SketchUp Basics for K-12 Education - 6 Video Lecture | Learn Google Sketchup from Scratch - Design

now that we know how to create geometry
let's explore how we can modify geometry
in the next chapter we will look at the
tools that change geometry that we've
already created these tools allow you to
generate very complex forms with very
little effort so before we can explore
the modify tools let's first create some
geometry to modify using your rectangle
tool we're gonna draw a square at 3 feet
by 3 feet so remember we can click once
to start move our cursor towards the top
right corner of the screen to suggest a
direction and then type 3 ' comma 3 '
enter and now our square is it exactly 3
feet by 3 feet
so the first modify tool we want to take
a look at is the move copy tool so
activate the move copy tool up there on
your large tool set that's the four red
arrows pointing in each direction hover
around on your geometry notice that you
can auto select edges and surfaces so
we're going to just click once to pick
this surface up and then click again to
put it down in the top left corner of
our screen now we have exercised the
move command and now we want to take a
look at the copy command so there's just
one little extra step we do so hover on
that surface and click once to pick it
up and tap control or option on the Mac
to toggle the copy command on and then
we're going to type in 5 ' enter so I've
copied that down the red axis at exactly
5 feet now we can also make multiple
copies or arrays and we just need to add
one extra step at the very end of that
chain of commands there so we're gonna
click once to pick this up tap control
or option on the Mac and then just kind
of scoot your copy down here on the red
axis and at this point I can let go of
the mouse and I'm gonna type in 5 '
enter and then I'm gonna type in 5 X and
so you can see that down there on the
measurements dialog box and when I hit
enter I get 5 copies so we're gonna make
that copy 5
so we can create multiple copies or what
we call an array now a little more
advanced feature of the move copy tool
is if I was to make a copy of this guy
straight down click once to pick it up
tap control and I'm just gonna put it
down just a little bit below we can also
create a copy and array but do it based
on divisions so if I was to make a copy
of this square all the way to the end of
my screen I can also specify how many
divisions go in between those copies so
we're gonna click once to pick this guy
up tap ctrl or option on the Mac and
then I'm just gonna move my cursor all
the way to the end and click to put it
down now without invoking any other
command I can type 8 divided by enter
and we get eight equal divisions between
the copies now let's take a look at the
rotate tool and the rotate tool we can
use to rotate geometry click on those
two red arrows chasing each other up
there on the large toolset and again as
you hover over edges and surfaces notice
that the rotate tool auto selects so I
can position myself over a square click
once to set the center point of rotation
now I need to set a reference point so
I'll just click here on the green axis
once and then now I can define the
distance or the degrees or angle that
I'm rotating so down there in the bottom
right hand corner you can see in my
measurements dialog box it's telling me
that this is right at 45
so I'll click there now be careful not
to confuse the rotate tool with the
protractor tool that's a common mistake
to make so when you actually want to
rotate geometry be sure to grab that
rotate tool now to finish taking a look
at our modify tools let's open up a
class file under file choose open and
we're going to navigate to our Sketchup
basics class files folder and we're
going to open up the edu tutorial follow
me so open up the edu tutorial follow me
skp and choose open
and I'm not gonna save any of these
changes and now we have our self-paced
tutorial for the follow me tool and this
is a way for you to explore on your own
there's some on-screen cues and texts
that I'll guide you through a couple of
the different ways to use the follow me
tool and I'll walk you through them
right here as well
so first off the most basic way to use
that follow me tool is to pre-select
the path and then second click on the
follow me tool up in your large toolset
and then the third step is to click on
the profile that you want to extrude
along the path
so I'll click once I'm sorry I will
activate my selection tool click on my
path and then go to my follow me tool
and immediately click on my profile and
you can see that creates this donut
shape so it extrudes a profile along a
path and let's try that again we can
also create a sphere if you pre select
the path which in this case is that
circle so previously we used the edge of
a circle now we're using the surface of
a circle we pre select our path click on
the follow me tool and then click on our
profile and that creates a perfect
sphere next we can also create or we can
also use the follow me tool to manually
extrude a profile along a path and here
you can see we have this little
miniature house and if we want to
extrude this gutter along the edge of
the roof we could just use the follow me
tool and click on this profile and then
we steer it and you can see how it turns
the corner for us but we have to be kind
of careful as to what we're doing here
and if we're steering it around we might
accidentally go up the roof we need to
kind of reset that and make sure that we
only go around the edge of the roof that
we want for the gutter so then I'll just
come all the way around here and
sometimes you need to reposition your
view to turn that edge
and there we go
okay so we'll just come back there and
click and that's how we can finish that
guy so we add this gutter to our roof so
it's a little bit tricky to use the
follow me tool manually I only suggest
using that when you just have a real
quick follow me I always prefer to pre
select the path and then click on the
follow me tool let's keep going here we
also have a subtractive method of
modeling with the follow me tool so here
you can see if I use my selection tool
we have a profile and we have our path
which is going to be the top so we're
going to pre select the top surface of
this block click on the follow me tool
and then click on this profile and in
doing so we can use this follow me tool
as a subtractive modeling method all
right let's take a look at these pipes
as well this one's kind of fun we're
going to use our selection tool and we
want to pre-select by triple clicking on
all of this this path here so when I
click I go one two three and I can
select all connected geometry and go to
my follow me tool and then click on this
circle and that will zip that guy up
right around there so pre selecting the
path is the first step click on the
follow me tool and then click on your
profile alright so now let's take a look
at creating a chess piece so here you
can see that we already have a chess
piece all kind of created or at least
the profiles created and again we want
to pre select the path click on the
follow me tool and then click on the
profile and that will create a chess
piece ok and then finally we have this
all set up so that you can make your own
either chess piece or column so when
you're using that line tool make sure
that you're very careful that you're
starting on edge you're drawing on the
face and you're staying on that green
and blue axis because it's very easy to
get off track and draw off into 3d space
so make sure that you're paying very
close attention to
drawing on that face which means you
want to draw on the blue and the green
axis what I often do is I'll draw a
basic path and then come in and add some
detail to it so I might add a an arc
here and maybe I'll add a an arc here as
well and then I can use my eraser tool
and I want to trim out everything that I
don't need so with my eraser tool I
don't need that I don't need these two
edges and then furthermore I don't need
this edge so there's my profile and now
I go back to my selection tool and pre
select my path first click on the follow
me tool and click on the profile and
that will spin that guy around and
create some very complex geometry very
fast