Is Google Sketchup Good for Drawing House Plans

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Floor Program Software
Sketchup Review

By Meg Escott

Sketchup is a helpful 3D modeling software that allows you to create and 3D shapes and objects. Using simple tools you can create customized objects with a high level of detail.

In that location are 2 versions of Sketchup available. 1 is Sketchup Brand which is gratuitous, and the other is Sketchup Pro.  This section is all about free floor programme software so we're going to have a wait at Sketchup Make.  I know for a fact though that Sketchup Pro is used past many professional architects.

I call up nosotros all commencement heard of Sketchup when it was part of Google's free software.  Now Sketchup is produced and developed by Trimble.

Sketchup Brand

Due to the complexity of the software it cannot exist used online. Instead it needs to be downloaded in order to use it.

There's a tablet version of this software chosen Sketchup Mobile viewer which allows you to view and explore sketchup models on your phone.

Getting Started

To go started, the first affair to do is to head over to the website and download Sketchup.

Download the mobile viewer onto your tablet if you like.

Drawing a Floor Plan

Unlike all the other floorplan software reviews I have done, Sketchup'southward review will exist the most unlike. This is because all the other flooring plan applications had custom made walls, windows, doors, etc already present in the software. Where as in Sketchup, everything and anything can be made from scratch.

In Sketchup there are unlike tools nosotros use to create objects. The most commonly used tool will be the pencil tool, followed by the button and pull tool.

Making the program of a house can exist washed in a 3D view or a 2nd view. For a 2D view I simply had to click 'Pinnacle View' and parallel project.

Although I must admit information technology was frustrating to make walls from scratch at starting time, once I got used to making rectangles and pushing and pulling the surfaces to a certain height, it wasn't that hard. Information technology also allows us to make custom walls with varying thicknesses.

To draw a wall the showtime affair to do is to create a rectangle that will be the base of a wall...

Then apply the push tool to give the rectangle 3D form with height and then that we have a wall.

There are three axis'due south present in the software as well. The ten centrality is in red, the y centrality is in blue, and the z axis is in red. Figure out which one is going to be your 'upwards'  I went for blue (y).  These axes really help when drawing out the shapes.

With the assist of these tools I managed to make my flooring programme accurately.

(Observe how I had to go out voids and spaces for the windows and doors, I'll talk about it in more than detail later).

If you make a shape that is enclosed all sides, for example a rectangle, square, circle etc, then Sketchup volition care for it as a aeroplane surface. That surface can exist extruded, pushed and pulled and more forms tin form out of a simple shape.

Here I had to push all the planar rectangles to a certain summit. Instead of entering the value of the elevation again and again, after entering 1 value all I had to do was double click each plane to rise upward to the same height.

Entering dimensions and computing the surface area

Entering dimensions is pretty easy once you know how.  To enter the dimensions of the width or peak or length, I had to brand sure my cursor was going in the direction in which I wanted the specified length. All I had to do was type in the length and printing enter.

Area calculation is also very unproblematic. All I had to practise was select a aeroplane (of which I wanted to find out the area) right click and select 'entity info'.

Tin you make curved walls?

Yes it is possible to make curved walls in Sketchup with the arc tool. This tool is very useful if you want to create unique spaces. With multiple arcs, one can even make fluid organic spaces in Sketchup.

I made this fluid line using the arc tool with varying diameters. Then I but extruded the line with the button and pull tool to form a fluid wall.

Adding doors and windows

As mentioned before, to add doors and windows I had to get out voids in the wall. Think of yourself actually amalgam the house. During construction, voids in the wall are left and then that doors and windows could be added later.

This is where it gets quite technical. You need to know the clear height of doors, and the lintel tiptop of windows, and so that you make the voids at the exact identify where yous want the windows to go.

To create voids in the wall, the push and pull tool comes into use again. First we draw an outline of the window on the wall using a pencil tool or a rectangular tool, and then we use the push tool to push this plane into the wall with the same thickness as the wall. So it cuts out a perfect void into the wall.

First I drew the outline of the window on the wall.

And then using the push tool, I pushed the wall exactly 0.22m (which is the thickness of the wall).

And there you have it!  A perfectly cutting void for the window!

I could create my own doors and windows and doors, but as I was feeling a bit lazy I made my manner to the Sketchup 3D warehouse where I downloaded some models already built model for gratis. So yous can just download a window or a door that has already made past someone!

I just type in door, and I get to choose between diverse doors that have been made by people and shared. Do see the terms of apply before yous programme to download any model.

So basically I only downloaded doors and windows of my choice and I placed them into their respective slots. The move tool came in use here. And it is helpful to catch the end of each object so that it's easier to identify them at their verbal required position. For example if I grab the door from the right corner, then I would need to place it in the correct corner of the slot, then that it is aligned properly.

If the doors and windows don't seem to fit, you can utilize the scale tool (S) for the shortcut to resize them into their desired size.

Adding stairs

I likewise use the push button and pull tool to create stairs. Equally I said everything can be fabricated from scratch, so I decided to make my own custom stairs. All I had to do was pull each rectangle (the size of one step) to a specific acme.

Top tip - cloning

An interesting shortcut is the clone tool. To make copies of anything you lot just need to agree down ctrl and then elevate.

