Making Shapes

• On your Google SketchUp toolbar, you will see a series of buttons. The first five are the ones that you'll need for now. The Selection tool, shaped like a mouse pointer, allows you to select lines and planes or groups of items you've drawn on the screen. So, if you need to copy, delete or alter a bunch of shapes, your best bet is starting with the Selection tool.
  
  The next four tools, the Pencil, Square, Circle and Arc tools, allow you to draw planes and shapes. You can use these to draw just about any two-dimensional shape or add new outlines to three-dimensional shapes. To use the Line tool, select it, click where you want the first end-point, then move the mouse to the other end point and click a second time. The Arc tool is similar, except after drawing the line, you can click and drag the center point to make the shape into an arc. The Circle and Square tools work similarly as well: click to place the upper-left corner of the shape, then move the mouse and click again to drop the lower-right corner of the shape.
  
  

Camera Tools

• The perspective of the program is important, and viewing your shape from another angle will help you make the image you have in your mind. The Orbit, Hand and Zoom tools are the most useful tools for this. The Orbit tool allows you to change the angle of viewing. You begin looking at the field from a nearly head-on perspective, but you can click and drag the Orbit tool to view it from the top or from the side, as you prefer. The Zoom tool, or the scroll wheel on your mouse, will let you see the object up close or further away. Finally, the Hand tool lets you move the image, so you can view a different part of the screen. The final modification tool is the Offset tool, which lets you make a larger version of a shape you've added. Click one of the planes and drag outward. You'll see a larger outline of the shape expand around the existing one, and when you release the mouse button, the program will leave a larger version of that shape around the first.
  
  

Modifying Shapes

• One of the most powerful tools in SketchUp's arsenal is the Push/Pull tool, which allows you to make a plane into a three-dimensional object. Make a circle in SketchUp, click the face with the Push/Pull tool and drag it up. The circle will rise into a column. You can use the Move tool to grab one of the surfaces of your shape and move it. All of the lines and shapes attached to it will remain attached, so this is good for making a skewed version of your shape. The Rotate tool allows you to rotate a plane, but it is a little more complicated to use. Select the Rotate tool, click the shape you're going to rotate, click a second time to set a start point for the rotation, then click a third time to set the final position of the shape.
  
  

Advanced Tools

• When you feel like you have a grasp of the basic tools, check out the Create a Chair video on the Google SketchUp page (in References), which gives you a chair design to test the skills you've picked up thus far. Most of the tools already described are the basic functions that will make a wealth of fairly complex shapes, but SketchUp is still capable of a wealth of additional functions. Look under the Resources section to see a number of tutorial videos that will explain all of the tools on the SketchUp toolbar.