groups. Glass and materials are one group.
You select just those entities inside a region by dragging a selection box from left to right. Sometimes you have to orbit the model a bit to align the view so that you can avoid grabbing more than you wanted. But you can also remove things from the selection by shift-clicking on them.
Steve -
THANK YOU for your prompt and helpful responses to my many questions! I’ve spent most of the weekend applying your instructions and I think I’ve got the 3D model much closer to being correct. I’ve also grouped, grouped and grouped some more which has proven extremely helpful! I still need to add the window and door details and materials, but I think the framework is functional now, with no incomplete connections or out-of-plane walls. I’ve uploaded it again for you to view if you’d like. I’m sure I’ll have more questions. Please feel free to offer any additional advice/instruction. THANKS again (327.0 KB)
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