[Tutorial > Modeling] How a Pro Builds a House in SU pt 1

[jvh]

i've got problems with step 6. after right clicking and choosing "use as a material" i don't know how to apply it to the square.

[jvh]

Thanks James,

That's what I tried. Then I get the materials window, but my plan is not in it, so I can't select and drop it in my square.

[J4Media]

First off, thanks for this tutorial, its very helpful.

I have followed along through all steps and am at the part where I trace the plan. The problem I'm having trouble with is when i trace the entire perimeter of the plan and connect it to where I started, the lines get thin from their original thick. This then results in a hollow center when i use the offset tool to set the wall thickness of 6".

I am baffled by what I am doing wrong, can someone please help me out?

Thanks in advance for your help.

John

[Gaieus]

John,

Thick lines are called "profiles" and are merely used to either indicate that they do not close a coplanar face or to give some "perspective look" to your model (meaning that the outlines and front edges of a 3D model are usually displayed with them).
I personally don't like profiles and even turn them off (Style window > in mode > edit > edge settings).

Now when you just simply close a face (tracing over the image) they should not turn into thin lines (that are called edges when surrounding a face) since they are still the "outlines" of your face.

Is there a face created at all? If not, you have done something wrong, i.e. I assume that your lines are not on the same (red/green, horizontal) plane. This is essential for SU to be able to create a face.

Try (at the same style setting as above) to set the line display to "color by axis" to see if your lines are coplanar (all lines on the red or green axis should be coloured red/green now). Of course if you modeled completely out of axis, this won't help.

Also try to put a text label onto every endpoint you drew. By default it will give you the coordinates. If you hit enter twice, that will be the text label. Wherever you se a different value of the last number (the z - blue - axis) it means that you are not coplanar.

Or just post your model here for us to see.

[J4Media]

@gaieus said:

John,

Thick lines are called "profiles" and are merely used to either indicate that they do not close a coplanar face or to give some "perspective look" to your model (meaning that the outlines and front edges of a 3D model are usually displayed with them).
I personally don't like profiles and even turn them off (Style window > in mode > edit > edge settings).

Now when you just simply close a face (tracing over the image) they should not turn into thin lines (that are called edges when surrounding a face) since they are still the "outlines" of your face.

Is there a face created at all? If not, you have done something wrong, i.e. I assume that your lines are not on the same (red/green, horizontal) plane. This is essential for SU to be able to create a face.

Try (at the same style setting as above) to set the line display to "color by axis" to see if your lines are coplanar (all lines on the red or green axis should be coloured red/green now). Of course if you modeled completely out of axis, this won't help.

Also try to put a text label onto every endpoint you drew. By default it will give you the coordinates. If you hit enter twice, that will be the text label. Wherever you se a different value of the last number (the z - blue - axis) it means that you are not coplanar.

Or just post your model here for us to see.

Thanks for the response Gaieus. I am getting a face, it was just picking up the image below it a dragging it up. I guess I just assumed that when I dragged the face up it would be solid white in color, so that threw me off.

The problem I'm having now is when i try to place a window on one of the walls i have drawn, it doesnt cut through the wall and its very hard to actually put on the face. sometimes i get to the point where it looks like its in place, but the top half of the window is still white (the color of the wall) and most (but not all) of the otherside of the window cut through.

I imagine there's an easy way to place the window on a face that I'm missing. Thanks again for your help!

John

[Gaieus]

Note that in SU components can only cut an opening on a single face. This means they neither cut through a thick wall nor can cut two adjacent - though coplanar - faces (i.e. if you divide a face with a line and insert a component that should cut both faces, it will only cut one of them).

To get some ideas about the workarounds to cut thick walls, look at this tutorial (do NOT miss the link to Susan's further enhancement of the tut at the bottom of the first post).

Also, Didier has come up with a brilliant, new script, see the discussion here.

[Gaieus]

Ah yes, I also believe that scripts are only to speed up the workflow and you should be able to do everything by hand also (OK, I know that there are some really tricky scripts like SSB and of course I'm really grateful for the rubiers).

Nothing beats practice!

[PassUby]

First off, thanks for all the great tutorials and help on here.

My question to anyone is why am I getting just this screen when I Import this file? I went through every setting i could think of, but to no avail I'm still stuck.

My video card is a Radeon X1600 with the newest drivers.

Thank you in advance!

