# SketchUp Tutorials



## SketchUp Guru (27 Oct 2005)

Right, here's a start on the lighting tutorial. This image was rendered from the SU model at the link below.





Wall Cabinet Model

The lights are simply drawn as rectangles with their front faces toward the cabinet. Placement in your model is mostly a matter of preference. I made the large rectangle which is painted yellow as the main light source. There is one on the ceiling that casts some light mostly into the drawer and onto the top of the cabinet. The red strip was added to create another highlight on the vase.

Once you've got your model and lights ready. Export an OBJ file from it. This is under File>Export>3D Model. Change the export type to OBJ. Click on Options. Check Triangulate All Faces and Export Texture Maps. Uncheck Swap YZ coordinates. Leave Units as Model Units.

The color of the surfaces doesn't seem to be important. You'll change that in Kerkythea when you set the Self Luminance. I selected colors for the lights that weren't used eleswhere in the model and made sure I could remember which light was what color.

After opening the model in Kerkythea (K from now on), click on the materials button. There are no materials showing. Right click in one of the squares on the left side of the dialog box. Select Build..., Select all and OK (I'm doing this from memory and I'm old so bear with me.)

Now that you have all your materials, find the lights. Right click on one of them and select Edit. Go to the Advanced tab and adjust Self Luminance. Change the color to white by clicking on the black square and picking the color from the palette. You could choose other colors if you were so inclined.

Set the slider or type in a new value for the light. I didn't use anything higher than 20. You'll need to play with the settings but you can use the quick render setting to get an idea of what you have going on and make changes as needed.

There is a drop down menu at the bottom of the edit dialog box that will let you switch to the other colors and edit them as well. 

You can play with some of the other settings such as transparency and reflections but they aren't need for the lights.

Play with the navigation controls along the left and top edges of the drawing window. Zoom back as needed and adjust your viewpoint as desired. I still haven't quite figured out the easiest way to set the view so I poke at it until I get what I want. It's too bad this part isn't as simple as SU's navigation controls.

From here you should be able to start playing with Materials and Render settings. When you click on Render, choose ##Current View##. Leave size fairly small. You can pick a new one from the drop down menu or type the desired demensions. The larger you go, the longer it takes to render. Save that long render time for the final product.

While you're working on your view and the lights, use the .05 render setting which is Quick. After you start to settle in with your settings, you can go to some of the other higher quality settings.

Hopefully that will get you started. Play around with the model I drew if you like. Move or change the lights. Adjust the reflecting quality of the wood or vase materials and see what you get.

Alright, now I'll work on a SketchUp tutorial for the dovetails . It will be a SketchUp file with page tabs at the top. You can just click through the pages to work through the tutorial.

Dave


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## SketchUp Guru (27 Oct 2005)

As promised, here is a tutorial on cutting dovetails in SketchUp. Download the SKP file and open it in SU. Click on the page tabs and see the dovetails being made right before your very eyes.
Dovetails

In windows, right click and choose Save target as...

Feel free to ask any questions.

Cheers.


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## Chris Knight (27 Oct 2005)

Dave,
Lovely job! As I said elsewhere, you really have this application licked into shape.

Now I have this bombé chest I need drawing....


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## Steve Maskery (27 Oct 2005)

... and Senior Management wants a Sam Maloof rocker...
Seriously. Where on earth do I start?

Excellent tutorial Dave, TVM.
Steve


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## SketchUp Guru (27 Oct 2005)

Thank you H2Ohead. 

Have you got plans for this bombe' chest? Can they be posted?

dave


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## SketchUp Guru (27 Oct 2005)

Steve, thank you.

As far as the Maloof rocker, start here: http://amazone.crai.archi.fr//Ruby/RUBY ... _Depot.htm
Download the Bezier script and put it in your Plugins folder. Make sure sketchup.rb is in there, too. If it isn't copy it out of the Examples folder.

The Bezier script will let you draw those nice curves for that rocker. Remember when you run the script you can enter the number of points in addition to the starting point that you wish to base your curve off of. You click the start, end and then the intervening points. If you wish, you can select the curve after completing it, right click and slect Edit Bezier curve to make adjustments.

Good luck. While you're making a rocker for your boss, you might just make a second one for me. 

TTFN


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## Chris Knight (27 Oct 2005)

Dave R":vyq1pyo8 said:


> Have you got plans for this bombe' chest? Can they be posted?



Not in this lifetime, I am afraid, Dave..


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## SketchUp Guru (27 Oct 2005)

By the way, Steve, I'm just having a look at waterhead's website. Maybe you should do the same. 

Waterhead, do you mean you don't want to post the plans or you aren't really going to draw the bombe' chest? My brain is a bit foggy after working out that last tutorial.


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## sxlalan (28 Oct 2005)

Thanks for this Dave, I will have a look over the weekend!

Alan


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## Chris Knight (28 Oct 2005)

Dave R":3qxnx4qt said:


> Waterhead, do you mean you don't want to post the plans or you aren't really going to draw the bombe' chest? My brain is a bit foggy after working out that last tutorial



Dave,

I was kidding about the bombe chest - that is someway down the line in my shop - I have a few tables to make first. The chest is a dream at the moment but it seemed a good challenge for SU.


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## LyNx (28 Oct 2005)

The "Sam Maloof rocker", is someone going to attemp this is SU?? would be good to see the progress.

Anyone got the plans, wouldn't mind doing myself in AC

Andy


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## SketchUp Guru (28 Oct 2005)

Chris, that chest would be a good project for SU. I'm sure it could be done.

Andy, if you get your hands on plans for a Maloof rocker, you draw it in AC and I'll give it a go in SU. Not a contest, just for fun. 

Alan, let me know if you need any clarification.

Dave


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## LyNx (28 Oct 2005)

will be good to see both models together :lol: 

Does anyone have a copy, not for reproduction, just so we can draw the chair. Didn't really want to purchase for this reason. 

Andy


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## superunknown (29 Oct 2005)

Thank you very much for the your time Dave, this is very appreciated, I'm working my way through tutoials and watching online video. I hope to get somewhere with this soon.


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## SketchUp Guru (29 Oct 2005)

It was my pleasure. Please feel free to ask if you need clarification.

Dave


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## Philly (29 Oct 2005)

Dave
Any chance of saving your tutorials in V4 Sketchup format??
Cheers
Philly
A little behind the times......


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## SketchUp Guru (29 Oct 2005)

Philly, I can do that when I get in to work on Monday. Can you hold out until then?


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## Philly (30 Oct 2005)

Think I can manage-cheers Dave! :lol:


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## SketchUp Guru (31 Oct 2005)

Alrighty, for those still running version 4 of SketchUp, here's the tutorial for you.
Dovetails Version 4

Enjoy.


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## Philly (31 Oct 2005)

Very kind Dave! Much appreciated.
Guess I'd better get me some V5. How much different is it?
Philly


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## SketchUp Guru (31 Oct 2005)

Actually, Philly, I'm not sure that the upgrade is that big of a deal for most woodworking. There are some GUI changes and the addition of something called the Sandbox which is great for doing landscape related stuff. You might find it useful for heavily rounded forms but it isn't useful for rectilinear forms. One thing I really appreciate is the ability to have dimensions called out in inches and fractions. It used to be the best you could do was feet-inches-fractions. I'd much rather see 14 5/8" than 1' 2 5/8".

That wouldn't be an issue if you work in metric units anyway.


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