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A SketchUp Warm-Up Exercise

Thanks Dave.
Well Dave i was fine once i remembered after messing aroundfor a while how to draw the octagon. Made a circle divided it up and put the lines in then did the push pull stunt and brought it up to thickness. Had taken a line up from the center of the circle for reference. Then added top circle for the center shaft.

Turned the whole nut inc shaft circle into a component used guides and set it down in centre on the top. Then made the whole top a group nut and lid. Then rotated from pivot point of the center of the circle on the nut.


Now i guess you would have drawn a colum and knocked one side down and done a follow me move around the rest of the colum. I aint yet any good with the follow me.


This is actually one of my own personal issues with learning anything even a word processor. One gets to a certain level of proficiency and seem to plateau there once you can get buy with the basics. Trouble is it dont lead one to being faster that way. Some are lucky and learn key strokes well but i aint never been one of these lucky people.:eek::D
 
Interesting about the different ways to do the 'nut'. I opened the polygon tool, typed 8s, started sizing and typed 1/2, the started pull and typed 1/2.
 
Remember guys, Sunday is a regular workday for me. I just got home from a hospital visit. I'll work on my version in a bit, but first a very late lunch.
 
Alright, I think everyone who expressed any interest has chimed in with an attempt so here we go.

Rob,

That does sound like an interesting way to create an octagon. I know what you mean about hitting a plateau.

Bill, the cool thing about SketchUp is there are often a number of ways to accomplish the same thing in SketchUp. Sometimes it is like the pins or tails first thing. Of course some ways are more right than others depending upon how close they are to the way I do it. :rofl: That last bit really is meant tongue in cheek. ;)

Don's got another way to do it.

Carol, good job. It looks just fine.


Here's the link to my video of the process I used to draw the box.
http://blip.tv/designclick-build/friendship-box-demo-5917065

There are only two things that happen off screen, I used a keyboard shortcut to flip the copy of the long side after I moved it into place. The other is the Make Unique operation on the copy of the end. It would have been on screen but the menu went up above the top of the capture region. It's a little over three minutes actual drawing time. I could have spent slightly less time drawing it had I not orbited quite so much. The video is silent because if I'd be talking my way through it, it would have taken about three times longer. If anyone needs clarification on what I did, I'll provide it. If you want a running commentary as I draw it, perhaps we could do that in a live demo. It won't take very long but it will cover a number of fundamental skills.
 
Well Dave I'd sure like it with audio....but I understand if its too much trouble..

I'm missing how you make some of them components.. Understand how you draw them but not how you select everything to make it a component..

Garry
 
Sorry, Gary. It's not that it was too much trouble. I just wanted to go through the drawing process without stopping to talk about every step.

I made the components by triple clicking on the geometry and then hitting the G key which is the default keyboard shortcut for Create Component.
 
Thank you Dave for the video. Man i feel like a dummy with you guys using a tool and me going back to old school basics. :(:eek: But hey i am here to learn.

I did a lot of things the hard way. Now i wanna learn the easy way.

1) I tried the making of the sides by making a rectangle on top of my base component but .....it did not wanna show the split line to the side. So when i pull it up it has no break on the side showing between the base and the side. So again i drew that to the side made it a component and placed it then copied and moved.

But how did you do it. Then how did you do the copy move all in one go:dunno: to make the other side.

2) When you selecting the short side you inserted, how do you get it to make a component and then move it to opposite side.

3) You seemed to do the same sneaky thing with the base. But i figure there you copied the component made it unique and then resized the thickness of the new component with the push pull button, (right or wrong) teach?

I wont even trouble you all with the polygon thing, i will go do some homework on that first. Drawing an octagon with that is well ......err.....way tooo easy...i dont think my school teacher would have approved.

