From the course: SketchUp: Bathroom Remodel

Import and scale a sketch - SketchUp Tutorial

From the course: SketchUp: Bathroom Remodel

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Import and scale a sketch

- [Instructor] In this video, we're going to import a sketch of the existing conditions, and then start tracing over the sketch. Go to the File menu and choose Import. Navigate to the Chapter 2 folder, and open the Format drop down list. This shows a listing of all the different formats that you can bring into SketchUp. The formats at the top of this list are all vector forms, which represent 2D drawings or 3D models. The formats down below here are all raster formats which are based on pixels. In this case, we have an image that we want to import, so let's select All Supported Image Types. And then click the Sketch.png file, and click Import. The sketch is attached to the cursor. I'll click the origin point where the red and green axes come together as the insertion point for this image. Then as I move the cursor, you can see that we're interactively sizing it. And at this point, I don't really know how big to make the sketch. I'll just have it fill the screen, more or less, by clicking over here. Now the Import command is completed, and the entire sketch is selected. We can see that it's selected because it's blue. Now, I made this sketch just using a pencil and paper. I didn't use a ruler, and I just made a rough sketch. Not only did I sketch the bathroom but I also sketched the surrounding rooms. Because I'm not sure really at this point, exactly how I want to remodel the bathroom. That's what we're going to be visualizing in SketchUp. But it's important at the beginning of the project, to capture all of the existing conditions. And I recommend that you sketch your own bathroom that you want to remodel, just like I've done here. And then at the end of this course, you can circle back and remodel your own bathroom. But during this course, I recommend that everyone stay on the same page, and model this bathroom. That way, you'll get the most out of the course. So, the next thing we need to do is size this sketch approximately to the dimensions given. Remember, when I brought it in I really didn't know how big to make it. So, what we do is we look for the longest dimension in the sketch. In this case, that happens to be 184 inches, down here at the bottom. I'll zoom in there by rolling the mouse wheel. I'll also pan by holding the Shift key down and dragging the wheel. Now, if you forget to hold the Shift key down, here's what will happen. When you drag the mouse wheel, you will orbit a little bit. And this will be fine but I think it's a little bit more clear if you stay in the Top view. So, let's go up to the camera menu and choose Standard Views, Top. A clue that you're in the Top view is up here in the upper left hand corner, it actually says, "Top". So, if you slightly orbit out of the Top view, this label will disappear. I'm going to hold down the Shift key and pan, and get this dimension on the screen so I can see, more or less, the whole thing. Then, I'm going to use the tape measure tool. You can also press "T" to activate it. I'll click over here, and then move the cursor over in the red direction. And before I click, I'm going to read the Tool Tip. It says, "About 99 inches." So, my sketch is too small. But that's no problem. I'm going to click now, and type in the value that I want it to be, 184, and then press Enter. We are prompted. "Do you want to resize the model?" Choose Yes. And the sketch got bigger. Now, I'm going to zoom out by rolling the mouse wheel back. And then I'll hold down the Shift key and pan. And then, I will measure this one more time. So now, this is about 184, isn't it? So, that's great. The tape measure actually scaled the entire sketch for us. This is perhaps not obvious because you might be inclined to use the scale tool adjacent. But the tape measure is actually perfect for this type of thing. Now, the next step is to start sketching over this with Lines. So, use the Line tool or press L. Click a point over here. Move the cursor to the right so that it's locked in the red direction. And type 184, Enter. Now, I can keep drawing lines but I actually want to draw a line on the left side of the plan because I see this dimension 156 is given. So, I'm going to press the space bar to get out of this command. The space bar actually goes to the Select tool, which you can also activate by clicking this button. But I find that getting out of a tool is easily done just by pressing the space bar. I'll press L for Line, and then click a point right here on the endpoint of the existing line, move the cursor up in the green direction, and type 156, Enter. Now, this exposes a problem with my hand-drawn sketch. Namely, it wasn't draw with the proper proportions. When I sketched this, I just sort of made a rectangle and said, "Well, the bedroom is about like this." But I wasn't being accurate, I wasn't measuring the sketch, so, it's no wonder that it's out of proportion. But this fact is going to complicate the situation if I'm trying to trace over this because we're going to have a real mismatch between the sketch that I've drawn by hand. And the actual geometry that's measured as we put it into SketchUp. So, for this reason, I recommend that we draw the actual model in SketchUp off to the side. So, I'm going to select this line by clicking on it. And then I'll hold down the Shift key, and click on this line to select it at the same time. And then click the Move tool or press M. Then click an arbitrary point on the screen to start moving. And then I'm going to move this over here and I'm going to keep it in the red direction so it lines up horizontally. And I'll click a point somewhere over here. Now, as I continue drawing the sketch. Our existing model is going to to appear over here next to our image.

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