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If you’ve been learning about 3D printing and admiring so many of the fascinating new innovations that designers of all expertise and age ranges are creating today, 3D modeling may be piquing your curiosity, and on your list of interesting things to check out. This may be a new skill you want to put at the top of your list for delving into, however, as it will expand your world of creativity substantially, setting you up for the next step into 3D printing. Believes that so strongly that recently they released a beginner’s guide, offering “.’ This is the perfect time to pick up a list of tips that send you on your way—in a non-intimidating fashion—as you start to master this software used for prototypes, models, functional parts and more.

Is famous for ease in use and little in the way of a learning curve. SketchUp expert Mich Judelag of put together this tutorial which takes you through the initial points of 3D modeling, helping you to design your first 3D model.

You can look forward to learning how to translate 2D shapes into 3D and then manipulate them in a diverse number of ways—from moving and pushing to scaling and copying. Seventeen steps follow for sending you on your way to excellence in design. Step One You’ll need to decide which level of, and then do so.

Assuming you are shooting for the novice range, you’ll want the beginning software, which is free; however, should you want to go the more advanced route from here, you can download SketchUp Pro instead, enjoying more latitude in actions, like scaling and exporting and importing from CAD. Step Two Select your workspace from the opening window, starting with Simple Template – Meters. “Click on the template and then on the ‘Start using SketchUp’ button on the lower right side of the window,” says Judelag. “I recommend you to check the box on the lower left side that says ‘Always show on startup,’ as this will enable you to select any template every time you open the application.” Step Three This is a great place to check out the tools you are going to be working with, as you see a list of toolbars, choosing ‘Large Toolset,’ for a versatile supply of tools to get you going on your first 3D model (be sure here to uncheck the other toolbars). Step Four You’ll see the red, green, and blue axes which allow you not only to see your model from different directions, but also to use ‘snapping’ for alignment. At this point, you can start creating 2D shapes. Step Five Here, you’ll want to start practicing drawing the fundamentals like lines, rectangles, and circles.

See the full for outlined instructions on working with each of these, but for the most part it’s a very intuitive exercise that begins with clicking on the icon of your choice. SketchUp drawing tools Step Six Learn how to use Pan and Orbit for basic movements. Pan is as easy as clicking on the proper icon, clicking to set the origin, and then holding the mouse button and dragging. “This will allow you to move your view,” says Judelag. For Orbit, click on the icon and then clicking anywhere, you can hold, drag, and rotate the entire view.

If you’d like, you can also do this with the mouse wheel. Step Seven It’s very important to make sure you are familiar with Edit > Undo, as well as Alt + Backspace, which also reverse a step. Remember to save your work with File > Save or Ctrl + S. Step Eight Here you can begin making 3D models by zooming in and highlighting the plane of a shape. “When you see the plane highlighted (i.e., when the plane shows a dotted texture on it), click on it and simply drag it upwards,” advises Judelag. “Click the left mouse button again to set the height of your cylinder, cube or cuboid.

Or type the height after the first click.” At that point, your 2D shape has been converted—and you have your first 3D object! Step Nine This tool allows you to check dimension by simply choosing the appropriate icon. You can also use both the tape measure and protractor tools here (found in the lower right corner), and it’s recommended that you spend some time experimenting with how these work as they can be very helpful to you as you progress. SketchUp dimension tools Step Ten Moving objects is very easy in that you just need to select the object (with the select tool) and then encompass it with a ‘selection net.’ Click the move tool, click on the object, and drag. Step Eleven This is another very easy exercise, which you should be comfortable with if you know your way around a computer already. Just select the object, and then press Ctrl. Once you left-click, you can past the copied model where you’d like it to go.