Datasheet

Part I: Getting Started with SketchUp

the appearance of your model itself: what’s visible, how faces look, and

so on. View also contains settings for turning on and off certain elements

of SketchUp’s user interface.

✓ Camera: Contains controls for viewing your model from different angles.

In SketchUp, your “camera” is your point of view, literally.

✓ Draw: Includes tools for drawing edges and faces in your modeling

window.

✓ Tools: Most of SketchUp’s tools are contained here, except of course for

the ones you use for drawing.

✓ Window: If you’re ever wondering where to find a dialog box you want

to use, this is the place to look; they’re all right here.

✓ Plugins: You can get extra tools for SketchUp — little programs that

“plug in” to it and add functionality. Some of them show up here after

they’re installed. Chapter 17 introduces a few of my favorites.

✓ Help: When you’re stuck, and this book isn’t helping (heaven forbid),

check out the Help menu; it’s the gateway to SketchUp salvation.

Checking the status bar

The narrow strip of information below the modeling window is packed with

information goodness:

✓ Context-specific instructions: Most of the time, you check here to see

what options may be available for whatever you’re doing. Modifier keys

(keyboard strokes that you use in combination with certain tools to per-

form additional functions), step-by-step instructions, and general infor-

mation about what you’re doing all show up in one place: right here.

✓ The Measurements box: The Measurements box is where numbers

show up (to put it as simply as I can). Chapter 2 goes into more detail,

but the basic purpose of the Measurements box is to enable you to be

precise while you model.

✓ Status indicator icons: These three little icons appear in the lower-left

corner of your screen. They change to tell you things about your model,

and you can click them to find out what they do. The most important

one to note (this early on in your SketchUp tutelage) is the one that

looks like a question mark. When you click this icon, it opens the

Instructor dialog box, which contains information about the tool you’re

currently using.

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