Using the Orbit Tool
There are three primary tools that you have to get familiar with to start working with SketchUp: Orbit, Pan, and Zoom. We’ll take a look at the Orbit tool in this task and the Pan and Zoom tools in the following twotasks.
The reason that these three tools are the important ones to start out with is that they give you a handle on working in 2D. New users not familiar with these tools can grope around in the dark in SketchUp before finally getting a grip on how to work with 3D.
The Orbit tool lets you examine a 2D figure—called a model in SketchUp—from all different directions. By rotating the Orbit tool, you can examine the model you’re creating from all angles.
Here’s how to use the Orbit tool:
1. Start SketchUp. The Welcome to SketchUp dialog box appears. For this task, we’ll work with the Simple Template we’ve used in the previous tasks.
2. Click the Start Using SketchUp button. This opens SketchUp using the Simple Template from the previous task as the default template, as shown in Figure 2.9.
FIGURE 2.9 Starting SketchUp and selecting the Orbit tool.
3. Click the Orbit tool in the toolbar (as shown in Figure 2.9).
4. Move the Orbit tool around SketchUp’s workspace. As you do, the angle from which you view the current contents of the window changes, as you can see in Figure 2.10. The Orbit tool enables you to view your models in 3D just by moving the tool around the screen.
FIGURE 2.10 Using the Orbit tool.
TIP: Experiment with the Orbit Tool It’s a good idea to play with the Orbit tool for a while, getting used to what it does, and noting the 3D feeling you get by rotating the current model.
Thanks :
Steven Holzner,
SamsTeachYourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes
