Google Sketchup - Come Along for the Ride

Betsy said:

A simple table preview

I'm at work right now and don't have SU on this computer. But last evening I decided the best way to get moving on this was to put aside trying to do anything fancy (layers, components, MT joints, etc.) and do a simple table. So I spent about three hours or so putting a table together. The table is based on episode 11 of the Woodwhisperer's pod cast. I plan to take it one step at a time and go into detail of each step. I'm not going to do anything fancy like move, copy, tapers, etc. The only fancy thing will be guide marks. This will be an excercise in redundancy of effort. Such as you'll be forced to make 4 legs instead of one. But I think the practice will be good. Get the basics down and then the fancy stuff will really be easy to get. Doing this this way will help you see the various mistakes you can make and teach you how to avoid them.

I had a lot of fun making the table. I think I ran into some "ah that's how they do that" things that hopefully will help someone else.

If you have time, watch Marc's podcast and then check back tonight on my blog. Hopefully we'll all be on our way to mastering this program!

As always your thoughts, comments, questions and corrections are appreciated.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

A simple table preview

I'm at work right now and don't have SU on this computer. But last evening I decided the best way to get moving on this was to put aside trying to do anything fancy (layers, components, MT joints, etc.) and do a simple table. So I spent about three hours or so putting a table together. The table is based on episode 11 of the Woodwhisperer's pod cast. I plan to take it one step at a time and go into detail of each step. I'm not going to do anything fancy like move, copy, tapers, etc. The only fancy thing will be guide marks. This will be an excercise in redundancy of effort. Such as you'll be forced to make 4 legs instead of one. But I think the practice will be good. Get the basics down and then the fancy stuff will really be easy to get. Doing this this way will help you see the various mistakes you can make and teach you how to avoid them.

I had a lot of fun making the table. I think I ran into some "ah that's how they do that" things that hopefully will help someone else.

If you have time, watch Marc's podcast and then check back tonight on my blog. Hopefully we'll all be on our way to mastering this program!

As always your thoughts, comments, questions and corrections are appreciated.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

A simple table preview

I'm at work right now and don't have SU on this computer. But last evening I decided the best way to get moving on this was to put aside trying to do anything fancy (layers, components, MT joints, etc.) and do a simple table. So I spent about three hours or so putting a table together. The table is based on episode 11 of the Woodwhisperer's pod cast. I plan to take it one step at a time and go into detail of each step. I'm not going to do anything fancy like move, copy, tapers, etc. The only fancy thing will be guide marks. This will be an excercise in redundancy of effort. Such as you'll be forced to make 4 legs instead of one. But I think the practice will be good. Get the basics down and then the fancy stuff will really be easy to get. Doing this this way will help you see the various mistakes you can make and teach you how to avoid them.

I had a lot of fun making the table. I think I ran into some "ah that's how they do that" things that hopefully will help someone else.

If you have time, watch Marc's podcast and then check back tonight on my blog. Hopefully we'll all be on our way to mastering this program!

As always your thoughts, comments, questions and corrections are appreciated.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

Table building --- starting simple

So the journey to building a very simple table begins. This table is based on one from Thewoodwhisperer's episode 11 arts and craft table. There's is nothing fancy that's done and that's the best part for this primer on using SU.

Now I've spent some time putting the table together-unfortunately, I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it.

Regardless - here we go. And remember - we are taking baby steps, trying to go methodically and get all, or at least as many as I can think of, the details in there. Hopefully this won't be too boring but I'm doing this as much for myself as anyone. Hopefully it will help someone along the way.

First things first. Open SU and go to Window-Preferences-- highlight "templates" on the left hand list of items, then with the arrow drop down menu choose "inches woodworking 3d."

This should give you a picture with three axes - those lines and a picture of a small framing square.

Select the framing square (click on it) - that will put a blue box around the frame-- hit delete on your keyboard - or right click and scroll up to erase.

