Ya, a mouse with a scroll wheel is pretty essential. I use a Space Navigator with my mouse. The navigator is handy for making big moves in large drawings and if you want to do multiple things like click and drag with the mouse and pan the drawing at the same time. They are relatively cheap, and easy to use once you get used to them.
I always get a chuckle when I see someones SU drawing and that guy is still there! I always erase him…I don't like the way he looks at me. The ESC key is also useful when using the tape measure tool. It is in mark mode by default, which means it will leave snap marks when you measure. You can turn this off using the CNTRL key to toggle back and forth between creating construction geometry or not. An easy way around this is just start the tool, click on where you want to start your measurement, then just let the cursor naturally snap to the point you want to finish your measurement…but don't click. Once you get your measurement just hit the ESC key and you will reset the tape without leaving a snap mark. Previous versions of SU the tape tool didn't leave marks until you hit CNTRL..I liked that better!In the beginning.....
So the journey begins. The trip is short this morning because I've got to start work shortly.
I'm a beginner at this program so thsy's where we are starting. I will do my best to answer, or find answers to all questions. Everyoneis welcomed to chime in with questions, answers, or corections to my answers.
So like I said short and sweet this morning.
First - definitely get a mouse with a scrool wheel-even if you have a laptop. I got my mouse out last night and it makes a HUGE difference in using the program.
Next when you open a new sheet there's this man standing there. Ten points to the one who can tell me his name! I know it already. Anyway - I don't like the guy. He's a sexist slob. How do I know this? because he appears to be walking and he has his head turned in the "Wow that's a good looking woman" turn.Just kidding guys.
To get rid of the little guy - use the select tool, the little arrow in the top left corner to select him and then right click and scroll up to erase or hide. You can also just click on him and then right click.
I believe to make him go away permanently you need to make a template. I'll get into that later this weekend when my home internet is fixed and I have more time.
"Snip"--you know what that is right-- snip a stray thread off your shirt or you snip at your wife-- wait that must be snap at your wife--sorry.
Snip is how you can stop what ever you are trying to do from happening again. Say, for instance you are drawing a line and are done and want now to draw a circle. You move your cursor to select the cricle but you are still dragging a line along for the ride to the circle tool.
To stop drawing your line, or rectangle or circle, etc. when you finish with the action press the "esc" or escape button. This "snips" off the line,ectangle, etc. and you can go merrily to another action.
OK, gotta go for now. Will do more exploring and more indepth blog this weekend.
Thanks guys and rememberEveryoneis welcomed to chime in with questions, answers, or corections to my answers.
Your Welcome!In the beginning.....
So the journey begins. The trip is short this morning because I've got to start work shortly.
I'm a beginner at this program so thsy's where we are starting. I will do my best to answer, or find answers to all questions. Everyoneis welcomed to chime in with questions, answers, or corections to my answers.
So like I said short and sweet this morning.
First - definitely get a mouse with a scrool wheel-even if you have a laptop. I got my mouse out last night and it makes a HUGE difference in using the program.
Next when you open a new sheet there's this man standing there. Ten points to the one who can tell me his name! I know it already. Anyway - I don't like the guy. He's a sexist slob. How do I know this? because he appears to be walking and he has his head turned in the "Wow that's a good looking woman" turn.
To get rid of the little guy - use the select tool, the little arrow in the top left corner to select him and then right click and scroll up to erase or hide. You can also just click on him and then right click.
I believe to make him go away permanently you need to make a template. I'll get into that later this weekend when my home internet is fixed and I have more time.
"Snip"--you know what that is right-- snip a stray thread off your shirt or you snip at your wife-- wait that must be snap at your wife--sorry.
Snip is how you can stop what ever you are trying to do from happening again. Say, for instance you are drawing a line and are done and want now to draw a circle. You move your cursor to select the cricle but you are still dragging a line along for the ride to the circle tool.
To stop drawing your line, or rectangle or circle, etc. when you finish with the action press the "esc" or escape button. This "snips" off the line,ectangle, etc. and you can go merrily to another action.
