Have you ever wanted to learn how to make simple prototypes in 3D or wanted to design a piece of woodworking before you get started, but you don’t know how to use 3D modelling software? I felt the same way many years ago, but have since learned how to use a free 3D designer from Google called SketchUp. It is very simple to use and can be completely free for anything you need to build. I’ll show you how to get started in the software and get use to the tools. Then We will build a simple table to help show the process of building a project from start to finish.
Downloading the software
There is a paid version (SketchUp Pro) and a free version (SketchUp Make). We will be using the free version. To get started, go to their website at Sketchup.com and select your ‘Profession/Interest and which operating system you are on. This software works on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Once you select that information it will download and you’ll just need to install the software. Once installed, you will can open the software and start a new project.
Full Build Video
Starting the project
Every new project will begin with this screen, although I have customized some toolbars that I regularly used. Go to the top menu and select View > Toolbars. You’ll see a prompt like this, I recommend starting off with the Drawing and the Edit toolbars. These will have the basic tools that we will need for the project, however, I do recommend that you learn to use the other toolbars as your experience level increases.
There are also some of the different buttons you’ll see and the associated shortcuts that you may want to know. I have provided the shortcuts to the left so you can refer to them. I highly recommend learning the shortcuts because it takes time to find the tool you need and they are not difficult to learn. Some of these I do not use, however, they are all very useful.
Moving around the screen
Along with the shortcuts are some of the ways to move around the screen and object you are making. I prefer a mouse with a physical scroll wheel because it makes life so much easier. If you push and hold your scroll wheel so it clicks, you can orbit around the object. If you push and hold the scroll wheel and hold down shift, you can then pan around the object. Zooming in and out is as easy as hovering over the object (very important) and scrolling up or down. Watch the following video to learn how this is done.
Once you have the moving figured out, you’re ready to get started building our object. We will be building a kitchen table, which may seem simple, but with 3D modeling it is important to start with the simple stuff in order to gain important habits and allow you mind to understand how to build things. It takes time to know how to build stuff correctly.
Building the table
Lets first start out by building the table top. Now we will be building the table upside down because the viewing is easier this way. First select the rectangle (r). Click anywhere on the plane and drag your cursor, you’ll see a blue rectangle appear. I prefer to just type in the dimensions of objects rather than click and dragging until I get things exact. The best way is to not click the mouse again, but just start typing dimensions. You’ll see the dimensions on the bottom right corner of the screen as shown below. The table will be 8 feet x 4 feet. Once you have the dimensions typed in, press Enter and you will see the rectangle fill in.
It is important to make objects and components in 3D modelling because it separates objects and planes from intersecting and becoming very difficult to deal with. Push space bar to choose the selector tool, then double click on the rectangle, then right click and select ‘Make Group.’ To modify the object, double click the object and it will open that object only. You should see a dashed outline around the entire object. Next select the Push tool (p) and hover over the table top and it should have a grid of blue dots on it. Once that is done, click on the table top and type in 1" as shown below, then push Enter.
We will then create the skirts to the table by selecting the Offset tool (f) and clicking on the outside line of the top rectangle. type in 2" and press Enter. Click on the new rectangle and make another offset and type in 1". Select the Push tool (p) and hover over this new ribbon we have created as shown below. Click on this section and pull the layer so that it bumps out from the table, then type in 3" and press enter.
Now lets build the legs. Double click outside of the objects we have worked on and select the Rectangle tool (r). Start drawing a square in one of the corners as shown to the left and type in 4", 4" and press enter. This will make the legs 4 inches square. We want to make these a component so double click on this new square and right click and select ‘Make Component.’ I typically name the components that I make because I can easily refer to this later on. Components are like groups, but when you have a few copies of a component and you make a change to one, then it makes the same changes to all of them. This saves a lot of time and is incredibly important when building a large project with many objects that are the same.
Now that the leg is made, we can press space bar to use the Select tool and then select the leg. We want to then copy the leg all four corners of the table. To do this, we select the Move tool (m) and click on a corner of the leg. If you push the Ctrl button, you will see a +/- next to the cursor. This means you can now make a copy of the component. This is a really handy trick when trying to make building quicker. We should have four squares now as shown below.
Now for some MAGIC! Push the space bar for the select tool and double click on one of the legs. This will open the component and allow us to modify it. Select the Push/Pull tool (p) and select the square. We want the legs to be 29" tall so type in 29" and press enter. You should see all four legs now built.
We can now turn the table over. There are a few ways to accomplish this but I will only explain one here. First we want to group the table together. Double click outside the table and then click and drag around the entire table to select all the parts. Right click and select ‘Make Group.’ Select the Rotate tool (q) and go to the side of the table. You’ll see a protractor and you want to make sure that it is along the edge of the table. Click on the table and create a line to the side, you’ll want this line to be either red, blue, or green which is the axis’ of the project (see below). Then move your mouse around and you’ll see the object rotate. If you type in 180 it will move rotate the object in 180º.
Adding color
Now that the table is built we can change the color of the table. We will keep the legs white and make the table top wood. To do this, we will want to double click on the table, then double click on the table top to modify the group. Then choose the Paint tool (p) and you will see the default tray popup in the top right hand corner. Click on it and then under the ‘Materials’ tab you will see a drop down with wood as an option. Select one of the textures under this tab and hold down shift and click on the table top. You should have now colored the table top. You can double click out of the table to now see the finished project.
Congratulations, you have finished your first project. It is a really simple table, but feel free to mess around with the other tools there are within SketchUp. The options are endless and you can do everything from building a table to building full sized houses and even creating renders from your model as well. Have fun with this software and enjoy making your next projects.
