11. Shadows

Step 1
	Firstly go to "View -> Toolbars -> Solar North".
Step 2
	This will give you three new tools with which you can edit the sun settings.
Step 3
	If you toggle on the North Arrow you will see a thick orange line out from the origin which shows you the direction North.
Step 4
	You can use the "Set North" tool to choose the angle using a protractor.
Step 5
	You point in the direction you want North to be a just click.
Step 6
	Alternatively you can "Specify Angle" and then input an angle for the North arrow, drawn clockwise from the green axis.
Step 7
	For now I will leave the North Arrow pointing roughly in the direction shown.
Step 8
	Form the Shadows palette select "Show Shadows", and you will see the shadow cast by the sun on the house, it seems to have recognised the North point. Note from the same palette you can also set the time of day and time of year, as well as go into "Shadow Options" to set the light and dark as well as what kinds of surfaces receive shadows. From the options panel, since we have contours in the model it is worth turning off the selection "On Ground", as Sketchup considers the ground as the flat red green axis, which is higher than some of the model space (The contours below that level). The contours are thought of as "model" rather than "ground" by the program so if you turn on "model" then the shadows should show correctly.
Step 9
	Now turn the shadows off and we will set the latitude and longitude.
Step 10
	Choose from the top "Window -> Model Info", and then from the options in the new window select "Geo Location". Choose "Get Location".
Step 11
	Now Google Earth will open, find the location of your building and zoom in.
Step 12
	Once zoomed in hit the button "Select Region".
Step 13
	You can move the corners of the box and then select "Grab" to complete the action.
Step 14
	This has now set the geographical location, but you also have a rather ugly looking sit photograph. Select it and it will appear red. Choose from the top "Window -> Entity Info".
Step 15
	In the new dialogue box which opens untick "Locked" and then after a few seconds when you able to check the box next to "hidden".

10. Animations

Step 1
	Choose "Window -> Scene -> Add Scene".
Step 2
	You DO want to create a new style.
Step 3
	Now change your view, right click on the new tab at the top, and select "Add".
Step 4
	Change your view again, then right click the tab and select "Add".
Step 5
	And then repeat this once more with a different view. Notice that when you click on any of these tabs it will change to the view you set. This is quite helpful if there are specific views that you want to save to come back to later.
Step 6
	Choose "Window -> Scene -> Play Animation". And watch how your animation changes between the scenes.
Step 7
	You can also choose "Window -> Scene -> Settings".
Step 8
	This will allow you to set transition settings for the animation.

09. Sections

Step 1
	Use the section plane tool and as you hover over different surfaces you will see that it will snap to the plane of the surface.
Step 2
	For now align it to the gable end of the house.
Step 3
	When selected the plane will be blue, when it is not selected it will be orange. Make sure you have the plane selected.
Step 4
	Select the move tool, and clicking somewhere in the model to use as a reference point will allow you to move the section plane.
Step 5
	Aligning you view a little you can see the section from a perspective view.
Step 6
	Using the other two tools in the "Sections Palette" you can toggle on and off the section planes, as well as whether the planes are active or not.
Step 7
	For now leave the sections planes active and visible.
Step 8
	If you right click on the section plane itself you can select "align view".
Step 9
	If you zoom in now you will have a perspective section like this.
Step 10
	From the top menu select "Camera -> Parallel Projection".
Step 11
	Right click on the section and "align view" again.
Step 12
	Now if you zoom in you will see you have a traditional parallel section.
Step 13
	You can export this to CAD by choosing from the top menu "File -> Export -> 2D Graphic". Select AutoCAD format and ensure that in the "Options" "1:1" is selected so that scale will be retained.
Step 14
	If you want to export an image, follow the same steps but select a format such as "jpeg". In the options you can change the resolution of the image. Ideally you want this to be as high as possible, although the power of your graphics card may restrict you. I tend to have the long dimension as something like 5400 pixels.
Step 15
	Turn back on Perspective View again by choosing from the top "Camera -> Perspective". You should also delete the section plane at this point.
Step 16
	Select the whole house and make it into one component called "House".
Step 17
	Now go into the component editor and now insert a section longitudinally along the house. Move it so that it cuts through the window.
Step 18
	Outside of the component editor re-insert a section aligned to the gable end.
Step 19
	Move it into position as before.
Step 20
	You can now see that you have two section cuts active at once. This is only achievable in Sketchup by nesting section planes within components. Within any one level of component you can only have one active section cut, so if you wish to achieve something which shows two cuts it is sometimes necessary to next components within groups within further groups to enable you to enable all of the sections you want at the same time.

07. Contours

Step 1
	Here I have imported the AutoCAD file with the contours on it. Sit's it was geographically set to the same space as the house it has come in aligned in the right space. What this means is that the house in both AutoCAD models has the same co-ordinates relative to the origin of the axes. I should also point out that all of the contours already have heights set, and are not just flat contours. Since the AutoCAD file was only a 2004 file, it has also important the contours as one group.
Step 2
	Go into the group editor for the contours.
Step 3
	Select all the contours within the Group, a "Ctrl+A" is probably the quickest way of doing this.
Step 4
	From the top menu select "Draw -> Sandbox -> From Contours".
Step 5
	You should have a surface created that looks like this.
Step 6
	You can double click to select the individual contour lines, and then hide them within the group.
Step 7
	The final terrain will look something like this.