Google - SketchUp

Lesson 38: Components (3)

Locking Component

When we were in the components lesson 36, we had the “Glue on” option, where we have the options –  None, Any, Horizontal, Vertical and Sloped .
The first two options “None” and “All” are actually the most important.

When we choose “Any”, it means that we can move the component in the direction of the blue axis and the red axis, that is vertically and horizontally. However, when we choose “No”, we can also move the component in the direction of the green axis, that is the depth.
This means when we have selected “Any” and do a push, pull or move of the plane in which we put in the component, this component moves along in the direction that you move the plane.

If you have selected the option “None”, then the components, in this case, the windows,  remain in place, and they would be located inside or outside of the housing when we pull or push the surface.

You have the option to release a glued component at any time.
Right click above the component and select “unlock” in the drop-down menu.

 

Regarding the options Horizontal, Vertical and Sloped, these relate only to the axis on which this component will be glued.

For example, if you choose “Vertical”, then you can only move the component in the direction of vertical axis. If you choose “Horizontal”, then you can just move the component in the horizontal axis.

This also means that when you bring a component into the drawing from the library, this component will be glued to the shaftaxis on which the plane is based.
For example, a component for which the “Horizontal” is set, can not be  placed on a vertical plane.

You have the option to change “Glue on” at any time.
To do this, open the component library by clicking on the “Window”button in the menubar and selecting “Components” in the drop-down menu.
Click the icon with the house, this gives all the components that have been used in the file.
Select the component and click the “Edit” tab.
In the “Edit” tab click the downward pointing arrow next to the “Glue to” box, and you choose a different setting from the drop-down menu.

More about the library components in the next section of this lesson. Just remember when you click the house icon you will see the components you used in the drawing.

Components Library

To open the library of components, click “Window” button in the menu bar and select “Components” in the drop-down menu.

This opens the library with all the components we have created or are supplied as standard components when we had downloaded SketchUp.

Let me first describe what we get to see when we open the library.

At the top we have two compartments, the upper box displays the name of the component, the lower the description.

We also have three buttons, we will get back to that later.

Below that we have three tabs, “Select”, “Edit” and “Statistics”.

In the “Select” tab, we have several folders into which different standard components of SketchUp are divided.

To add a component to our drawing, we must first open the folder containing the component.
To open a folder you must double click on this(1) ,or select it in the drop-down list (2)

Once the folder is opened and the component is found, click the component, move the mouse over the drawing area, and click again to position the component.

Wherever you place it does not matter, we can later move it to any place we want.

We have a left and a right pointing arrow.
This allows us to navigate between previously opened folders with components.

We have the icon of the house, this gives us the components used in the drawing.

Under the “Edit” tab, we can change the options we had entered when creating a component.

Under the “Statistics” tab, we find information about the component, such as the number of lines in this component, or the number of faces. Only information about the component.

Use Component created in other files

When we make a component, it is placed in the “In Model” folder.

This does not mean you can also use this component in another file.
To do this you must first place it in one of the standard folders.

I have made a window that I want to use in another file.
I insert this in an existing folder, the “Architecture” folder, seems well suited for this.

At the top we have three buttons.
By clicking the top button a second library window is opened(1).

In the second library window, open the folder where you want to place the component.
Then click and drag the component from the “In Model” folder to the folder of your choice in the second library window.
In this case, the “Architecture” folder.

Now you can use this component in any file new or old.

If you do not find the component in any folder, you can make this yourself, or download from the online Trimble 3D warehouse Google SketchUp.
To search the online component in the 3D warehouse, click the third button at the top of the library (3).

 

Now that I am here, I will download a garage door from here, otherwsie I cannot drive in my car.
You get more number of results when you type the keyword in English and click on the ‘Search’ button and Google will give you all results.
Click on “Download to Google Sketchup” and the component is immwdiately opened in SketchUp. All you have to do is place it in the right position.
More on this in the next lesson.

 

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