[Tutorial > Modeling] How a Pro Builds a House in SU pt 1

[syburn]

oh i have placed the rectangle to one side this time. I have managed to get the jgp in the matrial library by the right click methof - but when i paint bucket the material to the recangle nothing happens - i cant see the image. can see other materials if i try those though.....

hmm i have now done it but not sure how - restarted it. maybe it was groups problem.

had to flip the image as it was mirrored but looks ok now.

thanks for you help!

(syburn)

[Krisidious]

you may have problems like this, after applying the texture to the rectangle, then right click on the rectangle and select "texture>Position> then flip, rotate, move until it fits correctly.

this help?

[titmas]

step 11
repeat this process for your foundation, your first level and your second level and third...

by 'repeat' are you referring to steps 1-10 for each page of the plans by importing an image of each page than scale, trace, copy, layer?

[Krisidious]

yes that's what I meant...

[not registered yet]

Hi Kristoff,
I only just found this thread and I'm finding it very useful indeed as I'm modelling my house in order to plan various improvements and alterations to services etc. I've got about six versions so far in various stages of completion which I realise is going to cause me major problem. Your tip about layers will be invaluable. Going right back to the beginning, would I be right in assuming that you could treat an imported 2D .DWG file in exactly the same way as you've used a .jpg image ?
Thanks again for all your great input.

Bigyin

[Krisidious]

yes you could use the dwg file, although you would explode it and make the actual lines of the dwg into SU lines.

[not registered yet]

Thanks for that Kristoff. I think I'm gonna restart my model as I have a .DWG that friend produced and following your approach will help me keep the versions much better organised.
Cheers,

Bigyin

[Krisidious]

Bigyin...

start a thread in the gallery and post your work as you go, people will stop by and drop encouraging notes and advice that you can't find by asking, the kind that pops into their head while they see your progress.

good luck.

[not registered yet]

I am having problems with step 4.

What do you mean when you say open the group?

If you mean edit, I am editing the group and measuring with the tape measure, but it is not asking me to resize the group?

BTW- I am using the free version of SketchUp.

Thanks from an aspiring SU user!

(Online)

[Krisidious]

online...

after measuring a lined that you have drawn, you type in the box on the lower right hand of your screen, the measurment that you wish the line to become.

does that help?

[not registered yet]

I am doing that and it is only making a construction point where the measurement would be?

(Online)

[Gaieus]

Online,

Don't bother with the construction point!
Do as Kris told:

Do the measurement, click second time and before doing anything else, just start typing the desired measure (don't put your mouse into the VCB and click - just type) When finished, hit Enter and answer the question that pops up.

[not registered yet]

Wow, that was easy!

I feel dumb now.

One more question, how come I am getting this black junk on my screen with zooming in?

(Online)

[Krisidious]

if you are at scale already... then that's a videocard issue... if it's not to scale it may be clipping, to fix that a known GSU issue, you'll have to turn off the perspective view and use parallel view.

[not registered yet]

if you are at scale already... then that's a videocard issue... if it's not to scale it may be clipping, to fix that a known GSU issue, you'll have to turn off the perspective view and use parallel view.

Well I am at scale already.

On the existing plan that I made a material out of, I can zoom all the way in and it is at scale already?

(Online)

[Krisidious]

if you are in the top view... square

and you have parallel view enabled...

and you still have this issue, I would say you need a better videocard or at very least to update your video card drivers...

[not registered yet]

Thank you so much!

(Online)

[jaggie4life]

Hi there,

i amnt very good at this but im just wondering where to get a picture at the start of the guide if anyone can post one up that would help very much

thanks

[jvh]

i've got problems with step 6. after right clicking and choosing "use as a material" i don't know how to apply it to the square.

[jvh]

Thanks James,

That's what I tried. Then I get the materials window, but my plan is not in it, so I can't select and drop it in my square.

[J4Media]

First off, thanks for this tutorial, its very helpful.

I have followed along through all steps and am at the part where I trace the plan. The problem I'm having trouble with is when i trace the entire perimeter of the plan and connect it to where I started, the lines get thin from their original thick. This then results in a hollow center when i use the offset tool to set the wall thickness of 6".

I am baffled by what I am doing wrong, can someone please help me out?

Thanks in advance for your help.

John

[Gaieus]

John,

Thick lines are called "profiles" and are merely used to either indicate that they do not close a coplanar face or to give some "perspective look" to your model (meaning that the outlines and front edges of a 3D model are usually displayed with them).
I personally don't like profiles and even turn them off (Style window > in mode > edit > edge settings).

Now when you just simply close a face (tracing over the image) they should not turn into thin lines (that are called edges when surrounding a face) since they are still the "outlines" of your face.

Is there a face created at all? If not, you have done something wrong, i.e. I assume that your lines are not on the same (red/green, horizontal) plane. This is essential for SU to be able to create a face.

