A SketchUp Warm-Up Exercise

Dave Richards

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Well, as a sort of prelude to some sort of SketchUp "bootcamp" which still needs to be figured out, let's have a little exercise. Everyone down on the floor and give 10 push pulls! :D

Alright, so for our first exercise I've chosen Doug Stowe's little Friendship Box. I've given you all the dimensions you need to draw it. And lest someone should say there's missing dimensions, you're woodworkers. Figure it out. do what makes sense. Where's that master sergeant smilie?

You get 10 minutes. Be honest.









Go!

Remember to save the SketchUp file. You're gonna need it again.
 
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dave when i make a component, i cant seem to get it to show up like you showed me ,, i made the side of this and hit the component button but when i go back to select it its just seperate planes???
 
Hmmmm....

I wonder if you missed selecting even one edge. If you do, when you go to create the component, you'll find that the box for "Replace Selection With component" is not ticked. The component gets made but it doesn't replace the geometry.

This will be a good topic to cover in a "bootcamp".

Save your file and send it off to me.
 
its to late i hadnt read the fine print dave so i pitched it wheni didnt get to where i needed to be:( maybe i will try again later today and if so will save it dave..
 
Good work Rennie. Practice, practice, practice.

Actually, folks, it doesn't really have to be a speed thing but you want to work on being efficient so you can get out to the shop and get to cutting real wood.
 
I'll try later. Just got back from R&R and need to catch up. And I work my 'regular' job tomorrow. Need to get ready. I AM looking forward to this. However, Dave, I recently got a MacBook and need to set up SketchUp preferences for myself again.
 
Carol,

I'll be interested to see what you do. If you need a hand setting up your MacBook, let me know.

Good work, Bill. Out of curiosity, how many parts did you actually draw from scratch?
 
... Good work, Bill. Out of curiosity, how many parts did you actually draw from scratch?

Thanks, but I get a 5-minute penalty. When I looked back at my drawing, I had the pivot point on the nut rather than the center of the rod. Also, I added dimensions.

I drew 6 parts: 1 bottom, 1 side, 1 end, 1 top, 1 nut and 1 rod. Then, did 'move/copy' on the side and end. I did have a no-no when I put the hole in the pivot end. I forgot to make that component unique, so I had holes in both ends. I hit undo until the holes were gone, then made that end unique.
 
I make it a habit to flip components that have left/right, front/back or top/bottom counterparts even if there's no current visible change. It might not always matter but it often pays off in the long haul and as with my choice to only use components, I never have to wonder if I've done it later.
 
Question with regard to flipping. From the SketchUp Tutorial:
Flipping is useful when you want to create an exact mirror of your geometry. You can flip geometry by:

Selecting the geometry to be flipped.
Context-clicking on the geometry. The context menu is displayed.
Selecting the Flip Along context menu item.
Choosing the direction or axis for the flip. The following image shows the geometry before the flip operation.

What is context-clicking?

Also, how does one determine when to use component as opposed to group? What scenario dictates one over the other?

And a third question Mac related; when do I use the control, option, or command keys?
 
Carol, "context clicking is right clicking on the mouse. It pulls up the Context menu the contents of which change depending upon the context of the object click on.

As to the component/ group question, I've never run into a case where a group was preferable to a component. i only use components. I'll write a longer diatribe about that later if there's interest in my reasons.
 
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