3D MODELING

AND 3D PRINTING
 Lesson 7
Modeling
Furniture to Furnish
the Future House

¾¾ Lesson plan. Create, edit, delete draw-

ing axes. Getting acquainted with the Large
Tool Set. Tools: Protractor, Guide Points,
Tape Measure Tool, Tape Measure. Panels:
LayersShadow. Components.

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Modeling Furniture
to Furnish the Future House

W
hen you open a working scene, it has default draw-
ing axes placed in the lower corner of the object.
However, you can configure and modify them. To
do this, select Axes ( ) on the tools panel. On the workspace,
click where axes intersect to place a starting point. After this
the red dashed axis goes from the mouse pointer (Fig. 1).

Figure 1
To set a direction and move to another axis, click on
the workspace again. Set the direction for two lines, and
drawing axes automatically appear in the specified place. If
you want your axes in the initial position, right-click where
they intersect and select Reset (Fig. 2).

Figure 2

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Lesson 7

To hide the drawing axes, go to the Display panel and

uncheck the Axes checkbox (Fig. 3).

Figure 3
Let’s model furniture to furnish a future home.
And start with a table for example. Add a rectangle and
make it 3D (Fig. 4).

Figure 4

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Then model the first leg and make it Components. This

function allows editing one element thus modifying the initial
object and its copies (Fig. 5).

Figure 5
In the dialog box, enter a definition and description of
the component (Fig. 6).

Figure 6
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Lesson 7

You can find all components in the Components section

(Fig. 7).

Figure 7
Double-click on the component to edit it. If the object is
selected correctly, it has a dotted frame.
To measure a corner and draw an axis, use the Protractor
tool . Click on the workspace to set the starting (angular)
point. In this case, it’s a bottom left corner of the leg. Drag
the cursor and click on the corner to be measured. Then move
the cursor so that the dashed line is horizontal. Click again
on the workspace to set the starting (angular) point. In our
case, it is the bottom left corner of the leg. Drag the mouse and
click on the corner to be measured. Then move the cursor so
that the dashed line display horizontally. Click again to make
the angled guide line appear. If you know the exact value of
the angle, you can simply enter it in the VCB panel (Fig. 8).

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Figure 8
You can also create guide lines using Tape Measure. Click
on a specific point (on the leg corner for this task). Then drag
the guide line with the cursor. When the dashed line is the same
color as the guide axis, this means that they are parallel. Click
again to end Guide Line (Figures 9 and 10).

Figure 9

7
Lesson 7

Figure 10
Use the Select tool to place a tabletop on the legs (Fig. 11).

Figure 11
Use the Line tool to create a design on one leg. Remember
to select the leg as a Component. This design will appear on
all child elements (Fig. 12).

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Figure 12
Now let’s use the Materials panel for the table to make it
look more natural. Select the Wood material and fill all table
elements with it (Fig. 13).

Figure 13

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Lesson 7

SketchUp also allows you to enable shadows. For this, go to

the Tray and to the View section, find Shadows Off there (Fig. 14).

Figure 14
If you check the checkbox, objects will cast shadows. In
addition, you can use Time and Date to select time of the day
and day of the year; shadows will change accordingly (Fig. 15).

Figure 15

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Let’s create a chair. Create legs as you have done it for

the table—design one and make it a Component (Fig. 16).

Figure 16
Next, add a sitter (Fig. 17).

Figure 17

11
Lesson 7

Model a back of the chair (Fig. 18).

Figure 18
Use the Line and Push/Pull tools to improve the back
(Fig. 19).

Figure 19

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Paint the object, duplicate, and mirror it along the red

axis (Fig. 20).

Figure 20
Now let’s make it more complicated and create a wall cab-
inet for the living room. Start with the closet. Use Rectangle
and Push/Pull for this (Fig. 21).

Figure 21

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Lesson 7

Then add low cabinets in the same way as the big cabinet

(Fig. 22).

Figure 22
Add a tall cabinet with shelves. Create holes with Push/
Pull (Figure 23 and 24).

Figure 23

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 Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

Figure 24
Between the big cabinets, create a book shelf and small
shelves for the cabinet on the right (Fig. 25).

Figure 25
Add details to the model using handles (Fig. 26).

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Lesson 7

Figure 26
Paint the model. Your wall cabinet is ready (Fig. 27)!

Figure 27

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Modeling Furniture to Furnish the Future House

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Lesson 7
Modeling Furniture
to Furnish the Future House

© Vladislav Buchkovskiy
© STEP IT Academy, www.itstep.org

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