Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
Adding Components
Think carefully which components you want to add to your SketchUp model because each
one will increase the SketchUp file size. Having said that, it is always possible to purge unused
file-space-heavy components and materials by using the options in the respective windows
(see Figure 2.10 for the Components window);therefore, it might be a good idea to start
with a larger file and then simply get rid of unused components later.
Figure 2.10: Purging unused components
Samples for preloaded components in architecture are people cutouts, a minimal set of
trees and shrubbery, as well as any annotation elements that you might want to add to your
model (e.g., a “north” arrow). While SketchUp’s default components are easily accessible
through the component windows and therefore should not need to be loaded into a template,
it’s a good idea to do this if you have created your own set of these components to
give your models a more personal touch.
One good example for this is your own person cutout (akin to the “Susan” figure that
shipped with version 8 of SketchUp). One of SketchUp’s common criticisms is that its output can
easily be identified as coming from SketchUp because this person is very often left in the view.
To make your own person cutout, load a photo that you like into the view, scale it to the
correct size, and then trace the shape of the person (and delete the outside faces). Then just
apply color to all faces and make it a component. Make sure you select “Always face camera”
in the Create Component dialog. Instructions for creating components appear later in this
chapter and a similar example (creating a cutout tree) is included in Chapter 5.
Views
If you often switch between working in perspective mode and in parallel projection views
(top view, front view, etc.), then it might make sense for you to preset the most important
views as animation tabs. To do this, create new tabs through the View menu by clicking
on Animation k Add Scene once you change all view settings to your liking (you can also
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