Used SketchUp for years... still can't work this out. *Help*

Synchronicity · 14 Aug 2015, 00:19

Hi there guys, hope you are all well.

I've got an issue that I've never been able to work out how to resolve.

For instance, say I draw out the body shape of a car, creating just the outer shell out of 2D faces. What is the easiest way to make this have thickness, and become an actual "3D" solid. Rather than a single faced... face?

I've added some screenshots illustrating my problem. I've tried looking for plugins that can automatically add thickness, or multiple face push tool, but nothing seems to be helping.

I've tried pushing the surfaces up and then manually joining them together, but it changes the basic geometry/angle of the body work.

If anyone is able to help point me in the right direction I would be incredibly grateful

Thanks!

The first image is the 2 parts of the "hover car" placed together precariously manually, with no faces for the interior.

Tobobo · 14 Aug 2015, 09:19

The Joint Pull Push Tool is what i used for this sort of actvitiy. Have you tried it?

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

JQL · 14 Aug 2015, 09:20

You haven't tried Joint Push Pull?

What units are you working with?

You should always turn a set of those faces into a component. Copy it to the side, scale it 10x then you can better use Joint Push Pull on it.

With JPP pulling to the front face side is always positive and to the backside is always negative, wich is different than native sketchup.

Synchronicity · 14 Aug 2015, 09:39

Thanks for the tips guys, I did actually try to get Joint Push/Pull working, but I didn't manage to install the plugin correctly I think.

It used to be that there was a folder in the Sketchup directory (back when it was Google SketchUp), and you just dragged and dropped them in there, I made a "Plugins" folder in the sketchup directory and put the plugin in there, but it hasn't loaded.

Do you know how to manually install Ruby plugins nowadays?

Thanks so much guys!

This is what I end up doing on these sort of vehicle models that need to be enterable/have interiors, but it all gets so messy inside with extra lines everywhere, and hidden geometry being pretty much inevitable etc...

JQL · 14 Aug 2015, 12:04

You install through sketchucation plugin store or through trimble´s extension warehouse.

Plugin Store Download | SketchUcation

Extending SketchUp has never been easier with a suite of tools that make installing and disabling plugins and extensions a one click operation.

(sketchucation.com)

Synchronicity · 23 Aug 2015, 20:27

@jql said:

You install through sketchucation plugin store or through trimble´s extension warehouse.

Plugin Store Download | SketchUcation

Extending SketchUp has never been easier with a suite of tools that make installing and disabling plugins and extensions a one click operation.

(sketchucation.com)

Thanks very much, thanks to everyone aswell for letting me know that the Joint Push Pull plugin is what I'm after! Cheers