Learn how to add elements to your 3D models in SketchUp to create a more realistic and engaging scene. This article explains how to incorporate a variety of components, including plants, trees, and people, while also managing your file size carefully to ensure optimal performance.
Key Insights
- SketchUp offers a wide range of 3D and 2D components to enhance your models, but it's crucial to be mindful of the file size and polygon count of each element. Higher the polygon counts can potentially slow down your computer's processor speed.
- When incorporating components, it's recommended to stick to the ones authorized by SketchUp and available on their website. But when using components from other sources, it is advised to download them in an external SketchUp window first and attempt to simplify them before integrating.
- While you have the freedom to replace existing components with new ones, it's suggested to import multiple options first before committing to a replacement. This will provide you with a broader selection and contribute to a more diverse and engaging model.
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Let's continue modifying and building our pergola. So let's modify our component axes to this component of our column and place our component axes right in the center point of the space plate.
And now I want to move this component to the center point here. Let's double-check that this is centered. From here to here is 8 inches.
From here to here is 8 inches. So that's where we want our base plate to go, and we will copy from this reference point here along red to this reference point here. Then from here, we'll copy from this reference point here, and then do the same thing from here to here. Let's group all four of these components.
Right-click to make a group. Let's double-click into this group, and add our beam. This beam will be a 4 × 10, but in actual dimensions, our height will be 9 1/4 inches, and our width will be 3.5 inches. Make sure we draw this along the correct axes, then let's push-pull it all the way to this point right here.
That's at 24 and 11 inches. Let's push-pull this element out 6 inches, then push-pull this portion out 6 inches. Then we will triple-click, right-click, and make a group. That doesn't need to be a component; just make it a group. Then let's modify this material by creating a new one and calling it 'Wood Beam'.
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Hit OK, then we will paint it. Since it's in the correct orientation, no modification is needed, and we now have our wood beam for the pergola.
We'll hit escape to close out of this group. One thing I notice is that this is a little too low for our trim.
We want this to go above our trim, so I want to quickly move this up to see what that distance is, and that's 3 and 5/8 inches. So let's move it to be around 4 inches, just above that trim. We'll double-click into this group and move this beam up 4 inches because I made each of these a component. If I modify one, it'll modify all of them, so I'll move this up 4 inches. Then, I'll make this column slightly taller by 4 inches, and you can see that the change applied to all those components.
Now I want to double-click into this group, select all, hit our move key, hold control to make a copy, and copy this out 10 feet. Let's modify this beam to create more decorative endings, so we'll double-click on this portion, pull it out 1 foot, and pull this portion out 1 foot. We'll add a reference line from the top, go down 2 inches, and go out the side 1 foot. Then, from this side, we'll go 1 foot, draw a line to connect from this intersection to this intersection and from this intersection to this intersection. Push-pull to auto-fold, delete that portion and that portion. I feel that this is a little too small, so I can select this edge, hold down shift to also select this edge, go to my move tool, and move this down to a comfortable spot. Let's move it down 2 inches, now we'll go to Edit, delete guides, and close out. Now you can see that I have this nice trim element for my pergola. Our pergola is definitely coming along; it's looking great. I will save my file.
Next, let's create our joist for above our trellis. So, let's double-click into this group, and we're going to add a 2 × 6 joist. We'll start from this end right here and draw a rectangle orbiting down so we can see in the green direction. We'll type in 1.5, comma 5.5 for 1.5 inches by 5.5 inches, hit ENTER. This is going to be our joist. We're going to pull this out 12 feet, and then let's create a reference line from the top here to go down 2 inches, and from here, go 8 inches. We'll draw a line here to create this chamfered edge, delete that, and triple-click, right-click, make a group.
Now let's create our supports. Modeling in this area, we'll draw a rectangle from here down. We want this to be 2.5 inches down, so we can see it's going across first, then down second. We want this to be slightly smaller than 1.5, so let's make it 1.25 inches, comma 2 inches deep. Then, we'll double-click this and move it over half of this, 1.8 inches. Let's extrude this portion out 1/4 inch, then click this top edge, make a copy, go down 1/4 inch. Actually, this is too thick, so let's make this 1.8 inches. We'll move this in 1.8 inches, move this up 1.8 inches, move this back, and now we will move this out in the same dimensions, 2 inches. Let's make this slightly rounded here by using our arc tool. This doesn't have to be perfectly accurate. We can select here, then go from here to here and find where we get that magenta where it'll autofill. Then, push-pull that, hitting E on your keyboard to erase, and now I can triple-click, right-click, make a component.
We will call this one 'L Bracket'. Create. Double-click into this component and let's create another bolt. This time, we don't need to make these bolts as components, but let's add some reference lines from here to the center point, from here to the center point, from this point to the center point, and from here to the center point. Triple-click, make a group so we don't interfere with this geometry. Let's go into our polygon tool and from this point here, let's move this out 3/8 inch, ENTER. Then double-click to do the same thing here, 3/8 inch, ENTER. We'll push-pull this out 3/8 inch, ENTER, and then 3/8 inch, ENTER. Let's make those slightly smaller, 1/8 inch. I made this to be 1/4 inch instead of 1/8 inch, so now I can triple-click, make a group, triple-click, make a group, edit, delete guides. I will select all, click H to get this base metal material, and paint this with the same material. Then, I want to select this point because this component is in this group. Right-click, make a component, and I want to call this 'Pergola Joist' and click Create.
We need to make a couple inside this component. We want to make a duplicate of this base plate or this little 'L Bracket'. We'll move and hit control to toggle copy, move this all the way out here until it snaps onto that surface. Then, we'll do the same thing, make a duplicate on this side along the green axis. We'll flip along the green, then move this along the green, snap right there. Now, let's paint this with the same wood material. I'll use my eyedropper tool to get this wood beam and paint this with the same material. Now let's make an array of these beams across. First, let's move this 4 and 3/4 inches over. I've already determined the ideal location for each of these, so you can just copy my dimensions. Now let's make a duplicate, and we'll move all of these across 10.5 inches apart. We'll use our move tool and hit control to toggle copy. Type in 10.5 for 10.5 inches, hit ENTER. I'm not sure how many we need, but let's just do more than enough so we can delete more. Let's type in 30, and look at that. I got a couple more than I need.
We want this one to stop roughly in the same spot, and actually, I don't think that our range was very accurate, and they weren't spaced evenly, so let's try something a little different. Let's undo that. Typically, you want to find a point where you know that each of these beams are the same distance apart. From here to here, those are 8 feet. From here to here, 8 feet, and from here to here, 8 feet. Let's go from a center point, like right in the middle, and we'll move and hold down shift to lock in that red. Snap right to the center point of this. Now, let's copy from here to here, and we can see that it's 8 feet. We can either have them divide that by 8, so now these are. If I measure that with the line tool, I can see that it's 1 foot. I think that looks like a good spacing.
Let's continue with that same spacing. Actually, let's make it a little denser. Let's undo that. Let's go from this point and toggle copy to here. Let's divide 10, or we can divide 12. This dimension here is 8 inches, and I think that looks like a good depth. We can make a duplicate from this point to here to extend a little over on that side. Then, let's do this from here to here, which is 8 inches, and do that 25. And there we have our completed pergola! We can do one final thing: modify our color. We can see that we have this wood in our model, which is a bit darker. We can go into our wood beam and select Edit, then do a match color on-screen. We can select the color that we want to match, do that for that color, and then do the same for this material, the wood column, match color on-screen. There we go! Now we have more of a stained wood that matches the wood in our clubhouse. I will edit, delete guides, save my file, and see you in the next video.
