- Hey guys. In this video I'm gonna
show you how to quickly and accurately create a
basic floor plan in SketchUp. Whether your goal is to
create a 2D floor plan that you'll turn into a 3D model later, or you just want to
draft a quick floor plan to share with a client, if you follow the seven key
steps I'm about to share with you, you'll find
SketchUp to be an amazing tool for conquering this piece
of the design process. And it doesn't require using
or being familiar with AutoCAD or any other CAD programs. Before we jump in, let
me just quickly warn you, this video isn't meant for beginners that have no prior
experience with SketchUp, so if you haven't already, I recommend you check out our "Watch This Before You Get
Started With SketchUp" video. And be sure you're comfortable with all the concepts we cover there. Okay, ready to jump into the steps? Let's start with step number
one: start in a 2D template. As you remember from our "Watch This Before You Get
Started SketchUp" video, for all projects you work
on in SketchUp, I recommend that you use a template that
starts you with a plan view or a top-down view. This is even more
important when you set out to create a floor plan. As a quick reminder, here's how you switch your template. For SketchUp Pro, if you're a Windows user,
you'll start by going to your top menu and selecting Window. If you're using SketchUp Pro on a Mac, you'll select SketchUp. From there, open the Preferences
window and select Template. Depending on which version
of SketchUp you're using, the template will be named differently. It might say Plan View or
Construction Documentation. If you're a Windows user, you'll click the button at
the bottom right to finish. Mac users, you just close the window. Now, your current files
template won't change, but when you start a new file, you'll start in the new template. If you're using the free
web-based version of SketchUp, you won't have access to
the template you need, but you can get close enough by switching to a top view from the Scenes menu. Now that you're in a plan view, the next step is number
two, draw your floor. But before getting into
this tip, I should mention that we've created some notes for you to help you remember everything
we cover in this video. You'll find a link to the notes in the cards
and in the description. Okay, back to the next tip. For most of your projects, you'll either be starting from
an existing floor plan file or from measurements taken in the field, while we also cover the
workflow for starting from a PDF or CAD file in our "SketchUp
For Interiors" course, for this video, we'll only
focus on the situation where you're starting
from field measurements. Once you have your measurements, the first step is to draw the floor. To do this, you'll need to use SketchUp's basic drawing tools. Typically either the Line
tool or the Rectangle tool. The line tool is the most versatile as you can go dimension by
dimension around the floor plan to draw it out. The process there is to click and begin drawing in a direction. Then type in a dimension and press Enter or Return on your keyboard to
finish drawing a line or edge. Then just continue on
around in that fashion, entering the dimensions one by one until you have the footprint drawn in. The Rectangle tool can be a
quicker choice in situations where you have a more straightforward rectangular shape to your floor. In that case, you can start
with a bigger rectangle for the overall width
and length of the space, and then use either the Line tool or the Rectangle tool
along with the Eraser tool to either add areas to or subtract areas from the main footprint. Now, remember, in SketchUp, you're drawing at a
one-to-one scale, meaning that when you draw a larger rectangle and it appears small, it's just because your SketchUp
camera is zoomed out. If that's the case for you, simply roll your center
mouse wheel forward to zoom in and get closer. Or if you've entered your dimensions and you can't see the entire footprint, roll your center mouse
wheel back to zoom out. When you zoom, the blue axis will appear, but you can just ignore it. And now you're ready for the next step. Number three, draw your exterior walls. All right, once you've drawn your floor, you can use the Offset tool to create your exterior walls. To do that, pick the Offset
tool, click once on the face, move the mouse to begin
offsetting the wall, type in the dimension
for your wall thickness, and press Enter or
Return on your keyboard. Next, you'll need to
create doorway openings. Now, there are a few
ways to go about this, but when you're new to SketchUp, I recommend you use the Tape Measure tool to set up guidelines that show you exactly where your openings need to be. To do this, using the tape measure tool, click once on the inside
edge of an exterior wall, then move the mouse towards
where the opening will be. Then type the dimension on your keyboard and press the Enter or Return key on your keyboard, and you'll have your first guideline. For the second guide, repeat
the steps, only this time, your first click is
from the existing guide and your dimension is for
the width of the opening. Now, you can take the Rectangle tool and draw rectangle that snaps
to the intersection points of the guidelines on your walls, and then take the Eraser tool and erase away the outside edge, and you repeat these same
steps for all the door openings around your exterior walls. Note that you shouldn't worry
about the window openings just yet, because you'll
handle those later. Now, as you know from our "Watch This Before You Get
Started With SketchUp" video, hands down one of the
most important things to learn in SketchUp is to group almost everything. If you don't group things at this stage, you might find yourself
with a huge mess later when you wanna move anything
or make adjustments. So group now and your future
self will definitely thank you. Thanks for the tip, man. I got you. So now that you're at a point
where you've drawn your floor and exterior walls, select everything and make it into a group. While you're at it, now's a great time to assign attack to that group. This will make it easier to
isolate the exterior walls at needed down the road. Okay, once you've got your floor and exterior walls grouped,
you're ready for the next step. Number four, draw your interior walls. Again, for new SketchUp users, I recommend you use the tape measure tool to create guidelines
based on the dimensions from your field measurements. Then use the Rectangle tool to trace in each wall segment. As you go, you can use the Eraser tool to
delete any unnecessary edges and just repeat these steps again and again to drawing in
all the interior walls. If at any point along the way you end up with too many guidelines
getting in the way, you have two options. In some cases, you may need
to get rid of just one or two. To do that, you can erase
them with the Eraser tool. But in cases where you don't need the guides you've created
anymore, go to your Edit menu and select the option for Delete Guides. You'll clear all of them out so you can start again from a blank slate. Once you've drawn all
of your interior walls, don't forget our previous tip
and do yourself a huge favor and make them into a group. That way you'll avoid all
the headaches of struggling with an ungroup plan where
everything is stuck together. Just be careful not to select the Floor and Exterior Walls group. In fact, to make it easier,
you can turn off the tag for that group, so all you
see are the interior walls, and don't stop there. Once you've made the interior
walls into a group, go ahead and create a tag for them and
assign that tag to the group. That reminds me. Thanks for the tip, man. I got you. Okay, you're at an important
crossroads with this example. If your plan is to create
a 3D model of this space, then at this point you can move on and begin building your 3D model on top of what you've created so far. You can cover the rest of
that workflow in our SketchUp for Interiors course on our website, but in this example, I
wanna show you what you need to do to finish a basic floor plan in 2D without having to build the 3D model. To do that, let's move
on to the next step. Number five, add your windows and doors. Components in SketchUp
are similar to blocks or symbols and other CAD programs. That is geometry, that's drawn to represent objects in your
design such as windows, doors, fixtures, and furniture. For the first part of our
example, I'll show you how to create your own component for a window. Again, you can start with
the Tape Measure tool to set up two guidelines
that represent the width of the window. Using those guides, draw in your window. Now, since we're just setting
up a basic reference plan for this example, and
not worrying about adding all the details you may want for, say, a construction document floor plan, I'll just create a basic window symbol. But you're free to use
SketchUp strong tools to add as much detail to
the window as you'd like. Once you've got your window drawn, select it all with a Select tool, then right-click and select
the option for make component. Then name it something sensible and click to finish making the component. To save time when you have more than one
of something in your plan, such as multiple windows
with the same dimensions, you can make a copy of it. You do that using the Move tool. On a Mac, press and let go of the Option key. On a PC, press and let
go of the Control key to turn on the Copy function. Then click on the corner of the window and move your cursor to the
corresponding intersection where the copied window belongs, and click to complete the move. The best part about copies
of the same component is that if you need to make
a change to one of them, both copies will update together, saving you a bunch of time. Just remember that to make any changes, you must first right-click and select the option for Edit Component. Then when you're done making changes, right-click outside the component and select the option for Close Component. But what about the case where you have another window that's not the same size? Of course, you could
create a new component from scratch that's the correct size, and in some cases that
might be your best bet, but it's also worth pointing out that you can modify your
existing component to fit. Here's how. Start by using the tape measure to set up guidelines for the new window. Follow the steps from before to move another
copy of the window component. Then, right-click on the component and select the option for Make Unique. Then right-click on the
component, select the option for Edit Component, and
modify the component to fit. Because you made it unique
from the original component, the changes you make to
it won't update the other instances of the component. Okay, next up, you can use the
same process I just described to create the doors. First, draw rectangle with the correct width and thickness. Then use the ARC tool to draw the swing, make it into a component, and use the Move tool to
copy it around the model. Sometimes it'll be oriented
the wrong way for the opening. In that case, with the Move tool, hover over the component. You'll see that it
actively highlights blue and that there are four red plus signs. Hover over one of the red pluses until the cursor turns into a rotate icon. Then click and let go of your mouse button on that red plus to begin rotating. Now you can move your mouse and hover over the tick
marks on the rotate cursor to rotate in 15-degree increments until you've rotated the proper amount. Then click and let go of the
mouse to finish the rotation. Other times, the door will
need to be mirrored or flipped. To do that with the component selected, click on the Flip tool, and then you'll either need to flip along the component's green axis or the component's red axis, depending on the orientation
of the component. Now, once you have the door oriented and flipped in the proper
direction, you'll need to move it into place. With the Move tool, click on the corner of
your door component, and then move your cursor
onto the corresponding corner of the door opening in the plan, and click to finish the move. And when you come to a door
that has a different width, it's probably fastest
to just draw a new one. Okay, once you've created all your windows and doors, it's time to add
your furniture and fixtures. But you don't have to
draw everything by hand. There's a faster way to add
2D symbols that we're ready to cover in our next step. Number six, import furniture and fixtures. It's true that you can draw
all of your own 2D components for the things you need to
show in your floor plan, but a great thing about components is that once they've
been drawn by someone, they can easily be shared
and reused again and again. If you're looking for 2D
components that have been shared by others, a good place to start
is SketchUp's 3D Warehouse. To access the 3D Warehouse in SketchUp, go to your top menu and select Window. Then select the option for 3D Warehouse. In the 3D Warehouse search box, type 2D, and the name of the object you're looking for, and press Enter. Click over to the Models tab and you'll see a bunch of results. Some of them won't be
what you're looking for, but there should be plenty
of usable options as well. When you found a component you like, click on the Download button and agree to download it
directly into your model. When it finishes downloading, click anywhere in white
space to set it down. Remember, if the component
isn't oriented properly, you can rotate it or flip it. Move it into place with the Move tool, and remember
to click on a precise point of the component, and then click on a precise point in the floor plan to
match things up perfectly. In many cases, the component you choose won't quite work as it's been drawn. For example, often you'll find that a component is the wrong
size to fit into your design. When that happens, you
have a couple of options. First, you can always delete the component and go looking for a new
one on the 3D warehouse. Another option is to scale your component with the Scale tool. Just note that when you need
your symbols to be accurate, this may create distortions. For example, if you scale
a real world product, you might unintentionally
warp key dimensions. Now, instead of using the Scale tool, there is a third option. You can edit the component. That's right. You can edit a component you
download from the 3D warehouse, just like you would if
you had made it yourself. To do this, right-click on the component and pick the option for Edit Component. Then use SketchUp's drawing and editing tools to make
the changes you need. Now, as you build your own components or find quality ones on the warehouse, one thing I always recommend
is to collect the best ones and do a library to
use on future projects. To save you some time, we put together a starter library for you, and put a link to it in the notes along with directions on how to use it. Whether you find symbols
on the 3D warehouse or you use the ones we've created for you, remember to organize the
components using tags as you go. This will save you a ton of time and frustration later if you
need to create different views or try out different schemes
with your floor plan. Alright, you have all your 2D
symbol components in place. Now you're ready for the last step. Number seven style, your
plan for presentation. At this point, you're ready to take your floor plan in
any number of directions. Perhaps you'll want to add some colors or materials to liven it up. Maybe you'll wanna take it into layout where you can easily add
a title, block labels, or dimensions. Or maybe you're ready to start building in 3D. We cover all those things in
the courses on our website. And while it's too much to
get into for this video, here are a few fundamentals
you should know to get your floor plan
ready to present to a client or colleague. First, unless you're adding color and materials, you're likely to want your floor plan
to be black and white. To make that change, you need
to use the Styles feature. Open your Styles dialog. Mac users will find it
under the Window menu, while PC users will find
it in the Default Tray. Click on the Edit tab,
click on the second box for Face Style, then
click on the second box for Hidden Line. This will turn everything black and white. While you're in the Styles dialogue, you can also click on the
first box for edge styles and see if things like extension endpoints or even jitter are helpful for presenting a more preliminary rough sketch type of a look. If you're using SketchUp free, you can select one of the predefined black and white styles from the Styles tab. Just know that you can't edit any of the styles unless you upgrade. Once you've settled on a style, you may also wanna hide the axes. To do that, go to your
Top menu, select View, and click on Axes to turn them off. Now that everything is looking
like you want it, be sure to save a scene. First, zoom and pan to get a good view. Then open your scenes dialogue. Mac users will find it under
the Window menu option while PC users will find it in their Default Tray. In the Scenes dialogue, click the plus icon and name the scene. Now, you can get back to that
exact view anytime you need, and of course, your final step
will be to export an image or PDF of your floor plan. To do that, go to File, Export 2D Graphic, pick the format type you want,
name it, and click Export. Know that image files like
JPEGs will be rasterized or have a set pixel dimension, which means that the line work may not be crisp depending on how you
plan to size and present. The final image PDFs will be vector files, which will show crisp
line work at any size. If you're using SketchUp
free, you can export an image by going under Menu, Download, but just know that you only
have the option to export or rasterize PNG unless you upgrade. And that's it. Congratulations, you made
it through all seven steps to create your first
floor plan in SketchUp. From here, it's definitely possible to learn everything on your own. However, if you wanna
invest your time wisely and avoid picking up bad habits, then I recommend checking
out our video course library. It's filled with $8,700 worth of SketchUp courses
exclusively for professionals, including our SketchUp
for Interiors course. Head over to our SketchUp school website and try our courses for free. And if you're not ready to take one of our courses right now, make sure to check out the other
videos in this playlist, which is full of a bunch of tips and tricks to help you avoid the things that often trip people
up when they're first getting started in SketchUp. Until next time, happy sketching. And it's a simplified
floor, simpli-flied floor... Pi-fly (laughs).
