Understanding SketchUp Axes
If you take a look at Figure 2.14, you’ll see three axes corresponding to the x, y, and z axes you may be familiar with. The x and y axes form the horizontal plane, and the z axis points vertically out of that plane.We’ll call the axis in the foreground that’s closest to a horizontal line the x axis; the other horizontal axis, which goes into the page, the y axis; and the vertical axis the z axis, as shown in Figure 2.15.
FIGURE 2.15 The three (x, y, z) axes.
Those are the three names we’ll use for the axes—x, y, and z.
What you can’t see in Figure 2.15 (because this is a black-and-white book)
is that the axes are colored:
- The x axis is red.
- The y axis is green.
- The z axis is blue.
TIP: Axes Coloring
You’ll sometimes see axes referred to by color in the SketchUp help files, so it can be helpful to bear the previous list of color associations in mind.
The reason the axes are colored is that the shapes you draw (see the next lesson) are usually aligned with one or another axis by SketchUp automatically, and SketchUp will indicate the color axis the shape is being aligned with. So, for example, as you draw one edge of a rectangle, a ToolTip (a small yellow window with some text) will appear, reading On Red Axis to show that your drawing action is being aligned with the x (red) axis. This is helpful because by default SketchUp automatically snaps what you draw to be parallel to an axis to let you draw shapes easily without wondering how they will line up with the axes. This will become more apparent as we start to draw shapes in coming sections.
Thanks :
Steven Holzner,
SamsTeachYourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes
