Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

More Ways to Move the Camera

Often the camera position is the most important property being saved in a scene. If you've been working in SketchUp for a while, you're probably pretty experienced at placing the camera where you want it for a particular view. The standard camera views (Camera → Standard Views) or the buttons on the View toolbar give you a great start. Then you can use those old friends the Orbit (O), Pan (H), and Zoom (Z) tools to fine-tune the view. SketchUp has three other tools, known as the Walkthrough tools: Position Camera, Walk, and Look Around. These tools help you set up specific views in your model, and they work great in combination with scenes.

Tip

Don't forget about the Previous and Next view buttons as you're working to set up views and scenes. The Previous button is especially helpful if one of the Walkthrough tools doesn't give you the view you want. Just click Previous and give it another try.

Figure 12-12. The easiest way to get to the Walkthrough tools is on the toolbar. Position Camera, Look Around, and Walk are close to the other view tools.

Using the Position Camera Tool

If you're a photographer, the ideas behind the Position Camera tool are pretty easy to grasp. Imagine you've got a camera on a tripod. First you click to place the tripod at a certain position in your model. If you don't make any changes to the camera height, your view is 5 feet, 6 inches ...