Beginner’s guide to using SketchUp for kitchen remodeling. Part 2 — Manage your view

If seeing is believing, you’ll believe in your ability to design.

In SketchUp, you create in a 3D environment at a real scale. This is a practical solution that I like to call the WYSWIG reality interface. To use its full potential, you need to move efficiently in the virtual space.

See your kitchen from a bird’s eye view.

Viewing a project in 3D is not always the best solution. Fortunately, in SketchUp, it’s much easier to see a 2D view than it is to fly.

• Open the “Scenes” panel in the bar on the right — the film clapboard icon,
• select “Parallel Projection” — that’s the bottom one of the two cubes,
• select “Top View” — that’s the top view of the house roof, the middle icon

Congratulations! You have just started to create a technical drawing.

Does your mouse have 3 buttons?

But is your view also half obscured by the side panel?

To effectively control a view, your mouse must have a scroll wheel. This is the third button that lets you control what you see. Hide the side panel with the arrow in the upper right corner, then:

• Use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out.
• Press and drag the scroll button to circle your model
• Press and drag the scroll button and the left mouse button simultaneously to pan your view.

Grab it like a pro.

If, like me, you have only ever used your index finger to scroll and LMB, it may take you a little longer to get used to it. The best way to start is by holding the mouse like this:

• Thumb and pinky at the sides holding the mouse,
• index finger on the left button,
• middle finger on the scroll wheel,
• ring finger on the right button.

Is that unusual for you, too? You’ll get used to it in no time.

This post was created with Typeshare