Learn how to use SketchUp to model a picnic table, perfecting your skills with the rotated rectangle tool, the push/pull command, and line command. This tutorial also introduces the concept of sticky geometry and emphasizes the importance of grouping objects in 3D modeling.
Key Insights
- The tutorial begins with using the rotated rectangle tool, which allows us to draw rectangles at any angle specified. The tutorial demonstrates this by creating a rectangle at a 60-degree angle, which forms the basis for our picnic table.
- The push/pull tool is used extensively to transform 2D shapes into 3D geometries. This tool allows us to pull our shapes into three dimensions, and can also be used to erase portions of the 3D geometry.
- The guide emphasizes the importance of grouping objects in SketchUp to avoid 'sticky geometry'. If objects are not grouped or part of a component, they will stick together, creating a challenging working environment.
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So in this video we will begin to model our picnic table. If you have not done so, please go to File > New > From Template > Architectural Inches to create a new file. Before we begin modeling, we never want to be working in an unsaved document, so let's go to File > Save As, find our C drive and our SKP101 file Downloads folder, double-click, and we're going to save this as picnic-table.skp and click Save.
To begin, let's select the Eraser Tool and erase our man. And to start, the first tool we will use will be the Rotated Rectangle Tool, right here. The Rotated Rectangle is different from the traditional rectangle in that it will first ask for a rotation angle, and then we can draw a rectangle.
So please click anywhere on the screen and drag along the green axis and type in two inches. Now we will see that SketchUp is previewing a rectangle and allowing us to draw it at any angle. In the Measurements box in the bottom-right corner, it says width, angle.
So let's type in 42 inches, 60. Let's do a Zoom Extents and scroll our wheel back to zoom out. I will click the space bar to go back to our cursor.
Let's go to the Push/Pull Tool and select our rectangle and pull to the right. Let's move it six inches. Type in 6 and press ENTER.
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The Push/Pull Tool creates 3D geometry, but it can also remove 3D geometry. Let's go to our Line Tool and click from this point, and then along the red axis let's draw across. Let's do the same thing at the top. I will click Escape to stop my line, then click here, move across the red axis, and click. Then click Escape to end that line.
Next, if we go back to the Push/Pull Tool and click in this triangle that I have hovering over, we can drag out as a bump or bring it in to delete it. We click and then either click on a point or click on the edge and it will automatically erase that geometry. Let me do the same thing at the bottom where we can either pull it away or bring it back to delete.
We can go all the way down here and then click to delete. I'm going to zoom out and orbit to the top view. Let's grab our Line Tool and draw this line five feet.
As I'm hovering over this line that's currently selected, in the Length field I will type five feet and then click Enter. We have made our first table leg. I will delete this line up here.
I will go to Erase, delete that, and click it. We will now make our second table leg in the opposite direction. So let's go back to our Rotated Rectangle Tool and select the endpoint, and then along this axis, we will type in two inches.
Again, we will see now that the prompt is for width, angle. This time, going this direction—not toward the other leg—I will type in 42 inches, 60. Again, let's go back to the Push/Pull Tool, click this, and then click and move our mouse and type in 6 and press ENTER.
In the Measurements box, it'll automatically read as inches, so we don't have to type in "inches"—we can just type in 6 and it'll automatically be inches. For feet, however, we can't type in just 6, as it'll assume inches, so we have to type in "6 feet" to use feet. Again, let's draw a line at the top to connect here along the red axis.
I will go back to my Push/Pull Tool, click Escape to end that line, then return to the Push/Pull Tool, click this, hover over these triangles, and I will delete this element. Then click here, and I can snap to this corner right here. If I can't really see what's happening, I can click to this corner and it'll snap and delete that. Let's go back to the Erase Tool and erase these lines.
Next, I will save my file. I will hold CTRL+S to save my file, or go to File > Save. Next, I would like to take a moment to talk about "sticky geometry" in SketchUp. This is a very common problem that a lot of new users face in SketchUp and 3D modeling.
It's called "sticky geometry." If objects are not grouped or part of a component, they will stick to each other, be connected, and create very difficult working environments. If I draw a rectangle—I'll draw a box right here connected to this leg—and then use Push/Pull to make this a 3D box,
If I were to select only this box and move it around, you can see that it's connected to the leg and it's all stuck together. It's very difficult to work with. I'm going to undo this—I'll click Escape and Undo. If I were to first group this element (the leg), I would either click and drag to select all those objects or triple-click and then right-click > Make Group. You can see that a bounding box appears around my leg.
Now, if I make that same box again next to the leg—Rectangle Tool, Push/Pull—and then select it to test again and move it around, you can see that the leg is stationary. This box, and moving it, does not affect the leg. We always want to group objects once we are done with them before something else touches them. It's very good modeling practice and a good technique in SketchUp.
We will use groups and components throughout this course. So I will delete this—I can right-click and choose Erase or click the Delete key. I'm going to triple-click on this leg to make this one a group as well.
Now these are both groups. I will hit CTRL+S to save my file. All right, this is a good stopping point for now. In our next video, we will continue with our table.
