by Aidan Chopra

Google®

SketchUp®

FOR

DUMmIES‰

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page i

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page iv

by Aidan Chopra

Google®

SketchUp®

FOR

DUMmIES‰

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page i

Google® SketchUp® For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as per-mitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior writtenpermission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to theCopyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600.Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing,Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for theRest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related tradedress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the UnitedStates and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Google and SketchUp areregistered trademarks of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP-RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THECONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUTLIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CRE-ATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON-TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THEUNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OROTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF ACOMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THEAUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATIONOR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR-THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFOR-MATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE.FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVECHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer CareDepartment within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print maynot be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007926376

ISBN: 978-0-470-13744-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page ii

About the AuthorAidan Chopra has always had a thing for computers — his parents thoughtfully sent him to Apple camp instead of hockey lessons like everyother eight-year-old in Montreal — but he learned to draft and build physicalmodels the old-fashioned way, working for his architect father. These days,Aidan is a Product Evangelist at Google, where he’s been since that companybought SketchUp in the first part of 2006. In the three years since he gradu-ated with a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University, he’s done alot of writing and lecturing about the way software is used in design. Aidanwrites the SketchUpdate, a monthly e-mail newsletter that reaches a half mil-lion SketchUp users worldwide. He has taught architecture at the universitylevel and, at Google, works on ways to mediate between power and usability;he believes the best software in the world isn’t worth a darn if nobody canfigure out how it works. Aidan is based in Boulder, Colorado, even though heis what many would consider to be the diametric opposite of a world-classendurance athlete.

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page iii

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page iv

DedicationFor my parents, Jenny and Shab, and my brother, Quincy, because I love themvery much.

Author’s AcknowledgmentsFor helping in all the ways that it is possible to help with a book — offering technical advice, lending a critical ear, providing moral support and encouragement — I’d like to thank Sandra Winstead, with whom I liveand work. It’s rare to find everything you need in a single person, and I can’timagine having written this book without her.

I’d like to thank Chris Dizon for agreeing to be the Technical Editor for thisvolume; I can’t think of anyone who brings more enthusiasm and curiosity to everything he does. As a dyed-in-the-wool SketchUpper who uses the soft-ware even more than I do, I knew he’d do a bang-up job of keeping me honest,and he did.

I thank Kyle Looper, Becky Huehls, and John Edwards, my editors at Wiley,for making what I fully expected to be a painful process not so at all. It was adelight to work with a team of such intelligent, thoughtful, and well-meaningprofessionals; I only hope I’m half as lucky on the next book I write.

Finally, I need to thank the very long list of individuals who provided criticalhelp. From clearing the way for me to be able to write this book to patientlyexplaining things more than once, I owe the following people (and almost certainly a few more) a whole lot: Tommy Acierno, Brad Askins, John Bacus,Brian Brewington, Brian Brown, Todd Burch, Chris Campbell, Mark Carvalho,Chris Cronin, Steve Dapkus, Jonathan Dormondy, Bill Eberle, Joe Esch, RichFeit, Jody Gates, Toshen Golias, Scott Green, Barry Janzen, Tyson Kartchner,Chris Keating, Mark Limber, Allyson McDuffie, Millard McQuaid, Tyler Miller,Parker Mitchell, Alok Priyadarshi, Brad Schell, Mike Springer, Tricia Starr,Bryce Stout, James Therrien, Mason Thrall, Nancy Trigg, Tushar Udeshi, John Ulmer, David Vicknair, Greg Wirt, and Tom Wyman.

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page v

Publisher’s AcknowledgmentsWe’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration formlocated at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Rebecca Huehls

Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper

Copy Editor: John Edwards

Technical Editor: Chris Dizon

Editorial Manager: Leah P. Cameron

Media Development and Quality Assurance:Angela Denny, Kate Jenkins, Steven Kudirka, Kit Malone

Media Development Coordinator:Jenny Swisher

Media Project Supervisor:Laura Moss-Hollister

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Senior Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Jennifer Theriot

Layout and Graphics: Shawn Frazier, Barbara Moore, Laura Pence, Heather Ryan,Christine Williams

Proofreaders: Aptara, Jessica Kramer, Charles Spencer

Indexer: Aptara

Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico

Special HelpJennifer Riggs, Heidi Unger

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

01_137444 ffirs.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page vi

Contents at a GlanceIntroduction .................................................................1

Part I: Getting Started with SketchUp............................7Chapter 1: Meeting Google SketchUp ..............................................................................9Chapter 2: Establishing the Modeling Mind-set............................................................21Chapter 3: Getting Off to a Running Start......................................................................55