OK, gotta go for now. Will do more exploring and more indepth blog this weekend.
Thanks guys and rememberEveryoneis welcomed to chime in with questions, answers, or corections to my answers.
It's great that your taking the time to get into the really basic details that sometimes are "assumed" that people know already. A few thoughts..Tools - general stuff
So now we have to take a look at tools. There are LOTS and LOTS of tools to look at. But the three most important are the zoom, orbit and pan tools. It seems that their importance are in that order.
Again, I've definitely discovered that if you don't have a mouse you better get one. You can do everything with your keyboard and cursor - but you'll save yourself a whole bunch of aggravation by getting a good mouse.
Moving the scroll wheel back and forth zooms in and out. This replaces the tool that looks like a magnifying glass on the menu bar. This feature helps you to move in close to any particular portion of your project that you want to work on at any one time. When you have a lot of different portions of a project on the screen the zoom feature will be a big advantage. (Layers is another feature that will be useful as zooming - but that's way ahead of where we are now.)
Pressing and holding the scroll wheel down orbits - allowing you to move around the object and see it on all sides. This replaces the icon that looks like two arrows going in a circle. (It's the one right next to that ghostly looking hand.) You want to become an expert at orbiting-- you'll thank yourself for obtaining this little talent. Picture yourself wanting to look at the back of your house. The only way to do that is to walk from the front to the back-- orbiting is like walking to the back yard.
The pan tool-- that ghostly looking hand - this allows you to move the object around the window. It does not spin the object - just moves it from one side of the window to another. The mouse, in my opinion is less useful with this particular tool. To use the mouse you need to hold down the scroll wheel and at the same time hold the shift key down. This makes the pan tool appear - then moving the mouse around (all the while holding the wheel and shift key down) will make the object move around. I think it is easier to use the icon - you have to select the icon then hold the LEFT mouse button down to move the icon/object around. I just think it's easier to have to hold only one thing down at a time.
Those are the three tools you MUST get a grasp on before getting very far.
Hopefully I'm not going to slow for everyone--I'm sorry if I am-- I am taking a long time to get the hang of the program. One thing that I think is very helpful is to just start "sketching" and clicking and doing the little things to get a feel for what each tool does.
I think that the biggest shortfall of any book, article, blog, or instruction on any topic is that the person who is writing or teaching leaves out some of the little things that make such a big difference to actually using the program-- I call those things the "Ah now I get it" things. The writer or teacher does not leave these things out intentionally, but the little things are just taken for granted. These are the things that I need to figure out to use the program. So that's what I'm going to try to do here.
Hopefully it won't be too boring. But we are going to take baby steps. I figure I have till about September before I can get back in the shop so that leaves a lot of time for baby steps! Not really, while I have until September, I won't really go that slow.
One assumption that I've made that is not necessarily wrong as a whole, but is not exactly right-- (did you get that?) is that everything starts out as a shape - in other words you have to start with a rectangle or circle or triangle, etc. This is not right.
The important thing is that you have to have an edge and a face to get anything done. You can accomplish this with the line tool (the pencil) - you don't have to start with a "shape."
Just try this-- select the pencil tool, click on any spot then move your cursor to another spot and click again. You now have a line. Because it is a single line attached to nothing in particular it will be a dark line.
Now something about lines and SU in general. As you drew your line did you notice what color it was? If it was green, red or blue that means you are drawing parallel to one of those axes. If the line is black as you are drawing - that means you are not parallel to any axis. Most of the time you want to be parallel to an axis - that will make everything that comes after easier.
Now back to that line-- if you have not moved your cursor from where you clicked the second time, you may notice that green dot at the end of the line - that dot - no matter the color is called an "inference" you need to pay attention to those little dots. The green dots indicates that you are at the end of the line and if you click again while that dot is green and move your cursor around you will begin drawing a new line from the "end" of the first. If you move your cursor so that the green dot disappears along the line it should turn red, this indicates that if you start drawing from there that your new line will begin on an edge not the end. Pretty simple. If you keep moving the dot will change to another color - light blue to my eye - indicating that you are at the midpoint or center of your original line. There are other dots or inferences to watch for. But those are the main ones to start with.
Now back to the end of your line where that green dot is take a look at the bottom right of your screen - you'll see a little box that says "length". This is the value control box. You can make this a complicated idea - but it's not. It's a dimension indication tool - that's it. Move your cursor away from the green dot and watch the box - it will show the length of your line. This will help you when you start actually drawing and want to make something a certain dimension. Don't make it a complicated thing--try to keep this simple. (That's what I keep telling myself.) If you are drawing a line - it shows length, if you are making a circle, it shows radius, etc.
Now just to complete (well not exactly complete) the thought on edges and faces-- take your line and draw four that are connected at those little dots. Once you finish that last line you'll see that the inside of the four lines turns a light black--that light black space is a "face."
Now let's play with that face. Move your cursor to the tool bar and pick up the "select" tool. That's the arrow in the upper left corner of the screen. Move the arrow over the new face and click-- that will change the texture of the face into a bunch of little dots. ANYTIME a face is selected it will have these dots. Anything that is selected will be the portion of the object that will be changed by any following action.
You can "select" by clicking as well - you don't necessarily have to use the select tool.
ok that's all for now - all this left handed typing gets tough! More later.
As always comments, suggestions, questions or corrections are always welcome.
oh and just because I don't think a blog is complete without a picture---
there - I feel better.
Hey Betsy..Putting in the legs and zooming and panning
Second try on this one. Had it almost done and it went into oblivion somewhere. Oh well - here we start again.
This is where we ended the last time.
So now it's time to place the legs. This will be another exercise in redundancy. No copying and pasting - practice practice practice. :+)
We are going to work with the bottom left leg. You need to select your rectangle tool and move it to the corner of the two guide lines. When your tool hits the corner exactly a black inference dot will show up showing that you are at the intersection of the guides. Left click the mouse once and let go. push the mouse up about an inch or so and click again. Then type in 3,3 and Enter. This gives you the dimension of your leg.
Next select your push/pull tool, which is the same tool we used to give depth/thickness to the top.
One thing you have to remember about the push/pull tool is this-whatever it is hovering over will turn to a bunch of dots--that means the tool is ready to do something to that particular part of your project. Because of that you need to be sure that the tool is on top of the new rectangle/leg. Once you have it over the leg = left click and bring the leg up. Then type 29.25 in the VCB box and hit enter.
You should now have this.
Now we want to work on the top left leg. You can see that when you place your rectangle tool there that it is not as easy to get the intersection to come into view. This is like standing at your workbench and not being able to correctly see the part you are trying to work on. So you either walk around the bench or you move the project. In this case if you physically walk around the project all you'll see is the back of your computer-- that won't help-believe me. What you want to do is to pan and zoom.
I like to pan (use that ghostly hand) and move the project to the center of the screen and then I zoom in (using the scroll wheel on the mouse) until I get a good view.
This is what my screen looks like.
Now try getting your intersection inference to show up. Place your second leg just like the first. Then zoom an d pan some more until you get all four legs in place.
Now is a good time to learn the eraser function. You cannot use the Edit drop down menu for this part - you can only use the eraser. The eraser is the flat pink tool (7th from the left).
Before you go any further have you been saving your table progress? I'm assuming you are building with me and not just reading. Maybe, please.
So anyway - now is a good time to get rid of those guide lines. You do this two ways one simple one not so hard way. The simply way if you want all of your guides to go away is to go to the Edit menu on the tool bar and drop down and select delete guides and just like that they are gone.
However,what if you need to keep one or two guides and only need to erase one or two. Hummm you do that with the eraser tool and this is how that's done.
Select the eraser tool bring it to the guide you want erased and left click near the guide - it should turn blue the click again - and it's gone
So now we have an upside down table. That's not much use to us. Use your pan and orbit tools to flip this table upright.
This is what we want to end up with.
Hope you all are getting a little something out of this. I know I am. All questions and comments welcomed.
I would go back and double check everything with the tape…make sure your guide lines are where you think they should be…make sure your tabletop is the right dimensions on all sides. Also make sure your precession is set to at least 1/16"...I usually set the snap and precession to 1/32" if I am doing furniture, and 1/16 if I am doing construction (architectural) drawing…Hall table project - starting out
Well - I'm still recovering from my surgery. Today is my first day/night at home by myself. I'm trying to keep busy by learning this Sketchup program. So far, it's beating me. But I'm still going to keep at it.
So my thought is that I can't just keep trying to make things up to learn how to do the program. I think I mentioned before that I would try to use the program to draw the hall table that I made a long, long time ago. I happen to have the prototype in my bedroom so I could get the measurements and work from there.
These are still baby steps but I have learned two very important lessons while tooling around.
If you are going to need more than one of anything in your project, such as a leg - make it a component.
If you need only one of something in a project, such as a table top - make it a group.
To me the two terms "component" and "group" are a little confusing. A "group" seems like it should be more than one thing. Not sure why they use the term the way they do, but it is what it is. Just remember if you need more than one - make it a component and if only one is used make it a group.
So the dimensions for my table are:
Top 42×14 x ¾
Legs 1.5 x. 1.5×28
Long aprons 36×5.5. x ¾
Short aprons 9.5 x. 5.5. x ¾
The front apron is divided into five individual parts.
The top and bottom pieces are 36×1.5. There are three small dividers that make the openings for the two drawers. The two dividers on the ends are 2.25×3.5 and the middle divider is 3.5×3.5 and is, of course centered across the length of the apron.
The legs are set in ¾" from the front and back edges and 1.5" from each side.
So here we go, we'll see how far I get this session.
First is to make the top. Select the rectangle tool and make a rectangle 14×42 and use the push/pull tool to bring it up to 3/4.
Use the select tool and triple click on the top so that the entire top is blue.
Right click and select "Make Group."
Once you've made the top a group - no other geometry, or parts/functions will change the top.
To change the top you just open the group and edit as desired.
Now we get into a bit of the confusing part for me. I'm going to put in some guide lines using the tape measure tool to place my legs. There are two ways to get to the bottom of the top - orbit around so that the bottom shows or right click the top and select "reverse face." I think that you need to orbit around to the bottom.
Next orbit and zoom around until you can adequately see the guide marks and use the rectangle tool to put in the first leg (1.5×1.5)
Select the rectangle and right click and select "make component". I'm going to call my component - "leg" - how creative!
Then while the component is selected - capture your "move/copy" tool and while holding down the control key (option on Macs) click on the leg component and move your mouse to the other corner. Repeat two more times.
There is a way to copy once and then select both copies and then move those copies to the other end of the table-- but I'm not sure how it's done.
Double click one of the legs to open the component.
Select the push/pull tool and pull to 28". Pulling one component will pull all four legs up.
Now orbit around to put the table back on it's feet.
Here's a big question that I'd appreciate help with.
I've used the measuring tool to measure between the inside of both front legs and that distance should be 36"-- I'm 1/8" off. How do I move the leg just a little bit to make that distance?
When I placed my leg copies I placed them to the guide marks. There must be a more accurate way to do that.
Well I think I'm done for now. I'm still having problems getting all my pictures to download - but I've got a few in here.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Is there an echo in here?Hall table project - starting out
Well - I'm still recovering from my surgery. Today is my first day/night at home by myself. I'm trying to keep busy by learning this Sketchup program. So far, it's beating me. But I'm still going to keep at it.
So my thought is that I can't just keep trying to make things up to learn how to do the program. I think I mentioned before that I would try to use the program to draw the hall table that I made a long, long time ago. I happen to have the prototype in my bedroom so I could get the measurements and work from there.
