Cutting Openings
Another cool feature that you will want to take advantage of in SketchUp is using the Push/Pull tool to “cut” or create the illusion of openings in shapes.Suppose you’ve just drawn a rectangle that represents a wall. For example, see the wall in Figure 5.9.
FIGURE 5.8 Making the cubes equal height.
FIGURE 5.9 A 3D wall.
Now say that you want to cut a window into that wall. How could you do it?
The Push/Pull tool has a special property—you can cut objects right out of existing 3D objects. Here’s how it works:
1. Click the Start Using SketchUp button and click the human figure that appears in the Engineering–Feet template to select it; press the Del key to delete it.
2. Draw the 3D wall, such as the one you see in Figure 5.9.
3. Draw the 2D outline of the window you want to cut into the wall. You might use a rectangle, as shown in Figure 5.10.
FIGURE 5.10 A 3D wall with a rectangle.
4. Click the Push/Pull tool in the toolbar.
5. Push the window outline through the wall to the other side. The part you’ve pushed disappears, leaving a cutout, as you can see in Figure 5.11.
FIGURE 5.11 A 3D wall with a window.
So that’s the trick—to create a cutout, push a shape through a 3D object until the shape disappears. Very cool.
Thanks :
Steven Holzner,
SamsTeachYourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes
