- Hey guys, today I'm gonna go over the most important things you need to know to avoid struggling when you're first getting
started with SketchUp. These fundamental concepts have helped save thousands of professionals countless hours and untold frustration when learning SketchUp's powerful toolset. I'm Alex Oliver, lead
instructor at SketchUp School, the place where professionals go when they're serious
about learning SketchUp. And in this video, I'll walk you through seven critical concepts that will get you started
down the right path when you're first learning SketchUp. Keep watching. (instrumental jingle) I'm sure you already know what a powerful tool SketchUp can be for creating everything
from conceptual 3D models, to beautiful renderings, to detailed construction documents. You've probably also
been told that SketchUp is intuitive and easy to learn. And while it's definitely true that SketchUp is easier to learn than most 3D modeling software, how easy it is has been a bit exaggerated. The trouble is, if you don't take the time to learn the key fundamentals
I'm about to cover, you're bound to get frustrated and waste a ton of time
stumbling over problems that you could have easily avoided. Over the past 14 years, we've taught thousands of
professionals how to use SketchUp. Before learning with us,
many of them had struggled trying to pick it up on their own. Over those years, we've also had countless conversations with students like these and we've compiled a
list of critical concepts they wished they knew before getting started with SketchUp. And back in 2017, we published a YouTube video
that covered these concepts. That video has now been watched more than half a million times.
(joyful music) Now, two years and two
versions of SketchUp later, we decided to create a new and improved version of that video, updating the five original concepts, plus adding two new ones. So, today, we're gonna cover the seven critical
concepts you need to know to avoid struggling when
you're first getting started Ready to jump in? Okay, let's get started with
number one, Start in 2D. When you first open SketchUp, you're likely to choose a template that starts you off in
an isometric or 3D view. In fact, most tutorials you'll find online start you off in this very same template. But here's the problem: starting in 3D is like forcing you to jump into the deep end before
you know how to swim. You'll be more likely to
get frustrated and quit. And even if you stick with it, you'll just end up with
a bunch of bad habits that slow you down over the long run. I recommend a different approach. Pick a template that starts you off in a top down or 2D view. This starts you off in calmer waters, allowing you to focus on
learning the fundamentals and developing good habits
that will pay off later. 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 what version
of SketchUp you are using, the template will be named differently; it might say Plan View or
Construction Documentation. Just make sure that the thumbnail has a white background like this one here, and that you choose feet
and inches or meters, depending on which you
use for your projects. 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 file's
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 a close enough view by switching to a top
view from the Views menu. Then what? You're ready for the next tip. Number two, Use the Right Mouse. When you're new to SketchUp,
you might be tempted to see if you can get away
with using only your trackpad. That would be a mistake. That's because there's
a few critical things you can only do with a
three-button scroll wheel mouse. Now before we get into
what those things are, there's something you should know: not all mice are created equal. You want a mouse that has
both left and right buttons, plus a center scroll wheel that can be rolled and clicked on. And it doesn't have to be fancy. Often, the simplest three-button scroll wheel mouse works best. Seriously, guys, if you think you can get by using one
of these, just don't. And I know these are pretty, but you're really gonna want that third button and a scroll wheel, like this one; one, two, three, and the scroll wheel. As for how to use the mouse
the right way in SketchUp, we'll get into that with our next tip. Number three, Draw the Right Way. When you draw in SketchUp, all of the geometry you create
consists of three things: endpoints, edges and faces. And most of SketchUp's tools are there to help you create, delete or edit the position of those
endpoints, edges and faces. Easy enough, right? Let's go ahead and put it all together and learn all of the
drawing tools in one go. Remember to have your
three-button scroll wheel mouse, and be in your 2D template. Then, pick one of the drawing tools. Before you do anything else, pay attention to this next part. There's a right way and
wrong way to use the mouse. The mistake most people make is that they'll click and hold down on the left mouse button
and drag the mouse and then let go of the button. The tools don't function
properly this way. Instead, here's what you should do. Click and let go of your left mouse button to start a tool operation, then move the mouse, then click and let go of your left mouse button again to end the tool operation. With nearly every tool in SketchUp, this is the right way to use the mouse. So now that you know how to use the mouse, you can quickly learn how
all the drawing tools work. Just pick a drawing tool and practice using the
mouse the correct way, clicking, letting go,
clicking again, letting go. And just try out every
drawing tool this way. Some need two clicks, some need three. Don't worry if you don't understand what the tools are doing at first, just free draw over and
over again with each tool. And pay attention to the geometry the tools help you create. Some are for edges. Others create edges and faces. Even curves are really
just a series of edges. You should practice drawing in this way until you've ingrained using
your mouse the right way, and you feel pretty confident about what each tool helps you create. Once you've got the hang of the tools, you're ready for the next tip. Number four, Understand Stickiness. In SketchUp, edges and endpoints stick to other edges and endpoints. This is a good thing. You can overlap shapes and
edit them to create new ones. Try it. Practice overlapping geometry,
then use the Eraser tool to delete edges you don't need. Or, get rid of faces by
right-clicking on the face and picking the option for Erase. In this way, stickiness is helpful for modeling quickly in SketchUp. But down the road,
stickiness can also create the absolute most painful problems you'll ever encounter in SketchUp. Luckily, I've got you
covered with the next tip. Number five, Group (Almost) Everything. For things that shouldn't get stuck, you can protect them from other geometry by first turning them into a group. Grouped geometry can't
stick to anything else. This is, by far, the biggest problem self-taught users run into. They model away without groups, and then end up with an un-editable mess. So, group early and group often; your future self will thank you. There's so many people that made this moment possible, but the first person I
need to thank is myself. Now, just because you're able
to avoid the stickiness trap, it doesn't mean you're
out of the woods just yet, because there's an even more frustrating set of problems you're about to face. But you can avoid them with the next tip. Number six, Master the Move Tool. If there was a referee
watching people use SketchUp and they whistled them
for every infraction, the foul called most often
would be misusing the Move tool. And we're not just talking
about beginners here. SketchUp users of all levels rack up Move tool penalties all day, every day. What kind of penalties? You'll see people twist up their geometry when they had wanted
to move a whole object, and you'll see them sink
objects into other objects. And then you'll see other issues, where they're trying to
move things in precise ways, whether it be centering something, creating an array of copies, or just fixing one of the other errors. It gets Bad News Bears pretty fast. So what's the problem with the Move Tool? And how can you avoid it? Let's go back to the fundamentals I discussed earlier. Remember, SketchUp is all about creating, editing and deleting
endpoints, edges and faces. Now, the Move tool is only
concerned with the editing part, specifically, editing the position of those endpoints, edges and faces. So, if you use your mouse correctly, you can click and let go on an endpoint, an edge or a face, then move the mouse to edit the position of that piece of geometry, and then click to complete the operation. This is great for moving
pieces of geometry to get the shapes you need. Now, the biggest mistake you
can and will make at this point is using the mouse incorrectly. Remember, don't click and drag. Even if you get the Move
tool to work this way, this bad habit will bite you down the road when you face more complicated situations. Of course, you can move multiple edges and faces together at the same time; you just need to pre-select
them with the Select tool. And then the same rules
apply with the Move tool for editing the position
of the selected geometry. And if you want to move a whole object, you can either pre-select
all of the geometry before using the Move tool. Or, if you've made it into a group, then you can just use the Move tool to move the whole group together. Again, practice these things
in a simple 2D drawing first until they become second nature. Now, moving the right stuff
is only half the battle. But what about moving it
exactly where you want it to go? For example, what you if
you want to move one group so that it's touching another,
but not overlapping it? It goes back to the fundamentals again. When you click with your
mouse to begin the move, SketchUp sees that you're clicking on a very specific coordinate. So when you click the
second time to end the move, SketchUp sees that you've clicked on a second specific coordinate and it says "Ah, okay, gotcha, "you want to put exactly
where you clicked on point A "onto exactly where you
clicked at point B." If you click somewhere
random to start with, it'll be impossible to move
things exactly where you want. But for our example, a great idea would be to click on the
edge of the first group, then click on the edge
of the second group. That way, you know those
edges are touching perfectly. This works for matching up corners, or even mid-points for centering. Of course, the Move tool gets much harder to use in 3D space. But if you put in the time and practice to understand these core
concepts in a 2D template first, you'll avoid struggling
trying to move things later. Speaking of 3D space, let's talk about the best way to go from 2D to 3D with number seven, Navigate Like a Pro. So far, we've discussed