Can you just imagine putting a tool like this in front of a guy that say designed planes in the WW1 or WW2 and used a drafting board set squares and pencils. :)
 
I missed the flip the copy of the long side thing all together, but I have only watched it twice. Have to say audio would be good, even if it is a voice over. I got a bunch of dimensions wrong on mine. Length of the pin, for one. I also had trouble 'drilling' the hole with push/pull on a component. Had to explode, make the hole, and then redo the make component. Could you do just an audio file of what you did? Finally, what is Make Unique operation. Frankly I am totally confused. Guess my brain isn't in sync here. If I had an audio file, I would write out the steps in order to study.
 
Rob Keeble said:
Thank you Dave for the video. Man i feel like a dummy with you guys using a tool and me going back to old school basics. :(:eek: But hey i am here to learn.

I did a lot of things the hard way. Now i wanna learn the easy way.

1) I tried the making of the sides by making a rectangle on top of my base component but .....it did not wanna show the split line to the side. So when i pull it up it has no break on the side showing between the base and the side. So again i drew that to the side made it a component and placed it then copied and moved.
Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you neglected to make the bottom a component prior to drawing the rectangle for the side. that would result in the side being attached to the bottom and thus no seam line between.

Rob Keeble said:
But how did you do it. Then how did you do the copy move all in one go:dunno: to make the other side.
Click to expand...

After making the side a component and while it is still selected, I got the Move tool and hit Ctrl to invoke the copy function. Notice I grabbed the side component by a corner that would coincide with a corner on the bottom component when the copy was moved into place. then I used a keyboard shortcut to flip the copy along the green axis. there's no visible change at that point but it could be a useful thing to have done when in the future, the box gets edited further.


Rob Keeble said:
When you selecting the short side you inserted, how do you get it to make a component and then move it to opposite side.
Click to expand...

After completing the geometry for the end, I triple clicked on it with the select tool (remember the Space Bar is the default shortcut for the Select tool) and hit 'G' which is the keyboard shortcut for Create Compoonent. Then, as with the long sides, I got the Move tool, hit Ctrl and moved the copy to the far end. I also right clicked on that new end component and chose Make Unque because I knoew later it would get a hole for the dowel.

Rob Keeble said:
You seemed to do the same sneaky thing with the base. But i figure there you copied the component made it unique and then resized the thickness of the new component with the push pull button, (right or wrong) teach?
Click to expand...

Right. I used the copy function of the Move tool to copy the bottom to the top position. I then used Make Unique to break its relationship from the bottom, opened it for editing and used Push/Pull to add another 1/8" of thickness.

Rob Keeble said:
I wont even trouble you all with the polygon thing, i will go do some homework on that first. Drawing an octagon with that is well ......err.....way tooo easy...i dont think my school teacher would have approved.
Click to expand...

We'll ignore the octagon for now. ;)

Rob Keeble said:
Can you just imagine putting a tool like this in front of a guy that say designed planes in the WW1 or WW2 and used a drafting board set squares and pencils. :)
Click to expand...

Pretty wild thought, huh?
 
Carol Reed said:
I missed the flip the copy of the long side thing all together, but I have only watched it twice. Have to say audio would be good, even if it is a voice over. I got a bunch of dimensions wrong on mine. Length of the pin, for one. I also had trouble 'drilling' the hole with push/pull on a component. Had to explode, make the hole, and then redo the make component. Could you do just an audio file of what you did? Finally, what is Make Unique operation. Frankly I am totally confused. Guess my brain isn't in sync here. If I had an audio file, I would write out the steps in order to study.
Click to expand...

Carol, the Flip operation was done with a keyboard shortcut and since the component looks identical once it is flipped it isn't obvious. You couldn't have gotten the dimension of the pin wrong as it wasn't given. that was left for you to figure out so unless it was too large (greater than 1/2" dia.) yours was correct. As to the length, I just made the hole in the box end the same depth as the thickness of the top and, since the height of the nut was given, I just made the dowel 1-1/8" long to suit.

Make Unique is an operation performed on a component or a selection of components to break their relationship with other components. This allows one to modify a component without affecting others. Thus for the second box end, since it gets a hole but the first doesn't, make Unique is used to separate the two. The same sort of thing happened with the bottom and the top since the top is thicker than the bottom. It's often faster to copy, make unique and then edit a component than to draw it from scratch.

