10 Sketchup Tips Every Modeler Should Know

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

Are you a Sketchup noob, looking to jump right in and start creating amazing 3D models? Before you skim over the help menu or spend hours watching video tutorials, learn these few tips and you’ll be modeling in no time.

Sketchup: No Instructions Needed

Most people know that Sketchup has the reputation of being the easiest way to learn 3D modeling. So easy, in fact, that a lot of people (including myself) jump right in without reading any sort of manual or help file and try to start modeling. We just choose a tool by looking at the icon and guessing at what it actually does.

Hmmm, this rectangle looking thing must create a rectangle… Clicking on the screen, you quickly discover how to draw something. Woo hoo! You then click on the button with the red arrow on it (push/pull) and extrude your first 3D shape in Sketchup…

To be able to jump right into a program like this and actually be successful at creating something is an incredible accomplishment for the developers who create and maintain Sketchup. But I’ve discovered that there are a lot of people out there who start out with Sketchup, but never take the next step and learn a few tricks that keep them on the right track. They quickly become frustrated when things don’t act the way we expect them to in Sketchup. We learn bad habits, or we spend so much time doing things that are actually really simple once you know a few tips.

Sketchup Tutorial – Create a Custom Bracket for 3D Printing

Matt DonleyFabrication, News, Sketchup Tutorials

After coming back from the Maker Faire in NY, one thing that really surprised me was how popular 3D printing is becoming. These days, you can purchase a 3D printer for under a thousand dollars and actually print out a real object from your digital model. I’ve been learning a little bit about 3D printing at the AS220 labs, but I have yet to purchase my own 3D printer. Regardless, I wanted to show you how easy it is to use Sketchup to create a simple bracket that you can print out on a 3D printer.

Rapid Desktop Prototyping

While at the Maker Faire, I had the honor of meeting many of the Trimble team members who develop Sketchup. They had a few 3D printers set up at their tent so they could show people how you could model something in Sketchup, then print it out instantly on the 3D printer. At one point they were presented with an engineering challenge.

The man in charge of connecting everybody with Wifi at the faire had a problem. He was looking to mount a piece of hardware to a round pole and looked to the Sketchup guys to come up with a solution. They were able to model something quickly in Sketchup, and print it out for him so he could mount the gear to the pole. The first prototype actually snapped during a stress test, so they just made some modifications to the design and printed out another one. How cool is that?

Creating a simple bracket in Sketchup is easy. In this tutorial, we’ll model a base plate with two arms. Now, unfortunately, I don’t have a 3D printer so I won’t be printing this out. I know, that’s lame. But you can use the same concepts in the design of this bracket to make any custom bracket for your needs.

Sketchup Tutorial – Custom Bracket

  1. Draw the Base

    Starting with the Rectangle Tool (R), Click once to start the rectangle, then move the mouse out and click again to finish the rectangle. To specify a precise dimension, type in 2",2" then press ENTER.

    Remember, you can also type in your dimensions right after your first click when you start the rectangle. It’s your choice. I like to do it after because sometimes I’ll accidentally move my mouse as I’m typing in a number and it will clear whatever I just typed in.

  2. Extrude the Base

    Using the Push/Pull Tool (P), extrude the rectangle into a 3D object. Click once on the surface of the rectangle to start, then pull up. Click again to finish. Type in 1/4" then ENTER to specify the height at 1/4″.

Sketchup Groups and the Outliner Tutorial

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

Learning how to effectively use groups is one of the most important things you should know about Sketchup. The Outliner provides a way for you to keep track of all the groups you have made in the model by assigning a name to them, and viewing the hierarchy of how they are organized.

Groups provide organization


If you are making any type of complex model in Sketchup, you should be using groups to separate the parts of your model. Not only does grouping quarantine geometry from the rest of the model, but it also allows you to hide other parts of the model you aren’t currently working on, increasing your processing speed.

Components are very similar to groups, except that each instance of a component is an exact replica of one another. If any changes are made to one component, all copies of that component reflect those changes as well. Groups are independent from one another, meaning that once you’ve created a copy, you can edit one of them and the changes do not affect the other instances of that similar group. Each one is independent from the next.

For the sake of this article, we will be talking mostly about groups, but you should understand the differences between the two. However, the bounding box system acts the same whether it is a component or a group, so I don’t need to differentiate between the two in this context.

Groups – A collection of faces and edges within a model that are isolated from other parts of the model.

  • Anything protected in a group cannot by affected by any geometry outside of that group.
  • To manipulate faces or edges within a group, or to add geometry to a group, that group must first be “activated” by double clicking on it.
  • If you draw a shape on something that is in a group, it won’t “stick” to the object unless you open the group first.
  • Groups can contain “loose geometry”, guides, section planes, dimensions, text, or other groups.
  • Groups can be manipulated as an assembly. (Move, rotate, scale, paint, copy, etc)
  • Groups have their own independent 3-axis from the rest of the model, and it can be reoriented
  • Copies of groups are independent from one another. Once a copy is made, any changes made to one instance of that group do NOT affect the other copies of that group.

Components – Similar to groups, except that each copy of a component remains identical to its original. Any changes made to an instance of a component are automatically reflected to each instance of that component.

  • If you want to make an instance of a component unique from its counterparts, you can right click it, and select “Make Unique”.

It’s Youtube for 3D Models

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

Most of us know about the 3D warehouse, where you can upload your Sketchup models and share them with the world. But what if you wanted to upload you models not so other people could download them, but so they could interact with your model right from their browser?

Showcase your 3D models with Sketchfab

Sketchfab Website
If you noticed in my last post, I had embedded a model of a house I built in Sketchup. The cool thing was that you could actually interact with the model by orbiting and zooming around. And it works REALLY well.

