The SketchUp User's Guide contains step-by-step instructions on how to perform most all basic SketchUp tasks. The content in this guide answers the 'How Do I...' questions of end-users.
- User interface
- Deleting 2D Person Component
- Toolbars (Microsoft Windows)
- Detaching Toolbars (Microsoft Windows)
- Using the Layers Toolbar (Microsoft Windows)
- Viewing Tool Tips (Microsoft Windows)
- Tool Palettes (Mac OS X)
- Customizing the Toolbar (Mac OS X)
- Showing or Hiding the Toolbar (Mac OS X)
- Viewing Tool Tips (Mac OS X)
- Drawing Axes
- Aligning the Point of View to the Current View
- Determining Axis Relationship to Real-World 3D Space
- Hiding the Drawing Axes
- Moving and Rotating the Drawing Axes Relative to Current Position
- Moving the Drawing Axes
- Invoking a Context Menu
- Inference
- Dialog Boxes
- Manipulating Dialog Boxes in a Dialog Box Stack
- Minimizing Dialog Boxes
- Resizing Dialog Boxes
- Snapping Dialog Boxes to Other User Interface Components
- Creating Models to Scale
- Sharing Files Between SketchUp 6 and Other Versions of SketchUp
- Principal tools
- Select Tool
- Adding and Subtracting From a Selection Set
- Expanding the Selection Set Using the Mouse
- Selecting Multiple Entities
- Selecting or Deselecting All Geometry
- Selecting a Single Entity
- Eraser Tool
- Paint Bucket Tool
- Drawing tools
- Line Tool
- Drawing a Line
- Creating a Face
- Drawing Lines by Inference
- Creating Precise Lines
- Dividing a Line into Equal Segments
- Splitting a Face
- Splitting a Line
- Editing a Line Entity
- Arc Tool
- Drawing an Arc
- Drawing a Half-Circle
- Creating Precise Arcs
- Drawing Tangent Arcs
- Editing an Arc Entity
- Editing an Extruded Arc
- Freehand Tool
- Rectangle Tool
- Drawing a Rectangle
- Drawing Rectangles by Inference
- Locking a Rectangle to the Current Inference Direction
- Creating Precise Rectangles
- Drawing a Square
- Circle Tool
- Drawing a Circle
- Locking a Circle to its Current Orientation
- Creating Precise Circles
- Editing a Circle Entity
- Editing an Extruded Circle
- Polygon Tool
- Modification tools
- Move Tool
- Creating Multiple Copies (Linear Arrays)
- Moving/Stretching With Autofold
- Making Copies
- Moving Groups and Components
- Moving by Inference
- Moving Precisely
- Moving Several Entities
- Moving a Single Entity
- Stretching Geometry
- Rotate Tool
- Creating Multiple Rotated Copies (Radial Arrays)
- Making Rotated Copies
- Folding Along an Axis of Rotation
- Locking the Rotate Tool to its Current Orientation
- Rotating Precisely
- Rotating Geometry
- Scale Tool
- Scaling 2D Surfaces or Image Entities
- Scaling About the Geometry Center
- Scaling Components
- Controlling Scaling Direction With The Axis Tool
- Scaling Precisely
- Scaling Geometry
- Scaling Uniformly
- Push/Pull Tool
- Pushing and Pulling a Curved Face
- Creating a New Push/Pull Starting Face
- Pushing and Pulling Precisely
- Repeating a Push/Pull Operation
- Creating Voids
- Creating a Volume
- Offset Tool
- Follow Me Tool
- Automatically Extruding a Face Along a Single Surface Path
- Creating a Lathed Shape
- Manually Extruding a Face Along a Path
- Preselecting the Path
- Intersect With Model Tool
- Position Texture Tool
- Manipulating a Material Using Fixed Pin Mode
- Manipulating a Material Using Free Pin Mode
- Repositioning a Material on Hidden Geometry
- Manipulating an Image as Material Using Free Pin Mode
- Wrapping Material Around Corners
- Wrapping Material Around a Cylinder
- Projecting a Material
- Repositioning a Material
- Reorienting Materials
- Construction tools
- Tape Measure Tool
- Creating Guide Lines and Guide Points
- Locking a Line to a Specific Inference Direction
- Measuring Distance
- Placing Precise Guide Lines and Guide Points
- Scaling an Entire Model
- Scaling Entities
- Protractor Tool
- Creating Angled Guide Lines
- Locking the Protractor Tool to its Current Orientation
- Measuring an Angle
- Creating Precise Angles
- Axes Tool
- Dimension Tool
- Placing Diameter Dimensions
- Placing Linear Dimensions
- Placing Radius Dimensions
- Toggling Dimension Type
- Text Tool
- Configuring Text Settings
- Editing Text
- Attaching Text Directly to a Face
- Creating and Placing Leader Text
- Creating and Placing Screen Text
- 3D Text Tool
- Section Plane Tool
- Camera tools
- Standard Views
- Matching Photos and Models
- Match New Photo
- Creating a 3D Model to Match a Photo
- Matching an Existing 3D Model to a Photo's Context
- Taking Digital Photos for Use When Matching
- Resuming a Sketch-Over-Image Mode
- Editing a Previously Matched Photo
- Deleting a Matched Photo
- Orbit Tool
- Suspending the Gravity Setting (Microsoft Windows)
