Help centre · Modelling

Shapes and push/pull

Draw shapes, arcs and lines, push and pull them into solids, cut holes, sweep with Follow me, combine and split solids, and measure with guides.

For anything that isn't a wall, door or stair, you model as you would in SketchUp: draw a flat shape, then push or pull it into a solid. In this article, Ctrl is Option on a Mac.

Draw a shape

Click the Shape button in the toolbar, or press a key: R rectangle, C circle, A arc, L line. The Shape bar lets you switch between Rectangle, Circle, Regular polygon, Arc, Polygon, Line and Freehand. Draw on the floor or on any flat face.

Rectangle: click two corners, or click one and type width,depth, such as 3,2. Tap Alt (Option on a Mac) to draw from the centre.
Circle: click the centre, then a point on it, or type the radius. Type 12s for 12 sides (24 by default).
Regular polygon: like a circle, with straight sides you can see: a hexagon by default. Type 8s for eight sides, before or after clicking the centre, then click a corner or type the radius.
Arc: click both ends, then how far it bows. Where the arc starts at the end of a line or of the side before it, it snaps tangent to it: Tangent to edge shows, in cyan, and the arc runs on smoothly.
3-point arc: click the start, a point it passes through, then the end.
Arc from centre: click the centre, the start, then round to the end. It snaps every 15°, or type the angle, such as 90.
Pie: like an arc from the centre, closed back to the centre, for a slice of a round table or a quarter-circle step.
Polygon: click each corner, then click the first again, press Enter or double-click to close it. Backspace takes a corner back, and A makes the next sides arcs.
Freehand: drag a stroke. End where you started to make a face.

Draw lines

With Line (L), click point to point. Close the path on the first point and it becomes a face. Press Enter, double-click or press Esc to keep an open path as loose edges.

Push or pull a face

Press P or click Push/pull. Hover over a flat face, then drag it, or click, move and click. Type a distance and press Enter to be exact. Pulls snap to the grid (hold Shift for free) and to level floors. Double-click a face to pull it again by the last distance.

On walls, slabs and columns it changes their settings, such as a wall's height. Stairs, roofs, doors, windows and furniture are sized in the Properties panel instead.

Make recesses and holes

Draw a shape on a solid and push it in to cut a recess, or pull it out to add a block. Push it all the way to the face behind and it cuts a hole through: the read-out says Hole.

Offset an outline

Choose Offset in the Shape bar (or press F), click a flat face, then move in or out and click. You can also type a distance: 50mm goes inwards and -50mm outwards.

Offsetting inwards on a solid's face splits that face in two: a ring round the edge and a face in the middle, each of which you can push or pull, to sink a panel or raise a frame. Outwards, or on a shape of its own, the new outline is a shape you can push or pull.

Sweep a profile with Follow me

Draw a profile across an edge, such as on a box's end face at its top corner. Choose Follow me, click the profile, then click the face whose outline is the path. The profile sweeps round the outline into a solid, for a cornice or a kerb.

To follow a path that isn't a face's outline, draw it with the Line tool as loose edges, such as along an eave or up a stair. Choose Follow me, click the profile, then click any edge of the path: the profile follows the whole chain of edges, mitred at the corners and capped at the ends, for a gutter or a handrail. Draw the profile at the path's start, square to it.

Edit faces and edges

Double-click a solid or shape to open it. Click its faces and edges to select them (Ctrl adds, Shift toggles). Double-click a face to take its edges too, or triple-click for everything. Then:

M moves what's selected, and the faces round it stretch.
Delete erases it.
B paints one face.
L draws a line across a face to split it in two.

Press Esc or Done to close it.

Combine solids

Shift-click two or more closed solids (the first one is kept), then choose Solid tools (Architect: Tools → Solid tools; Quick: Edit → More → Solid tools): Union, Subtract, Trim (keeps the others) or Intersect. Walls and other building elements can cut but aren't cut.

Two more tools are on the same menu:

Outer shell makes one solid of the outside of the selection, leaving out what's hidden inside. It works on one group too, merging its parts.
Split cuts two overlapping solids into three: each one less the overlap, and the overlap on its own.

Dimensions and text in the model

More tools → Dimension measures in 3D, as SketchUp's Dimension tool does. Click two points (corners and edges snap anywhere in the model), then move to set where the dimension line goes, and click. Click on the edge of a circle or an arc to dimension its radius instead. The ends are pinned to what you clicked: move a column and its dimension follows, with its figure kept up to date.

More tools → Text adds a label: click what it points at, then where the words go, and type them (press Enter with nothing typed to name what it points at). Click empty space for text pinned to the view, such as a title.

Click a dimension's figure or a label to pick it; Delete erases it and Esc lets go. They're saved with the project.

3D text

More tools → 3D text… makes lettering as a solid or a flat face: type the words (several lines if you like), its height, how deep it is (0 for a flat face), the alignment and bold, and whether it stands up (a sign) or lies flat (lettering on the ground or a plaque). Press Place and click where it goes; R turns it. The letters are Albert Sans, under the SIL Open Font License. It paints and exports like any other object.

Terrain

More tools → Terrain makes ground of your own, as SketchUp's Sandbox does:

From selected contour lines: draw lines at their heights (move them up to each contour's height), select them, and choose this. A surface goes through them, a little beyond their edge.
From a DXF of contours…: a surveyor's DXF with its contour lines at their elevations (polylines or 3D polylines). It comes in where the view is looking.
Sculpt: press on the terrain and drag to raise it, or Shift-drag to lower it, most in the middle of the brush and fading to its edge. [ and ] make the brush smaller and bigger. Each stroke is one undo step.

Terrain paints, cuts and exports like any other object. The site's own map terrain is in Site and sun.

Measure and make guides

Press T or click Tape measure in the toolbar, then click two points. It snaps to corners, edges and faces anywhere in the model, and Backspace clears.

Turn on Make guides (or press Ctrl). Start on an edge to make a guide line parallel to it, or on a point to make a guide point, then click or type a distance such as 1500mm. All tools snap to guides. Delete guides clears them.

Right after measuring, type the length it should be and press Enter to resize what you measured.

The Protractor button in the Measure bar (or Shift+S to search for it) makes angled guides. Click a centre, then a baseline, then the angle, or type one: 30, or a slope such as 3:12.

Still stuck? Contact us, or ask in the app: Help → Contact support.