Part II: Modeling in SketchUp .....................................71Chapter 4: Building Buildings .........................................................................................73Chapter 5: Keeping Your Model Organized.................................................................119Chapter 6: Going Beyond Buildings .............................................................................145Chapter 7: Modeling with Photographs.......................................................................169

Part III: Viewing Your Model in Different Ways ..........195Chapter 8: Changing Your Model’s Appearance with Styles.....................................197Chapter 9: Working with Light and Shadow................................................................227Chapter 10: Presenting Your Model Inside SketchUp ................................................245

Part IV: Sharing What You’ve Made ...........................271Chapter 11: Working with Google Earth and the 3D Warehouse ..............................273Chapter 12: Printing Your Work....................................................................................291Chapter 13: Exporting Images and Animations ..........................................................307Chapter 14: Exporting to CAD, Illustration, and Other Modeling Software ............327Chapter 15: Creating Presentation Documents with LayOut....................................351

Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................379Chapter 16: Ten SketchUp Traps and Their Work-arounds ......................................381Chapter 17: Ten Plugins, Extensions, and Resources Worth Getting.......................387Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Discover Even More............................................................393

Index .......................................................................397

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page vii

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page viii

Table of ContentsIntroduction..................................................................1

About This Book...............................................................................................1Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................4

Part I: Getting Started with SketchUp..................................................4Part II: Modeling in SketchUp ...............................................................5Part III: Viewing Your Model in Different Ways ...................................5Part IV: Sharing What You’ve Made......................................................5Part V: The Part of Tens.........................................................................6

Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................6

Part I: Getting Started with SketchUp ............................7

Chapter 1: Meeting Google SketchUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Things You Ought to Know Right Away ......................................................10Where SketchUp Fits in Google’s World ......................................................10Comparing SketchUp to Other 3D Modeling Programs.............................11

Cruising up the shallow learning curve.............................................11Understanding the difference between paper and clay ..................12

What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Expect SketchUp to Do.......................13Taking the Ten-Minute SketchUp Tour ........................................................15

Hanging out at the menu bar ..............................................................17Checking the status bar.......................................................................18Taking a peek at the dialog boxes ......................................................18

Chapter 2: Establishing the Modeling Mind-set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21It’s All about Edges and Faces ......................................................................22

Living on (with, actually) the edge ....................................................22Facing the facts about faces................................................................23Understanding the relationship between edges and faces .............25

Drawing in 3D on a 2D Screen.......................................................................27Giving instructions with the drawing axes........................................28Keeping an eye out for inferences......................................................29Using inferences to help you model...................................................30

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page ix

Warming Up Your SketchUp Muscles ..........................................................32Getting the best view of what you’re doing ......................................32Drawing edges with ease .....................................................................35Injecting accuracy into your model ...................................................36Selecting what you mean to select.....................................................41Moving and copying like a champ......................................................43Making and using guides .....................................................................49Painting your faces with color and texture.......................................52

Chapter 3: Getting Off to a Running Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Setting Things Up ...........................................................................................55Making a Quick Model ...................................................................................58Slapping On Some Paint ................................................................................64Giving Your Model Some Style......................................................................67Switching On the Sun.....................................................................................68Sharing Your Masterpiece.............................................................................70

Part II: Modeling in SketchUp......................................71

Chapter 4: Building Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73Drawing Floors and Walls..............................................................................74

Starting out in 2D..................................................................................75Coming up with a simple plan ............................................................80Going from 2D to 3D.............................................................................86Adding doors and windows ................................................................89

Staring Down Stairs........................................................................................94The Subdivided Rectangles method ..................................................95The Copied Profile method .................................................................98The Treads Are Components method..............................................100

Raising the Roof ...........................................................................................102Building flat roofs with parapets ......................................................105Creating eaves for buildings with pitched roofs ............................105Constructing gabled roofs.................................................................107Making hip roofs.................................................................................111Sticking your roof together ...............................................................113

Chapter 5: Keeping Your Model Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119Taking Stock of Your Organization Options..............................................120Grouping Things Together ..........................................................................121Working with Components..........................................................................122

What makes components so great? .................................................122Exploring the Components dialog box ............................................124Creating your own components .......................................................130

Google SketchUp For Dummies x

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page x

Falling in Love with the Outliner................................................................135Taking a good look at the Outliner...................................................135Making good use of the Outliner ......................................................137

Discovering the Ins and Outs of Layers ....................................................137What layers are — and what they’re not.........................................138Using layers in SketchUp...................................................................139Staying out of trouble ........................................................................140

Putting It All Together .................................................................................141

Chapter 6: Going Beyond Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145Modeling Symmetrically: Good News for Lazy People............................146

Working smarter by only building half ............................................147The coolest things since radially sliced bread...............................150

Extruding with Purpose: Follow Me...........................................................153Using Follow Me..................................................................................154Making lathed forms like spheres and bottles................................156Creating extruded shapes like gutters and handrails....................158Subtracting from a model with Follow Me ......................................163