You can fifty-fifty clone a whole floor plan.   All yous have to do is select the entire floor and press ctrl and a tiny plus sign volition come up indicating that whatever that is selected is going to be copied.
With the ctrl cardinal existence pressed down click and drag the floor y'all desire to clone so simply drop that flooring on top of the ground floor.

Putting in the Furniture, Fixtures and Fittings

This was the most heady part of creating a floor plan. There's loads of article of furniture available in the 3D warehouse.  When y'all finally find the right furniture you are looking for, simply use the movement tool to place it wherever you desire. Even better is that you can edit and modify the article of furniture to your liking. Don't like the colour? You can always use the textile tool to alter the color or texture. Y'all tin even delete some parts of the piece of furniture, change the size, rotation, break it down into pocket-size parts etc.

I added the second floor view besides.  The more furniture yous add together, the heavier the Sketchup file gets though. So make sure you download low-cal files from the 3D warehouse, equally Sketchup can exist a little buggy and slow downward if the file gets heavy.

While I added the furniture into each room, I also inverse the color of the walls and practical different materials onto the floor (rug, tiles, wooden boards).

Plans

In the other flooring plan software reviews designs start out as a programme, so there might exist options to wait in 3D.  In Sketchup you're working in 3D as the design is built up.

Then what practise you practise if you want a floor plan view in Sketchup?

You tin can use the 'parallel projection' selection. This allows y'all to create 2D views of your model.

Here's an instance below of the ground floor plan having parallel project.

You can employ the same selection to view 2D elevations.  The section plane tool in Sketchup can be used to cut out sections from anywhere. Both section plane tool and parallel projection tin be used to take out plans elevations and sections.

Taking a Look in 3D - plans

Sketchup has different viewing angles and the main view where nosotros make out models is in 3D. We tin can orbit effectually the model and can hands zoom in and out using the mouse.

The field of view idea in Sketchup is interesting. While using Sketchup I noticed that the angle at which I tin run into my model is xxx degrees. Nevertheless the man eye would have a unlike field of view. Pregnant the perspective of the view would exist unlike.

Here are two screenshots, the first one having a field of view of xxx degrees and second 1 existence sixty degrees.  Folks, I haven't made a huge corporeality of effort on the actual appearance of the exterior here - this is non my thought of a good looking house!

Other Features

Saving

To salvage the project yous only have to click save. Files are saved in Sketchup format (skp file extension).  It is a proficient practice to keep autosave on after every ten minutes on as you lot never know when Sketchup can start getting buggy and may end responding when the file starts to get heavy. Very big files can cause Sketchup to crash so it is always good to make sure your file is being saved subsequently a certain number of minutes.

Sharing

It is very easy to share your model with other Sketchup users in the 3d warehouse. For that you need to create a Google account.

Importing

The costless version does not allowed to import plans :( still the paid version allows you to import jpegs, cad plans pdfs and a lot of other file types.

Formats / Exporting

The free version doesn't accept any options for exporting plans.  You lot could I suppose electronic mail a copy of your sketchup file which someone could open in their own copy of Sketchup.  In the paid version of Sketchup you lot can even export your model into various formats, such every bit an autocad file.

Printing

Printing is easy.  Any view that you tin see on screen can exist printed.  If you want to print to calibration just uncheck the 'fit to page' dialogue box and y'all tin choose the scale you want to print to.

Assist Available

For assist and support all you have to practice is simply get to their only aid page. Or you lot can just click help in Sketchup.

There are many options as to what kind of help you looking for. You lot tin can postal service in community forums, get a user guide, or even direct contact them.

Summary

Allow's finish with a bit of a recap...

Sketchup is a very useful tool and it is constantly existence upgraded.  You tin can make annihilation from scratch and all you lot demand is involvement and inventiveness. It's more complex than other free floor plan software applications.  In spite of this I charge per unit the user interface of Sketchup as very friendly and I recollect that anyone can get used to this software.

Characteristic	Yes / No	Notes
Completely Gratuitous	Yep	At that place is a professional version and there'south plenty for the self designer in the gratis version.
Online Awarding	No	Sketchup is a powerful program so online utilize isn't an option.
Tablet Version	Yes	Tablet viewer for both iphone and adroid bachelor.
Like shooting fish in a barrel to Utilize	Yep	It takes some getting used to but once y'all've mastered a few simple tools it's very powerful.  In that location's cipher that y'all could think of that you couldn't design with Sketchup
Enter Dimensions	Aye	Once the elevation of one wall is entered Sketchup automatically matches this for other walls.
3D View	Yes	The designing is all done in 3D.
Import Flooring Plan	No	Non possible in the costless version.  Available in pro.
Print	Yes	You can impress out whatsoever view
Print to Calibration	Yes	You can print to whatever scale.
Save in Common Format	No	Files are saved as Sketchup files.  The pro version allows an export to common formats.
Share	No	I'm putting no here.  Yous tin share the file within the Sketchup warehouse but this doesn't help you to share it on social media.
Help Available	Yes	User guides, forum and direct contact.

Hither's some more than review for y'all...

simmonslosonfere.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.houseplanshelper.com/free-floor-plan-software-sketchup-review.html

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