Aidan Chopra - SketchUp for Dummies

SketchUp For Dummies

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017931254

ISBN: 978-1-119-33615-0

ISBN (ePDF): 978-1-119-33622-8; ISBN (ePub): 978-1-119-33619-8

1. Table of Contents

Years ago, Aidan was teaching a workshop on advanced SketchUp techniques to a group of extremely bright middle and high school (or so he thought) students in Hot Springs, Arkansas. As subject matter went, Aidan wasnt pulling any punches and breezing through material he wouldnt think of introducing to most groups of adults. At one point, a boy raised his hand to ask a question, and Aidan noticed that the boy looked younger than most of the others. Squinting, Aidan read the logo on the boys T-shirt that said he was in elementary school. Youre in sixth grade? Aidan asked, a little stunned. These kids were motoring, after all. The boy didnt even look up. He shook his head, double-clicked something, and mumbled, Third. He was eight years old.

SketchUp was invented by a couple 3D industry veterans whose goal was to make it easy for people to model their ideas in three dimensions. That was it, really they just wanted to make a piece of software that anyone could use to build 3D models. That boy from Arkansas indicates they succeeded.

This book is for people who are new to 3D modeling and SketchUp. We dont assume you know anything about polygons, vertices, or linear arrays. The nice thing is that the people who make SketchUp dont assume you know any of those things, either. That means, I dont have to spend many words explaining theoretical concepts, which I think we both can appreciate.

If you happen to know a thing or two about modeling or SketchUp, we think youll still find plenty of useful stuff in this book. Although we write with beginners in mind, youll find a lot that isnt beginner-level information, so that you can grow your skills after youre comfortable with the basics.

Most of this book focuses on what you can do with SketchUp, and not what SketchUp does. With that in mind, this book errs on the side of architecture, because a lot of people want to use SketchUp to model buildings. However, you can apply the techniques that you learn in this book to modeling other things, like parts or woodworking.

One more thing: SketchUp is a cross-platform program (its available for both Windows and Macintosh computers), and this book covers both. In most cases, SketchUp works the same in Microsoft Windows and on a Mac, but where it doesnt, we point out the differences. Just so you know, most figures in this book that show the SketchUp user interface show the Windows version.

We dont presume you know anything about 3D modeling, much less 3D modeling with SketchUp. That said, we do assume youre familiar with a few important concepts:

• Youre familiar with the basics of working with your operating system: For example, we assume you know how to do basic things like saving and opening files. If youre trying to model with SketchUp and figure out how to use a computer at the same time, Wiley has some excellent books that can help you out, such as Windows 10 For Dummies, by Andy Rathbone, or Mac OS X For Dummies, by Bob LeVitus, just to name two; visit www.dummies.com for other options.
• You have, and know how to work, a mouse with a scroll wheel. SketchUp all but requires you to have a scroll-wheel mouse especially when youre just starting out.
• You have at least occasional access to the Internet. You dont have to be online to use SketchUp, but you can find great resources on the web. Also, some parts of SketchUp, like the Components panel, are much more powerful with an Internet connection.