Try (at the same style setting as above) to set the line display to "color by axis" to see if your lines are coplanar (all lines on the red or green axis should be coloured red/green now). Of course if you modeled completely out of axis, this won't help.

Also try to put a text label onto every endpoint you drew. By default it will give you the coordinates. If you hit enter twice, that will be the text label. Wherever you se a different value of the last number (the z - blue - axis) it means that you are not coplanar.

Or just post your model here for us to see.

[J4Media]

John,

Thick lines are called "profiles" and are merely used to either indicate that they do not close a coplanar face or to give some "perspective look" to your model (meaning that the outlines and front edges of a 3D model are usually displayed with them).
I personally don't like profiles and even turn them off (Style window > in mode > edit > edge settings).

Now when you just simply close a face (tracing over the image) they should not turn into thin lines (that are called edges when surrounding a face) since they are still the "outlines" of your face.

Is there a face created at all? If not, you have done something wrong, i.e. I assume that your lines are not on the same (red/green, horizontal) plane. This is essential for SU to be able to create a face.

Try (at the same style setting as above) to set the line display to "color by axis" to see if your lines are coplanar (all lines on the red or green axis should be coloured red/green now). Of course if you modeled completely out of axis, this won't help.

Also try to put a text label onto every endpoint you drew. By default it will give you the coordinates. If you hit enter twice, that will be the text label. Wherever you se a different value of the last number (the z - blue - axis) it means that you are not coplanar.

Or just post your model here for us to see.

Thanks for the response Gaieus. I am getting a face, it was just picking up the image below it a dragging it up. I guess I just assumed that when I dragged the face up it would be solid white in color, so that threw me off.

The problem I'm having now is when i try to place a window on one of the walls i have drawn, it doesnt cut through the wall and its very hard to actually put on the face. sometimes i get to the point where it looks like its in place, but the top half of the window is still white (the color of the wall) and most (but not all) of the otherside of the window cut through.

I imagine there's an easy way to place the window on a face that I'm missing. Thanks again for your help!

John

[Gaieus]

Note that in SU components can only cut an opening on a single face. This means they neither cut through a thick wall nor can cut two adjacent - though coplanar - faces (i.e. if you divide a face with a line and insert a component that should cut both faces, it will only cut one of them).

To get some ideas about the workarounds to cut thick walls, look at this tutorial (do NOT miss the link to Susan's further enhancement of the tut at the bottom of the first post).

Also, Didier has come up with a brilliant, new script, see the discussion here.

[Gaieus]

Ah yes, I also believe that scripts are only to speed up the workflow and you should be able to do everything by hand also (OK, I know that there are some really tricky scripts like SSB and of course I'm really grateful for the rubiers).

Nothing beats practice!

[PassUby]

First off, thanks for all the great tutorials and help on here.

My question to anyone is why am I getting just this screen when I Import this file? I went through every setting i could think of, but to no avail I'm still stuck.

My video card is a Radeon X1600 with the newest drivers.

Thank you in advance!

[Aeir]

The APV_Template.skp is just a template which gives you the various tabs and settings. To actually get the picture you need to import either an image of a house plan (which you can find by doing a google search for house plan images) or an actual cad type file (.dwg, .dxf, etc). Once you do that, you will have your plan in the template and be ready to work with it.

Hope that helps.

[keithwins]

In the tutorial, Chris mentions "be sure to use the right thickness for walls". I can't figure out how to change that, or exactly what he means. Do I draw a rectangle that is 6" "thick" over every wall, or is there a way to set lines to 6" thick? Or would people typically do the outside outline, and then offset the 6"?

I also don't understand what is meant by "trace the door and window openings". Is that just drawing some short perpendicular lines to break the walls at the door and window locations, or is there something more tricky going on?

Sorry, I'm not real experienced with Sketchup, AND this is the first tutorial I've looked at. Thanks for any clarifications!

Warmly, keith

[Gaieus]

Or would people typically do the outside outline, and then offset the 6"?

Yes, exactly. SU is not a "solid" but a "surface" modeler i.e. faces ("lines") don't have thickness at all. We only give "thickness" to bejcts bay drawing two faces of them.

Notice however that a face has two different sides; a white/beige one that is the front or outside of it and a bluish one that is the back face. Always make sure that the back face "faces" inside the "thickness" of the geometry and you can only see white faces everywhere in your model.

As for openings (windows, doors) you can either cut their places as Kriss suggests here or use components later. Components with gluing/cutting features can only cut through a single face however so in order to cut the inside face of a fat wall, you need to use some workarounds outlined in this tutorial:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=744
Make sure to follow the link at the bottom of the first post.

[kikle_123]

I am currently learning sketchup but I ran across your tutorial and I think it will be a great learning tool to incorporate into my work. -Krystal