So now you are left with the three axes. The red and green lines are the "ground" and the blue line is "up".

Move your cursor to the upper left corner and select the rectangle icon-- this action will turn your cursor into a pencil with a small rectangle next to it.

Move the icon to the "origin" which is the point where all three axes come together. When your cursor hits the origin perfectly on center it will create a yellow dot. Using your mouse - left click to start drawing a rectangle.

Let go of the mouse after you click (we are going to avoid "dragging"), then move the mouse along the green axis. You'll see your rectangle starting to take shape. You should also see a red line moving up along with your mouse. That red line means you are parallel to the red axis. You should also see a green line on the right which means you are parallel to the green axis.

Move your cursor about four inches up the green axis and then left click. This drops the end of the rectangle and it will turn the rectangle a dark blue color. This is the "face" or your rectangle.

Hit the "ESC" button on your keyboard to stop drawing rectangles.

Remember that anytime you make a mistake or want to undo anything, just go to Edit - drop down to "undo" and that will undo your last action. You can continue to "undo" as many times as you want. You can also undo the undo function-- ain't that fun!

Take a look at the bottom right corner of your screen. The word "dimension" should be there and then a box with some numbers in it. Those numbers tell you how big your rectangle is. You can change that number, in fact you should. Type in 36,72 then hit the Enter button. This will size your table top to 36" deep and 72" long.

(If you drew your rectangle on the red axis you would type in 72,36.)

You do NOT have to put a space between the numbers 36 and 72-all you need is a comma. You can put in a space if you want to-- but you don't need it. You DO need the comma. Don't forget your comma!

Before we go any further, you should "save" your table so you don't loose all your efforts.

Move your cursor up to the menu bar and select the push/pull tool. It's the one that is square with an arrow coming out of it. (10th tool from the left).

Place the push/pull tool anywhere on the rectangle - just moving it over the rectangle will make a bunch of pretty little dots to show up. That means that your next action will effect that portion of your project. Move the tool off of the rectangle and it becomes a boring little box again.

Put the tool back over the rectangle and left click once - the pretty dots disappear - don't let go off the left button and move your mouse up. This turns the rectangle white and gives it depth.

Take a look at the dimension box in the bottom right corner - you'll notice that the numbers have changed from the rectangular dimensions to thickness. Type in .75 or 3/4 then hit Enter button. Then hit the "esc" button. Your rectangle is now a table top 3/4" thick and it should appear white on the screen.

OK. I have to take a break-- this left-handed typing is tough! More later tonight.

Remember I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it. If you can tell me how-please do.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

Table building --- starting simple

So the journey to building a very simple table begins. This table is based on one from Thewoodwhisperer's episode 11 arts and craft table. There's is nothing fancy that's done and that's the best part for this primer on using SU.

Now I've spent some time putting the table together-unfortunately, I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it.

Regardless - here we go. And remember - we are taking baby steps, trying to go methodically and get all, or at least as many as I can think of, the details in there. Hopefully this won't be too boring but I'm doing this as much for myself as anyone. Hopefully it will help someone along the way.

First things first. Open SU and go to Window-Preferences-- highlight "templates" on the left hand list of items, then with the arrow drop down menu choose "inches woodworking 3d."

This should give you a picture with three axes - those lines and a picture of a small framing square.

Select the framing square (click on it) - that will put a blue box around the frame-- hit delete on your keyboard - or right click and scroll up to erase.

So now you are left with the three axes. The red and green lines are the "ground" and the blue line is "up".

Move your cursor to the upper left corner and select the rectangle icon-- this action will turn your cursor into a pencil with a small rectangle next to it.

Move the icon to the "origin" which is the point where all three axes come together. When your cursor hits the origin perfectly on center it will create a yellow dot. Using your mouse - left click to start drawing a rectangle.

