#DAHRG

A beginner’s guide to
SketchUp

(follow-up notes from the CAD

workshop held on October 25th, 2016)
Hello
Thank you for attending the first meeting of The Courtauld’s new Digital Art
History Research Group (#DAHRG).

In this initial session, Meg Bernstein (Kress Fellow, 2015/17) and I discussed
CAD (Computer Aided Design).

Specifically, we recalled our personal experiences of how CAD programs

have enhanced our own art historical research and teaching.

After our seminar, you had the opportunity to try out one of the packages that
we had mentioned – SketchUp.

This brief document will go over the basic SketchUp tools covered in the
workshop.

It will also guide you through how to draw the rest of the church that you
started drawing on the day – St Maria ad Nives.

If you did not attend the workshop, or would like to refresh your memory of the
church, the primary source handout sheet is available for download on the
#DAHRG webpages.

Downloading SketchUp
SketchUp is a free open-source program. You can download it here:

http://www.sketchup.com/download
When downloading, you will be asked what you are using the software for.
Select ‘Educational Use’ and then complete the registration form.

The first time you open SketchUp, you will be asked what measurements you
want to work in.

For the purposes of this exercise, choose metres. You may want to change
this in the future if you go on to draw smaller, more precise architectural
models. When drawing, measurements of your model will appear in the
bottom right corner of your screen. Accuracy is something that will be
explored in a more detail during an advanced workshop next year.
The Toolbar
Prior to drawing anything in SketchUp, you should learn how to navigate
space in the program. Before starting the drawing task below, I suggest you
get used to navigating by using the following tools:

ORBIT

PAN

With the orbit tool and the pan tool, you can look around the space and move
from side to side within it. Use the person automatically loaded on the start-up
screen (the lady in dungarees) as an anchor to practice using these two tools.

You create models in SketchUp by selecting various tools from the toolbar. In
model making, the two most important SketchUp tools are the shape tool and
the push/pull tool:

SHAPE

PUSH/PULL
You can use the arrow on the shape tool to select a different shape, but, for
now, use the rectangle to draw the base of the church’s nave

Use the push/pull tool to raise the shape upwards, creating a cuboid:
With the shape tool and the push/pull tool, you will be able to make the doors,
windows and the side porch.

Once you have got to the side porch stage, you’ll need to give it a sloping
roof. To do that, select the line tool (a pencil):

LINE

Draw a line from the end of the porch to the roof, this will create a diagonal
and, as the lines join, you will create a flat triangle surface.

It should look like this:

Use the push/pull tool to drag this flat triangle to the other side of the porch to
create the sloping roof. You should now have something that looks like this:

Now it’s time to draw that complicated roof… There are several ways to do
this and, with the skills you now have, you could come up with your own way.

I started modeling the roof by creating a line of squares using the shape tool
and the line tool. I then used the push/pull tool to lift up the various steps.

These pictures illustrate the drawing process and the finished gable:
You can use the eraser tool to delete all of the vertical lines on the reverse of
the gable. This will create a flat surface that you can use to build a 3D shape.

ERASER

Once you’ve erased those lines, grab the remaining shape and drag it across
the top of the nave (cuboid) using the push/pull tool:

To draw the flat roof on top, start by simply drawing a line and then a
matching one at the other end of the church:
After drawing the second line, one side of the roof should automatically
appear. If it doesn’t, then the lines creating the rectangle are broken and you’ll
need to re-do them. However, you should see this:

To finish the roof, just repeat the process at the other side.

Complex forms
You should now have a basic church shape, comprised of squares, rectangles
and, by skillful use of the eraser tool, a triangle.

Basically, you now have the knowledge to go on to draw and build complex
forms. Drawing a complex form is no different to creating the simpler forms
that you have mastered already (like the roof of the church).

You just follow the same principles:

• Create a base of the form you want to create in 2D

• Use the push-pull tool to grab this 2D shape and raise it to make it 3D

Bearing these 2 key points in mind, you’re now going to attempt to draw an
elaborate window on the east end. The window that I’m using for this
worksheet is not historically accurate, but it will give you an idea of how you
would go about making one based on your research
Start by drawing the base of the window (a rectangle). Then draw a vertical
line stemming from the midpoint of the top side of the rectangle. The end of
this line will be the tip of the window’s arch:

Now use the arc tool to create a 2-point arc that connects one corner of the
rectangle to the top of the mid-point line. You select the 2-point arc by clicking
on the side arrow on the arc button. Repeat at other side to create the outline
of the window:
Now that you know how to use the 2-point arc tool, you can go on to create
some tracery.

Once you have a pattern that you’re happy with, delete superfluous lines with
the eraser tool to create a 2D shape that you can augment into a 3D form (by
using the push/pull tool):

Adding colour and texture

Now that you have a plain 3D model, you’ll want to add some colour and
texture. To do this, begin by bringing up the paint bucket (select it from the
tools menu at the top):

Select a colour or texture from the paint bucket. Your cursor will now turn into
an actual paint bucket icon:

PAINT BUCKET

Click a surface on your model to tip paint onto it.

You can colour multiple areas by selecting a few surfaces with your cursor
tool and then tipping paint onto one of these areas.

Try out the different colours and textures, so you get an idea of where they all
appear in the menu:
You can also add your own textures by uploading image files to the paint box.

To do this, select the category that you want to create your new texture in.
Press ‘ctrl+right click’ on the grey area of this category and an option to add a
new texture will appear.

Click this option and upload the image that you want to use.

For explanatory purposes, I’ve used The Research Forum logo. You can now
select your new texture and use it as you would any other.
Copying and Resizing

You can cut, copy and paste forms and models in SketchUp as if they were
text or pictures in any other standard program.

All you have to do is select the thing that you want to copy and then use the
usual ‘ctrl-x’, ‘ctrl-c’ and ctrl-v’ shortcuts:

You can also resize models by selecting them with your cursor first and then
selecting the scale tool.

SCALE
The scale tool will create a yellow cage with green corners around the item
that you are altering. Use the green corners to resize:

These are all the basic tools and tips that you need to know to get started with
SketchUp.

Courtauld staff, ECRs and students are welcome to email Dr Fern Insh for
further help and assistance.

Details regarding a #DAHRG workshop for intermediate CAD users will be

sent to you soon… In the meantime, Happy modeling!