Sketch-up tutorial

[Quintin03]

Hills like those can be made by creating a circle inside another circle and then dragging the inner circle upwards.

You can use component trees. They're in the component tab if you have that. There's a 2D tree that is always pointing at you and a 3D tree.

[Purist]

I just used SpeedingTortoise's method for showing wooded areas in the end.

I still haven't sorted out the hills thus far, but I'm just going to post what I have, and call it good.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Sorry missed the request for help with hills

Stage one draw the shape of your hill, and then use the off set tool to make the a concentric of it. Shown with two circles.

Elevate the inner shape to the height of the hill you wish.

From the point of one of the angles that make up the shape draw a line in each of the horizontal and vertical planes between and join to make a triangle.

Use the "follow me" and drg the triangle around using the upper of lower shap as a guide to create the slope.

Add your colour if you haven't already a

Highlight the lines and use the Hide option.
** Do this last on your design as if you decide to add something later it's more complicated if there are no lines to work with.

[Purist]

Thank you. I'll see about making real use of that when I do my next design, which I'll probably start in two weeks or so, as I need to finish the current semester, and graduate with my Bachelor's of Science.

[Van Laere F1]

Hi there.

So, I'm a total newbie to Sketchup. I managed to create elevation changes on the ground and I managed to draw up the track as well but the track did not look clean at all. So what I'm asking is what's the proper process of making a track. With the buildings, grandstands, kerbs etc I realise it will take time but right now I have a lot of it and since I've been drawing tracks on paper for a long time now,

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Welcome to the My Tracks section

Elevation is probably one of the hardest things to get right. Its also the most time consuming.

My Advice would be to stick no elevation tracks to begin with, then add 3D features like the pit garages or grandstands. maybe use the Hills info above to add elevation around the circuit.

Only once your comfortable with that level, you'll realise the best ways of running the circuit over the elevation changes.

But please post what you have done into your own thread, as it's often easier to advise on a specific area.

[SpeedingTortoise]

Elevation isn't that hard once you have found a way to do it. The way i do it is
1. Create the track flat without any building or barriers, just the track itself and its surrounding land, then split it into the sections you want elevated. Remember that you need to split the track at where you want the elevation to end.
2. Extrude the track and surrounding land to the height you want.
3. On one side of the track, draw a diagonal line from the elevated track to the ground.
4. Find the mid-point of the diagonal line (the cursor should turn light blue if you've found it) and draw an arc from the mid point to the elevated track. Draw another arc from the mid-point to the ground.
5. Delete the straight, diagonal line.
6. Use the follow tool and drag the curves over to the other side of the track.
7. Use the follow tool again and drag the curves to where the barriers would be. Sometimes you will get a lot of lines going over the grass. Hold Shift and use the eraser to hide them. (I've kept them on one side to show you what i mean.)
8. To create the barriers, I draw a line around the track and then create a 1x1.5m box and then use the follow tool to drag it around the track.
9. To create the hills outside the track, draw a line from where the barrier to the edge of the surrounding land. Then draw a diagonal line up to the elevation. You can do the same trick with arcs and have smooth hills but i normally don't to save time.
10. Hold Shift and select the lines you have just created as well as the connecting line to the barrier and the bottom line of the barrier.
11. Then go to Draw>Sandbox>By Contours. Sometimes you will get a layering issue and lines outside those selected will appear. To delete them right click the sandbox and the edit group and delete the lines.
12. Paint the track and surroundings.

And voila!!! You've made elevation in Sketchup. I've included screenshots of an elevation i'd done during writing this tutorial to help you. Remember if anything goes wrong, the undo tool is your friend. Curved elevations are a lot harder to do and aren't as methodical as straight line elevations. They seem to be more about trying to get it to look right without having any positive or negative camber to the road. I still haven't got them properly smooth yet and the barriers are a pain to implement after. If you have any problems that aren't in the tutorial, PM me

[Van Laere F1]

I just can't get the hang of this. I draw the track, only one line but the offset tool only lets me touch the arcs and not the straights. So I use the draw tool to connect the rest of the track. It seems connected but when I zoom in some parts aren't. I also can't colour the track as it colours the whole rectangle rather than only the track.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Not quite sure what the issue is that you are having, it could be a layer issue or simply not making the connections.

To begin with always be on top view so the arcs are being drawn on the surface.

Add straight lines or other arcs from the end of the previous one until you link up to the first straight or arc you drew.

This should complete a solid shape that you can click inside to highlight
Then use the off set tool as shown in Post 2 of this thread.

Start off with a few simple shapes to get the hang of it first then more complex circuit designs

[Himlar]

As I mentioned in Purist's thread about track design, I think I have found a way to implement elevation changes into our SketchUp designs.

I'll try to walk you through my way of doing it, my suggestion is that you read this while looking at the different pics in the attached pdf and maybe trying it yourself in the software. It's not that complicated, it just takes time.

I don't think this is an optimal solution, but it works and isn't to hard to perform. Although, you'ld might get a bit frustrated when finishing up the track and realising that you want to revise a part of it ...

Note: I will not deal with how to make elevation, as SBF has provided a nice tutorial for this. Also, you might see that details change between pics. This is due to the tweaking that needs to be done, and/or SketchUp not being interested in collaborating with me. Nothing that will alter the process, though.

Now on to the tutorial!



