01. The Very Basics (2D)

Step 1
	In the welcome window select “Choose Template”
Step 2
	Select “Architectural Design – Millimetres” Then click “Start using Sketchup”
Step 3
	Your starting view will look something like this.
Step 4
	From the menu bar select: View -> Toolbars -> Switch on all the toolbars listed below. -Large Tool Set -Solid Tools -Styles -Layers -Sections -Shadows -Standard -Views
Step 5
	Some of the new toolbars may not automatically attach to the side panels. To attach a toolbar just click on the title and drag it to where you want it. You can attach toolbars to the top, bottom, left and right of the screen. You can detach toolbars to move them around by clicking on the tab at the end of the toolbar.
Step 6
	This is how we will have the toolbars set up for all of the tutorials given here.
Step 7
	Use the following three tools to navigate around the model. To use these tools you can select them from the “Large Tool Set” Toolbar and then hold the left mouse button to do the action, alternatively, the more convenient option is usually to use the shortcut listed below. Zoom – Mouse Wheel Orbit – Press in Mouse Wheel Pan – Hold Shift & Press in Mouse Wheel If you have selected the tool from the toolbar, then to return to the “select” arrow, choose it from the “Large Tool Set” Toolbar or just press the spacebar.
Step 8
	Choose the “Line” tool from the “Large Tool Set” Line Tool – L Hover your cursor over the origin (which is the centre point of the axes), you will notice that the cursor snaps to it, and says “origin”. Click and then you can drag in any direction and click again to end the line. Here we have drawn the first line along the green axis. Notice how it snaps to the axis quite easily. The tool will be ready to keep drawing at the end of the line you have just drawn; alternatively, you can press “Esc”, and draw a new line somewhere else. Unlike in AutoCAD, “Esc” will not automatically reset your cursor to the “select” tool. Notice again that even when you are not drawing on the axes the lines you draw will glow red, green or blue when you are drawing parallel to the corresponding axis. This is very useful for making sure the lines you are drawing line-up as you intend. You can specify the length of the line, by clicking to start it, pointing it in the direction you want it, typing in a measurement, and then pressing “Enter”. You will see the length of the line appear in the bottom right hand window as you type it. Notice also that it gives you an “instruction” at the bottom left to tell you how to use the tool – just as the command bar does in AutoCAD.
Step 9
	When you create a closed shape on a flat plane Sketchup will automatically create a face for you. Here we have used the line tool to draw along the green axis by 5000, parallel to the red by 2000, back parallel to the green by 5000, and then along the red axis back to the origin by 2000. Sketchup will only create the surface if all of the lines join together, and are on the same plane. There are a few methods for creating curved surfaces in Sketchup which will be discussed later.
Step 10
	Select the “Arc” tool from the “Large Tool Set”, you can also use the shortcut “A”. Hover over the corner at the back right of the rectangle and click to snap to the “Endpoint” and then click on the front right corner as well. As you move your cursor around now you will see the “bulge” of the curve change, you will see the number in the bottom right hand corner change, and you should also notice that you can make the arc go across the red or the blue axis. For now, drag the bulge across the red axis, type in 1000 and press enter. It should look like this. Curves drawn in Sketchup are actually gradated, and are simplified using a number of smaller straight lines. The arc you have just drawn for example is gradated into 12 smaller straight lines.
Step 11
	To delete you can either use the “Eraser” tool (shortcut “E”) and click on each object you want to delete, or you can select all of the objects, and press the “delete” or “backspace” key. To select all of the objects you can click and drag. Selected objects will glow blue. Notice that when you click and drag to the left, you get a dashed selection box, and when you click and drag to the right you get a solid-line selection box. These methods of selection work exactly the same as they do in AutoCAD. Click and drag right – Everything which is completely within the box will be selected – things which are only partially within the selection box will not be. Click and drag left – Everything which is within the box (even partially) will be selected. For now, select all of the objects you have drawn and hit the “delete” or “backspace” key.