Post by Ebola on Jun 15, 2007 14:44:50 GMT -5
This is a straightforward tutorial I've made which will guide you in making a simple building, not just an empty shell. It may look complex and long, but you’ll most likely catch the drift of it once you play around with Sketchup a little.
sketchup.google.com/download.html
Out of handful of them, Google Sketchup is my favorite 3D program; it’s free, fast, and very easy to use. I like how you can transform your ideas in basic model so quickly and without many problems. Here’s how to make your own, simple building:
Before you begin:
Make sure you are using a measurement system you like.
Go to “view” on the menu bar and then “toolbars;” make sure that everything is checked.
Make sure that the “Shaded With Textures” button is on and the “X-Ray” button is off.
If at any time you make a mistake, you can use the “Undo” button.
Make sure that you are familiar with and you use the ORBIT and PAN camera buttons; knowing how and when to use them is a fundamental skill.
-First, obviously, we begin by making a basic foundation. For instance, let’s say that we desire our ‘concrete slab’ to be 100 feet by 120 feet. Use the RECTANGLE tool to make a rectangle, then, using your keyboard, type “ 100’,120’ ” It’s as simple as that. Whenever we use our keyboard to type in information, it can be seen in the lower right corner of your screen.
-Now we should give this floor some mass. Select the PUSH/PULL tool and pull up on your rectangle to make a box. Then type in “ 16 “ We just gave our rectangle slab a height of 16 inches.
-You may not feel like doing this, but at this point, I sometimes add some textures, just to make things more realistic, and because if you decide to render, textures need to be assigned. You can you your PAINT BUCKET tool to select concrete and then click on the top surface of your slab to turn the top into concrete. You can do the same to the sides and bottom, with any texture, as you desire. You can use the LINE tool and other tools to make a basic floor plan or the core of the building if you wish.
-Next, we are going to use our SELECT tool to select our entire slab. Make sure that everything turns yellow. Once it is yellow, right-click on it and click on “Make Component.” Name it “Floor” and make sure that the “Replace component with selection” box is checked. Click “Create” once you’ve done that.
-Now use the ORBIT and PAN tools to position your view on one of the corners of the slab. Zoom in enough so that you can clearly see the edges. Click on the MOVE/COPY tool and, whole holding your CTRL key, click and hold down on the bottom corner of your slab. As long as you hold down on the mouse button, you should see a dotted line. Make sure you position your new slab so that the dotted line is blue, which indicates a vertical lock. Let go of your mouse and you should have a new slab positioned perfectly on top of the old slab. Next we can type in how high we want this new slab to float. “ 11’ ” – 11 feet, is good. Don’t touch anything. Now we can tell the computer how many copies, or floors, we want to make. Type in “ 10x “ And there you have your 11 levitating floors. Take a look at what you’ve just created. Pretty cool, right?
-Now select the highest floor. Make sure it’s yellow and right-click on it; hit “Edit Component.” No building can have levitating floors and ours is no exception. Click on the RECTANGLE tool again and make a small rectangle on the top floor. Make it, let’s say, 10 feet by 10 feet. Use the SELECT tool to select it and then use the MOVE/COPY tool to move it to a corner of your highest floor, but without holding down the CTRL key. Notice how the same action happens to every floor. Once it’s in a corner, hold down on your CTRL key and drag it to another corner. You should have two copies now. Now type in “ /3 “ to evenly space 2 more rectangles along a side of the perimeter of your building. Repeat this process so that the entire perimeter if your building has these rectangles. When done, the top of your building should look something like this:
-It’s time to use the PUSH/PULL tool again, this time to make perimeter columns. Select the highest floor and let’s edit it. Select one of our 10’x10’ rectangles and pull it up. Pull it up 11 feet. To do this faster, simply double-click on all of the other rectangles. Now we have something that resembles the skeleton of a building.
-Now we can add windows. Let’s edit one of the floors. Use the LINE tool to make a perimeter around the columns of the building and the floors so that a rectangle sheet appears. The “window” should be nothing but a rectangle that blocks you from viewing through the building. Use the PAINT BUCKET and go to the last section, the glass section, and pick the blue glass. Click on the opaque rectangle that you just made and it will be transformed to a sheet of glass. Repeat this process for all sides of the building. (There are other ways to make windows too; that was the easiest way.)
You’re done!
You can use the PAINT BUCKET to decorate your model; you can also use other features and add other details. By playing with different tools and by using different methods of design, you will slowly start to become better at using this program and the precision of your models will increase.
Your simple building should look something like this:
Knowing these skills will make it almost effortless to make more creative buildings.
