# SU Tutorial 001 - Setting up an initial template



## SketchUp Guru (21 Mar 2006)

This installement of the Friday SketchUp Tips is going to cover setting up and customizing SketchUp.

First we're going to look at creating a template that SketchUp will use for startup. This will establish a starting point for your drawings. Follow these steps to create the starting template.

1. Open a session of SU.
2. Look at the axes. The solid blue one should be oriented in the positive Z direction from the origin. The solid green axis should be heading off toward the upper right and the solid red toward the lower right. You can change the directions of the red and green axes if you want but for now just set them up as above.
3. Draw a square starting at the axis and coming toward you. Make the square a size that would just encompass something you would typically build in your shop. Start pulling the square out using the rectangle tool. Then type the dimensions, i.e. 24",24" then hit Enter.
4. Use the Push/Pull tool to pull the square up into a cube. After starting the Push/Pull type the same dimension you used for the square. (24").
5. Use the Zoom Extents button to fit the cube to the screen. Orbit and adjust the view until you have it the way you want it.
6. Set the view to Shaded. Either use the toolbar button or go through the View>Rendering menu.
7. My preference is to turn off Profile Edges which is also under the View>Rendering menu.
8. Go to Model Info under the Window menu. Click on Units. Set the units format as desired from the drop down menu. If you wish to work in millimeters, select Decimal and set the box to the right to Millimeters. I still work in inches so I have selected Fractional.

Set the Precision as desired. I use 1/64" under the Fractional setting. The higher the precision the more accurate your drawing.

Uncheck the box for Enable Length Snapping.

Ignore the Angle Units section. The default settings are fine.

9.Click on Location and set your location or one close to you.
10. While you looking at the Model Info box look at the other setting choices but don't make any other changes at this time. Close the Model Info dialog box.
11. Click on Window>Material Browser, then Window>Components and finally Window>Layers. You should have three different dialog boxes open now. Click on the bar at the top of each of them and you'll see they minimize themselves. Drag the minimized bars and stack them together over near the top right corner. Don't put them over anything else. Note that you can click on the colored bar for each of those boxes and they will open up again. You can open and close them as desired.
12. With those dialog boxes minimized, select the cube you drew and delete it. You should now have a blank drawing screen again.
13. Click on File>Save As and save this into the Template folder.This would be found under SketchUp in the Program files. Give it a name you'll recognize. Being the simple sort, I gave mine my name. You can call yours Dave if you'd like.
14. Click on Window>Preferences>Template. Browse to the Template folder and select the file you just saved. From now on when you start SketchUp, it should look like what you just saved.

If you want to change face colors or construction geometry colors you can under Window>Model Info>Colors. There are a number of other settings you can change if you want but as things stand now you should be in good shape to start drawing.

Next we'll set up some shortcuts.

Click on Window>Preferences>Shortcuts. Scroll through the list of Functions and set shortcuts as desired. To set them, select the Function. Then click in the Add Shorcut box and type your desired shortcut. Click the + sign to actually add the typing. Note: don't use numbers, standard Windows shortcuts (CTRL+P, CTRL+C, CTRL+V, etc.) or X for shortcuts. You don't need to set a shortcut for everything and you can always add or change shortcuts later. Here is a short list of shortcuts I use frequently.

G = Edit/Make Group
ALT+G = Edit/Make Component
F = Tools/Follow Me
O = Tools/Offset
P = Tools/Push/Pull
E = Edit/Construction Geometry/Erase All.
R = Tools/Rotate
ALT+A = View/Tour Guide/Add Page

Use those or choose your own. It wouldn't hurt to scroll through the list and see what shortcuts are already established. Click on the first Function and then use the arrow keeys to scroll down through the list.

That's enough for the Friday tips on tuesday. we'll see if I can come up with some Tuesday tips of Friday or something like that. It's time for bed now.

As always, if you need clarification on any of this, just ask.

Dave


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