# Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?



## Blake (Oct 17, 2007)

*Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*

Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.

Last week I looked at an apartment that I thought about moving into and made measurements of the inside space. I wanted to play around with Sketchup to see how furniture would fit, etc. I thought maybe there would be an easy way to use Sketchup for this very basic architectural drawing.

Usually when doing something like this I use the *push* tool a lot. I would just draw a rectangle the size of the wall and then push it about 6" until it is a 3D wall. But constructing a room like this gets a little funky. Is there a better way?

I've seen some of the amazing architectural stuff people have done with Sketchup. I'm sure they are not drawing each wall individually as a box… are they?

Thanks.


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## YooperCasey (Nov 27, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Heya Blake,

Try using the rectangle tool, draw two squares, one say 6 inches wider then the first. Delete the center, then use the push to raise the walls to the height you need. From there on it is easy enough to mark out using the measuring tape to find dimensions from corners or details. At that point use the regular draw, sketch out the frame and use push again to say make a window or door.

Also check out some of the sketchup libraries around, tons of already made stuff to work with.


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## damianpenney (Jun 22, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Draw the 2D floor plan, then use the offset tool for the wall thickness, then push the whole lot at once.


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## ZachM (Apr 3, 2008)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


I was looking into this a while back and this program http://www.cadstd.com/index.html came up on a google ad when searching for sketchup.

If you look at some of the youtube videos for sketchup it doesn't look too hard to just draw it flat and then bring it all up at once like Damian is suggesting.

Here is one 




http://www.aidanchopra.com/ This guy wrote the for dummies book and has a lot of good tutorials for sketchup on youtube as well.

Hopefully its ok to post urls in a message.


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## oldworld124 (Mar 2, 2008)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


It is much easier to buy a cad program like 3d home architect. These programs already have 2d and 3d capabilities and are about $30 to $50. Much more practical and faster.


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## Caliper (Mar 12, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Hey Blake. Try drawing the shape with the pencil tool and using the shift key (I think, been a while) to constrain the angles to 90deg. Once you have the basic outline and the shape is closed, you can then use the push/pull tool to make it into walls. I think this is basically what Damien said less the use of the offset tool. Both should do the trick though.


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Hey Blake
I threw together a quick little tutorial for you and anyone else interested in basic floor plan creation. I was going to just post it in here but it was too many images and I didnt want to hijack your thread! here it is
http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Brad_Nailor/blog/4815


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## ww_kayak (Mar 15, 2008)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


There is also a Sketchup Plugin call HouseBuilder which works pretty well. It builds actual stud walls and covers 
them with a skin. The install instructions are included in the zip file (housebuilder_extension.txt):

HouseBuilder.zip

Video Tutorial:

Some love it, some hate it, but it's free 

Tom


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Thanks Tom!!!

That is a handy tool. Bob#2 could have used that for his shop drawings.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


How the heck did I miss that!.
That's the part that Google should buy for Sketchup!
By the time I built allthe components for my job I had about 6 hours into the lerning curve and 20 minutes productivity.

Bob


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## Tikka (May 14, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Thanks TOM - Just what I was looking for


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## Blake (Oct 17, 2007)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


Awesome, everyone. I'll look into some of these when I have more time next week. Keep 'em coming if you've got more.


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## tara (Oct 15, 2010)

Blake said:


> *Sketchup Question... How do I make walls?*
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is an easy way to make walls in Sketchup for a building without just drawing each wall manually (like a big flat box) ??? I would like to just draw the dimensions of a floor plan and turn that into a 3D room if possible.
> 
> ...


There is also a plugin called RpWallMaker for simple 2D/3D walls.
http://www.renderplus.com/wk/RpWallMaker_Free_w.htm


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