Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
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Files—You can select locations on your hard disk for models, components, materials,
and so on. These are set up by default in the main SketchUp installation directory, but
sometimes it is quite convenient to also have a separate location where custom components
are stored. A use case for this is a company in which several SketchUp installations
need to access models located in central network storage (for details, see the note that
follows this list).
General—These are some miscellaneous settings of which the most important ones are
“Create backup” (make sure this is checked in order to have a backup in case of a crash),
“Auto-save” (set this to a short interval, such as every ten minutes), and “Automatically
check for updates” (to be reminded when an update for SketchUp is available).
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If you set up SketchUp to save backups, then there will be an SKB backup file saved in
the same location where your SKP SketchUp file is saved. In case your main file becomes
unusable, you can open the backup file directly with SketchUp. Just make sure you can
see all files in the Open dialog by selecting “All files (*.*)” at the bottom of the dialog.
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OpenGL—These settings determine how the application graphics are being processed,
which in turn determines how responsive SketchUp will be when you work with it. Unless
you have a very old graphics card, make sure “Use hardware acceleration” is checked.
This lets the graphics card do most of the display rendering and results in a responsive
3D work environment. Also check the “Capabilities” table below these settings. It shows
which capabilities of your graphics card have been found by SketchUp. It is always a good
idea to select one of the rows where the anti-alias number is larger than zero so that
lines on-screen don’t appear jagged. Experiment with these settings until you find the
combination that works best for you.
Shortcuts—As mentioned earlier, this allows you to add your own keyboard shortcuts.
Template—You can select your default template here. To efficiently use a template in
SketchUp, modify an empty file to your liking (including all settings in Window k Model
Info, since they will be stored in the SketchUp file). You can even preload components
and materials. Then save the file as a template (choose Save As Template. . . under the
File menu) and preselect the file in this preference tab.
Workspace—This allows you to change the size of the toolbar buttons and to reset the
workspace.
IN-DEPTH
Using SketchUp on Multiple Computers
If you use SketchUp on more than one computer, it might make sense to work from the
same set of components, materials, textures, and so on. You can then, for example, create
a collection of your own (or your company’s) custom components and materials that
is synchronized across all the computers on which SketchUp is installed.
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