How did I do this? I uploaded my model to my account on Sketchfab. Once you upload, your model will show up on your dashboard, and you can copy and paste the embed code onto any website. The great part is that the end user does not need to download any special plugins. Since Sketchfab is built on WebGL technology, they only need to have a modern browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Sketchfab embed example:

Here’s the new Iphone 5, as modeled by Mestaty. Just click and drag the model to orbit. Scroll to zoom, and middle mouse button click to pan.

Sketchfab offers a free account that allows you to upload 10 models. For about $12/mo, you can upgrade to Pro and Sketchfab will host up to 100 models for you. The thing I really like about Sketchfab is how simple it is to use. Everything just works!

How to upload your model to Sketchfab

  1. Create an account on Sketchfab Go to Sketchfab and create your own account. Currently, you can login with your existing Twitter or Google account, making the setup that much easier. (I used my Google Account to login with. It’s nice because as long as you’re logged in under your Google account, you’ll never have to fill out a username and password when you go to Sketchfab.)
  2. Download the Sketchup Exporter/Uploader Sketchfab has an Uploader plugin for Sketchup, thanks to a Sketchfab fan, Alex Schreyer. This makes it very easy to upload your model to your Sketchfab account right from the file menu in Sketchup.

How To Set Up Your Sketchup Model For Layout – (VIDEO)

Matt DonleyLayout Tutorials, News, Sketchup Tutorials

If you have Sketchup Pro, you have Layout. It’s the companion software package for Sketchup that helps you prepare your model in 2D perspective views for printing out on paper. One of the most common tasks you’ll have to do for Layout is prepare your model for importing. It’s easy, and it’s best to spend a little more time in Sketchup to configure your scenes before you even open Layout.

Prepare Scenes in Sketchup FIRST, then import into Layout

Layout does have some built in camera tools, allowing you to “open” your imported Sketchup model right from Layout and orbit the model. But you just don’t have as much control as you do from Sketchup. So as you’re planning out your Layout document, think about what types of views you’ll want to get, then open your model in Sketchup to find those views and save them as scenes.

When you are using Sketchup for architecture or construction, you’ll find there are many views you need to capture from each model. Make sure you label each scene as you create it so you can reference the name when selecting it in Layout. These are some typical views I like to configure, then save as scenes in Sketchup.

  1. Modeling View – This is just a scene to save my default modeling settings. As you start configuring your other scenes, you’ll want to go back to modeling and this scene will get you back there fast.
  2. Top View – Bird’s eye view from directly over head. You can just select the preset top view button in Sketchup. Don’t worry if the view is not rotated correctly. You can easily rotate it in Layout.
  3. Perspective View – I like to put a nice 3D “Sketchy” perspective view right on the front page of the drawings. I usually crank the field of view up to 60 to get a nice perspective view. (Camera --> Field of View --> 60)
  4. Elevation views – Most of the pages will be elevation views. (Elevation views are the perspectives as if you are standing directly in front of something, looking straight at it.) You’ll typically have multiple elevations in a drawing set.

Design Pinewood Derby Cars With Symmetry in Sketchup

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

Symmetry can be found everywhere. It can be found in man-made design and in nature. Sketchup has a very easy way to help you model symmetrical. This is perfect if you are looking to model your Pinewood Derby car in Sketchup. If not, these same principles can be used in many different modeling applications.

Reflection symmetry

Think of a butterfly. Each wing is symmetrical to the other. This means that they are both shaped exactly the same way, but mirrored to each other. So when the butterfly folds it’s wings together, they match perfectly. This is called reflection symmetry, or bilateral symmetry.

As the wings of a butterfly can be thought of as a flat, 2D shape, reflection symmetry can apply to a 3D shape as well. Most cars are symmetrical. If you were to split a car down the middle from front to back, each half would be symmetrical to each other.

Reflection symmetry can be easily achieved using reflected Components within Sketchup.

Sketchup Tutorial | How to create a vase

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

This is a step by step tutorial on how to create a simple vase in Sketchup. It will provide you with a good understanding of the Arc Tool Arc Tool (A), Offset Tool Offset tool (F), and the Follow Me Tool Follow Me tool . No Sketchup experience is necessary to follow this tutorial.

To start modeling a vase, you need to create a profile outline of the vase. We will then extrude the profile around a circle path to create the vase. Sketchup makes this task pretty easy using the Follow Me Tool Follow Me tool. You might want to look for a picture of a vase, or go find one in your house. It really helps to have something in front of you that can guide you with modeling proportions.

Watch the video, or follow the step by step directions below.

Step 1 – Draw a Rectangle

Before you start drawing the profile, it’s a good idea to just create a surface that you can draw on. It just makes it a lot easier for the drawing tools to inference the same plane when you have a face to drawn on. Go ahead and create an upright rectangle, and turn it into a group so our profile doesn’t stick to it.

Sketchup Tutorial | How to create a quick floor plan

Matt DonleyNews, Sketchup Tutorials

Some people think that when you create a model in Sketchup, it needs to be a big complex monster model in order for it to be anything of value. But a lot of times I find I can use Sketchup to solve little problems very quickly and effectively.

For example, I recently installed new flooring in my house, and I needed to calculate the square footage of the rooms I needed flooring in. In a typical room this is fairly easy. You measure the width and length of the room, and multiply them together to get the area.

But in my case, I needed to calculate the area of my living room that is open to my kitchen so I had a lot of funny corners and cabinets to measure around. Then the task of figuring out the area meant trying to split up the dimensions into logical squares so I could easily calculate the square footage; It was starting to look like a homework assignment from back in high school. Instead, I turned to Sketchup to draw my floor plan.