The Table Tutorial Continued - Adding a Drawer and Edge Trim

you make it look too easy, but I’m working with it. Thanks.

AWESOME tutorial

-- Grant...."GO BUCKEYES"

Great job Dave, but you already knew that.

There’s something that kept me wondering though. Somebody has to say it, so I’ll dare to: Why did you make the drawer in a way so laborious? Was it for educational purposes?

I’d have just drawn the drawer contour and then used the option+Offset Tool so make a copy 1/16 smaller, erase the in-between face and push it up to the apron’s interior face. Automatically scaled and centered with a couple of clicks.

I know you know about this technique so I guess it is probably because you still haven’t introduced the Offset Tool?

Keep on posting this amazing tutorial, please. It’s like a “SketchUp For Dummies” but interactive.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

thank you all.

Jojo, yes, I know that method and it is certainly an option. I opted for the Push/Pull method thinking that someone who is fairly new to SketchUp might actually try to follow along drawing the table. I wanted to emphasize the double click action of the Push/Pull tool. Although I didn’t really think of it as all that laborious, using Offset and the Push/Pull to eliminate the waste would definitely be faster because it would eliminate some orbiting.

Cheers,

Dave

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

I thought so, Dave.

Mind you, you are way too modest. I’m pretty sure there’s more people following along with you than you ever though. Remember that the fact they don’t comment doesn’t mean they’re not here. All web fora have plenty of lurkers that read avidly the most interesting posts (and yours certainly pertain to that category) without never commenting on them.

Keep up the great job.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

Thats the great thing about Sketchup, AutoCAD and almost all other 3D design software…there are always multiple ways to accomplish the same task. Some may be a little more labor intensive…but that, like each technique is matter of a difference of opinion! I think Dave hit it on the head when you said the offset method might have saved a little orbiting..I probably would have done it Jojo’s way, but thats not saying anything bad about how Dave did it. I mean, whats a few orbits between friends, right? I am constantly orbiting and panning when I am drawing. I have one of those space pilot knobs, but I don’t use it that much…sometimes its a little hard to control in close..and sometimes I just forget to use it , I am so used to the usual way to move about the drawing. What happened to that fine plywood top?lol
Oh, and I like the trim flipped….

-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"

Brad, you make a a good point about orbiting and zooming. I think some folks work at SketchUp as if they are drawing on paper. They really should go at it as though they are working in clay. Or maybe with a chainsaw on a big log.

It figures someone would prefer that plywood top to my fancy veneered one. I guess I shouldn’t have bothered. I even built a SketchUp veneer press just do that. ;)

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Dave – thanks for putting this blog together. I have a question about the last step, when you flipped the trim component along the blue plane. Do you have to select all 4 trim components to flip them all or should all the trim flip if you one flip one, since they are same components? I had to select all 4 trim components to get them all to flip.

Thanks for the help.

-- - Jim, Vancouver,WA

jimp, yes, you need to select all four trim components. Actually, I guess you could open one component, select all of the geometry inside the component and flip that. It’s a bad habit to get into though. You might end up doing it on components that should be handled that way.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Thanks for answering my question, Dave.

-- - Jim, Vancouver,WA

Dave, You have done a fantastic job with this blog. Keep it coming. I will start at the front and try to learn this whole process.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Just downloaded sketchup. I need to take sketchup 101. Nice tutorial!

After completing your original table tutorial a while back I couldn’t wait for more. Being a brand new member, 1 day, I just happend upon this addition to it. As usually I’m lost in the first step. I thought I did everything right in building the original table but I guess I missed something. When I double click a leg, the top and aprons disappear, if I double click an apron the top and legs are gone and if I double click the top the aprons and legs disappear. With the aprons not there when the leg is open for editing I can’t move it down 3”. Well it moves but doesn’t stretch 3” like your picture shows. It’s like the leg is not pinned to the apron. The whole leg moves down. Can it be fixed or do I have to start over, which I would be happy to do just for the learning experience.
Thanks Norm

-- Norm Tampa, Florida

Norm, go to Window>Model Info>Components and uncheck the boxes you find there.

