Using SketchUp, it is possible to define where doors and windows are within your 2D floor plan. You can also define layers on your floor plan, which helps define the height of various elements such as doors and windows. This video tutorial teaches you how to create openings and set layers with SketchUp for Interior Design.
In our example, we've completed the initial 2D floor plan layout with the locations for the interior and exterior walls. Next, we need to locate the positions for where the doors and windows are going to be. Now we're going to start with the doors first and then we'll work our way over to the windows. The other thing is we're going to have to pay attention a little bit to the layers and make sure that we have objects on the correct layers, as well. So we're going to look at that as well in this. Let's go ahead and start with the doors. As far as we're going to lay those out.
I'm going to come in and kind of zoom in here to my two offices. And we're going to use the tape measure tool and come over six inches. And if you notice, there might be a little bit of ghosting here when you zoom in, but I'm going to put in six inches and it should show up after that. I'm not exactly sure if that's caused by the program or maybe by the monitor. But it's taken on faith that if you type in the measurement it'll show up. I'm going to come back over here and pull, we're going to put in 36 inches here.
And we're going to do the same on the other side too. So, we'll put in six inches and then 36. So now we have basically, roughly laid out where our door openings are going to be. I'm going to hit the Select tool. And I'm going to use the Pencil tool for filling in where the frames are. So, I'm just going to come over here and make sure that the frames are kind of put in place. And if you notice, I'm the Floors layer, which isn't actually the right layer. So, what I'm going to do is do an Undo here.
And then I'm going to come back in here and make sure that I'm on the Walls layer and redo those. That's one thing you kind of have to be careful of using this program. Just to make sure that you keep your floor plan well organized. So now, everything is set up that way. We're going to take out these construction lines. So I'm going to zoom out a little bit. Select them and then hit the Delete key. Now my next step, I'm going to pan over by holding down the Shift is to go ahead and look at what we have for the windows as well.
So let's take a look at the windows and we're going to basically, use again the tape Measure tool. I'm going to pick it and I'm going to come over here. And I'm going to zoom in close so I can pick up the midpoint of where the door frame is and then come over six inches. And then I'm going to come back and pull again. And in this case, four feet, four inches. So, that's my opening. So I'm going to pick the Pencil tool. Just come in here and kind of lay that out. Get rid of the construction lines again. This time, I'm hitting the Select and just hitting them individually.
Then I'll do the same thing on the other side, as well. And again, you notice I have to kind of zoom in order to get that midpoint because it's inferring I want the other intersections and I don't want that. So I'm going to hit six inches there and then come over here and put in four feet, four inches and I use the Pencil tool here too. Now, we'll go ahead and just get rid of these. Now, I have everything kind of framed out a little bit.
The only thing I need to do is start thinking about getting a transition strip to end between the offices and the open space. This is one of them right here. So, we're going to come in and make sure that we are on the Floors layer. And I'm going to pick the Pencil tool and I'm going to zoom in, so I get the mid points here. And that way I have a transition strip that's now been placed. And I can get rid of these extra line objects because we don't need those as walls anymore. So I'm hitting the Delete key as I come through and doing that.
And if you notice that this is on the Floors layer. You'll notice here that, that is too. But, our faces for the floor are not. So I'm going to kind of zoom out. I'm going to take a look and you'll notice this is on the walls layer as is this one and is this one and I believe these guys, as well. So, what we're going to do is come over here and hold down basically a Shift key. And we're going to select all the faces that represent the floors and we're going to change them from the Walls layer, the Floors layer.
So now everything should kind of work. Now, let's go ahead and see if it actually does work. We're going to come over here to the Layers panel and I'm going to make zero current. And I'm going to turn off the visibility on the Floors. And you can see there that they're turning on and off. So, everything is basically where they should be. So, now in this 2D floor plan, we have the door and window locations framed out. We've made sure, as well that everything is on the right layer.
If it isn't on the right layer, then we have to select the objects like what we were doing and change them so they are on the correct layers. It's very important to be able to do that within sketch up.
- Drawing 2D floor plans in SketchUp
- Selecting the right template and tools
- Creating components
- Cleaning up walls and creating door and window openings
- Using x-ray views when adding doors and windows
- Using layers to manage your views effectively
- Capturing materials to use in your design
- Applying materials to components
- Exporting your drawing as an image