1: Make the surrounding as you want them to be, don't bother about the track at the moment. I just made to circular hills to show how this can be done.

2: Make a flat plate above (or under, if you prefer) your elevation. This will be the base of your track design, so any area constraints will be implemented here.

3: Design the track, having both 2D and 3D layout in mind. You'ld might find the X-ray option (View-Face Style-X-ray) helpful here. Make sure that you are happy with your design before entering next step, because to my knowledge, there's no easy way of fixing your mistakes from now on.

4: Delete the parts of the track plate that you don't use, and extrude the track design through the elevation plate. It will look wierd, but just keep your hopes up and we Will get a nice track in the end ...

5: Select the whole model, right click and go Intersect Faces-With Model.

6: This is just cleaning up unwanted faces and lines. Since you have intersected the two models, your elevation layer now has the track design projected onto it. Therefore, you can delete the track design extrusion. Just make sure you don't wipe anything important in the process.

7: The end result, before materials. Sometimes SketchUp will get a bit cranky saying that some flat surfaces aren't actually flat, just try to triangulate and delete the diagonals afterwards. Someone might have an explanation why SketchUp is doing this, I have none.

8: Add materials and buildings as usual in track designing. Run-offs will need to be on your extrusion, or be extruded in the same way at least.

9-10: Just some pics to prove that there is an elevated track in there. My elevation wasn't really extreme, which might have been better for teaching practice.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Thanks you for adding this method. A good secription with good images to back it up.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I've added my first trial attempt at this as my http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132112 first design on my new thread.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

New Member Scorpionek has a few questions...

Anyone want to help out?

Originally Posted by Scorpionek

Hello,
How I can make e.g. grass, runoffs ect.
Can I draw on layer with google map and after drawing delete this layer? If yes then please tell me how.
Regrads

[Tathrim]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

New Member Scorpionek has a few questions...

Anyone want to help out?

Generally, run off for me is designed by drawing barriers first,

From there, I'm drawing 2 lines from lines from barrier to track, and I use the offset tool to create the desired shape and widths.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

If your using the latest Sketch-up V8, then you can import a location from Google earth (Geolocation tool under the file tab) and draw over it, but to be honest it's a bit awkward until you get used to it.

Best bet is to use the measuring tool over Google Earth, get some idea of real word sizes compared to the straights or curves. The Gravel trap at T1 of Catalunya for example. Then simply draw in your own.

As Tathrim said use the off-set tool to parallel the shape of the corner for that bit of Grass/astroturf before more tarmac or gravel.

Below is T1 of the circuit I'm currently working on.

[Scorpionek]

Ok, thanks guys, I'll start make my first circuit.

[Viperion101]

1. What version are you using
2. Are these available on the free version

[ScotsBrutesFan]

The Latest version is Sketch-up 8 and yes it's the free version that I use, and I'm pretty sure everyone else does as well as it's a Licence buy these days.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I've upgraded to Sketchup 2014

I've posted the beginnings of a circuit on my thread Here

It's if anything a bit retro in that the lines are drawn in really quite heavy and dark, but the on joining together or intersecting, the shape that's made changes to the lighter construction line that we are used to.

It makes it a lot easier to spot layering issues... those on the site when Sketch-up changed the light lines all the time will remember the consternation of layering issues that now couldn't be obviously seen.

As a result I find it quicker to use to get a design to the above stage, it mght even allow me to get further around the gravel traps before the next idea springs into my head and I loose interest.

A couple of grumbles, the tool box is floating, and I have worked out how to permanently nail it to the bottom or top of the screen.

Secondly while all the regular tools are there the have rebadged some of them.... remember I've jumped from Sketchup 8 to 2014 - there was a 2013 version so if you are or were using that, you might have seen some of the differences already.

[JoeyBoy]

Hey Everyone,

I'm reasonably new to sketch up and I have a really dum question to ask:
How do I measure my track length?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Welcome to My Tracks

Easiest way I've found, once you have your track as a single line. Use the offset tool to give you the parallel line, this would be your track surface.
Selects he area enclose between the lines and right click choose selected area and measure. Dived the value you recive by the distance that you offset the initial line, this gives you the circuit length.

It's easier done than explained

[pirenzo]

Collect the centreline entities into a component or group. You can then select them all and use the Entity Info box to see the length. Alternatively, make sure you start your centreline in its own layer and then use "select all on same layer" to select the whole centreline.

Seems easier than getting your calculator out

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Back to Basics and a request from HPmadness about drawing curves.

I'm using the free version of "Sketchup Make 2014", other versions may look slightly different.

Well lets start with a new page



Remove the scale figure and at that point I go into camera -> standard views -> Top

This gives me a plan view.



I then using the box tool create my "sheet of paper", by zooming in and out you'll be able to make the Box as bog or small as you want. I tend to work on a real scale so my boxes will be 1200-1600m on the Red axis and 800-100m on the Green Axis. (Blue axis is vertical - 3D)



Select the curve tool click and hold down the button ath the start of your curve, and whilst holding down move the curser to the end point of the curve. There will be a dotted straight line form between the points.
On releasing the button, move the mouse and you will see the curve increase of decrease away from the straight line. The measure of bulge at the centre point is shown bottom right of the screen.
At either end point you can add a straight line, likewise you can put the start of a curve at the endpoint of an existing straight line.



At this stage the most important thing is that you always see the "on the face" marker. That means that the curve is being drawn on the face you are looking at.