Copying Objects
You’ll often want to copy elements in SketchUp. For example, we’re going to construct a table later on in this lesson by creating one table leg and then making a few copies for the other legs. Copying objects guarantees you exact duplicates when having an exact duplicate is important—aswhen you’re making actual table legs.
Being able to copy objects is an essential skill in SketchUp, so here’s how you do it. In this case, we’ll make a copy of a simple cube:
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 a horizontal rectangle.
3. Click the Push/Pull tool in the toolbar.
4. Move the mouse cursor to the rectangle and press the mouse button on the rectangle.
5. Press the mouse button on the rectangle and drag the rectangle up to extend it into a 3D cube, as shown in Figure 5.16.
FIGURE 5.16 Drawing a cube.
6. Click the Select tool in the toolbar.
7. Select the cube by pressing the mouse button outside it and dragging the selection rectangle that appears over the cube. Now you’ve selected the object you want to copy.
8. Select the Edit menu’s Copy item.
9. Select the Edit menu’s Paste item. When you do, a copy of the object appears at the location of the mouse cursor. Moving the mouse cursor moves the copy of the object.
10. Move the mouse cursor to the location at which you want to place the copy of the object.
11. Click the mouse. The copy of the object appears at the location you clicked the mouse and stops moving around with the mouse cursor. You can see an example in Figure 5.17, where we’ve copied the cube.
FIGURE 5.17 Copying a cube.
That’s it—now you can copy objects.
Thanks :
Steven Holzner,
SamsTeachYourself Google SketchUp 8 in 10 Minutes