Let go of the mouse after you click (we are going to avoid "dragging"), then move the mouse along the green axis. You'll see your rectangle starting to take shape. You should also see a red line moving up along with your mouse. That red line means you are parallel to the red axis. You should also see a green line on the right which means you are parallel to the green axis.

Move your cursor about four inches up the green axis and then left click. This drops the end of the rectangle and it will turn the rectangle a dark blue color. This is the "face" or your rectangle.

Hit the "ESC" button on your keyboard to stop drawing rectangles.

Remember that anytime you make a mistake or want to undo anything, just go to Edit - drop down to "undo" and that will undo your last action. You can continue to "undo" as many times as you want. You can also undo the undo function-- ain't that fun!

Take a look at the bottom right corner of your screen. The word "dimension" should be there and then a box with some numbers in it. Those numbers tell you how big your rectangle is. You can change that number, in fact you should. Type in 36,72 then hit the Enter button. This will size your table top to 36" deep and 72" long.

(If you drew your rectangle on the red axis you would type in 72,36.)

You do NOT have to put a space between the numbers 36 and 72-all you need is a comma. You can put in a space if you want to-- but you don't need it. You DO need the comma. Don't forget your comma!

Before we go any further, you should "save" your table so you don't loose all your efforts.

Move your cursor up to the menu bar and select the push/pull tool. It's the one that is square with an arrow coming out of it. (10th tool from the left).

Place the push/pull tool anywhere on the rectangle - just moving it over the rectangle will make a bunch of pretty little dots to show up. That means that your next action will effect that portion of your project. Move the tool off of the rectangle and it becomes a boring little box again.

Put the tool back over the rectangle and left click once - the pretty dots disappear - don't let go off the left button and move your mouse up. This turns the rectangle white and gives it depth.

Take a look at the dimension box in the bottom right corner - you'll notice that the numbers have changed from the rectangular dimensions to thickness. Type in .75 or 3/4 then hit Enter button. Then hit the "esc" button. Your rectangle is now a table top 3/4" thick and it should appear white on the screen.

OK. I have to take a break-- this left-handed typing is tough! More later tonight.

Remember I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it. If you can tell me how-please do.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

Table building --- starting simple

So the journey to building a very simple table begins. This table is based on one from Thewoodwhisperer's episode 11 arts and craft table. There's is nothing fancy that's done and that's the best part for this primer on using SU.

Now I've spent some time putting the table together-unfortunately, I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it.

Regardless - here we go. And remember - we are taking baby steps, trying to go methodically and get all, or at least as many as I can think of, the details in there. Hopefully this won't be too boring but I'm doing this as much for myself as anyone. Hopefully it will help someone along the way.

First things first. Open SU and go to Window-Preferences-- highlight "templates" on the left hand list of items, then with the arrow drop down menu choose "inches woodworking 3d."

This should give you a picture with three axes - those lines and a picture of a small framing square.

Select the framing square (click on it) - that will put a blue box around the frame-- hit delete on your keyboard - or right click and scroll up to erase.

So now you are left with the three axes. The red and green lines are the "ground" and the blue line is "up".

Move your cursor to the upper left corner and select the rectangle icon-- this action will turn your cursor into a pencil with a small rectangle next to it.

Move the icon to the "origin" which is the point where all three axes come together. When your cursor hits the origin perfectly on center it will create a yellow dot. Using your mouse - left click to start drawing a rectangle.

Let go of the mouse after you click (we are going to avoid "dragging"), then move the mouse along the green axis. You'll see your rectangle starting to take shape. You should also see a red line moving up along with your mouse. That red line means you are parallel to the red axis. You should also see a green line on the right which means you are parallel to the green axis.

Move your cursor about four inches up the green axis and then left click. This drops the end of the rectangle and it will turn the rectangle a dark blue color. This is the "face" or your rectangle.

Hit the "ESC" button on your keyboard to stop drawing rectangles.

Remember that anytime you make a mistake or want to undo anything, just go to Edit - drop down to "undo" and that will undo your last action. You can continue to "undo" as many times as you want. You can also undo the undo function-- ain't that fun!