These are still baby steps but I have learned two very important lessons while tooling around.
If you are going to need more than one of anything in your project, such as a leg - make it a component.
If you need only one of something in a project, such as a table top - make it a group.
To me the two terms "component" and "group" are a little confusing. A "group" seems like it should be more than one thing. Not sure why they use the term the way they do, but it is what it is. Just remember if you need more than one - make it a component and if only one is used make it a group.
So the dimensions for my table are:
Top 42×14 x ¾
Legs 1.5 x. 1.5×28
Long aprons 36×5.5. x ¾
Short aprons 9.5 x. 5.5. x ¾
The front apron is divided into five individual parts.
The top and bottom pieces are 36×1.5. There are three small dividers that make the openings for the two drawers. The two dividers on the ends are 2.25×3.5 and the middle divider is 3.5×3.5 and is, of course centered across the length of the apron.
The legs are set in ¾" from the front and back edges and 1.5" from each side.
So here we go, we'll see how far I get this session.
First is to make the top. Select the rectangle tool and make a rectangle 14×42 and use the push/pull tool to bring it up to 3/4.
Use the select tool and triple click on the top so that the entire top is blue.
Right click and select "Make Group."
Once you've made the top a group - no other geometry, or parts/functions will change the top.
To change the top you just open the group and edit as desired.
Now we get into a bit of the confusing part for me. I'm going to put in some guide lines using the tape measure tool to place my legs. There are two ways to get to the bottom of the top - orbit around so that the bottom shows or right click the top and select "reverse face." I think that you need to orbit around to the bottom.
Next orbit and zoom around until you can adequately see the guide marks and use the rectangle tool to put in the first leg (1.5×1.5)
Select the rectangle and right click and select "make component". I'm going to call my component - "leg" - how creative!
Then while the component is selected - capture your "move/copy" tool and while holding down the control key (option on Macs) click on the leg component and move your mouse to the other corner. Repeat two more times.
There is a way to copy once and then select both copies and then move those copies to the other end of the table-- but I'm not sure how it's done.
Double click one of the legs to open the component.
Select the push/pull tool and pull to 28". Pulling one component will pull all four legs up.
Now orbit around to put the table back on it's feet.
Here's a big question that I'd appreciate help with.
I've used the measuring tool to measure between the inside of both front legs and that distance should be 36"-- I'm 1/8" off. How do I move the leg just a little bit to make that distance?
When I placed my leg copies I placed them to the guide marks. There must be a more accurate way to do that.
Well I think I'm done for now. I'm still having problems getting all my pictures to download - but I've got a few in here.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I think Dave might have hit it right on the head…I bet your guidelines aren't coplanar, or on the same plane as the front face of the apron. All it would take is a slight discrepancy , say the apron is on a very slight angle and the guidelines are perfectly straight. That might explain why one worked and the other didn't. This is a pretty common thing…SU will let you make mistakes…it will let you draw trapezoids when you think you are drawing squares or rectangles. Even with all the guides, tools, and inferences you still have to be careful and make sure things are the way you want them…ACCURATE! I can't tell you how many times 1/32" inaccuracy has bit me in the butt…you don't even realize it till you are waist deep in a complex model, and then things start to unravel and it's because something is short, or long, or skewed ever so slightly. Go back and look at things real close..get out the tape and verify your dimensions. Just a suggestion….if I was making this model I would make all the parts seperatly like they are in the real world then assemble them just like you would if you were making it out of wood. That to me is the beauty of SU and any 3D software..the ability to work things out exaclty like the real world!Hall table progress with questions at end
Today, I'm going to put in the aprons and hopefully with the help of my LJ friends the openings for the drawers.
First the aprons. This is what I what I'm going to end up with at the end of this blog session.
Use your zoom tool and pan tool to move the table around so that one of the "short end" legs are showing. (Since I've already managed to get the aprons on, I'm simply going to erase one short apron to demonstrate what I did.)
