Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

Painting Your Bench with Materials

In SketchUp world, you can apply color or materials to the faces of your 3-D objects. SketchUp materials are patterns that simulate the look of real-world materials such as concrete or wood, giving your models a more realistic appearance. Since none of the faces in your bench component have been painted with a color or material, you can paint the entire bench at once by dragging a color or material from the Materials window (Window → Materials) onto the component. However, in this exercise, you paint the different components individually to get a feeling for the way nested components work. You'll see how you can open components for editing by double-clicking them or by using the Outliner window.

Here are the steps to apply a cherry wood material to the bench leg components.

1. With the Select tool (space bar), double-click the bench.

   A marquee box appears around the bench to show that you are editing a component. With one click you can select either the bench seat or the leg assembly. Remember, the bench legs and support are part of a component called the Leg Assembly.

2. Right-click (Control-click) the Leg Assembly and choose Edit Component.

   The Edit Component command opens the Leg Assembly for editing. That means you can select the individual parts inside the component—in this case the bench legs and support. These parts are also components that group their individual edges and faces. A dotted bounding box appears around the component that's open for editing. ...