starting in a 2D template. But really, we've been
in 3D space all along; we've just been in a top down view and have been drawing and
editing on one flat plane. And while there's still
more that you should learn and practice in 2D first, if you're like most of my students, you won't be able to help but
navigate in the world of 3D. By navigate, I mean use
SketchUp's navigation tools to zoom, pan and orbit around in 3D space. But here's the problem
you're about to face. When you're new to SketchUp,
navigating around the model can feel awkward and disorienting. And since our brains don't like
when things feel difficult, without even being aware of it, you'll immediately start compensating to avoid the discomfort, which means that you'll create bad habits that slow you down,
not only as a beginner, but even as you become more
proficient in SketchUp. Most of your time in
SketchUp is actually spent navigating to a better view to accomplish the next
thing you're trying to do, so being able to navigate well is one of the most important things you can invest time into
learning and practicing. So, what's the right way to navigate, and how do you avoid
picking up bad habits? There's actually an
incredibly simple trick that will make navigating around your SketchUp model a breeze. But for that trick to make sense, we first need to cover the basics. While in your 2D template,
you can zoom, pan and orbit your virtual camera in 3D space to get different views of your model. And while there are tools on your toolbar for Zoom, Pan and Orbit,
you should never pick them. That's because you can access those tools directly from your three-button
scroll wheel mouse. So, you can roll your mouse
wheel forward and backward to zoom in and out of your model. Note that it matters where
you point the cursor. So, you will zoom towards or away from the point that your
cursor is hovering over. Now, if you press down on
your center mouse wheel like a button, you will
see that your cursor turns into the Orbit tool. With the mouse wheel button held down, move your mouse around and you're orbiting your camera around your model. Again, it matters where your
cursor is on the screen, as you will orbit around that point. And if you need to pan your camera over to get a better view of the model, while pressing the center
mouse wheel to orbit, also press and hold down the
Shift key on your keyboard. Your cursor will turn into a
hand, which is the Pan tool. Move your mouse to pan your view, then let go of the mouse wheel and Shift key when you're done. Okay, so what's the trick to more efficiently
navigating around your model? I can explain it to you best
by giving you a challenge. Try this: draw a rectangle. Now try to orbit 360 degrees
around the rectangle. Go ahead, pause this
video and go try it out. If you're like most people
that are new to SketchUp, you'll start off okay, but then you'll run out of room as your cursor gets to
the edge of the screen before you've even gotten
20% around the rectangle. And you might even get
disoriented while orbiting as your brain tries to
figure out another way to get around the rectangle. Now, let's try it again, only this time, here's the trick: make small or incremental orbits. So, for our challenge, start with your cursor in
the middle of the screen and orbit directly up,
just a small amount. Then let go, move your mouse back to the center of
the screen and repeat. And repeat again, and again. And repeat as many times as it takes to get 360 degrees around the rectangle. It feels a little clunky at first, but once you have it down, you can gradually begin
to speed up the process. And before you know it, you'll
be just like the experts who are constantly making
hundreds of tiny zooms, tiny orbits and tiny pans to zero-in on what they need to see better. Being able to get where
you need to go in the model makes using SketchUp so much easier. And that's it. Congratulations, you've made
it through all seven concepts. Did you learn something new in this video? Do me a quick favor and tell
us which tip you liked the most in the comments below right now. Or, just let us know you liked the video by giving it a like. By watching this video, you've already done your
future self a huge favor and gotten yourself started
down the right path. From here, it's definitely possible to learn everything on your own. However, if you want to
invest your time wisely and avoid picking up bad habits, then I recommend checking
out our Video Course Library. It's filled with $8700
worth of SketchUp courses exclusively for professionals, including our Complete
Intro to SketchUp course. Head over to our SketchUp School website and try our courses for free. And if you're not ready to
try one our courses right now, make sure to at least review what you learned in this video right away. I've put together some
notes that make it easy to review everything we've covered. I've added a link to them in the cards. Oh, and one last thing. If you don't want to miss our next video, make sure to subscribe to our
YouTube channel right now. Just click on the subscribe
button below this video. Until next time, happy sketching. Jim from craft services, you've always got a nice,
warm cup of coffee for me. Carrie in wardrobe. To the stunt supervisor, John. Thank you to my second unit DP. Oh, there you are. Wonderful PA, Timmy. He couldn't be here tonight, Timmy.
