What's your beginners tip?

[Hazza]

I thought that there are alot of people on this forum that have alot of great knowledge and are willing to share it. In that spirit I wanted to start a thread on what's your ONE tip would you give a beginner?

Add just one tip, select one technique or method or tool that you think would be the most useful or it could be an unexpected gotcha to be careful of.

My tip would be:
"If you are going to use more than one copy of an item in the model make it a component, it saves file size and any changes are reflected in all copies"

[Gaieus]

When you are still unfamiliar with the inference engine and keep drawing lines out of alignment and off-axis, the "Colour by axis" setting in the Styles dialogue may be some help. Open it from the Window menu then go to "My model" (the little house icon) > Edit tab > Edge settings. There, at the bottom, there is a pulldown menu:

ColourByAxis_cr.jpg

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Hazza, this is a good idea but it should really go to the Newbie forum I think, so I'm moving it there if you don't mind.
I also mad it sticky.

[Chris Fullmer]

Always use a 3 button mouse with SketchUp. None of those single button Mac mice....stupidest invention ever.

And use shortcut keys.

Chris

[Alan Fraser]

Watch the training videos on the Help menu...especially if you are coming to SU from another program, with a ton of preconceptions about how things should be done....more especially if you are new to 3D.

[remus]

Start using groups early, makes stuff a lot easier.

[Tobobo]

Start using groups early, makes stuff a lot easier.

and components

My tip would be keep a tidy model. Keep up on your purging.

[Gaieus]

Display edges and profiles off...

I'd only keep profiles turned off - edge are neded for modeling (to see where you are connecting vertices and such).
Although never tried that way - maybe you can get used to it.
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The fastest way of modeling then would be with edges turne off in wireframe modeling

[MALAISE]

Begin with elementary forms (box, cylinder )and play with all tool just in order to learn
how they work.

MALAISE

[ehaflett]

Spend at least 10 minutes a day reading posts here. There's a LOT to be learned here and no shortage of inspiration!

[solo]

Have fun with SU, play everyday, get into a workflow that you are comfortable with. Do not get too technical in the beginning as the details will come when the need arises.

As long as you are having fun you are learning, as soon as you get frustrated walk away and try again later.

[pmiller]

Display edges and profiles off...

I'd only keep profiles turned off - edge are neded for modeling (to see where you are connecting vertices and such).
Although never tried that way - maybe you can get used to it.
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The fastest way of modeling then would be with edges turne off in wireframe modeling

On the contrary, I would strongly urge beginners to keep profiles on so they can properly tell when they have formed surfaces and avoid co-planar problems. Once they have got it, then they can keep them off.

[Gaieus]

...On the contrary, I would strongly urge beginners to keep profiles on so they can properly tell when they have formed surfaces and avoid co-planar problems. Once they have got it, then they can keep them off.

Yes, there is some truth in this - I also turn them on when finding out that some faces don't form properly so that I can easily see the offending edges.

[Ross Macintosh]

Tip: Orbit, Pan & Zoom using the middle mouse button / scroll wheel.

middle mouse button to orbit
middle mouse button + shift to pan
and the scroll wheel to zoom

The tool buttons for orbiting, panning and zooming almost never need to be used.

[Gaieus]

Yeah, deinitely. I even change the Orbit shortcut key (O) to Offset (while the original offset (F) is now Follow me. I think it is more logican and the orbit tool (a a button) is totally redundant.

[pilou]

Enable "Hidden geometry" can help for curved forms and explain why some surfaces can't be selected
Works also fine with the Joint Push Pull (the plug to add first!

[Edson]

the three pillars of modelling well (IMHO, of course):
1. work ALWAYS on layer 0;
2. GROUP whatever geometry you are creating (in case there should be more than one copy of it, make it a COMPONENT);
3. place it on another LAYER whose name makes sense (essential for controlling the model's visualization).

[HFM]

the three pillars of modelling well (IMHO, of course):
1. work ALWAYS on layer 0;
2. GROUP whatever geometry you are creating (in case there should be more than one copy of it, make it a COMPONENT);
3. place it on another LAYER whose name makes sense (essential for controlling the model's visualization).

A big Amen to that, I always work this way

My tip:

While selecting different kind of materials for your model to try out looks, don't forget to delete them afterward since SketchUp will remember every single material you've selected, clogging op your model's file size in the process.

