Lesson 2: Introduction to SketchUp (2)

The “Getting Started” toolbar

By default, the “Getting Started” toolbar is displayed when we first open SketchUp.

But if it is still not there,
Click on the “View” button in the menu bar and select “Toolbars” from the drop-down menu.

The first one is “Getting Started” toolabar:

Large Toolset

The second is the “Large Toolset”:

The “Large Toolset” actually consists of 6 different toolbars.

Before starting this course, it is best if you made this toolbar visible and hide the “Getting Started” toolbar by unchecking it.

Click the “View” button in the menu bar, choose “Toolbars” from the drop-down menu and click the “Getting Started” option to deselect it.
Click the “View” button again in the menu bar, choose “Toolbars” from the drop-down menu and click the “Large Tool Set” option to place a checkmark next to it.

In the table below I have given the name and a brief description of the various buttons in the “Large Tool Set” tool bar. I have explained a number of buttons in the next lesson, and a number of other buttons are explained when we actually use them.

Icon	Definition	Shortcut
Large Tool Set
1. “Main” Toolbar
	Select We use the “Select” tool to select one or more objects in the drawing area.	Spacebar
	Create Component We use the “Create Component” tool when we select an object in the drawing area to create a component.	G
	Paint Bucket We use the “Paint Bucket” when we want the objects in our drawing area with a color or texture.	B
	Eraser We use the “Eraser” when we want to erase objects or parts of it in our drawing area.	E

2. “Drawing” Toolbar
	Rectangle We use the “Rectangle” tool when we want to draw a square or rectangle.	R
	Line We use the “Line” tool when we want to draw lines or edges.	L
	Circle We use the “Circle” tool when we want to draw circles or ovals.	C
	Arc We use the “Arc” tool when we want to draw curved lines.	A
	Polygon We use the “Polygon” tool when we want to draw a polygon.
	Freehand We use the “Freehand” tool when we want to draw freehand lines.

3. “Modification” Toolbar
	Move / Copy We use the “Move / Copy” tool to move/copy the objects that reside in the drawing area.	M
	Push / Pull We use the “Push / Pull” tool to give more or less volume to an object in the drawing area.	P
	Rotate We use the “Rotate” tool when we want to rotate an object.	Q
	Follow me We use the “Follow Me” tool to duplicate the profile of an item along a path.
	Scale We use the “Scale” tool to change the dimensions of an object.	S
	Shift We use the “Shift” tool to create duplicates of lines or edges with equal distance between the copy and the original.	F

4. “Construction” Toolbar
	Tape Measure We use the “Tape Measure” Tool to determine the distance between two points, or the size of an object.	T
	Dimension We use the “Dimension” tool to add length information to your item.
	Protractor We use the “Protractor” to measure angles, and angular construction lines.
	Text We use the “Text” tool to add text to the object.
	Axes Use the “Axes” tool if you want to move the drawing axes.
	3D Text We use the “3D Text” tool when we want to add text in 3D.

5. “Camera” Toolbar
	Orbit We use the “Orbit” tool to rotate the camera around the object.	O
	Pan We use the “Pan” tool to move the image on horizontal or vertical axis.	H
	Zoom We use the “Zoom” tool to zoom in or zoom out on object.	Z
	Zoom Extents We use the “Zoom Extents” tool just enough to zoom in,so that your object fills the whole screen.	Shift + Z
	Previous We click the “Previous” button to return to our previous image.
	Next We click the “Next” button to move to the next frame. This button is only available when you use the “Back” button first.

6. “Guiding” Toolbar
	Position Camera Use the “Position Camera” tool at a specific eye height to position the camera.
	Look around Use the “Look Around” tool to rotate the camera around a point.
	Walk Use the “Walk” tool if you want to manuever the object.
	Section plane Use the “Section Plane” tool to insert a new interface.