SketchUp on the iPad for complete BEGINNERS (+ Free PDF) - explained by an architect

Hey guys, welcome back. In today's video, I will show you how to use Sketchup on the iPad as a complete beginner. We are going to model a simple cabin together, from scratch, step by step. No experience needed, just follow along and by the end of this video, you will have your first real 3D model. So let's get started. First open Sketchup on your iPad. If you don't have it yet, you can download it from the App Store. I believe there is a 7-day free trial available. Personally, I'm on the yearly plan which cost me around 120 euros. Anyway, once you open the app, tap the Create New button to create a new project. You will be taken directly into the 3D workspace. Before we start building, there are two important things to know. First is to set your measurement units. Go to Model Info on the right side. I personally prefer using centimeters, but feel free to choose whatever unit you are most comfortable with. 2. Learn how to navigate. This is really important, so let's get over it quickly. One finger to orbit around your model. Two fingers to pan, move left, right, up and down. And pinch gesture to zoom in and out. That's it. These are the essential movements you need to navigate in 3D. Also don't forget about the undo tool. You're going to make mistakes, especially at the beginning. That's completely normal. So just use undo whenever something doesn't look right. And keep going. All right, let's start building our cabin. We'll begin with the floor. Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar. Tap once to place your first corner, then tap again to set the opposite corner. Don't worry about getting the exact size right at this stage. Once the rectangle is drawn, look at the bottom of the screen. You will see a dimensions box. Tap it and type 400 to 600, for example. That's 4 meters by 6 meters, which will be the base of our cabin. Now let's build the walls. We'll start by defining the wall thickness using the Offset tool, which creates a parallel copy of edges at a fixed distance. Let's set our wall thickness to 12 centimeters. Now select the Push-Pull tool. Tap there and drag it upward to create the walls. Then enter the height in the dimensions box. And now we have the basic structure of our cabin. Before moving on, we need to group this. To do this, select everything that makes up the cabin base and create a group. This keeps it organized and allows us to work on other parts without affecting the structure. In Sketchup, everything is connected by default. So if you move one part, it can distort nearby geometry. And grouping prevents that. Now let's add a roof. Start by drawing a rectangle on top using the Pencil tool. Because our cabin is grouped, this new shape is separated, even if it touches the model. By the way, if you want to move something just on one specific axis, you can select the axis you want there. Let's group this roof as well. If you use the Select tool and double-tap the rectangle, you will enter that group and you can work on it independently. Once inside the group, you can use Push-Pull to give it thickness. You can also push down the sides to start shaping a simple roof structure. If you want a slopped roof, use the Rotate tool. This lets you rotate geometry around a specific point or axis. Place the pilot on a corner, set your angle and rotate the roof into position. Now let's close the open wall sections. Use the Pencil tool to draw triangles that fill the gaps. Then use Push-Pull to complete them. Repeat the same process on the other side. And finally, clean up unnecessary edges by entering the group and using the Eraser tool. And just like that, we've built the basic structure of our cabin. From here, I will add a simple terrace to continue the design. Let's add a sliding door to the front face. Select the Pencil tool and draw directly on the front wall. Before adding any details, turn this section into a group, then double-tap to edit it. Now we can divide the door area into three panels, around 90 to 100 cm each. Next, select the Offset tool to create the framing. To reuse the same offset on multiple panels, simply double-tap each section. This keeps the same settings active. And that's it. To exit the group, you just tap anywhere outside the model. Now let's add some details to the roof. I will keep it simple. I will duplicate the existing roof, place it on top and use Push-Pull to scale it down. Then I will turn this into a component. A component is similar to a group but with one key difference. If you duplicate a component and edit one instance, all copies update automatically. Now I will duplicate it and place it next to the original. To do this, select the object, choose the Move tool, then activate the Copy mode, the plus option. This allows you to move and duplicate at the same time. You can also multiply copies quickly. Just type Multiply 20 in the Dimensions box, press Enter and Sketchup will instantly create multiple copies. It's a huge time saver. I love this tool. Let's clean it up and adjust the roof tip. And that looks much better. Let's add some colors and materials. Tap on the paint icon on the left. If you can't find it here, tap on the 3 button and you will find all the tools there. You can select colors on the right panel. I will start with the framing of the sliding doors. And then we can push-pull the framing to give it that 3D look. These colors on this panel are not enough. If you want to add materials, you can tap there and this will lead you to the 3D Warehouse, which is an online library where you can find and download ready-made 3D models and materials. So I will tap Glass and go to the Materials tab and select one here. If you don't like it, you can do the same process again and again to try other materials. Now I will color the roof. And one thing we forgot, as you can see, our windows are made of glass but we can't see inside, right? It's because we created different groups for the windows and for the walls of the cabin itself. So it looks like there's a wall where there is the window. But it's not a problem. All we have to do is to delete that part of the wall. Let me show you. I will move away the roof just a minute. I double tap on the cabin group. I trace a rectangle which is the size of the window. Then if I move away the window, we can see the wall is still there. All we have to do is push-pull it just enough to create an opening. Let's place back the window and roof. Now I want to add a material to the deck. You can change the dimensions just here if you find it too small or too big. It's better like that. Now let's find another wooden deck texture for the cabin walls. Here if you want to change the position of the material, all you have to do is to select the wall and down here tap on position. Then you can turn the material as you want. Let's do the same on the other sides. Now let's furnish the cabin. A useful trick is to use the section tool to cut through the model so you can work inside more easily. You can move the section plane using the move tool and position it wherever you need. Now let's add a bed. Open the 3D warehouse, search for bed and place it inside the cabin. I will also add some plants. Keep in mind that important models often come in different scales. Just use the scale tool to resize them properly. Also don't forget, most downloaded models are grouped. You can double tap to enter them, edit parts or delete anything you don't need. Now let's add some wall decorations. A few chairs, some trees and maybe some lights. At this stage, there are really no limits. Feel free to experiment and make it your own. And that's it for this video. SketchUp on iPad is an incredibly powerful tool for architects and designers. Once you learn the basics we covered today, you will be able to create full houses, interiors and renovation projects. If you want to see more, I've got more SketchUp tutorials on my channel. I will link them in the description below. I also offer one-on-one coaching sessions if you want more personalized help and feedback. Let me know in the comments if this video was helpful and if you would like more beginner tutorials like this. Thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video. Bye!