Take a look at the bottom right corner of your screen. The word "dimension" should be there and then a box with some numbers in it. Those numbers tell you how big your rectangle is. You can change that number, in fact you should. Type in 36,72 then hit the Enter button. This will size your table top to 36" deep and 72" long.

(If you drew your rectangle on the red axis you would type in 72,36.)

You do NOT have to put a space between the numbers 36 and 72-all you need is a comma. You can put in a space if you want to-- but you don't need it. You DO need the comma. Don't forget your comma!

Before we go any further, you should "save" your table so you don't loose all your efforts.

Move your cursor up to the menu bar and select the push/pull tool. It's the one that is square with an arrow coming out of it. (10th tool from the left).

Place the push/pull tool anywhere on the rectangle - just moving it over the rectangle will make a bunch of pretty little dots to show up. That means that your next action will effect that portion of your project. Move the tool off of the rectangle and it becomes a boring little box again.

Put the tool back over the rectangle and left click once - the pretty dots disappear - don't let go off the left button and move your mouse up. This turns the rectangle white and gives it depth.

Take a look at the dimension box in the bottom right corner - you'll notice that the numbers have changed from the rectangular dimensions to thickness. Type in .75 or 3/4 then hit Enter button. Then hit the "esc" button. Your rectangle is now a table top 3/4" thick and it should appear white on the screen.

OK. I have to take a break-- this left-handed typing is tough! More later tonight.

Remember I've still not figured out how to post it here. So if someone can enlighten me on that little gem I'd appreciate it. If you can tell me how-please do.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

Continuing the table - inserting guides and preparing for legs

I really appreciate Brad and others (some PM's) that have responded to my blog. That's what I want - all the responses help me by either encouraging me to keep going or adding to the blog with other thoughts. That's what I want and I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks to Brad Nailor I learned how to insert a picture of the table I am blogging about.



It's a crude project-- but it's a start and I've learned a lot doing it. Hopefully as I move along on the blog you can learn how to do it also and I'll reinforce what I learned to! There is a lot that's not right with it, but just like woodworking where you start with butt joints--this is the butt joint of SU. We'll all get better as we move along.

I left off with have a table top that is 36×72 x 3/4. A table is not really a functional table without legs. So legs are the goal tonight. Remember that I'm taking baby steps nothing fancy is going to happen tonight. Basics, basics, basics and redundancy - that to me makes everything stick in my little mind.

If you are following along and making a table with me - you should open your saved project. This is what you should have.



Guides are basically marks, or temporary lines that help you place other objects in your project. They replace your little tick marks that you make with your square and pencil. You make guide marks with the tape measure tool. This tool does several things - but right now we are focusing only on it's guide-making ability.

Click on the tape measure and move your cursor onto the short edge of the top (the one closest to you). When you see the inference dot turn red it should say "edge". Because your top has depth you can actually place your cursor on the top edge and the bottom edge. Since we are placing legs we want to place the cursor on the bottom edge.

This can be confusing because you have to remember that we are looking at the bottom of the table. So you want the cursor's inference dot to be on the top of the bottom. Got that-I know it can all be confusing.

OK - so now you have your cursor on the top edge of the bottom - left click once - and let go. Move your mouse about 1" or so away from the edge and click again. You should now have a dotted line crossing the short edge of the top.

Notice the VCB (value control box) in the bottom right corner of your screen. The box should say "length" type in "1" and hit enter. This moves your guide 1" from the short edge of the bottom of your top.

Now move your cursor/tape measure tool to one long edge and do the same exercise. You'll notice that your two guides cross at the corner - giving you a guide/location where to place your leg.

Next do the other short edge. You'll notice that when you place the guide it looks like it is not the same as the other short edge. This is because of the way you are looking at it.