Chapter 7: Modeling with Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169Painting Faces with Photos.........................................................................170

Adding photos to faces......................................................................170Editing your textures .........................................................................173Modeling on top of photo textures ..................................................180

Modeling Directly from a Photo: Introducing Photo Match ...................184Looking at all the pretty colors ........................................................184Creating a new Photo Match.............................................................186Modeling with Photo Match..............................................................189

Part III: Viewing Your Model in Different Ways ...........195

Chapter 8: Changing Your Model’s Appearance with Styles . . . . . . .197Choosing How and Where to Apply Styles ...............................................197Applying Styles to Your Models .................................................................198Making Changes to Styles ...........................................................................202

Tweaking edge settings......................................................................203Changing the way faces look.............................................................209Setting up the background ................................................................213Working with watermarks .................................................................214Tweaking modeling settings..............................................................218Mixing styles to create new ones .....................................................218

xiTable of Contents

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page xi

Saving and Sharing Styles You Make .........................................................221Saving the styles you’ve made..........................................................221Working with Style Library options .................................................223Creating and sharing a library for the styles you make ................224Sharing styles with other models.....................................................225

Chapter 9: Working with Light and Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227Discovering SketchUp’s Shadow Settings .................................................228

Turning on the sun .............................................................................228Setting a shadow’s time and date.....................................................229Choosing where shadows are displayed .........................................230

Using Shadows to Add Depth and Realism...............................................231Lighting indoor spaces ......................................................................231Making 3D objects “pop” ...................................................................235Conveying depth in 2D views............................................................236

Creating Accurate Shadow Studies............................................................237Telling SketchUp where you are .......................................................237Displaying accurate shadows for a given time and place .............239Animating a shadow study................................................................240

Chapter 10: Presenting Your Model Inside SketchUp . . . . . . . . . . . . .245Exploring Your Creation on Foot................................................................246

These tools were made for walking .................................................246Stopping to look around....................................................................248Setting your field of view...................................................................249

Taking the Scenic Route ..............................................................................250Creating scenes...................................................................................251Moving from scene to scene .............................................................252Modifying scenes after you’ve made ’em ........................................255

Mastering the Sectional Approach.............................................................260Cutting plans and sections................................................................261Creating section animations with scenes........................................268

Part IV: Sharing What You’ve Made............................271

Chapter 11: Working with Google Earth and the 3D Warehouse . . .273Getting the Big (3D) Picture........................................................................274Taking the Ten-Minute Tour of Google Earth............................................274

Getting Google Earth..........................................................................275Getting your first dose.......................................................................276

Building Models for Google Earth..............................................................278Understanding the process...............................................................278Finding a site and bringing it into SketchUp...................................279

Google SketchUp For Dummies xii

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page xii

Modeling on a Google Earth snapshot.............................................280Viewing your model in Google Earth ...............................................286

Becoming a SketchUp All-Star with the 3D Warehouse...........................288Getting to the Google 3D Warehouse ...............................................288Uploading your models .....................................................................289

Chapter 12: Printing Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291Printing from a Windows Computer ..........................................................291

Making a basic print (Windows).......................................................292Decoding the Windows Print dialog box .........................................293

Printing from a Mac .....................................................................................298Making a basic print (Mac) ...............................................................298Deciphering the Mac printing dialog boxes....................................299

Printing to a Particular Scale ......................................................................302Preparing to print to scale ................................................................302Printing to scale (Windows and Mac)..............................................303

Chapter 13: Exporting Images and Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307Exporting 2D Images of Your Model ..........................................................307

Exporting a raster image from SketchUp ........................................308Looking at SketchUp’s raster formats..............................................312Making sure that you’re exporting enough pixels..........................316

Making Movies with Animation Export .....................................................320Getting ready for prime time ............................................................320Exporting a movie ..............................................................................321Figuring out the Animation Export options settings .....................324

Chapter 14: Exporting to CAD, Illustration, and Other Modeling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327

Exporting Drawings in 2D............................................................................328Sizing up the export formats.............................................................328Exporting a 2D drawing .....................................................................329Getting to know PDF and EPS ...........................................................329Coming to terms with DXF and DWG (in 2D) ..................................335Peeking at EPIX ...................................................................................338

Exporting 3D Data for Other Software.......................................................340Gathering your marbles (so that you don’t lose them later) .......341Getting a handle on OBJ, FBX, XSI, and DAE (Collada)..................343Wrapping your head around 3DS .....................................................345Dealing with VRML .............................................................................347Handling DWG and DXF (in 3D) ........................................................349

xiiiTable of Contents

02_137444 ftoc.qxp 5/24/07 10:05 PM Page xiii