Select your rectangle tool and move it so that you get the black intersection inference dot to show (in the lower left corner at the "top" of the leg). Move the cursor up to the guide mark and over to the right slightly. Type in 5.5, .75 in the VCB box. This should give you a tall rectangle - not one on it's side.
Use the push/pull tool and pull the rectangle out 9.5". This will give you your short apron. Do the same procedure on the other end. On the front and back do the same procedure but pull out the rectangle to 36".
Now my problem - how to do the front.
What technique should I use to make the front? The front as made in the real world is 5 pieces. Top and bottom rails are 1" x 36". There are three stiles. Two stiles on the ends are 2.25×3.5 and the center stile is 3.5×3.5.
I've put in the guide lines.
Now the question should I use the line tool to outline the drawer openings or should I use the rectangle to do so?
I've drawn a separate front and did the lines and did both the line tool and the rectangle tool. I came up with the same result.
Now I've gone back to my model and drawn the lines and then used the rectangle tool. Doing this brings up the blue "face" of the drawer openings.
I've tried to use the push pull tool to push the openings and it does not go all the way out. From under the table you can see what I'm talking about.
I can get one drawer opening to push all the way to be an actual opening but the other I can't get to do the same.
So how would you do the front of this table?
Thanks in advance.
Dude…what are all those cool looking icons? Rubys? Hook me up wit dat!Hall table progress with questions at end
Today, I'm going to put in the aprons and hopefully with the help of my LJ friends the openings for the drawers.
First the aprons. This is what I what I'm going to end up with at the end of this blog session.
Use your zoom tool and pan tool to move the table around so that one of the "short end" legs are showing. (Since I've already managed to get the aprons on, I'm simply going to erase one short apron to demonstrate what I did.)
Select your rectangle tool and move it so that you get the black intersection inference dot to show (in the lower left corner at the "top" of the leg). Move the cursor up to the guide mark and over to the right slightly. Type in 5.5, .75 in the VCB box. This should give you a tall rectangle - not one on it's side.
Use the push/pull tool and pull the rectangle out 9.5". This will give you your short apron. Do the same procedure on the other end. On the front and back do the same procedure but pull out the rectangle to 36".
Now my problem - how to do the front.
What technique should I use to make the front? The front as made in the real world is 5 pieces. Top and bottom rails are 1" x 36". There are three stiles. Two stiles on the ends are 2.25×3.5 and the center stile is 3.5×3.5.
I've put in the guide lines.
Now the question should I use the line tool to outline the drawer openings or should I use the rectangle to do so?
I've drawn a separate front and did the lines and did both the line tool and the rectangle tool. I came up with the same result.
Now I've gone back to my model and drawn the lines and then used the rectangle tool. Doing this brings up the blue "face" of the drawer openings.
I've tried to use the push pull tool to push the openings and it does not go all the way out. From under the table you can see what I'm talking about.
I can get one drawer opening to push all the way to be an actual opening but the other I can't get to do the same.
So how would you do the front of this table?
Thanks in advance.
Ok…Hall table redo -- just putsing along - and questions, course
OK - so its redo time now I'm just playing a little trying to figure things out.
First off this picture is kind of messed up-not sure why my dimensions did not show correctly. But here it is.
I managed to get my legs spaced correctly at 39" front/back outside to outside and 36" front/back inside to inside measurements; and 12.5 side to side outside and 9.5" inside to inside measurements. The legs measure 28" tall. The mortises are 1/2" deep and centered on the legs. And surprise surprise, I think I've managed to get all four legs on the same plane.
Here's an up close of the mortises.
With all the great help I'm getting from Dave and David (aka Brad-Nailor - by the way-- what's the deal with the name?)-- I am probably (actually almost certainly) missing some of the small points of the instructions. Long and short though some of this stuff is sinking in.
Question - I made my first two legs and made each a separate component (left front leg and left rear leg). Then I copied each one and moved it across - then selected and right clicked to "make unique." Does that make each right leg their own component? The reason I ask is that when you select "make unique" it does not give you the option to give it a new name.