- Orbiting With a Three Button Mouse
- Orbiting the View
- Pan Tool
- Panning While in Other Tools (1-Button Mouse)
- Panning While in the Orbit Tool (3-Button Mouse)
- Panning the View
- Zoom Tool
- Centering the Point of View
- Changing Focal Length With the Zoom Tool
- Changing Field of View
- Adjusting Perspective (Field of View)
- Zooming With a Scroll Wheel Mouse
- Zooming In and Zooming Out of Your Model
- Zooming in on a Portion of Your Model
- Walkthrough tools
- Sandbox tools
- Enabling the Sandbox Tools
- Creating a Sandbox From Contour Lines
- Sandbox From Scratch Tool
- Smoove Tool
- Creating Impressions of Geometry in a TIN
- Drape Tool
- Add Detail Tool
- Modifying TIN Triangulations
- Improving Sandbox Tool Performance
- Style Builder
- Google Toolbar
- Configuring Google Earth
- Getting the Current View From Google Earth
- Toggling Terrain
- Placing Your Model in Google Earth
- Placing Models in the Ocean
- Deleting Models from Google Earth
- Optimizing Models for Google Earth
- Hiding Google Earth Terrain
- Storing Models for Use in Google Earth
- Specifying a Model's Location in the World
- Stitching Together Terrain Images From Google Earth
- Uploading a component to 3D Warehouse
- Finding and downloading models from the 3D Warehouse into SketchUp
- Model settings and managers
- Model Settings and Managers
- Materials Browser
- Applying Materials (Microsoft Windows)
- Applying Materials (Mac OS X)
- Editing Materials (Microsoft Windows)
- Editing Materials (Mac OS X)
- Deleting Materials (Microsoft Windows)
- Deleting Materials (Mac OS X)
- Adding Materials From Image Files (Mac OS X)
- Loading and Selecting Colors from Images (Mac OS X)
- Selecting Color with the Screen Picker Tool (Mac OS X)
- Components Browser
- Creating a Component
- Setting the Gluing Plane of a Component
- Editing a Component Instance as a Whole
- Editing Entities Within a Component Instance
- Exploding a Component
- Inserting Components
- Applying Materials to Components
- Moving the Insertion Point
- Inserting a Component
- Changing Component Thumbnail
- Finding Components Near the Current Google Earth View
- Styles Browser
- Applying Styles
- Editing Styles
- Aligning Edges to Axes
- Sharing Styles
- Adding a Watermark to the Drawing Area
- Moving Geometry Between Layers
- Outliner
- Filtering Groups and Components in the Hierarchical View
- Identifying Entries in the Outliner Hierarchy
- Moving Items Within the Outliner
- Naming Groups and Components Within the Outliner
- Traversing Component and Group Hierarchies
- Scenes Manager
- Creating an Animation
- Running an Animation
- Adding a Scene
- Updating a Scene
- Changing Scene Settings
- Assigning Styles to Scenes
- Enabling Shadows
- Setting Fog
- Preferences
- Automatically Loading a Template
- Changing Your Template
- Creating a Template
- Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows)
- Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac OS X)
- Exporting Preferences, Including Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows)
- Importing Preferences, Including Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows)
- Resetting Keyboard Shortcuts
- Setting the North Angle
- Entities
- Input and output
- Import and Export
- 3DS Export
- Exporting 3D DWG or DXF Files
- Exporting KMZ Files
- Exporting FBX Files
- Exporting OBJ Files
- Exporting XSI Files
- Exporting PDF or EPS Files
- Exporting a Raster Image
- Exporting VRML Files
- Exporting Epix Files
- Exporting 2D DWG or DXF Files
- Importing Large Images
- Exporting COLLADA (DAE) Files
- DWG/DXF Import
- Preparing a CAD File for Import and Use in SketchUp
- Importing CAD Files at the Correct Scale
- Importing an Adobe Illustrator File
- Importing 3D DWG or DXF Files
- Reducing DWG or DXF Import File Size
- Importing 3DS Files
- Importing DEM Files
- Importing COLLADA (DAE) Files
- 2D Graphic Import
- Exporting Section Slices
- Exporting an Animation
- Presentations
- Printing
- Technical reference
- Common tasks
- Common Tasks
- Adding a Background to Your Model
- Ensuring Edge Alignment to Axes
- Claiming Credit on a Model
- Copying Geometry
- Creating a 2-Point Perspective
- Dividing Lines or Arcs Into Equal Segments
- Drawing Accurate Angled Lines
- Drawing a Bowl
- Drawing a Cone
- Drawing an Ellipse
- Drawing Engraved Text
- Drawing an Inner Tube
- Drawing a Pyramid
- Drawing a Sphere
- Ensuring Edge Alignment to Axes
- Flipping or Mirroring Geometry
- Installing Ruby Scripts
- Remapping Mouse Buttons (Microsoft Windows)
- Using Street View Images to Photo Texture Buildings
updated 1/28/2010
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