When you do the second long edge you'll notice that it's hard to get the red dot to show up-this is again because of the position the top is in. This is a good time to use your mouse and move the top around so that you can see that second long edge better.

So we need to "orbit" to move the edge so we can see it better and get that red dot to show up. Place your cursor over the edge and click and hold down the mouse's scroll wheel. Your orbit tool should appear.

One tidbit here - it does not matter what tool/icon you have on the screen - when you press down and hold the scroll wheel it will always change to the orbit tool.

Now move your mouse around until you can see that second long edge better. Then release your scroll wheel. You should now be able to get that red inference dot to show up. Go ahead and draw your fourth guide line and enter 1" for the distance.

You should now have this on your screen.



Next is to actually place a leg. But that's the next section of the blog. My little hand is getting tired so I need to take a break.

As always your input is welcomed.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

Continuing the table - inserting guides and preparing for legs

I really appreciate Brad and others (some PM's) that have responded to my blog. That's what I want - all the responses help me by either encouraging me to keep going or adding to the blog with other thoughts. That's what I want and I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks to Brad Nailor I learned how to insert a picture of the table I am blogging about.



It's a crude project-- but it's a start and I've learned a lot doing it. Hopefully as I move along on the blog you can learn how to do it also and I'll reinforce what I learned to! There is a lot that's not right with it, but just like woodworking where you start with butt joints--this is the butt joint of SU. We'll all get better as we move along.

I left off with have a table top that is 36×72 x 3/4. A table is not really a functional table without legs. So legs are the goal tonight. Remember that I'm taking baby steps nothing fancy is going to happen tonight. Basics, basics, basics and redundancy - that to me makes everything stick in my little mind.

If you are following along and making a table with me - you should open your saved project. This is what you should have.



Guides are basically marks, or temporary lines that help you place other objects in your project. They replace your little tick marks that you make with your square and pencil. You make guide marks with the tape measure tool. This tool does several things - but right now we are focusing only on it's guide-making ability.

Click on the tape measure and move your cursor onto the short edge of the top (the one closest to you). When you see the inference dot turn red it should say "edge". Because your top has depth you can actually place your cursor on the top edge and the bottom edge. Since we are placing legs we want to place the cursor on the bottom edge.

This can be confusing because you have to remember that we are looking at the bottom of the table. So you want the cursor's inference dot to be on the top of the bottom. Got that-I know it can all be confusing.

OK - so now you have your cursor on the top edge of the bottom - left click once - and let go. Move your mouse about 1" or so away from the edge and click again. You should now have a dotted line crossing the short edge of the top.

Notice the VCB (value control box) in the bottom right corner of your screen. The box should say "length" type in "1" and hit enter. This moves your guide 1" from the short edge of the bottom of your top.

Now move your cursor/tape measure tool to one long edge and do the same exercise. You'll notice that your two guides cross at the corner - giving you a guide/location where to place your leg.

Next do the other short edge. You'll notice that when you place the guide it looks like it is not the same as the other short edge. This is because of the way you are looking at it.

When you do the second long edge you'll notice that it's hard to get the red dot to show up-this is again because of the position the top is in. This is a good time to use your mouse and move the top around so that you can see that second long edge better.

So we need to "orbit" to move the edge so we can see it better and get that red dot to show up. Place your cursor over the edge and click and hold down the mouse's scroll wheel. Your orbit tool should appear.

One tidbit here - it does not matter what tool/icon you have on the screen - when you press down and hold the scroll wheel it will always change to the orbit tool.

Now move your mouse around until you can see that second long edge better. Then release your scroll wheel. You should now be able to get that red inference dot to show up. Go ahead and draw your fourth guide line and enter 1" for the distance.

You should now have this on your screen.



Next is to actually place a leg. But that's the next section of the blog. My little hand is getting tired so I need to take a break.

As always your input is welcomed.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

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.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

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.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

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.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

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.

Click to expand...

Betsy said:

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.

Click to expand...