Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

Studying Shadow Movement with Scenes

As every director from David Lynch to Quentin Tarantino knows, movie directors get to control both time and space. Here's an exercise that shows how to use SketchUp scenes to show time changes in your animations.

Chapter 11 explained how to add shadows to your model that change according to the time of year and the time of day (Changing Shadow Angles). By combining scenes with shadows, you can create shadow study animations. Here are the steps, using the model from the previous exercises in this chapter:

1. With modern_house_scenes_begin.skp open in the modeling window, click the Display Shadows button or choose View → Shadows.

   The house model casts shadows on the ground plane. Shadow patterns appear inside the model, too, where light comes through the windows.

   Note

   See Customizing Your Workspace for details on how to display the Shadows toolbar for your computer.

2. Using the Shadow toolbar or the Shadow Settings window (Window → Shadows), set the date to June 21 and the time to 6:00 am.

   If you're using the toolbar, you may not be able to set the time and date with precision. Ballpark timing is good enough for this example.

3. In the Scenes window click the Add Scene button—it looks like a + sign in a circle.

   SketchUp adds new scene to the Scenes list.

4. In the Scenes window, click the Show Details button (Figure 12-7). Then in the Name box, type Shadow Morning.

   Your scene displaying shadows has an appropriate name.

5. Using the Shadow toolbar or the Shadow Settings ...