Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual [Paperback]

Chris Grover (Author)

Book Description

Series: Missing Manual | Publication Date: May 29, 2009

If you want to learn to create 3-D models using Google SketchUp, this Missing Manual is the ideal place to start. Filled with step-by-step tutorials, this entertaining, reader-friendly guide will have you creating detailed 3-D objects, including building plans, furniture, landscaping plans--even characters for computer games--in no time.

Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual offers a hands-on tour of the program, with crystal-clear instructions for using every feature and lots of real-world examples to help you pick up the practical skills you need. Learn to use the basic tools, build and animate models, and place your objects in Google Earth. With this book, you will:

• Learn your way around the SketchUp workspace, and explore the differences between working in 2-D and 3-D
• Build simple 3-D shapes, save them as reusable components, and use SketchUp's Outliner to show or hide them as you work
• Tackle a complicated model building with lots of detail, and discover timesaving tools for using many components
• Animate the model by creating an interior walkthrough of your building
• Dress up your model with realistic material shading and shadows, and place it in Google Earth

It's easy to get started. Just download the program from Google.com, and follow the instructions in this book. You'll become a SketchUp master in a jiffy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Google SketchUp simplifies 3-D modelling, is free on the web, and helps you create 3-D models of everything from your garden to a large building. Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual shows you how to make the most of the program's tools and how to apply them to presentations and online sharing. The book introduces you to 3-D modelling, creating and animating a complicated model building, adding realistic material shading, and placing your model in Google Earth.

Using the Push/Pull Tool

If you’ve ever seen those camping tents that spring from flat to fully-formed, you have an idea how SketchUp’s Push/Pull tool works. You start with a flat 2D drawing and you stretch it to whatever length you want. Push/Pull works its magic on any shape that forms a face. In these steps, you use the Push/Pull tool to alter a simple box.

1. Use the Rectangle tool to draw a box, and then click the Iso button or choose Camera-->Standard Views-->Iso. You may even want to use the Orbit tool, to get a good view of three faces of the box, as shown below.

Each edge on the box has two endpoints and a midpoint. To find the midpoint, move the cursor slowly along the edge. The cursor will snap to the midpoint when it gets close and you see a tool tip that says Midpoint.

2. Select the Rectangle tool and move the cursor over the different faces and points of the box. When the cursor is over a face, a tool tip says “On Face.” When the cursor is over an end point or midpoint, the marker at the tip of the pencil changes color and you see appropriate tool tip messages. In the next step, you use an end point and a midpoint to draw a rectangle on the top surface of the box.

3. With the Rectangle tool, click on the front, right corner and then move to the midpoint on the back of the box, as shown below. After you create the rectangle, your box has an edge down the middle that divides it in half. The top of the box now has two separate faces.

Start drawing from the front corner and then stretch the rectangle out to the midpoint on the backside.

4. With the Push/Pull tool (P), click the face on the left and move the mouse forward and backward. As you move the mouse, the model changes shape. When you pull up with the Push/Pull tool, you’re “adding geometry” or “adding volume” to your simple box. When you push it down, you’re “subtracting geometry.”

5. Pull the face up and then click the mouse button. This leaves the face pulled up, and creates a new vertical face in the model.

6. With Push/Pull, push the vertical face back. As you push the face as shown below, you subtract volume from the model, making it smaller.

7. Continue to push the face until you reach the back edge of the box and then click. The face snaps to the back edge and then when you click, the face disappears. Your box looks as it did when you started this exercise.

Pushing a face back shrinks an object, sometimes referred to as “removing geometry” or “reducing its volume.” Pushing this face all the way back until it reaches the opposite face removes it entirely.

About the Author

Christopher Grover lives in Fairfax, California with his wife and two daughters. Chris received degrees in Creative Writing and Film from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He's worked as a technical writer, advertising copywriter and product publicist for more than 25 years. His freelance articles have been published in a variety of magazines from Fine Homebuilding to CD-ROM World. Chris's latest project is launching Bolinas Road Creative, an agency that helps small businesses promote their products and services. He's also the author of Word 2007: The Missing Manual and Word 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual.

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press; 1 edition (May 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596521464
• ISBN-13: 978-0596521462
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > 3D Graphics

More About the Author

Born in Los Angeles, Chris moved to New England with his family where he went to high school and then Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He's worked as a technical writer, advertising copywriter and product publicist for more than 25 years. His freelance articles have been published in a variety of magazines. Chris's latest project is launching Bolinas Road Creative, an agency that helps small businesses promote their products and services.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect tool for a beginner, December 21, 2010

By 

Fabio - See all my reviews

This review is from: Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

Somebody could say that you can learn exactely the same through Youtube tutorials or downloading PDF sketchup manuals. I totally disagree.
This manual is a great "step by step" guide into this amazing software. Chapter after chapter I felt I have improved my knowledge systematically.
Mastering is a matter of practising, once you have read this book you feel you are ready to master.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Google Sketchup, May 2, 2010

By 

Charles A. Roth (GREENVILLE, SC, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

Very good book - lots of tricks and tips. Good examples and very easy to read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Google Sketchup Book., November 18, 2010

By 

J. Zavala "JMZ" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

Simple, yet informative Google Sketchup 7 book. There aren't many Google Sketchup books so options were limited. Excellent for the price. Learn fundamentals and become an expert through the good step-by-step lessons. Can't go wrong with this book. Recommended.