Understanding Camera Views

One of the most difficult concepts to grasp when working in 3-D is defining your point of view. SketchUp, like many 3-D modeling programs, uses a camera analogy to represent your view of the model.

By default, you look directly down at the ground from the sky, which isn’t a usual way of looking at things! However, the camera angles to the view of the ground because many SketchUp models begin on the ground, represented as the X and Y, or red and green axes, such as the example shown in the left of Figure 32.31.

Figure 32.31: Viewing the screen from the top down doesn’t show any detail (left) while rotating the view to include a three-dimensional projection shows Buddy and his backpack (right).

To produce the sense of modeling in three dimensions, you have to rotate the 3-D space to show the third dimension, which is visible in the right example in Figure 32.31.

Adjusting the camera position manually

To assist you in positioning and viewing your model, SketchUp offers two toolbars. The most common Camera tools are included on the Getting Started toolbar, as well as on the Camera toolbar. You can see the icons for the tools in Table 32.3.

Cross-Ref 

Read about another set of Camera tools used for creating a walkthrough in Chapter 33.

The tools you use regularly for placing the camera include the following:

• Orbit tool: Click the Orbit tool from either the Getting Started or Camera toolbars, or choose Camera Orbit. Move the cursor in any direction to rotate the camera around the center of the drawing.

• Pan tool: Click the Pan tool from either the Getting Started or Camera toolbars, or choose Camera Pan. Click and drag the tool in any direction to pan the image, moving the camera either horizontally or vertically.

• Zoom tool: Click the Zoom tool from either the Getting Started or Camera toolbars, or choose Camera Zoom. Click and drag the tool upward to zoom in, moving the camera closer to the model, such as the image in the left of Figure 32.32; click and drag the tool downward to zoom out, moving the camera away from the model, such as the image at the right in Figure 32.32.

  
  Figure 32.32: Zoom in on the action using the Zoom tool (left) or move the camera away from the model, making it appear to grow smaller and farther away (right).

Using standard camera views

Instead of using the tools and changing positions manually, you can use a set of standard views to check out your model. The icons for the views, their display characteristics, and the location of an image example are shown in Table 32.3.

Table 32.3: Using Standard Views
Open table as spreadsheet

Looks Like	View Name	Shows	Example Location
	Iso	Shows a standard 3/4 view of the model	Upper left, Figure 32.33
	Top	Shows the top of the model	Upper middle, Figure 32.33
	Front	Shows the front of the model	Upper right, Figure 32.33
	Right	Shows the right side of the model	Lower left, Figure 32.33
	Back	Shows the back of the model	Lower middle, Figure 32.33
	Left		Shows the left side of the model Lower right, Figure 32.33

Figure 32.33: Instead of trying to position and reposition a model in a location you have used previously, select one of six standard views to work with your models.

Note 

Content in a model can be shown in axonometric or perspective projections. An axonometric perspective shows a view of the model where lines appear parallel in both three-dimensional and two-dimensional space. Perspective projections show a distortion based on the vanishing point of the lines in the distance at the horizon. SketchUp uses a perspective view as its default.