Question about rotating.

olbertus

Hello everyone! I have a question which I can hopefully get answered here. I have been using Sketchup for a short time mainly thus far to model static objects like architectural elements but one of the main things I want to utilize it for is to model armored vehicles for a graphic novel project.

My question is this, basically I want to be able to easily "pose" the turrets on these armoured vehicles at different angles and elevations as I plan on importing the images into PS for paintovers and I need to be able to get a useful time saving reference for complicated perspective shots, ie vehicle facing one way and turret another. I don't need to model in crazy detail levels but it is very important for me to be able to choose a turret angle to suit the scene.

I have tried this with no success on some already modeled vehicles made by other artists with no success as it is essential to know the absolute center of turret rotation to rotate without visual distortion. Hopefully there is someone who models these types of vehicles that can help me...

Thanks in advance...

Gaieus

Hi Oliver,

Sure it's an easy thing. See the file attached at the bottom. The point is the you need to group everything that you want to move/rotate together. I made this very quick model to demonstrate. I used guide lines at the centre of rotation in the model. Made a group of the turret and all belongings and inside the turret, another group for the gun / cannon part. Here I added another guide line at the centre of rotation of that small cylinder.

Note that you can always turn the visibility of guide lines off under the View menu so that when you export your 2d images, they do not ruin your scene.

Ah, and check this topic out:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=333&t=35504

tank.skp

olbertus

Wow...thanks very much for such a prompt response, it seems like it will be fairly simple and the model and diagrams help immensely.

Great stuff, thanks again!

Gaieus

For even moderately complex models, using groups and/or (especially for repetitive elements) components is a must anyway. This makes it possible to do anything more complex than a box actually.