A couple SketchUp use questions

[Brian Hale]

How do you start a sketch? Example, a buffet with 4 drawers, 4 doors with a breakfront style. Do you draw similar pieces (stile/rail/vert frame piece/end panel,etc) and then copy or draw each indivual piece?

This is for the LOML and i know there'll no less than 1,604,300,922,452,477 changes :rolleyes: before we settle on a final design.

Brian

[Todd Burch]

Brian, I usually start with a cube, , a bounding box, if you will, that represents the full buffet dimensions, and then start removing geometry that doesn't look like a buffet!!

I draw in two different modes. The first mode is concept mode, in which I don't worry about "guts" and just draw "skins".

After I work out the concept, I then start drawing for construction (full thickness doors, drawer fronts, sides, top, drawer boxes, internal partitions, drawer slide allowances, dados, etc.).

I've attached a ten step example of how I might create a buffet (Sorry, I was thinking 3 sections, and forgot to make the center section wider to support two drawer and two doors).

It took me about 15 minutes, and that's because I was exporting every couple minutes!!

[Todd Burch]

Here are the other 5 drawings...

[Todd Burch]

OK, I stretched it out to add another 16" to the width. Now, it's 4 drawer, 4 door. Todd

[Jim Becker]

The master speaks! Great step-by-step examples, Todd. Thanks!

[Brian Hale]

Thanks Todd!

Thats the general process i took with this sketch. It might be my lack of experience (only 20 or so hours so far) with the program but the trouble i'm running into is she'll say OH, that looks good but what if we had 3 doors on each side? It'll take me hours to change things and i find that surfaces will disapper in the process. Almost like i need to delete the current doors and make new ones.

Example, she wanted the arch in the top doors to blend with the stiles more smoothly. I created an arc to suit on the Top Left Doors layer and the glass panels became solid. I'm thinking there's some basic concept that i'm not doing to make things eaiser.

BTW, this is version 3.1

Maybe i just need more time mousing around....

Brian

[Ian Barley]

Todd

You take my breath away! I have fiddled around with the sketchup trial and while I find it very powerful and easy to use I have not begun to be able to do useful things with it. Maybe I will have another go based on your sculpting technique.

[Jamie Buxton]

Brian --
You say that surfaces disappear for you. I see that too. I also occasionally see that surfaces forget color or texture -- particularly in copy and paste operations. Generally tracing one edge of the surface recovers the surface. Very occasionally that hasn't worked, and I have to criss-cross the surface with straight lines. Evenually the program figures out that there really is a surface there and colors it in. Then I can erase the extraneous lines.

Jamie

[Jim Becker]

Jamie, the reason that a surface disappears is that somehow, the line of the surface has been broken, usually by accidental deletion of even a single point. SketchUp! will only fill a complete, unbroken surface/shape...when it's disturbed the fill goes bye-bye! (Sometimes frustratingly so...)

[Jamie Buxton]

Jamie, the reason that a surface disappears is that somehow, the line of the surface has been broken, usually by accidental deletion of even a single point. SketchUp! will only fill a complete, unbroken surface/shape...when it's disturbed the fill goes bye-bye! (Sometimes frustratingly so...)

Jim, you're correct that losing any part of the bounding lines means that the surface no longer exists. However, I've had surfaces disappear when that explanation does not apply.

[Brian Hale]

Losing a line of a surface, logically, makes a surface disappear. I believe the root of the problem lies in my initial drawing, hence this post. There is also the problem where a surface won't push/pull and i can't figure that out either.

Example; when i added the breakfront to my sketch, i drew vertical lines on all surfaces from the top, down the front, and onto the kick between the drawers and doors and then pulled out the breakfront. I went to push the sides of the toe kick in but only one side would move. Didn't matter where i added additional lines. Frustrating.

Brian