SketchUp Tutorial 2

– Basic House
If you have no experience with SketchUp, this tutorial is right for you! I’ll walk you through step
by step on how to create a basic table using SketchUp.

In this tutorial we will work through the basic tools in SketchUp while creating your first small
building.

Below is a plan of a building that we will create in this tutorial. Try to come up with a plan to
tackle this design. In SketchUp, the best advice would be to start from the bottom up. Creating
your foundation, floor plan, door and window openings, then finish with the roof.
Getting Set Up
If you are prompted to choose a template when you start SketchUp, choose the “Architectural
- Inches” to follow along with the tutorial, or chose your own template that you like.

Step 1 – Draw a Rectangle

Choose the Rectangle Tool , click on your starting point (in this case it’s the center of the
axis point) notice in the lower right hand corner that there is a dimensions box, type in the
measurements as 20’,40’ (this is the syntax for dimensions in SketchUp)

Your workspace should look similar to the picture below.

Step 2 – Exterior Walls

For the sake of this tutorial, all walls are 6” deep including the exterior and interior walls. Note
that this is not true in most real life situations.

Select the Offset Tool , bring the cursor to an edge of the rectangle and click once. Now
move the cursor towards the center of rectangle, this will tell the tool which direction to offset.
Notice at the bottom right of the screen that it now says “Distance”.

At this point you can either enter the offset directly or you can move the cursor to the desired
offset. (Notice as you move the cursor the distance changes)
Your model should be similar to the above image.

Step 3 – Interior Wall Layout

Using the Measurement Tape tool , we will now locate the interior walls. According to the
plan the first interior wall from the front of the building is 11’-0” from the inside face of wall. So
using the measurement tool, Hit CTRL, this will add a plus sign to the cursor, click and drag
the front interior line towards the center of the rectangle. Pay attention to the lower right corner
where you can directly type in 11’ or drag to 11’. When you release the mouse, the tool will
create a construction line. This is extremely handy when laying out your spaces. You will find
that you will use the tool quite often for all your designs.

Your modeling space should look similar to the above image. Use this tool to complete the
outline of this first wall. It should look similar to below.
Step 4 – Inserting Interior Walls

Using the Rectangle Tool , click on one corner of the wall you outlined then drag to the
opposite corner. Essentially outlining you wall. It should look similar to below.

Select the Eraser Tool and erase the line where the interior wall intersects the exterior
wall.
The intersection should look similar to this.
Now finish laying out the rest of the interior walls, it should look like the image below.
To remove the Construction lines either erase them individually or go to Edit then Delete
Guides.

Step 5 – Extrude Interior Walls

Next we will extrude the walls to the proper height. Select the Push/Pull tool . Bring the
cursor over the walls that you want to extrude. Notice that they become highlighted to show
you what you will be extruding.
Click once to activate the tool. In the lower right hand side of your screen, a Distance box

appears . Play with the direction of the extrusion by moving the

mouse. Move the mouse up to extrude vertically to the proper distance or type in your required
distance. In this case it is 8’. Your model should now look like the image below.
Step 6 – Door & Window Openings

Next we will cut Window and Door openings. Using the Measurement Tool , layout the
overall dimensions of the first window on the left and outline with the Rectangle

Tool (note the large window is actually 2 identical windows for a total of 4 windows on the
front façade)
Use the Push/Pull tool to cut the window opening. Select the interior surface between the
outlines and push toward the center of the building 6”. This will cut the opening for the window.
Step 7 – Creating a Window Component
Now we will create a window component. Components are an integral part to designing in
SketchUp but don’t confuse them with Groups. Groups are simply a way of grouping pieces
together to create a whole piece. For instance, when you are ready to create the roof area, you
will want to group the pieces together so if you are still tweaking a design you can remove it,
hide it, or move it in one piece. Now a Component is a group that when copied and repeated, if
you edit one component all of the same component will change as well. So for this building,
since all the window are the same, we will make one window component and copy and paste
as needed.

To begin, Use the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle on the outside outline of the
window opening. Click on the surface inside of the outlined window and Right-Click and
choose Select, choose bounding edges which will select the window outline. Now right-Click
on the selected objects and choose Make Component or hit the shortcut letter G. At this point
you can name the component and select various options. For the sake of simplicity
hit create at the bottom. Once the component is created right click on it and select Edit
Component.
Using the Offset tool bring the edge of the window in 2”. Using the Push/Pull tool push the
center rectangle back to where it meets the back face. Using the Tape Measure tool, set
reference lines along the vertical and horizontal centerlines of the window. Now set additional
reference lines 1” off the sides of the centerlines to make the references edges for the window
mullions

Use the Line tool or Rectangle tool to draw the 4 panes of the window. Select all the window
panes and using the Push/Pull tool, push them to even with the interior face of the wall.
Draw a short line along the edge of the frame between the corners of the window panes to
make the back face of the mullions appear. Now select and delete all the window panes.

Using the Line tool, draw a series of lines around the interior of the mullions along the
midpoints for the new centered window panes.
On the right hand side of the screen click on the materials tab in the Default Tray. In the
materials pull down, select “Glass and Mirrors”, then click on ”Translucent Blue Glass”. Select
the Paint Bucket tool from the toolbar on the left and click on the center of the new window
pane.
Double click on the window pane to select the face and all the edges. Press CTRL+C to copy
the window pane. Press CTRL+V to paste a new instance of the window pane and place it
based on the midpoint of an adjoining mullion space. Repeat to place the remaining two
window panes. Using the Paint Bucket tool you can also change the materials of the mullions.
**You have to change the materials of the window inside the component, as you cannot
change the component materials in the main model.**

Now layout the window within this space however you like and copy and paste the windows
where needed. Repeat these last few step for the doors as well, exterior and interior.
Step 8 – Create Door Component
The door component is created similarly to the window. Remember you will not need to off set
the base in 2 “ as the door only has a frame on the sides and top.

Step 9 – Create Roof Profile

At this point you should end up with a model similar to the one below.

To finish this model, we first need to build the roof and then “Paint” the surfaces of the model.
To set up the roof, lets first draw the elevation of the roof on top of our model, to reduce any
problems with attached lines, first group the existing drawn model.

Use CTRL + Measuring tool to create a construction line 13’ above the base of model. If
you look back at the original building plans in SketchUp Basics Tutorial Part 1, you will notice
that the right side of the building is 13’ tall and the left side is 8’ tall. This will give you the

proper angle for the roof plane. Use the Line tool to create the lower triangle that does
not include the eave.
Use the Measurement Tool to create construction lines and the Line Tool to
outline the eave.

Step 10 – Extrude Roof

Using the CTRL + Push/Pull Tool pull the surfaces to the back of the building, using this
process without hitting CTRL when using the Push/Pull tool, you’ll be able to extend beyond
the model planes to create your eave overhangs.
As you can see we have completed the basic structure of the building, Now it’s time to clean it
up and make it look “Pretty”.

Step 10 – Model Clean Up

First let us hide the line separating the roof and the main structure. Right click on the line and
go to “Entity Info” and select hidden. This will hide the line without deleting it. You will also
have to do this within the main structure group.

Using the Paint Bucket Tool , paint the surfaces of your structure as you like.
Also, notice that you only have to paint one of the windows for them all to paint in the same
fashion. This is what is useful with using Components for repeated objects.
Now you have created your first building within SketchUp, It may be an Ugly building but using
the techniques described in this tutorial you will be able to model any design that comes your
way

Congratulations, you’ve just created a table!