Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
3. It is a good idea to align your view with the side of the beam—either orbit and zoom or
right-click on the side of the beam and select Align View from the context menu.
4. Start sketching temporary lines on the side of the beam. Using the Tape Measure tool,
click on the top edge (make sure it snaps to the edge and not a point like the endpoint),
and move the mouse downward. You should now see a horizontal (dashed) guideline.
Click when you reach 2g (this is possible because you preset length snapping earlier), or
enter 2 into the Measurements Box.
5. Now click at the point where the guideline intersects the right edge. Because you picked
a point and not an edge as the start, you will not create a parallel guideline but rather a
guide point. Move left along the guideline and click at 3g to place the point.
6. Use the guide point as starting point for an angled guideline, which can be created with
the Protractor tool. After starting the Protractor tool, you first need to place the center
of the tool gizmo (the round protractor icon). Click on the temporary guide point for this.
Next, you select a zero reference (click on the horizontal guideline). Finally, move down to
the left until the protractor snaps at 30 degrees. Then click to place the angled guideline.
TIP
You can constrain the protractor gizmo to a particular plane by hovering over a face that
is parallel to that plane and then pressing the Shift key. As long as the Shift key is pressed,
the gizmo will not automatically shift its orientation based on a face’s orientation below
the mouse cursor.
28