Some of the most challenging things to do are making a building in which each floor has a diferent layout and making a diagrid. Buildings with complex curves are also a pain. 90% of my buildings are designed using Sketchup.
s90.photobucket.com/albums/k241/ebola111/My%20Towers/
sketchup.google.com/download.html
Out of handful of them, Google Sketchup is my favorite 3D program; it’s free, fast, and very easy to use. I like how you can transform your ideas in basic model so quickly and without many problems. Here’s how to make your own, simple building:
Before you begin:
Make sure you are using a measurement system you like.
Go to “view” on the menu bar and then “toolbars;” make sure that everything is checked.
Make sure that the “Shaded With Textures” button is on and the “X-Ray” button is off.
If at any time you make a mistake, you can use the “Undo” button.
Make sure that you are familiar with and you use the ORBIT and PAN camera buttons; knowing how and when to use them is a fundamental skill.
-First, obviously, we begin by making a basic foundation. For instance, let’s say that we desire our ‘concrete slab’ to be 100 feet by 120 feet. Use the RECTANGLE tool to make a rectangle, then, using your keyboard, type “ 100’,120’ ” It’s as simple as that. Whenever we use our keyboard to type in information, it can be seen in the lower right corner of your screen.
-Now we should give this floor some mass. Select the PUSH/PULL tool and pull up on your rectangle to make a box. Then type in “ 16 “ We just gave our rectangle slab a height of 16 inches.
-You may not feel like doing this, but at this point, I sometimes add some textures, just to make things more realistic, and because if you decide to render, textures need to be assigned. You can you your PAINT BUCKET tool to select concrete and then click on the top surface of your slab to turn the top into concrete. You can do the same to the sides and bottom, with any texture, as you desire. You can use the LINE tool and other tools to make a basic floor plan or the core of the building if you wish.
-Next, we are going to use our SELECT tool to select our entire slab. Make sure that everything turns yellow. Once it is yellow, right-click on it and click on “Make Component.” Name it “Floor” and make sure that the “Replace component with selection” box is checked. Click “Create” once you’ve done that.
-Now use the ORBIT and PAN tools to position your view on one of the corners of the slab. Zoom in enough so that you can clearly see the edges. Click on the MOVE/COPY tool and, whole holding your CTRL key, click and hold down on the bottom corner of your slab. As long as you hold down on the mouse button, you should see a dotted line. Make sure you position your new slab so that the dotted line is blue, which indicates a vertical lock. Let go of your mouse and you should have a new slab positioned perfectly on top of the old slab. Next we can type in how high we want this new slab to float. “ 11’ ” – 11 feet, is good. Don’t touch anything. Now we can tell the computer how many copies, or floors, we want to make. Type in “ 10x “ And there you have your 11 levitating floors. Take a look at what you’ve just created. Pretty cool, right?
-Now select the highest floor. Make sure it’s yellow and right-click on it; hit “Edit Component.” No building can have levitating floors and ours is no exception. Click on the RECTANGLE tool again and make a small rectangle on the top floor. Make it, let’s say, 10 feet by 10 feet. Use the SELECT tool to select it and then use the MOVE/COPY tool to move it to a corner of your highest floor, but without holding down the CTRL key. Notice how the same action happens to every floor. Once it’s in a corner, hold down on your CTRL key and drag it to another corner. You should have two copies now. Now type in “ /3 “ to evenly space 2 more rectangles along a side of the perimeter of your building. Repeat this process so that the entire perimeter if your building has these rectangles. When done, the top of your building should look something like this:
-It’s time to use the PUSH/PULL tool again, this time to make perimeter columns. Select the highest floor and let’s edit it. Select one of our 10’x10’ rectangles and pull it up. Pull it up 11 feet. To do this faster, simply double-click on all of the other rectangles. Now we have something that resembles the skeleton of a building.
-Now we can add windows. Let’s edit one of the floors. Use the LINE tool to make a perimeter around the columns of the building and the floors so that a rectangle sheet appears. The “window” should be nothing but a rectangle that blocks you from viewing through the building. Use the PAINT BUCKET and go to the last section, the glass section, and pick the blue glass. Click on the opaque rectangle that you just made and it will be transformed to a sheet of glass. Repeat this process for all sides of the building. (There are other ways to make windows too; that was the easiest way.)
You’re done!
You can use the PAINT BUCKET to decorate your model; you can also use other features and add other details. By playing with different tools and by using different methods of design, you will slowly start to become better at using this program and the precision of your models will increase.
Your simple building should look something like this:
Knowing these skills will make it almost effortless to make more creative buildings.
Some of the most challenging things to do are making a building in which each floor has a diferent layout and making a diagrid. Buildings with complex curves are also a pain. 90% of my buildings are designed using Sketchup.
s90.photobucket.com/albums/k241/ebola111/My%20Towers/