I'll see if I can add some audio and repost the video but I'm off to bed now. Up at 4:00 am this morning and tomorrow I have to be at work by 5:00 am to get some equipment set up so they can do liver and kidney transplants tomorrow.
 
Dave
I can't find it now but somewhere you said I should draw it complete instead of as individual components. Does this mean that in Sketchup I can't reuse individual components as that was one of the primary advantage to a cad program that let you make components. You could use them over in future designs. Not have to redraw the wheel so to speak.

Or is it just a matter of it being easier. I have been playing some more with this and it seems almost impossible to move a component into its proper place. But maybe the answer is to copy the component into its proper place?

I understand your statement about easier I am just trying to understand...why..easier for a beginner or just really hard the other way..

Here was my start at drawing it in pieces again so you don't have to go looking...

friendshipbox.jpg
 
Dave Richards said:
It sounds to me like you neglected to make the bottom a component prior to drawing the rectangle for the side. that would result in the side being attached to the bottom and thus no seam line between.

Yes went back and checked and you da man. tick that one off


After making the side a component and while it is still selected, I got the Move tool and hit Ctrl to invoke the copy function. Notice I grabbed the side component by a corner that would coincide with a corner on the bottom component when the copy was moved into place. then I used a keyboard shortcut to flip the copy along the green axis. there's no visible change at that point but it could be a useful thing to have done when in the future, the box gets edited further.

Did not see that ....will look it up and give it a try. Could have helped me a week ago this feature.


After completing the geometry for the end, I triple clicked on it with the select tool (remember the Space Bar is the default shortcut for the Select tool) and hit 'G' which is the keyboard shortcut for Create Compoonent. Then, as with the long sides, I got the Move tool, hit Ctrl and moved the copy to the far end. I also right clicked on that new end component and chose Make Unque because I knoew later it would get a hole for the dowel.

now that was worth learning, took something to realize how it works.:D that will certainly help me be more efficient.


We'll ignore the octagon for now. ;)

No need after your feedback i went and repeated the whole excercise twice. I think i got that octagon thing sorted. Only issue i find is how to get it to position on the plane. Once again i went off to the side made my nut then copied it as a component.

Trying to get the octagon to take to the face was a mission. But incorporating your quick strokes wow what a time difference to my first attempt.


Thanks Dave :headbang::bow::score: this is the way to get this tool under ones belt. Appreciate the help. I think doing it this way and being committed to rework and practice is gonna get some of these features to sink in. Baby steps are definitely the way.

My learning from this was

1) Polygon tool never used it before.
2) Changing to select tool using space bar.
3)That control move copy neat way.
4)Reinforcement of the value of making a component
5)Remembering to select and open a component to make changes to it. (I still find myself having to undo a whole bunch once i wake up to the fact that the object i am drawing on is a component. Pity a components lines dont change some how. I know they do when you select it.;) But i am thinking just in the static mode.

I feel real great about moving on with bootcamp. Hope we all find the time and commitment to keep it going at least once per week i would say. I had thought once per month but i think that would be way too little practice. Man its fun when you get the handle on it. :highfive:
Click to expand...
 
Gary,

I'm sure I did not say that you should draw it complete instead of as separate components. You should indeed make separate components of each piece that you make in wood but you should draw those pieces in situ (in their final resting place, so to speak.) as I demonstrated in the video. This eliminates the need to assemble the model after drawing the components. It also makes things easier because you don't need to have all the dimensions for every part because you can reference off what you've already done. Look at how I drew the rectangle for the end of the box. I didn't need any dimensions for that rectangle because I drew it to fit between the two sides.

As to reusing components, you absolutely can reuse them and it is one of the key reasons for making components.

"Almost impossible to move components into place" it's actually quite simple to move components into place if you grab them at logical points. Although the Move tool will let you grab a component anywhere, you should grab it by a point that can be referenced to a point on the neighboring component. Notice when I copied the side using the Move tool, I grabbed the side component at a corner that ended up coinciding with a corner on the bottom component.