[Aeir]

The APV_Template.skp is just a template which gives you the various tabs and settings. To actually get the picture you need to import either an image of a house plan (which you can find by doing a google search for house plan images) or an actual cad type file (.dwg, .dxf, etc). Once you do that, you will have your plan in the template and be ready to work with it.

Hope that helps.

[keithwins]

In the tutorial, Chris mentions "be sure to use the right thickness for walls". I can't figure out how to change that, or exactly what he means. Do I draw a rectangle that is 6" "thick" over every wall, or is there a way to set lines to 6" thick? Or would people typically do the outside outline, and then offset the 6"?

I also don't understand what is meant by "trace the door and window openings". Is that just drawing some short perpendicular lines to break the walls at the door and window locations, or is there something more tricky going on?

Sorry, I'm not real experienced with Sketchup, AND this is the first tutorial I've looked at. Thanks for any clarifications!

Warmly, keith

[Gaieus]

@keithwins said:

Or would people typically do the outside outline, and then offset the 6"?

Yes, exactly. SU is not a "solid" but a "surface" modeler i.e. faces ("lines") don't have thickness at all. We only give "thickness" to bejcts bay drawing two faces of them.

Notice however that a face has two different sides; a white/beige one that is the front or outside of it and a bluish one that is the back face. Always make sure that the back face "faces" inside the "thickness" of the geometry and you can only see white faces everywhere in your model.

As for openings (windows, doors) you can either cut their places as Kriss suggests here or use components later. Components with gluing/cutting features can only cut through a single face however so in order to cut the inside face of a fat wall, you need to use some workarounds outlined in this tutorial:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=744
Make sure to follow the link at the bottom of the first post.

[kikle_123]

I am currently learning sketchup but I ran across your tutorial and I think it will be a great learning tool to incorporate into my work. -Krystal

[troyhome]

These tutorials are part of what make SketchUp so great to use- we're never at a loss for how to accomplish something with our digital tool of choice!

[smorales02]

Hello, I am new at SU and am going through this tutorial for practice. A couple of questions though..

After applying the image as a material, do I need to keep the original image in the drawing or can I delete it?

Also, seeing how we are tracing over and image the measurments of the wall wont be completely accurate, will they?? Seeing how your not snapping to any endpoint or anything...

Thank you

[remus]

Yep, you can delete the image form your model once youve applied it as a material.

As for accuracy, it depends how accurately you draw, as you pointed out. If you know the size of a few elements though, you can draw those in and use hem for size reference, making the whole thing a lot more accurate than just drawing by eye. Probably a bit slower, though, if you havent had a lot of practice with inference.

If you want a very accurate drawing youd be bet of starting with some imported linework (if you can get hold of it.) something like a .dxf file which is treated as linework in SU.

[smorales02]

Thanks for the reply, I have room sizes that are in my image so I will just use those for reference. If I had a dxf file that would be great but seeing how I am just using an image from the net I dont have one..

If anyone has a dxf or dwg of a floor plan and wouldnt mind me using it for some modeling practice, please let me know.

[smorales02]

Does step 11 mean just copy it over 4 times?? this being after we trace over the walls and the door/window openings??

[remus]

I dont think so, i think your meant to repeat the process a for the different layers of the house (basement, 1st floor etc.)

There is a second part to this tutorial btw, just do a search.

[smorales02]

Ive seen the second part of the tut which I am going to get to in a bit. I am just wondering why we would repeat a process we already did when we can just copy it??? Im confused on how many "copies" of the floor plan are needed...

[idraft]

Hi all,

A couple of my tricks to speed up the whole process.

1. Copying or overlaying jpeg image. Draw a line around entire perimeter untill it closes in. Delete fill. Then draw the wall into the appropriate position on the plan and use the "followme tool" to create all exterior walls. Done
2. Interior walls. Make standard width wall (in plan only)and group it. make several copies for each wall needed. then group the lot. Grab one grouped wall and place in position, open the group and stretch it as req'd. Do this to all walls then finally ungroup all walls and push / pull to correct height.
   3.cut in window openings by scaling off plan.
   4.Make all windows on a single plane face and grouped(they dont need to be 3D in most cases) A cad drafting program will do that. Doesnt solve your cutting plane issue but saves a *&^% of time. If you want you can move your windows into the wall of the building by selecting all windows on each elevation then moving them in all at the same time, this gives you additional depth, or you can add cills to your window if needed.

Cheers Jeff.