Question Now that I have all four legs made should I make them a group? If so, how?
I'll have to outline my steps making this far in a different blog entry.
I guess the next logical question is I need to make my side and front aprons and insert them into the legs. I am sure I need to make the short aprons (2), back apron and front apron separate components. Once I draw them, how do I insert or move them into the mortises?
OK - that's all I can do for now. I sure hope that my floundering around the program is helping some of my fellow LJs.
By the way-not only do I appreciate all the Sketchup help I'm getting, I really appreciate all the good wishes coming my way while I recover from surgery. All are encouraging.
Looking good Betsy! Thats a cool thing about SU…I love how things come to life when you start playing with textures. I like the flip function..it's an easy way to mirror parts. What is it about the rotate tool you don't understand? Your first click is to anchor the protractor..that will be the axis the piece will rotate on. Then the next click you are kinda making a handle to grab to move the piece. Then just rotate the leg till its in the direction you want and click for a third time. Use the inferences to make sure your rotating at right angles.My saga continues -- really starting to get some ideas now though
As with any new thing - it's a stop and start learning experience. Yep. Still working on the hall-table-drawing. Getting a lot of great help from Dave and David - thanks guys.
So now I've started again with the legs. I've come a long ways from just a simple rectangle on the ground - but it's a long way from a fancy turning. But that will come in time. (I promise that I won't start from the beginning every single time I blog-- but right now it makes sense to me.)
The table leg is 1.5×1.5×28. Mortises are ½" deep x ¼" wide x 3" long centered on the leg.
The legs on the short side are 12.5" apart from outside to outside.
The legs on the long side are 39" apart from the outside to outside.
Start with the basic rectangle and size as stated above. It's a good idea to check dimensions as you go (unless, of course, you are designing on the go). I'm working of a model so I know my dimensions which makes drawing easier. You can adjust dimensions as you go, but I'm not so good at that yet.
To insert dimensions use the dimension tool (looks like a three sided box with a "3" at the top and slashes through the corners) - click once on a corner or edge then move your mouse to the opposite end click once and move your mouse to the side. You should see something similar to my picture above.
Next make the leg a component. Anytime you are going to make more than one of anything, make it a component.
Select the leg by triple clicking (should be entirely blue) then right-click and chose "make component". Name it whatever you choose - I choose "leg." (very original I know.)
Now the fun starts. Because you've made the leg a component anything you change on the component will be made automatically to all copies of that component.
As in woodworking with the actual wood there are a dozen different ways to do everything. Drawing is the same. You have to be able to see what you are drawing in your mind's eye. It seems like it is a ton easier to draw the mortises on the top of the leg because you don't have to spin the leg around to see each side.
Draw in the guide lines by using the measuring tool. For my purposes, I've drawn lines at 5/8 from each side and in from the inside edge ½".
Then use the rectangle tool to draw in the rectangle and use the push/pull tool to push the rectangle down 3". Do the drawing guides on both edges and draw the rectangle twice. But the nice thing about the push/pull tool is that that second push/pull can be accomplished with a double click. (Provided, of course, that you intend both to be the same.)
Now to copy and then rotate/mirror/scale/flip the second leg. Four terms/methods to do the same job - so you have to find the one that works best for you. I've not managed to get the scale tool to work for me yet. The minus 1 thing escapes me. The rotate tool has had me snagged as well - but I'm getting that by working on this project.
First start by selecting the leg by triple clicking (should be all blue). Then pick the move/copy tool and over the tool over the leg. Hold down the "Control" key at the same time moving the leg/copy to the right. As you slide to the right (or the direction you choose) you should see on the screen a light red dotted line along with "on red axis"
Continue moving to the right - make sure you keep the dotted line and on red axis showing - if that goes away that means that you are not on the same plane as your first leg.
Some other things to keep in mind. When you move the move/copy tool over the leg - if you position the inference dot over the top inside corner so that it says "endpoint" when you stop moving your copy over - if you type in 37.5 in the VCB box then it will automatically move the leg the required 39" outside measurement.