[Jean Lemire]

Hi Folks.

My first tip: READ THE HELP.

Just ideas.

[boofredlay]

But that is just one idea Jean

Use construction lines (with the tape measure tool) as much as is necessary.
And I also agree with Alan, watch all the training videos... many times over.

[Anssi]

Don't curse the SU inferencing, learn its quirks so it start working for you. One of the keys is to use Shift (locking) creatively with the inferences.

Anssi

[Hazza]

Don't curse the SU inferencing, learn its quirks so it start working for you. One of the keys is to use Shift (locking) creatively with the inferences.

I never fought it, I just needed practice to get it to do what I wanted. I knew the Shift key locked tools like the protractor but didn't know it locked inferencing too, thanks.

And I also agree with Alan, watch all the training videos... many times over.

That's one of the things I didn't do, I was too keen to just jump right in, I downloaded all of the SU5 videos, watched one or 2 and got bored. I enjoyed the doing and learning by mistakes more than just sitting passively watching someone else do it.

[Alan Fraser]

No, no. You don't sit and watch...getting bored. You watch part way through, then say to yourself "Let's see if I understood that bit right." pause the video and try for yourself. Watch a bit more....pause it again....especially with the much longer V6 videos. Otherwise, by the time you reach the end, you've forgotten the stuff at the beginning.
You know what they say about showing somebody something is better than telling them about it...but doing it for yourself is best of all.

I'll bet a lot of people here learnt much of their expertise by reading questions from people that they didn't know the answer to right away. So they jumped right in...maybe refreshed their own memory by watching a video or reading the Help...and figured out the answer themselves.

[Ross Macintosh]

Have Fun! Play!
It is human nature to jump right in, be ambitious, and attempt a "real project" when you are just getting your feet wet. That's what most of us did and its great so long as you can avoid frustrating yourself. Frustrations can zap your spirit. SketchUp should be a joy - and it can be.

Mix it up with some playing. Just fooling around and exploring tools and ideas is a fast-track to becoming more comfortable in SketchUp. It can be a remarkably intuitive program but you need to understand the flexibility it offers. You find that understanding through play and just trying different things.

Regards, Ross

[Gidon Yuval]

Don't try out tools and techniques that are new to you on a model that you are working on. Rather, open a new file and try out the tool or technique there. Once you feel comortable with it then, and only then, should you begin using the tool/technique on your models.
Nothing is more frustrating or agonising than messing up a model you need with unfammiliar tools to the extent that you have to start the whole thing over again.

before using "follow me" on something like this:

Brass Medallion.jpg

try it on some thing like this:

simple follow me.jpg

Before wraping textures on something like this:

Brown set.jpg

try different textures on something like this:

simple texture wrap.jpg

And like everybody said already: Have fun with it.

[Hazza]

Another tip:

If you are repeating the same action over and over again, someone has probably already created a Ruby plugin to do it automatically for you.

[Alan Fraser]

What!...someone's written a Ruby that says "No, you stupid B####rd, move along the OTHER axis."

[Hazza]

What!...someone's written a Ruby that says "No, you stupid B####rd, move along the OTHER axis."

I said ACTION, not mistake

In a related beginners hint:
If you are having diffuculty getting SU to draw in the axis you want, change the camera angle. (eg, it's impossible to get SU to draw in the blue axis if you are looking from above.)

Related to the above:
It is easier to click, release, move the mouse and click again, than to click, drag and release. This is because you can middle click with ease using the first method but you will struggle holding down both using the second when you want to change the camera angle.

[JuanV.Soler]

Click every now and then the Zoom Extents buttom.
you may get a surprise of something existing on the drawing board that you are not aware of.

[Hazza]

Another beginners tip:

The behaviour of most tools can be altered by using different keys. SU will tell you what those keys are in the status bar along the bottom of the window, read them.

For example, when you select the "Tape measure" tool you can toggle guide points on and off using the "Ctrl" key.

[GreenToaster]

I create a small box so I can quickly reorient the screen cursor onto either of the three default planes - put the cursor on one of the faces of the box, hold down shift to lock the orientation - this works but I'm sure there's a shortcut but I've never discovered what it is.

Happy Sketching,

Brad