→ Tip: To be more precise, before clicking the second time, you can enter the exact dimensions you want in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Click once to place the lower left corner, move your mouse to where you want your upper right corner to be and then click again to finish the shape. Any mistakes can be quickly removed by using the eraser (6) and clicking on the incorrect line or shape.įor this tutorial, we’re going to sketch a basic house. The most important tools for this project will be (1) the pan tool for maneuvering around the model, (2) the draw line and (3) draw rectangle tools, the push tool (4), and the move tool (5). To get the full complement as pictured here, turn on the Large Tool Set by going to the View menu > Tool Palettes > Large Tool Set.

Tutorial: Drawing from Measurements Getting startedīefore starting, take a moment to get familiar with the tools. In this tutorial, I’ll cover a couple of approaches to getting started – drawing from measurements for a fairly accurate model with full 360° views and drawing directly onto a photograph for quick 3D illustrations where only one viewpoint is important and accuracy is less critical. The SketchUp website also has some great tutorial videos worth checking out with some more advanced tools. A paid pro version is available, but for most people, the free version should provide more than enough functionality. To get started, visit to download the software.

The controls are easy to use and with a little practice, you can quickly progress to creating simple (or more complicated!) models. SketchUp is a free 3D modeling program based on drawing and manipulating lines and shapes.

Sketchup modeling