Sketchup Tutorial - Tips and Tricks #1

Using the freeware for almost 5 years now, I'm still thinking if there's a need to make a tutorial for Sketchup. Cause I believe even kids can play around using this software tool! What I'm going to explain here is somewhat not a far approach to the official Sketchup tutorial inscribed with the Help button in the software itself. But this time, I'm doing it the "pro" way! :-) LOL!

Tip # 1. I normally start off by configuring the work interface, shortcuts ( to benefit "speed" and efficiency), scaling, styles. The most important thing here are of course the shortcuts. It will help you speed up your 3D modeling. Generally, most of the commands I've assigned are on the left side of the keyboard, so my right hand takes care of the mouse the whole time. below is the list of commands + shortcuts I've configured:


Commands:                 KEYBOARD shortcuts

Camera/Pan                       - (space bar)
Camera/Parallel Projection - Down
Camera/Zoom         - Z
Camer/Zoom Extents - E
Camera/zoom Window - W
Draw/Arc                 - A
Draw/Circle         - C
Draw/Line         - L
Draw/Rectangle - R
Edit/Hide                 - H
Edit/Make Group - Alt+G
File/Import         - I
Tools/Dimensions         - Ctrl+D
Tools/Follow Me - F
Tools/Move         - M
Tools/Offset         - O
Tools/Paint Bucket         - G
Tools/Push/pull         - P
Tools/Rotate         - Alt+R
Tools/Scale         - S
Tools/Select         - Q
Tools/Utilities/Create Face - Alt+C

This is simple but will pay you off when you're on the rush. :-)