Drawing and Modification Tools

Drawing and Modification Tools

SketchUp uses a series of drawing tools to construct edges and faces. Most of these tools can be accessed from the top menu bar by selecting View > Toolbars. Then select the Large Toolset to activate SketchUp’s primary tool pallet. Mouse over the tool icons of the large toolset to identify the tools.

To illustrate how most tools work, the next section provides a detailed overview of the Line and Select tools. Additional tools are described in short tutorials and summaries.

The Line Tool

The Line tool is used to draw edges that can subdivide or heal faces. Select the Line tool from the Large Toolset. Draw a line by selecting (left click) the first point, releasing the mouse, and then selecting a second point. You should notice that the Line tool is still active or “elastic,” meaning SketchUp is waiting for you to draw additional edges. Draw a second line, trying to keep it “flat” on the drawing surface. Draw a third line connecting to the open end of the first line. If drawn correctly, SketchUp will generate a face between all the lines (Fig. 2-11).

Fig. 2-11: The Line tool can create/heal a single face with three drawn edges.

The Select Tool

Choose the Select tool (arrow) from the Large Toolset. This tool will be used often. The Select tool does as its name implies; it selects edges and faces. There are several ways to select geometry.

Single Clicking To select geometry, simply click on an edge or face with the Select tool add/Subtract Geometry Holding the Shift key down while using the Select tool (referred to as Shift+click) will select multiple edges, faces, and geometry. If the selected geometry is clicked on again while holding Shift+click, geometry will be subtracted or deselected from the selection set.

additive Method Ctrl+click is identical to Shift+click except that it will not subtract or deselect geometry already selected.