Creating Guides with the Tape Measure Tool
Guides are dotted lines that you can use to align objects. They’re very handy when you are creating a drawing with multiple objects that have to be in a specific relation to the others, such as in perfect rows. All you have to do is to align the edges of the object with the guides you’ve drawn from other objects.We’ll take a look at how this works by aligning three cubes in a row using guides. Here’s how it works:
1. Click the Start Using SketchUp button.
2. Select the Rectangle tool and draw a horizontal rectangle.
3. Select the Push/Pull tool in the toolbar and pull the rectangle up into a cube.
4. Select the Select tool in the toolbar.
5. Draw a selection rectangle around the cube.
6. Select Copy from the Edit menu.
7. Select Paste from the Edit menu.
8. Click the mouse at the location where you want a new cube to appear.
9. Repeat steps 4–8 to create a third cube. Now you have three cubes, as shown in Figure 9.15.
FIGURE 9.15 Three cubes.
10. Select the Tape Measure tool in the Getting Started toolbar.
11. Click the top-front edge of one of the cubes. A guide appears (represented by a dotted line), as shown in Figure 9.16.
FIGURE 9.16 A new guide.
12. Select the Select tool in the toolbar.
13. Draw a selection rectangle around a cube that doesn’t have the guide attached.
14. Select the Move tool in the toolbar.
15. Move the cube into alignment with the guide, as shown in Figure 9.17.
FIGURE 9.17 Aligning a cube.
16. Repeat steps 12–15 to align the third cube, as shown in Figure 9.18.
Now the three cubes are in a row, and you know how to use guides to align objects in SketchUp.
Thanks :
Steven Holzner,
SamsTeachYourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes
