Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

Applying Colors and Materials (Windows)

When you use the Face Style toolbar (Changing Face Styles) to change the look of your model, the changes you make apply to all the faces of the model. When you want to change the appearance of individual faces within your model, you change the color or materials of the face using the Paint Bucket (B) tool and the Materials window (Window → Materials), as shown in Figure 6-3.

Note

The tools for applying colors and materials are different on Macs and Windows. This section covers the Windows tools. If you're of the Mac persuasion, go to Applying Colors and Materials (Mac).

1. Click the Shaded face style button, or choose View → Face Style → Shaded.

   Your model shows the base color for faces, but doesn't show textures. If you haven't applied color or textures to any faces, you won't see much of a change at this point. (To get the full picture for this exercise, make sure the X-ray button is toggled off.)

2. Choose Window → Materials.

   The Materials window appears, as shown in Figure 6-3. You use this window to apply both solid colors and materials, which mix colors and images to create a textured appearance. At the top you see a preview of the selected material and its name. Below that is the Collections drop-down menu. The individual colors or materials in the collection appear below the menu.

   Note

   You can also display the Colors window by selecting the Paint Bucket tool from the menu (Tools → Paint Bucket) or from the Tools palette or just by pressing B.

3. From ...