I'd highly recommend getting used to using them, especially if you're using a touchpad instead of a mouse. I'll list them where I think they're useful. I'm so used to them that it's irritating that my favorites (Ctrl to switch to the last tool you used, anybody?) aren't here in SketchUp, but there are a fair number of easy-to-remember shortcuts that I used in drawing this. One of the things I've really gotten used to in other graphics programs (namely, Illustrator and Photoshop) is the ease of using keyboard shortcuts. So, in approximately 18 easy steps, here we go!
I'm going to assume that you have a basic working knowledge of SketchUp - what the premise is, how to use the more basic of the tools, etc. I spent an awfully long time looking for the tools I needed to make this, so I thought I'd put a tutorial out there about how I finally managed it. Five and a half hours later, I finally have this to show for myself: Read more about Bonnie.I set out at around 5 PM today to draw a gear in Google SketchUp 8. Her materials cover general 3D design, 3D printing, geometry, interior design, geo-modeling, and more, and future books are in the works. Her website, offers a wide variety of learning materials for all ages, from kids in grade school through design professionals.
In the next post, I’ll show how to use this to install the Extension Store from SketchUcation.īonnie Roskes has been writing tutorial-style projects on 3D modeling software, primarily SketchUp, since 2001. More of these buttons will turn red as new versions of these extensions become available.įinally, the “Install Extension” button at the lower left corner is how you bring in extensions that don’t have automatic installation. Anything that can be updated has a red “Update” button.
The “Manage” tab is where you can update anything that’s ready to be updated. So the Extension Manager makes it easy to disable – anything disabled won’t be loaded, but can be enabled later. “Unsigned” means the extension doesn’t have that secret approval code, but in my case those work fine as well.Īs in all previous versions, having too many extensions enabled can slow down SketchUp, especially upon startup. All of mine in this category still seem to work fine. “Outdated signature” means the extension was approved for previous versions but might not work in 2017. “Signed” is great – approved and updated. Take a look at the notes listed for each of your extensions. The last setting, Unrestricted, is the Wild West. You’ll have to approve each time you open SketchUp, but your answers will be remembered each time. The second setting lets you load unidentified extensions as well, so you can load scripts that might be a bit old, or one that your buddy wrote.
This means extensions whose developer is on SketchUp’s A-list, and added the secret-handshake code that marks it as kosher. The most strict is the first – SketchUp will load only identified extensions. There are three settings from which to choose. To adjust your extension security settings, click the Gear icon. Access it with this icon:Īll of your installed extensions, new and old, are listed here. In SketchUp 2017, this is now done in the Extension Manager – I really like this improvement. By managing, I mean enabling and disabling, or uninstalling. In previous versions of SketchUp, you could manage extensions in the Preferences window.