A good introduction to SketchUp is to create a simple model like the one pictured here. We take you through the whole modeling process step by step in our SketchUp courses.
Firstly open up SketchUp – you will be asked to choose a template > choose one of the metric templates > OK.
Note the human figure that appears with each new model – this changes from year to year and is a good quick guide as to the human scale of your model. Our figure here is Derek from the 2013 release. Often these figures are actual SketchUp employees.
As a general introduction to SketchUp we’ll create the dog kennel pictured here. Firstly, select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar, or type R on your keyboard. The program prompts you to action on the bottom left of the screen, and is waiting for you to select the first corner point of the rectangle, so click somewhere near the figure and gently pull your cursor in the direction you want to create the dog kennel base. Note on the bottom right of the screen are a length and width in metres or millimetres (depending on the template you chose). Punch in two numbers separated by a comma and hit Enter (or Return on the Mac).
We then create height by selecting the Push/Pull tool, or hit P on your keyboard. Click on the rectangular face and gently pull upwards in the direction you wish to extrude the shape. But don’t click! Instead punch in the height, eg. 1 metre and hit Enter. You will now have a 3d box shape. Orbit round it with the Orbit tool (or type O and click and drag).
To create the gable end of the roof, select the Line tool, or hit L > Enter. Then click on the top right corner of the box, pull downwards in the Blue axis which corresponds to the Z-axis in other CAD programs. And punch in a value like 100mm. This creates a line on the right-hand edge with an endpoint. Click on this endpoint with the Line tool, then click on the top centre midpoint, creating a triangle on the top right of the face.
Select the Push/Pull tool again (P), click on the triangular face, and gently push backwards into the box until you reach the back face – a tooltip message will appear reading On Face or Offset Limit. Click now and the face will disappear, creating half of the gable end. The Push/Pull tool has a memory – simply double-click on the other triangle for the other side to disappear.
We can also create a doorway with the Line tool – draw a line along the base from the bottom left corner, inwards by 200mm, then upwards by 600mm, across in the red axis by 600mm, and back down to the base (600mm). Then select the Arc tool (A) and click on the two top points, then push upwards and punch in a height, eg.100mm. Use the Eraser tool (E) to delete the cross bar, then the Push/Pull tool to push the face inwards by about 50mm. Erase the bottom line to create a hole in the front of the box.
In the screenshot example we have also added colours, textures and shadows. We’ll cover these topics in a later blog post. Many useful tips and techniques can be found at the SketchUp website. And see many examples of our own clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related SketchUp Blog Posts:

• SketchUp background
• SketchUp introduction
• SketchUp modeling
• SketchUp contours
• SketchUp workspace