As to adjusting the legs, make sure you drag a left to right selection box around the part of the leg where the bottom of the mortise and the top end of the taper are. Of course you need to do this with the leg open for editing.

Let me know how that works for you.

Dave

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

That did it. The Hide box was checked next to “fad rest of model”. I’m curious, do you know if I may have unknowingly set that option or maybe it’s set by default. It obviously makes perfect sense now that I see it but don’t know how I would have ever found it on my own. Wow, I have a lot to learn about sketchup. I will continue this drawer tutorial later tonight and I’m sure I’ll be back here with questions.
Thanks again.

-- Norm Tampa, Florida

Norm, the hide boxes aren’t checked by default so I’m guessing you did check it/them.

I’ll be ready to answer your questions.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Hi Dave, been doing some practice and have a problem. When I draw an arc line I notice the segaments and know how to divide the line into segaments, but, can you tell me how to get rid of the spots that are left where the segaments meet?

bentlyj, could you send me your file that shows what you’re seeing?

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Dave, I feel like an idiot. I’m stuck on the push/pull of the drawer. I made the front apron unique, created the guidelines for the drawer, open the front apron for editing, use the rectangle tool to draw the drawer but it won’t push in. I can pull it out but when I push in it comes out the back but the face of the drawer is still tied to the front of the apron. I am stumped.

-- Norm Tampa, Florida

Norm, if I understand you correctly, you can’t create the opening for the drawer in the front apron component? If that’s the case, is it possible that you have somehow created a nested component? When you open the component for editing, is there still a blue bouding box around it?

If you’d like, you could send me the SKP file and I’ll take a look.

Dave

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

No there the apron does not have blue around it. I sent you the file.

Norm

-- Norm Tampa, Florida

Dave, as you know from my e-mail, my biggest challenge thus far has been the mitering of the molding. After thinking I had it solved last night, I deleted it all to try again to make sure I understood. I ran into the same problems. Finally, what seemed to work was selecting all four moldings and moving them as an assembly away from the rest of the table, then install the cutting plane etc. As you had pointed out, it is important to note which cutting plane is attached to which molding. Does this make sense?
I’m moving on.
Thanks again
Doug

Doug, you shouldn’t need to move the trim components to do this but if it’s easier to see, you should be able to get away with making a copy (Ctrl+Move) of a single instance of the component. Then edit that one and when done, delete it. Saves having to move the trim back into place but since they are all related components, the editing you do to one will be done to all.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Dave, I have started following your posts and I am learning a lot of things that make life in SketchUP a lot easier. Right now I am having a problem with mitering the trim, I have gone through all of your steps (several times) and I can not get the intersection with selection to work. I can not get the black edge around the trim component. I tried using intersect with model and that intersected, but it messed up the trim when deleting the excess. It’s got me baffled.

-- Doug, Cass City, Michigan

Doug, did you copy (Ctrl+C) the cutting plane and then open the trim component for editing before doing a Paste in Place (Edit menu)?

It might make it easier to see if you copy Ctrl+Move) one instance of the trim component off to the side, add the cutting plane and proceed as outlined. That way you won’t have the other copies of the trim in the view.

Let me know what happens.

Dave

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Yes, I did copy (Ctrl+C) and then opened the trim component for editing before Paste in Place.

Okay, finally got it. When I tried to intersect the parts, I didn’t have the cutting plane and the trim both selected. After pasting in place I held down the ctrl key when I selected all the trim and the cutting plane stayed selected.

Thanks for your quick response, now I can move on and keep learning.

Doug

-- Doug, Cass City, Michigan

Glad you got it solved. And yes, both the cutting plane and the trim need to be selected before doing Intersect>Selected.

I edited that part of the blog entry to emphasize that.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.