Also, once you start moving the copy - you can release the control key. As for the mouse key, the caveat with the mouse is that you can let go if you are going to type in the dimension you want. If you are going to place the leg precisely where you want it then don't let up on the mouse until you reach your destination.
You'll notice in the above picture that the mortises are in the wrong direction for the right front leg. Not for long!
The easiest thing is to triple click the copy (the new right front leg) until it is all blue then right click and select "flip" "along the red axis." Double check your dimension and it should still be at 39".
To use the scale tool--triple click then select the scale tool (looks like a diamond with a brown corner) - you'll see a parcel of green dots on the leg. Move your cursor over the leg and watch how the dots are connected. That will give you some clues on how this works. Play with it some also. Just remember you can always undo what you don't want to keep by using Edit - undo.
For our purposes on this project - move your cursor over the top middle dot.
Then while holding down the Control key and the left mouse key - move the mouse to the left. Watch the leg turn inside out. Let go of the Control and mouse key and type in -1, 1 on your keypad and hit Enter. Check your dimension. (Now here's a confession-- I can't get this to do it twice. So not sure what I'm doing wrong.) Will have to keep working on it. And on and on.
If you are going to use the Rotate tool to reposition the leg - start again by triple clicking until it's blue, select the rotate tool and hover - After that you're on your own. Still have not got this one figured out.
For now though-- use that flip tool. That worked great!
So now you have the two front legs with the mortises in the right directions and the right distance apart.
Here is something I did not know and, I suppose, is good to know for other computer programs (in my electronically challenged opinion) is that if you select one object and hold down the shift key you can simultaneously select a second object!
With that said, that's what we do next-- select both legs so they are both completely blue.
Then pick up your move/copy tool, hover over one of the two legs and move up along the green axes - if you position the inference dot over the top inside corner so that it says "endpoint" when you stop moving your copy over - if you type in 11.5 in the VCB box then it will automatically move the leg the required 12.5" outside measurement.
Now you have 4 legs - albeit the second set of two with the mortises going in the wrong direction.
OK that's all I can do tonight. Here is where I'm headed. Although, this model has a lot of bugs in it, I'm getting there.
I second everything the other Dave just said. You want to try and build your pieces in the orientation you want them in. If I was going to build a leg for instance I would make a box the size of the outer dimensions, and then extrude it up or down with the push pull tool. Same with the aprons or box sides. Then when you make them components everything will be correct axis wise. The flip along command is cool, but there are are also ruby scripts out there that will mirror objects for you (I think the next version of SU should have a mirror command). What Dave is demonstrating above is something like I was saying a few posts ago…little details that you don't pay attention to in the beginning will come back and bite you in the butt later on !Drawer sides -- struggling along
It's been a few days since I've worked on this-- and won't be doing much today, but I'm working on the drawer for the hall table.
This is how I've redrawn it.
The sides are 1/2" x. 10.25" x 3.5"
Drew the first side to above dimensions and then made it into a component.
Then moved the side to 13 7/8" (outside to outside) and then flipped along red axis.
(Because this is a basic rectangle - flipping it won't look like it's done much.)
Next I drew a rectangle from the upper left outside corner to lower right outside corner of the two sides to make the drawer front.
The push/pulled the rectangle to make the front.
Now the first problem. (Actually - this is the second issue - I can't get all my screen shots to work). When I push pull the front - it comes out "short" to the length that I need it.
Until I can get the front to be the right length - I can't actually drawer in my box joints and/or interface.
Any help would be appreciated.
That's all I can do today.
Thanks
Hi my name is David and I am a Sketchaholic…What they DON'T tell you about Google Sketchup.
So if you have not figured this out yet--I should warn you-- Sketchup is addicting! Beware if you start playing with it - you won't be able to stop!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I'm having some internet trouble so have not uploaded my latest "creation", but hope to do so soon. Just thought I'd give you all fair warning.
Happy sketching.
