Components in Sketchup

Components• Components are like groups but ...

– they offer more power

• Components can be re-used in other projects– because they can be placed into a library

• We can keep our own libraries of components

• We can also use components in the Google 3D Warehouse

Using components in Sketchup• Every new document contains a default component

Using components in Sketchup• If we open the Components window, ...

Using components in Sketchup• ... we see a list containing just the default component

Making components in Sketchup• We have just drawn a new "thingaAMeBob

Making components in Sketchup• If we use the select tool to select the entire "thingaAMeBob, ...

Making components in Sketchup• ... and choose the Make Component tool, ...

Making components in Sketchup• ... a new dialogue window pops up, where we can ...

Making components in Sketchup• ... name our new component, which ...

Making components in Sketchup• ... which is then added to the component collection for this document

Making components in Sketchup• If we select the new component in the components window, ...

Making components in Sketchup• ... clicking the Statistics tab tells us how much detail is in the new component

Making components in Sketchup• This component has 13 faces and 30 edges

Making a component library

Component library• Create a new folder ...

Component library• ... to serve as a component library

Component library• A document which has two components

Component library• If we tell Sketchup we want to create a new collection, ...

Component library• ... it opens a dialogue window in which we can specify the folder we created earlier as the location of this new

collection

Component library• If we now save the components in the current model in this new collection, ...

Component library• ... they are saved in the chosen folder as a set of .skp files

Using components in our library• A new document

Using components in our library• If we open the component window, ...

Using components in our library• ... we see that our previously-stored component is available for re-use

Using components in our library• If we drag our component into the new document, ...

Using components in our library• ... we can re-use it

Using the Google 3D Warehouse

Google 3D warehouse

• We are not restricted to re-using our own components

• We can also import components from the Google 3D Warehouse

Google 3D Warehouse• The components window provides a mechanism for searching the Google 3D Warehouse

Google 3D Warehouse• If we enter the term car into the search box, ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... a search request is sent to the warehouse and...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... a list of components is returned• If we click on a component in this list, ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... we get a page containing the component • If we click on the Download Model button, ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... we are asked if we want to load the component directly into our document • If we agree, ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... a download of the model starts

Google 3D Warehouse• ... and the model hovers over our document until ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... until specify where to place it

Google 3D Warehouse• If we orbit the document, we see that the component is 3D

Google 3D Warehouse• If we look at the In Model collection, we see the component

Google 3D Warehouse• Using the Save as a local collection tool, we can ...

Google 3D Warehouse• ... save the components in this collection to our private library

Google 3D Warehouse• If we look at the folder, we can see that the car has been added

Google 3D Warehouse• If we look at the folder, we can see that the car has been added

Exercise

• Tackle Exercise 25