# Frame and Panel Sketchup Question



## noddy67 (27 May 2009)

I was wondering whether anyone had any suggestions of the quickest way to model a typical frame and panel door in sketchup. I often find myself having to do this and am convinced that I'm not being as efficient as I could be, particularly if I go as far as modeling the rebate on the frame's inside that holds the panel.

Anyone fancy throughing their own workflow out there?

Thanks


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## Shultzy (27 May 2009)

Best way to tackle this problem is as follows :-

Draw the x-section of a stile and save as a component for later.
Trace over the stile profile to produce the rail profile and save as a component.
Double click on each component to edit and push/pull to the desired length.
Copy and mirror each component to produce top and bottom rails and both side rails.
Align the rails and sides.
Switch on X-ray and draw the panel from the corners.


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## SketchUp Guru (27 May 2009)

How much detail do you want? Do you want the five individual parts or just a thing that represents the door?


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## noddy67 (28 May 2009)

Thanks for the replies. I tend to like to draw each of the components in their entirety showing the M & T joints in the rail and stiles as well as the rebates for the panels as I often then expand the drawing and use the individual components models to work from in the shop. 

I just wondered what the fasted method was as I frequently do this and seem to spend ages messing around with tape measure lines. 

Shultzy thanks for your reply. I'll give that method a go as it may well be faster than my current way.


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## SketchUp Guru (28 May 2009)

Noddy, if you use the same molding profile for the frames and panel raisings, you could make components of those to use for future drawings or you could just keep the entire door as a component and resize it as needed. There's no point in drawing the same door over and over.

Keep in mind that except for accurate dimensions, there's no need to exactly match edge profiles or the panel raising shape. Approximating them will be fine. A client won't really be able to tell the difference (neither will you) when looking at the door in context. Approximating the shapes of the profiles should reduce time spent drawing as compared to trying to get them to be an exact match.

Also, consider reducing segments counts in small radius arcs such as for rail and stile edge profiles. Perhaps use as few as 3 or 4. Again, you won't see the difference in the overall model. Reducing that number will help reduce your chances of having to go in and fix disappearing faces after intersects.

If you cope the ends of the rails you won't be able to use Push/Pull to adjust the length. You'll need to use the Move tool instead.

If you'd like I could probably do up a video to show you how I would draw them quickly.


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## noddy67 (28 May 2009)

Dave if you have the time I'd love to see a quick video of how you go about drawing up a frame and panel door.

Thanks


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## SketchUp Guru (28 May 2009)

Alright. I'll do it. It's have to wait until I get to my home computer.

Do you have a photo of a typical door that you've made so I can see what it is you're building?


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## RogerS (6 Aug 2009)

Hi Dave

Did you make this video? I'm just starting to try and learn how to use Sketchup and am really struggling.

For example, I'm trying to sketchup something like this.






I use the rectangle tool to draw the lefthand upright and line the bottom up with the baseline. But when I enter in the dimensions, it shoots down below the base line. So how do I lock the bottom of the upright to the baseline?


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## SketchUp Guru (6 Aug 2009)

Roger, I'd forgotten about this post. I think I did something but I'll have to find it.

As far as using the Rectangle tool, did you start the rectangle by dragging in the direction you want to go?


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## RogerS (6 Aug 2009)

Dave R":2hbf8gzh said:


> Roger, I'd forgotten about this post. I think I did something but I'll have to find it.
> 
> As far as using the Rectangle tool, did you start the rectangle by dragging in the direction you want to go?



Thanks..that's answered that. But how do you go back and change the dimensions once you've deselected it? How do you change the line thickness - it's very thick on my machine. A question about this on google was given the answer ..go to window > display options but on my version there is no display options.


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## SketchUp Guru (6 Aug 2009)

You can change the size of the rectangle after drawing it by simply changing the values. That works until you click elsewhere or change tools. After that, you can change size of the rectangle by a couple of methods. Suppose you want to make the rectangle longer. Select the edge that needs to move and then get the Move tool. Move the edge in the desired direction. If you want to make the rectangle 10mm longer (and you're working with millimetres as your default units) enter 10 and hit the Enter key.

You could also use the Scale tool but that will require that you know the factor at which you'll have to scale.

As to changing the line thickness, there's not a lot of control. If you want to get rid of the thick Profile edges, go to Window>Styles and click on the Edit tab. Below the row of tabs there are some little cube icons. Click on the wire frame cube at the left end of the row. Then deselect Profiles.

It'll be a little on the late side for you--maybe 10:00 pm--but if you'd like, I'd be happy to set up a little demo with you when I get home from work. I can show you some things 'live.' We could talk via Skype.


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## RogerS (6 Aug 2009)

Thanks for the answers, Dave, and for the kind offer. I'm not on skype ..don't even have a headset so perhaps I ought to get something and then maybe take you up on your offer at a later date if that's possible?


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## SketchUp Guru (6 Aug 2009)

Yes. That's certainly possible. Let me know when you're ready.


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