Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

About the Outline

Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual is divided into six parts, each containing several chapters.

Part One: Basic SketchUp Skills introduces the SketchUp workspace and then lets you jump in and create your first model: a simple bench. With these new skills under your belt, you're ready to explore in detail some of the differences between working in two dimensions and working in three dimensions. Step-by-step tutorials show you how to draw 2-D lines and shapes in SketchUp. By the end of Part 1, you're drawing in three dimensions and using a wide variety of SketchUp tools to build increasingly detailed models.

Part Two: Building a House is where you become a journeyman builder. You start by building simple 3-D shapes and learn how to save them as reusable components. Along the way, you become an expert at adjusting the SketchUp view, so you can easily see and work with your model. At the end of this part, you use SketchUp's Outliner to keep track of your components and to show and hide parts of your model as you work.

Part Three: Advanced Construction Techniques tackles more complicated construction projects like buildings with hipped roofs. You learn even more about the power of components and how to save tons of time by using them. You're introduced to another timesaving tool, the Follow Me tool, which can build a complicated edge as fast as you can click.

Part Four: Adding Realism and Movement explores the ways you can place your models into the virtual world provided ...