It would seem that Copy and Paste would be the way to make copies of components but in the Paste operation you rarely end up having hold of the component at a point that makes sense. It's much smarter and easier to use the Copy function of the Move tool because you can grab the component at a sensible point and you can move it in a desired direction to a desired distance.

So with your drawing, it looks like you just made the pieces as if they were spread out on the bench with the intent to assemble them after all the pieces were complete. While this is a possible way to work, it is a whole lot more work and could lead to errors.

Does any of that make sense? We have to get a live session scheduled soon.
 
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Rob, as to the keyboard shortcut for flipping the side component, it isn't a native one. I had to set it up. You can right click on the component and choose Flip Along> Then pick the correct axis. for the way I drew the box, it was Flip Along>Component's Green.

Glad you got a few things out of this. I'll try to get audio recorded to go with the video for those that want it.

Carol, I missed commenting on something you said so now I'm fixing that.

Had to explode, make the hole, and then redo the make component.
Click to expand...

Actually, you don't need to explode a component to change it. Instead, right click on it and choose Edit Component or, with the Select tool, double click on it to open it for editing. If you have multiple copies of a component in a model (the long sides of the box in this example) and you wish to make a change to them, exploding one will destroy that component. Your change can be made but it doesn't carry through to the other component(s) in the model. By opening one for editing, the modifications made to one carry through to the other copies.
 
Dave,

Thanks for posting the video. We called it a night fairly early last night and I started this morning with my usual routine of a workout at the YMCA, then went grocery shopping. I reviewed your process and saw a couple of things that would have made my life way easier on the drawing. Here's what I did:

I left each item "in the air" and made it a component as I created it so I'd have the exploded view.

Used Move/Copy for sides and ends. I noticed you did the same when you used the bottom to create the top,

The main thing you did that I'll have to remember is the way you "drilled" the holes and made the rod. Drawing them seperately gave me fits when trying to match everything together.

Thanks again for all you do to help us! :thumb:
 
Thanks, Dave.

Rob made a comment about how often to do this. In the beginning here, I'd like some time to really absorb this. Every week would certainly overload my schedule, but I don't want to hold the group back. I was gone last week and need to get back on track and catch up this week. I will try to hack out little bits of time to work on this, though.

This is what I know about how I learn. Get the basics down cold before stepping on the gas. I want to write [for myself] a detailed narrative of what you have drawn and how you did it. When I learned AutoCAD many years ago, that is what the instructor did in the beginning. Then he had us point out in our narratives where common things could go wring and why. The first few weeks were a grind, but things really took off after that. I used AutoCAD until I went to seminary. Now my computers no longer will run that version and I certainly won't invest in a new copy. So it is time to get really proficient with SketchUp.

There is one other thing that I need to coalesce things in my mind. That is the overall philosophy of how to do plan things out. You alluded to that in a response when you point out to draw things in their final position.

In terms of woodworking, I work from the overall dimensions and then fit the pieces within those dimensions. First thing I did here was to try to find (and read) those dimensions. I totally missed the thickness of the top, however. I guess I need to learn to be more open-minded about these things. :)
 
Bill, I'd be interested to know how you find the process doing it as I did by building it all in place and creating the exploded view afterward.

Carol, I'm not sure I'd be able to commit to doing it every week either. We'll have to see what shakes out.

I will try to get my procedure documented so you can follow it better. I was kind of thinking about drawing the box live for those who are in the "meeting" so I can talk about things as I go and answer questions that arise immediately.

You say that when you are doing woodworking you start from the overall dimensions and fit the pieces. this is exactly my philosophy for using SketchUp. If you notice in this little box video, I set out the bottom first. That and then the long sides determined the dimensions of the ends. It doesn't matter what those dimensions are as long as they fit. If you have watched my video showing the drawing of the Fern Stand, you've see the exact same process. The legs are drawn and placed accurately. After that, everything else is drawn to fit. Even the table top is drawn centered on the top of the legs without measuring. Working this way greatly reduces the chances of errors and makes drawing much more efficient.
 
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